Page 2 of posts filed: Uncategorized

ConGregate in High Point this weekend!

Posted on 2015-07-10 at 02:46 by montsamu

ConGregate 2: Scoundrels and Rogues is set to open at the Radisson Hotel in High Point tomorrow, with writer guests of honor Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole, tons of programming, gaming, parties, and more, including Saturday evening's presentation of this year's Manly Wade Wellman Award. I'm looking forward to seeing so many friends old and new, including John Hartness, A.J. Hartley, Laura Haywood-Cory, Emily Lavin Leverett, Paula S. Jordan, Chris Kennedy, Darin Kennedy, Debra Killeen, Steven S. Long

Posted in Uncategorized

Read Across Durham Event Seeks Volunteers

Posted on 2015-01-28 at 17:28 by montsamu

UPDATE: This event has been rescheduled for Monday, March 23 from its original March 2 scheduled date.

Karlene Fyffe Phillips, Manager of Family Literacy and Community Services for Durham County Library, writes to ask for help recruiting volunteers for Read Across Durham, a city-wide event taking place in every 3rd grade classroom: "I need your help as we begin recruiting volunteers for our Read Across Durham event scheduled for March 23. Please share the link with as many folks as possible. We need

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged durham county library, read across durham, volunteer

The Hardest Part: Lou Anders on Frostborn

Posted on 2014-08-25 at 14:01 by montsamu

In his ten years and counting tenure at Pyr, award-winning editor and art director Lou Anders has been on the other side of the desk from many fantastic fantasy novels and their authors, from James Enge's Blood of Ambrose to Clay and Susan Griffith's Vampire Empire and Allen Steele's Apollo's Outcasts, he's made suggestions and fought for cuts and rewrites. As he writes here, he intended to (and in fact did) approach writing a novel with a willingness to revise to sell, but something happened along the way

Posted in The Hardest Part, Uncategorized | Tagged frostborn, lou anders, thrones and bones

The Exploding Spaceship Recommends Some Good UK Books for US Holiday-goers

Posted on 2014-08-16 at 21:21 by angelablackwell

This column features some good reads for all ages which are not currently available in the US.  Many US fans are traveling to the UK for conventions and holidays during the summer months so Your Humble Reviewers thought to provide some suggestions for book souvenirs and gifts.

For the middle grades, we highly recommend The Book of Beasts (paperback from Head of Zeus) by John and Carole Barrowman which is the third volume in their Hollow Earth trilogy. The first two books are available in the US, but volume

Posted in The Exploding Spaceship, Uncategorized

July Newsletter: Wilton Barnhardt, Jay Posey, Jeff VanderMeer, ConGregate, David B. Coe, Serenity, and more

Posted on 2014-07-07 at 12:01 by montsamu

Vol 4. No 7. July 7, 2014: We are in for an absolutely fantastic July, with readings from Wilton Barnhardt, Jay Posey, Jeff VanderMeer, Lydia Netzer, Deborah Harkness, David B. Coe, and Mur Lafferty, new convention ConGregate in Winston-Salem with guests of honor Larry Correia and Toni Weisskopf and the presentation of the Manly Wade Wellman Award, and! even more, including comics events and the annual charity screening of Serenity at the Raleighwood Cinema Grill.

Let's start with NC State professor Wilton

Posted in Uncategorized

ConTemporal 2014: Day One

Posted on 2014-06-27 at 23:07 by montsamu

ConTemporal 2014 is underway, and there's even more mood-setting decorations throughout the hotel, music playing, costumes everywhere. Here's a few photos, including of the massively expanded high tea room:

[caption id="attachment_3566" align="alignnone" width="224"] It wouldn't be a NC sf convention without Allen Wold, here looking quite dapper. Be warned: he's carrying a badge.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3567" align="alignnone" width="224"] I admit it. I jumped just a little bit when this little

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged contemporal

Friday Quick Updates: ConCarolinas, The Manly Wade Wellman Award, Carolina Book Beat, MakerFaire, and more

Posted on 2014-05-30 at 17:24 by montsamu

Friday, May 30, 2014: Whew! A sold-out ConCarolinas is upon us, and quite a few folks are heading to Charlotte to see George R.R. Martin, Tommy Lee Edwards, Faith Hunter, David B. Coe, A.J. Hartley, Misty Massey, and too many others to list. I'll see people bright and early on Saturday at the 9 AM Breakfast and Books panel -- do bring some "show and tell" for the new books you'd like to recommend!

Meanwhile, nominating ballots have finally started going out (and coming back in) for the 2014 Manly Wade

Posted in Friday Quick Updates, Uncategorized

Carolina Book Beat preview: Gray Rinehart, Lex Wilson, and Jen McConnel

Posted on 2014-04-28 at 12:18 by montsamu

Monday, April 28, 2014: Today's speculative fiction focus on Carolina Book Beat (WCOM 103.5 FM and online, 10 AM Eastern Time) is a special 2-hour episode! I'm very excited about this one as we really have a fantastic show planned.

Gray Rinehart is an editor, author, and musician -- and if everything goes as planned he'll be performing live in the studio from his new album Truth and Lies and Make-Believe. We'll also talk about some of his short stories (such as "Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged carolina book beat, gray rinehart, jen mcconnel, lex wilson

2014 East Coast Game Conference, Day 1

Posted on 2014-04-23 at 20:04 by montsamu

April 23, 2014, Durham, NC: Thanks to a generous last-minute press pass, I had a chance to stop by day one of ECGC - the East Coast Game Conference - this morning at the Raleigh Convention Center. I've been to a half-dozen? conventions of various kinds (science fiction, health and fitness, anime, etc.) at this venue and each has taken advantage of the space in different ways. Here, the ECGC is well-laid-out, with branding stickers on the (many!) glass-surfaced entrances into the convention space and plenty

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anna maynard, ecgc, epic games, raleigh convention center, red storm, richard dansky, wayne godwin, will hindmarch

Whispersync Deal Roundup: Night Shade Books, the Baen Free Library, and The Shambling Guide to New York City

Posted on 2014-02-27 at 19:28 by montsamu

There's actually a significantly large number of local and regional authors in this roundup of ebook/audiobook deals:

Posted in Uncategorized