October Newsletter: Maile Meloy, Steven Brust, The Escapist Expo, Nathan Kotecki, Lemony Snicket, and the Wake County Libraries local sf author series

← Coming to Town: Steven Brust for The Incrementalists, interviewed by Richard Dansky
Release Day: Pull Down the Night by Nathan Kotecki →

October Newsletter: Maile Meloy, Steven Brust, The Escapist Expo, Nathan Kotecki, Lemony Snicket, and the Wake County Libraries local sf author series

Posted on 2013-09-30 at 20:21 by montsamu

Vol 3. No 10. September 30, 2013:

Well, September brought readings from David Drake, Susan Cooper, Emily Croy Barker, Clay and Susan Griffith and Natania Barron, Jasper Fforde, and Robin Sloan, and October shows no signs of slowing with Maile Meloy, Steven Brust, Nathan Kotecki, Lemony Snicket, a month-long series of local sf author panels at the Wake County Libraries, The Escapist Expo, and, of course, more. The immediately upcoming events are:

Meanwhile, there's a slew of news and publication notes that I either missed in August or accrued in September. Here we go:
  • Asheville writer Nathan Ballingrud’s collection North American Lake Monsters gets a fantastic review in the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB), by John Langan, “What We Talk About When We Talk About Monsters”. The collection is out from Small Beer Press, and Ballingrud was a panelist at August’s Bull Spec Summer Speculative Fiction Reading.
  • Three authors with NC ties are on the coming weekend’s NY Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction: Wilmington author Jason Mott’s The Returned debuts at #16; Raleigh author Wilton Barnhardt’s contemporary/historical satire Lookaway, Lookaway debuts at #25; and Asheville native Marisha Pessl’s Night Film is on the list for the third week, at #14
  • Durham’s Mur Lafferty was announced as a guest writer at Wofford College’s Shared Worlds in 2014. Earlier, as I reported on Facebook and Twitter on Sep 1, Lafferty won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Author at the World Science Fiction Convention. As I wrote up in the following Friday Quick Update: "I’ll join in with the NY Times and BoingBoing in offering absolutely huge congratulations to Mur!"
  • Mark Van Name has announced the title of his next Jon and Lobo book: All the Worlds Against Us
  • A new Kickstarter was launched -- 5 days left -- for an all-original anthology, Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters, which not only has a list of nationally well-known authors (Larry Correia, James Lovegrove, and Peter Clines, with a foreward by Jonathan Maberry) but also a sizable list of authors whose names should be well-known to readers of Bull Spec: Hillsborough’s James Maxey, Chapel Hill’s Natania Barron, and the frequent co-host of the NC Speculative Night event series, Jaym Gates, along with Bull Spec “alumni” Erin Hoffman
  • I missed seeing this last month, and now need to scramble to pick up an August issue of Asimov’s which includes a new novelette, Stone to Stone, Blood to Blood by Durham author Gwendolyn Clare — Asimov’s will also be publishing another local author, Raleigh’s Peter Wood, in an upcoming issue
  • Lauren Harris published Exorcising Aaron Nguyen (The Millroad Academy Exorcists) in ebook, available on Smashwords and in Kindle, among other places
  • Angelic Knight Press published an anthology Manifesto UF with stories from a list of fantastic writers including NC author Teresa Frohock, along with fellow contributors Lucy A. Snyder, Jeff Salyards, William Meikle, Zachary Jernigan, Betsy Dornbusch, and more
  • Tor Books released an all-original anthology Shadows of the New Sun which honors the work of Gene Wolfe; in the star-studded list of contributors (Neil Gaiman, Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Nancy Kress, Michael Swanwick, Todd McCaffery, and Wolfe himself, among others) is Pittsboro author David Drake, with a new story “Bedding” — see an excerpt from the foreward and the table of contents posted at Tor.com
  • Zack Smith, who does so much for the Triangle area’s creative community through his coverage at the Independent Weekly and other online venues — see his fantastic recent interview of Richard Kadrey — is the lead story writer in the new issue of the Regular Show comic book, #3, now out in stores from “Kaboom!” comics — check it out and then let Kaboom! know what you think via their contact form
  • Gray Rinehart’s stories have been appearing with increasing regularity in places like Analog and Asimov’s, and his new filk album Truths and Lies and Make-Believe is out, both in digital and excellent-looking physical CD formats (cover design by Christopher Rinehart, using photo by Paul Cory, see below)
  • The cover for Durham author Monica Byrne’s near-future debut sf novel The Girl in the Road (Crown, May 2014) has been released
  • Local authors Mur Lafferty and Richard Dansky both have stories listed in Ellen Datlow's long list for Best Horror short stories of 2012
  • John Kessel was interviewed and featured at Weird Fiction Review: "I think the world is absurd, funny when it is not heartbreaking."
  • And a new novella from Lewis Shiner is out, “Doctor Helios“, out in Subterranean Magazine
Whew! And lastly, hopefully you've been enjoying the new Coming to Town features on bullspec.com -- to recap, Richard Dansky and I have interviewed Jason Mott, Richard Kadrey, Emily Croy Barker, and Steven Brust -- so far! -- in this series of interviews with authors coming to town for a reading or other event. Stay tuned for more!

-Sam

OCTOBER 2013

NEW: 1 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Science Fiction panel (one of six in an October series) at the Wake County West Regional Library. With David Drake, Mark L. Van Name, Terrence Holt, and Lisa Shearin. More info: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/scifiauthors.aspx

1 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Maile Meloy for The Apprentices, sequel to her YA/YR debut The Apothecary. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/maile-meloy-apprentices

NEW-NEW: 1 (Tuesday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop hosts a multi-author reading for the Eno River Literary Journal, including Durham author David Halperin (Journal of a UFO Investigator). More info: http://regulatorbookshop.com/event/eno-river-literary-journal

NEW: 2 (Wed) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Steven Brust (author of the Vlad Taltos series) for new novel The Incrementalists [Facebook]. More info: http://flyleafbooks.com/event/steven-brust-skyler-white-discuss-sign-their-urban-fantasy-novel-incrementalists

NEW: 2 (Wed) 7 pm — Science Fiction panel (one of six in an October series) at the Wake County Southeast Regional Library. With Ariel Djanikian, Clay & Susan Griffith, and James Maxey. More info: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/scifiauthors.aspx

4-6 (Friday to Sunday) — Second Escapist Expo at the Durham Convention Center. More info: http://www.escapistexpo.com/

5 (Saturday) 11 am — McIntyre’s Books hosts Allan Gurganus – Local Souls.

5 (Saturday) 2 pm — Author John Claude Bemis, who is serving this year as the Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature, is leading a series of roundtable discussions with local children’s and YA authors about writing craft, creativity, and the magic of children’s literature.  The series includes events at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham on Tuesday, September 17 at 7 pm, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on October 5 at 2 pm, and Quail Ridge Books on Tuesday, October 15 at 7 pm.  For more information, visit John’s website at www.johnclaudebemis.com or the Piedmont Laureate website at www.piedmontlaureate.com. From John: “I’m still working on the line-up, but once I know I’ll let you know who will be speaking at each event.  Should be lots of fun.”

5-6 (Saturday and Sunday) — The annual family festival “Autumn at Oz” at Beech Mountain, NC. More info: http://www.autumnatoz.com/

8 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Local book release day for Pull Down the Night (The Suburban Strange) by Durham’s Nathan Kotecki (Oct 8, 2013) with launch to be held at Flyleaf Books. Kotecki will be on WCOM-FM on Monday, October 7, to discuss the novel on Carolina Book Beat. More info: http://flyleafbooks.com/event/book-launch-nathan-kotecki-discusses-and-signs-his-new-ya-fantasy-novel-pull-down-night

NEW: 8 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Science Fiction panel (one of six in an October series) at the Wake County North Regional Library. With David Drake, John Kessel, Mark L. Van Name, and Mur Lafferty. More info: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/scifiauthors.aspx

NEW: 10 (Thursday) 7 pm – Science Fiction panel (one of six in an October series) at the Cameron Village Regional Library. With Jenna Black, Tony Daniel, John Kessel, and Mur Lafferty. More info: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/scifiauthors.aspx

NEW-NEW: 10-13 (Thursday to Sunday) — Durham’s Common Ground Theatre hosts a staging of “William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead”, a zombie/Shakespeare mashup. More info: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/283158

NEW-NEW: 11 (Friday) 8 pm — the North Carolina Symphony presents the Music of John Williams: “Friday @ 8pm. Meymandi Hall, Raleigh. Superman, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Raiders & more!” Tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com/north-carolina-symphonythe-music-of-john-raleigh-north-carolina-10-11-2013/event/0E004AE5B3B58254?artistid=804126&majorcatid=10002&minorcatid=203

UPDATED: 12 (Saturday) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Wilton Barnhardt reads and signs his novel Lookaway, Lookaway. “Join us for a bourbon tasting with Gary Crunkleton at 6:30pm so we’ll be properly prepped to hear the larger-than-life Wilton Barnhardt discuss his fantastic new novel Lookaway, Lookaway.  We’ll have sweet tea for the teetotalers and pearl necklaces for all the ladies! Bourbon tasting is for 21 years and older and while supplies last… In Lookaway, Lookaway, Wilton Barnhardt has written a headlong, hilarious narrative of a family coming apart, a society changing beyond recognition, and an unforgettable woman striving to pull it all together.” THIS EVENT WAS MOVED FROM FRIDAY, 10/11!

NEW: 13 (Sunday) 2 pm – Science Fiction panel (one of six in an October series) at Wake County’s Eva Perry Regional Library. With Jenna Black, Clay & Susan Griffith, S. Mark Rainey, and Lisa Shearin. More info: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/scifiauthors.aspx

15 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Author John Claude Bemis, who is serving this year as the Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature, is leading a series of roundtable discussions with local children’s and YA authors about writing craft, creativity, and the magic of children’s literature.  The series includes events at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham on Tuesday, September 17 at 7 pm, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on October 5 at 2 pm, and Quail Ridge Books on Tuesday, October 15 at 7 pm.  For more information, visit John’s website at www.johnclaudebemis.com or the Piedmont Laureate website at www.piedmontlaureate.com. From John: “I’m still working on the line-up, but once I know I’ll let you know who will be speaking at each event.  Should be lots of fun!” At least one confirmed panelist for this event is Durham author Nathan Kotecki (The Suburban Strange, Pull Down the Night).

16 (Wednesday) 6 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Adam Gidwitz for The Grimm Conclusion, a third volume of Grimm-inspired fairytales for ages 9+ after A Tale Dark and Grimm, then In a Glass Grimmly. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/adam-gidwitz-chills-grimm-conclusion

NEW: 18-24 (Friday to Thursday) — The Carolina Theatre of Durham hosts a special film series, “The Studio Ghibli Collection Part III”.

NEW: 20 (Sunday) 2 pm – Science Fiction panel (one of six in an October series) at the Wake County East Regional Library. With Tony Daniel, Ariel Djanikian, and James Maxey. More info: http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/events/Pages/scifiauthors.aspx

23 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Lemony Snicket – ‘When Did You See Her Last?’.

24 (Thursday) 4:30 pm — An event for younger readers, Quail Ridge Books hosts Mark Tatulli – ‘Desmond Pucket Makes Monster Magic’.

NEW-NEW: 24-27 (Thursday to Sunday) — Raleigh’s Burning Coal Theatre at the Murphey School hosts a staging of “William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead”, a zombie/Shakespeare mashup. More info: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/289005

NEW-NEW: 25 (Friday) 7 pm to midnight — “Friday, Oct. 25th the Festival of Legends presents Unseelie Eve at Mystery Brewing Company in Hillsborough, NC! My Three Kilts and Thunder & Spice will warm the start of the cold season, along with great beers by Mystery Brewing and mead by Starrlight Mead! Why wait til April to dance with the fae? See our website for more info, and we hope to see you there!” More info: http://www.festivaloflegends.com/

NEW: 25-26 (Friday and Saturday) – Duke University hosts the Race in Space Conference: “a first of its kind event that seeks to explore the issues of race, culture and nationality in the colonization of space stations, planets, and stars in space. This two day conference held Oct 25-26 at Duke University will highlight astronauts research, artists and authors who have studied the realities and imaginative events involving the dynamics of race and space settlements.” More info: http://iafrofuturism.wordpress.com/2013/08/29/race-in-space-conference-launches-oct-25-26/

NEW-NEW: 26 (Saturday) — 2013 Geek Gala in Charlotte. More info: http://charlottegeeks.com/geek-gala/

NOVEMBER 2013

NEW: 1-3 (Friday to Sunday) — HonorCon in Greenville, SC, “Celebrating 20 Years in the worlds of Honor Harrington.” With guests David Weber, Eric Flint, Chuck Gannon, and more. More info: http://honorcon.com/

4 (Monday) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Allan Gurganus reads and discusses his book Local Souls.

6 (Wednesday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts YA dystopian author James Dashner (The Maze Runner series) for his new novel The Eye of Minds, the first book in his new series The Mortality Doctrines. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/james-dashner-eye-minds

NEW-NEW: 6 (Wednesday) 5-8 pm — Ultimate Comics hosts Neal Adams for a signing. More info: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151935477239898&set=a.73863064897.72333.55130129897&type=1

8 (Friday) 8 pm — Durham’s Carolina Theatre welcomes Chris Hardwick (The Nerdist, AMC’s Talking Dead) for a standup comedy show. Tickets in person at the Carolina Theatre or via Ticketmaster.

9-10 (Saturday and Sunday) — NC Comicon will be returning to the Durham Convention Center. “Twice the space, four times the fun. It’s exponential.” Additionally, there is a free pre-party on Friday, November 8th at the Durham Armory, and the Comiquest Film Festival Nov 8-10 at the Carolina Theatre in Durham.

NEW-NEW: 9 (Saturday) — The Charleston Young Adult Book Festival, YALLFest, in Charleston, SC. With guests Lev Grossman, Leigh Bardugo, Libba Bray, Rae Carson, David Macinnis Gill, Lauren Oliver, Veronica Roth, Veronica Rossi, Victoria Schwab, and many others. More info: http://yallfest.org/

NEW-NEW: 9 (Saturday) — The First Annual Peak City Book Festival will take place on November 9th, 2013 from 11 am to 5 pm at The Halle Cultural Arts Center in Apex, North Carolina.

NEW-NEW: 8-9 (Friday and Saturday) — Durham’s Supergraphic hosts a gallery opening (Friday) and then DICE — the Durham Independent Comics Expo — on Saturday. More info: http://durhamsupergraphic.com/calendar/

13 (Wednesday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop hosts Allan Gurganus for his book Local Souls, a 3-novella return to his mythological Falls, North Carolina.

NEW-NEW: 16 (Saturday) 6-9 pm — Chapel Hill Comics hosts Ed Piskor for a signing of his newest graphic novel Hip Hop Family Tree: Volume 1. More info: http://www.chapelhillcomics.com/content/?p=3259

NEW: 22 (Friday) — UNC’s Morehead Planetarium hosts a science education benefit, The Jupiter Ball. “The Jupiter Ball is a benefit gala for Morehead Planetarium and Science Center supporting science education for North Carolina schoolchildren. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. William E. Thornton, North Carolina’s first astronaut, will be our honored guest for the 2013 Jupiter Ball. As a member of the Skylab support crew, a veteran of two space flights on the shuttle Challenger and a holder of more than 35 patents, Dr. Thornton fully understands the importance of inspiration and innovation.” More info: http://moreheadplanetarium.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&filename=jupiter_ball.html

24 (Sunday) — Quail Ridge Books hosts Elizabeth Langston – ‘Whisper Falls’.

JANUARY 2014

10-12 (Friday to Sunday) — illogiCon iii: The Search for Schrödington’s Gold at the Embassy Suites Raleigh-Durham/Research Triangle, with author guests of honor Mary Robinette Kowal and Lawrence M. Shoen, authors Laura Anne Gilman, John Kessel, Gail Z. Martin, James Maxey, Tony Daniel, Misty Massey, Richard Dansky, Natania Barron, and more. More info: http://www.illogicon.com/

NEW-NEW: 17 (Friday) 7:30 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Carrie Vaughn for Dreams of the Golden Age. More info: /2013/11/06/news-quail-ridge-books-to-host-author-carrie-vaughn-on-january-17-2014/

FEBRUARY 2014

NEW-NEW: 1 (Saturday) 11 am — Flyleaf Books hosts Wendy Webb for The Vanishing. More book info: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/wendy-webb/the-vanishing/9781401341947/

21-23 (Friday to Sunday) — MystiCon in Roanoke, VA with guests John de Lancie (ST:TNG’s “Q”), author Todd McCaffery, author A.J. Hartley, and more. More info: http://mysticon-va.com/

MARCH 2014

4 — Local book release day for Ghost Train to New Orleans (The Shambling Guides) by Durham’s Mur Lafferty (Mar 4, 2014).

APRIL 2014

1 — Regional book release day for Charlotte author Gail. Z. Martin’s Reign of Ash, book two in her Ascendant Kingdoms series from Orbit Books after 2013’s Ice Forged.

5-6 (Saturday and Sunday) — 2014 North Carolina Literary Festival hosted by the NCSU Libraries at NC State University; the primary venue for the Festival will be the James B. Hunt Jr. Library on Centennial Campus. “This free public event is presented on a rotating basis by the Duke University Libraries, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, the NCSU Libraries, and North Carolina Central University. The Festival is designed to attract people of all ages, from our surrounding communities and across the state. The program will be varied and will include author readings and discussions, book signings, activities, bookstore sales and more.”

NEW-NEW: 26-27 (Saturday and Sunday) — The Festival of Legends at Storybook Farm in Chapel Hill.

MAY 2014

20 — Local book release day for Durham author and playwright Monica Byrne’s debut novel, The Girl in the Road.

23-25 (Friday to Sunday) — Animazement in Raleigh, NC. More info: http://www.animazement.com/

JUNE 2014

(May 30) to June 1 (Friday to Sunday) — ConCarolinas in Charlotte, with guest of honor George R.R. Martin. More info: http://concarolinas.org/

NEW-NEW: 26-29 (Thursday to Sunday) — ConTemporal in Raleigh at the Hilton North Raleigh Midtown. “Join us for the Third Annual Extravaganza!” More info: http://contemporal.org/

JULY 2014

11-13 (Friday to Sunday) — ConGregate in downtown Winston-Salem. More info: http://www.con-gregate.com/

– END –

Posted in newsletter