For some reason, everyone seems to be succumbing to oneupmanship over their recollections of this particular con. It seemed a bit silly at first, but now that I’m reflecting on the con, I think I understand why.

ConFusion runs every year and from what I understand changes themes every year. This particular year was epic fantasy.

Wait… Let me take a step back.

Photo by Al Bogdan

Last year I went to WisCon. Unlike most years, I had actually booked a room at the hotel early. I was excited, you see. It was the first con after the release of my debut, The Winds of Khalakovo. I was damn sure going, and I was damn sure going to have a hotel room at the con. So a few months before the con I noticed that Saladin Ahmed (whose own debut, Throne of the Crescent Moon, is about to hit the shelves) was looking for a WisCon roomie. I said I had a room, we made plans, and then a month or so before the con he asked if I minded if Scott Lynch roomed with us. I said hells yes, Scott can room with us.

So the con arrives and I hang out a bit with Saladin and Scott, and Saladin starts talking up Epic ConFusion. It’s local to Saladin, but the reason he mentions it to me and Scott is that it’s focused on epic fantasy, which Scott and I both write (as much as any of us truly write in any of the genre buckets). A few heavy hitters were going to be there, Saladin says. Pat Rothfuss, Brent Weeks, Peter V. Brett, and Joe Abercrombie. So I was like, hells yes I’m going to go to ConFusion, the Epicest of all the Cons!

See, I’ve been to quite a few cons. But every one I’ve been to has either been a generic, welcome-one-and-all kind of con or has had themes that I might like but don’t necessarily specialize in, like, say, Steampunk. This con, though, Epic ConFusion, I was really looking forward to because I’d be with people living and working in my neck of the woods.

As the con approached, I was being lazy about getting my flight and hotel, and I saw that Doug Hulick, author of the great debut, Among Thieves, was looking for a roomie, so I said hells yes, I’ll share a room. Luckily, Doug agreed.

Photo by Patrick Wolohan

So when we get there on Friday, I basically didn’t have anything to do. Friday was a free day. All my stuff was on Saturday and Sunday. But the fun got going really quickly. I hung out and talked to folks at the bar, including Al Bogan, Amy Sundberg, Doug Hulick, Saladin, Scott, and plenty more. Then I went to the I, Suck panel, which featured Pat Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, John Scalzi, and (moderator) Jim Hines. Now listen, any panel with Pat Rothfuss is going to be interesting. As is one with John Scalzi. But with Jim moderating and Joe and Scott providing one liners and Britishisms along the way? It was damned funny. And, strangely enough, it was grounding in a way, listening to these greats in the field talk about all the ways in which they suck. I don’t want to slip into schadenfreude, but it’s strangely encouraging to realize your’re not alone in all of the little things that plague you as a writer.

Then came the opening ceremonies, a thing I had never experienced at any con. It was pretty fun. Jim Hines, the toastmaster, had prepared some nice and humorous comments about everyone, poking a bit of fun, but not in a mean way.

I hung out in the bar that night, but I was fairly tired, and called it quits kind of early. Midnight-ish.

On Saturday, my highlights included hanging out with Al Bogdan a bit, participating in a mass autograph signing, and hanging out with Saladin and some others to celebrate the debut of THRONE.

Photo by Al Bogdan

Al is a great photographer, and he took a number of photos. The scenery at the hotel wasn’t the greatest, and I didn’t have the best clothes on for formal pics, but they still turned out nice despite that. I’ve got on of his photos at the top of the post, and this one, which I call: Brad, Caught in the Wild!

The signing was a lot of fun because, as I’ll talk about in a bit, it was the start of the feeling that I was part of this crowd. A lot of people came to the signing, and Pat Rothfuss, as usual, created line envy in all the other authors. Even so, Peter V. Brett, Brent Weeks, Robin Hobb, and Scott Lynch all had respectable lines. I sold three books and signed three more. And I also signed a few programs and also someone’s tee shirt!

I also hung out with Justin Landon, of Staffer’s Musings fame, and Patrick Wolohan, from Yeti Stomper. It was cool to meet up with these guys, reviewers, who have their finger on the pulse of the industry in a way that’s different from my own.

I had only one panel on Saturday, but three on Sunday. One personal highlight, not just of the con, but of my young writing career, was the panel I moderated, a panel that was graced by the presence of Brent Weeks, Doug Hulick (standing in for Jason Sanford), Pat Rothfuss. And Robin Hobb. I’ve looked up to Robin Hobb for a long time now. To moderate a panel with her on it was, wow, just wonderful. It was a very special experience for me.

Photo by Patrick Wolohan

Beyond that, though, the con was special for me because, by the time Sunday rolled around, I felt like I’d stepped through a doorway of sorts. Robin Hobb was one thing, but meeting the rest of these epic fantasy authors was special because they were where I was not so long ago. I’m not claiming that I’m going to enjoy their level of success any time soon (though who knows?) but it did feel—not sure how best to describe this—like a brotherhood of sorts. As though I could hang with these guys. I came away optimistic in a way I haven’t from other cons I’ve attended.

I’ll also admit to feeling a bit daunted. They’ve all set the bar terribly high for those of us coming up behind. But I’m always up for a challenge. And though you may not guess it from talking to me, I’m competitive as hell, so I’m looking forward to this challenge. I want to write the best books I can and to try to break out, or at least to maximize my readership.

Here’s hoping…

Epic ConFusion is just around the corner. It’s being held Jan 20-22 at the Detroit Mariott Troy in Troy, Michigan. If you’re an epic fantasy fan, this is the con to be at this year. Then again, if you’re an epic fantasy fan, you’re probably already going. It’s got a number of heavyweights going, like Pat Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Peter V. Brett, Brent Week, Scott Lynch, Robin Hobbs, and a whole host of other authors, including little old me.

Here’s where I’ll be:

2pm, Saturday — Salon E — Trilogy: The Base Unit of Fantasy — Joe Abercrombie, Bradley Beaulieu, Saladin Ahmed, Michelle Sagara West, Jay Lake

3pm, Saturday — Athens — Reading — Bradley Beaulieu  & Jason Sanford

5pm, Saturday — Salon E — Mass Autograph Session — EVERYONE

11am, Sunday — Salon E — Small Stories in Epic Fantasy — Bradley Beaulieu, Robin Hobb, Patrick Rothfuss, Jason Sanford, Brent Weeks

1pm, Sunday — Salon G — Horses and Swords and Castles, Oh My! — Myke Cole, Patrick Rothfuss, Joe Abercrombie, Peter V. Brett, Bradley Beaulieu

2pm, Sunday — Salon G — Genre-Blending Fantasy — Myke Cole, Cindy Spencer Pape, Scott Lynch, Bradley Beaulieu, Saladin Ahmed

And check it: my name being first on the Small Stories in Epic Fantasy means I’m the moderator. I’m moderating a panel with Robin Hobb, Pat Rothfuss, Jason Sanford, and Brent Weeks. That is going to be a BLAST.

I’m really looking forward to this con. Hope to see you there!

]]> http://quillings.com/2012/01/12/my-epic-confusion-schedule/feed/ 2 http://quillings.com/2011/11/01/world-fantasy-highlights/ http://quillings.com/2011/11/01/world-fantasy-highlights/#comments Tue, 01 Nov 2011 19:51:07 +0000 Brad http://quillings.com/?p=1697

Well, another World Fantasy has come and gone. This one was pretty special for me, though, because it was the first World Fantasy with a published book on the shelves. Ever since I’ve started going to World Fantasy, I’ve thought of it as “home,” so to finally have a book out was pretty cool. Last year at World Fantasy I was pretty giddy because I had the book deal and artwork, but no actual book. I did a reading while I was there, trying to spread the word, but it felt, I don’t know, fun but incomplete. This year was different because Winds is out and is doing fairly well, and it was gratifying to share that with my friends who were there, to crow a bit about my book and also hear the successes from the friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

One very cool thing was that the Night Shade crew all made the trip down. Jason and Jeremy, Ross and Tomra, Liz and Amy. It was great fun seeing them there, doing a signing at the booth, and catching up with them in a more relaxed atmosphere at the Night Shade party. They even had a drink named after my book! A “Khalakovo” was, you guessed it, a White Russian. I had one, and it was the yum.

Oh, and the really cool news on the Night Shade front: they sold out of my book! I won the race, apparently. How cool is that?

I went to a conversation between Connie Willis and Neil Gaiman, which was wonderful. They were allowed to pick the topic, and they decided to start with where writing comes from. What made them want to write in the first place, why they stuck with it, the things that influenced them. They talked about what it means to be a writer, whether you’re quite successful or just starting out. This was a very heartwarming hour of conversation for me. Both Connie and Neil are very gracious, down to earth people. They’re also quite humorous. And the talk they gave ranged from laugh-out-loud funny to touching. This alone was probably worth the price of admission.

I attended a few readings, among them Chris Cevasco’s, Rob Ziegler’s, and Peter Beagle’s. It was fun to hear Chris and Rob read, both of whom are friends of mine. Peter’s was a slightly different story. He read “Olfert Dapper’s Day,” which was a brilliant, brilliant story about Dr. Olfert Dapper and his fictional travels to the New World, whereupon he meets a unicorn. I’ve rarely been this impressed with a reading, not for Beagle’s reading ability, but for the sheer brilliance of the prose and the magical quality of the story. I feel like a better person for having heard it.

However, something strange happened that hour. Mr. Beagle was allotted 30 minutes to read, as was everyone else excepting perhaps for the guests of honor. Mr. Beagle’s reading, however, went 68 minutes, a full 38 minutes past his allotted time, meaning the person that was to follow, Alison Goodman, apparently didn’t get to have a reading. Someone even started clapping about 30 minutes in, a not-so-subtle indicator that the time was up.

One wrinkle is that, by design, participants are only given a reading or a panel at World Fantasy, meaning that if Ms. Goodman didn’t get to read, she would have had no programming at World Fantasy. I’m sure that this was an honest mistake. I really don’t know what might have happened, but I hope that Alison got to read, maybe in the minutes that followed Mr. Beagle’s reading or in another room.

Other than this, the usual parties and meals with friends. I caught up with Clarion friends, Wellspring friends, Starry Heaven friends, and tons of others. It was a really fun con, though it was a bit strange since the hotel (a resort more than a traditional hotel) was rather spread out.

I’m already looking forward to Toronto. Can’t wait to hear what’s happening with everyone then and relaxing, sharing our wins as well as our failures. It’s always energizing going to these cons, and this was no exception.

I’m headed to WFC in the morning, and I thought I’d post my schedule. I have only three things:

• Friday 2pm – Night Shade Booth – Autograph Signing
• Friday 4pm – Pacific 6/7 – Reading from The Straits of Galahesh, the second book in The Lays of Anuskaya
• Friday 8pm – Ballroom – Mass autograph signing

Clearly, Friday’s the big day for me. Anyone who wants to come by and say hello, please do! I’d love to see you.

And by the way, this is the first time I’ll be reading from Straits. If you want to get a sneak peak (no spoilers as I’m reading the prologue), come by and sit for a spell.

Several weeks back at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Greg Wilson and I interviewed several of the Writers Symposium authors and editors for Speculate. This was one of the more fun parts of the convention for me, because, well, it's fun talking shop. While we were there, Greg managed to snag an interview with Ed Greenwood, and as it happened, I was the one that got to interview him. (You should have seen the Indian wrestling match I had with Greg for the right to do this. It wasn't pretty. Let's just say that Greg will be nursing a hammy and a hip flexor for a few months…)

I had not met Ed yet; I'd only heard an epic reading of Bronwynn, a brilliantly cheesy fantasy rivaled only by the Eye of Argon. I'd heard of Ed, of course, and I really loved that I got a chance to speak with him. It was one of the highlights of the convention, actually. Speaking to him, I could really feel the love of writing and the love of fantasy that he still holds in his heart, and frankly, it was moving to hear. I hope to be so excited about the field when I'm 20+ years in.

Listen for yourself over at Speculate, Episode 23. We interview not only Ed, but Robert Farnsworth, Don Bingle, Jerry Gordon, Paul Genesse, Maurice Broaddus, Elizabeth Vaughan. It was great fun, and you'll get a good idea of what the Gen Con Writers Symposium is all about after listening to it.

I only have a few events at WorldCon this year, so I plan to make the most of them!

Night Bazaar Group Reading

Who: Bradley P. Beaulieu, Courtney Schafer, and Katy Stauber

When: Thursday 6-7pm

Where: A14 of the Convention Center

Night Bazaar Party

Who: Bradley P. Beaulieu, Courtney Schafer, Katy Stauber, and the super awesome Martha Wells

When: Thursday 8pm

Where: Atlantis Hotel, Suite 1535

Author Signing

Who: Bradley P. Beaulieu, Joe Haldeman, Walter H. Hunt, Jean Johnson, Kay Kenyon, Robert Silverberg, Karen Haber, Jim Young

When: Friday 11am – Noon

Where: Hall 2 Autographs

I'll be heading down to Indianapolis tomorrow for four fun-filled days with all my gamer geeks—peeps! I meant peeps!

Ahem… In any case, here's my schedule for the convention if you happen to be around:

Thursday

10am — Selling Short Fiction: Selling short fiction can be a long road, especially in a marketplace with dwindling print anthologies and falling magazine sales. But short fiction is still an art worth pursuing. Our panelists discuss markets, techniques, and how penning short stories can improve your chances of publishing novels. 

11am — To Plot or Not: Is it better to write by the proverbial seat of your pants or to painstakingly outline each chapter? Both approaches to writing novels, short stories, and game material work, but is one method better? Our panelists discuss the pros and cons of plotting in advance.

1pm — How Not to be Published: Writers often commit errors that thwart their chances for success and send them down a dead end rather than along the road to publication. Our panelists discuss mistakes writers make and what you can do to increase your chances of catching an editor’s eye. 

2pm — I've Finished a Novel, Now What…: What do you do with your finished novel? Approach an agent? A publisher? Put it on your shelf and admire the stack of papers? Start on the rewrite? We’ll look at the next steps, including how to delve into your second manuscript. After all, the true test of an author is not stopping after the first book. 

4pm — Pick Our Brains:  Once again, the Zombie Apocalypse is happening in Indianapolis. Come listen to me and Dave Gross talk about, well, whatever it is you'd? like to talk about.

Friday

11am — Villains as Heroes: Can your main character be something far less than a knight in shining armor? There’s something alluring about a “bad boy,” and if carefully executed, you can make the star of your tale downright dirty. We provide insight into how to handle the anti-protagonist. 

1pm — The Structure of Scenes: Well structured scenes make for compelling story telling. How can you construct powerful scenes for a novel or short story? And how do you string scenes together to create a vivid and stirring piece of writing? Learn everything you need to know about the art of structuring scenes. 

2pm — Signing at Author's Alley: I'll have The Winds of Khalakovo, ready to inscribe with the naught limerick of your choice.

Saturday

8am — Setting as Character: Where you set your tale can be as important as the characters you populate it with. Crafting a vivid setting that is integral to your plot is an art. Our panelists will discuss how they paint their backdrops and offer suggestions about how you can bring your own settings to life.

9am — Thinking in Threes: Approaching the Trilogy: Writing three books is more work than one, but it goes beyond the mere output of words. Approaching a three-book arc takes a different approach to plotting and research. In a trilogy, the bar is raised by your publisher and readers. We’ll show you how to reach it. 

1pm — Tension and Conflict: How do you build tension? What’s more . . . how can you sustain it and avoid the pitfalls of not having enough in your fiction? Panelists present techniques for turning your work into a page-turner. 

2pm — Signing at Author's Alley: Once more, with gusto… I'll have The Winds of Khalakovo, ready to inscribe with the really naught limerick of your choice.

7pm — Read and Critique: Join me, along with Patrick Tomlinson, Steven Saus, and Maxwell A. Drake, as we listen to portions of writing from budding authors and critique what we've heard. Have your prose critiqued by professionals.  Presenters will have three to five minutes to read their material. They will receive verbal critiques based on the “critique sandwich” method. Attendance is limited to those being critiqued. Pre-registration is required.

Sunday

9am — Business of Writing: The Basics: Be prepared to take notes. Now that you have your world built, your characters filled with angst, and your plot twisted, we’re going to give you more than a few tips on preparing your manuscript. We’ll also provide sage advice on catching an editor’s eye . . . in a good way. 

10am — The Business of Writing: Agents & Query Letters & Pitches: Writing might be an art, but there’s a side that’s all business. Do you need an agent, and how do you get one? How important is the query letter, and how do you write one? And what about pitches? We’ll offer the tools you’ll need if you want to get serious about the business of writing! 

You'll find me this weekend at the WisCon writing convention in Madison, WI. I'll be there from today (Thursday) until about noon on Sunday. I have two signings that I'll be available for at the Black Gate Booth, where John O'Neil has graciously allowed me to park and sign for anyone who cares to stop on by. And please do. I'd love to see you and chat. I also have a reading called "Swords for Hire."

Here are the deets:

• Friday – 3:00 – 4:30pm – Signing at the Black Gate Booth in the dealer's room
• Saturday – 3:00 – 4:30pm - Signing at the Black Gate Booth in the dealer's room
• Saturday – 10:30 – 11:45pm – Swords for Hire reading – Conference 2 – with Alex Bledsoe, James P. Roberts, and Fred Shepartz

Hope to see you there!

I've been attending the GenCon Writer's Symposium, first as an audience participant, and eventually as panelist, for about ten years. That's where I first met Anton. He's one of the old guard. We were both going to the symposium panels, and saw one another here and there, largely at the panels that Kij Johnson was giving. Anton eventually landed his first book deal with Ace/Penguin, and soon thereafter, Dead to Me landed on bookstore shelves. Fast forward to 2011, and Anton has his fourth Simon Canderous book coming out, this one called Dead Waters.

It's been great seeing one of our own make it good, and when the Dead Waters finally arrived, I was excited to sit down with Anton (each of us at our respective computers) to ask him a few questions.

First, let's start off with a bit of a plug. How would you describe Dead Waters to someone who hasn't read a single Simon Canderous novel?

Twenty-something male with touch-based psychic powers combats the forces of darkness in modern day Manhattan for the Department of Extraordinary Affairs, whose coffee mugs read “Fighting evil, Under budget.”  Kind of a Diet Dresden vibe.  God, I miss Buffy.

Ok, now how would you describe Dead Waters to a rabid fan?

Simon Canderous is back, retractable bat in hand, and the red tape is redder and stickier than ever.  We learn more about his mentor Inspectre Quimbley and what it means to get old in the fight against evil.  Also, aqua-zombies!

Simon Canderous has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Dead to Me to this fourth book, Dead Waters. Speaking as the writer who created him but may not have had complete conscious control over what he's become, what has been the most satisfying part of his evolution for you?

He always surprises me.  You think you know a guy, but as he grows, so does his ability to do things that surprise even me.  He really started as a mess of a guy, one who hadn’t been able to hold down a real relationship because his psychometric powers had crippled him from having one.  Some readers have trouble reading the books because he’s in his mid-twenties, but has the relationship skills of a fourteen-year-old sometimes, but I think it fits his character well.  With great power come great, and complicated, issues with the ladies.  He’s moved past some of those problems as the series has grown, and become a bit of a one-woman kind of guy, kind of a rarity for a genre like urban fantasy at times.  It’s like watching your son grow up.  I’m so proud… *fights back tears* They grow up so fast!

I imagine you've come a long way yourself. There must have been a lot of things that challenged you in writing an extended series like this. Can you talk about a few of them?

Well, there’s a lot of planning ahead you have to do in writing shorter books that still all seem to tie to one another in a larger scheme, which is probably a horse of a different color than the way an epic fantasist goes about, but probably not too different… I’m writing a series where I have overarching questions that span all of the books, but I’m also writing shorter, more concise problems within each separate book and solutions that are also quite stand-alone if you read just one of then.  I think it’s a richer experience to, say, start at the first book and see how the characters grow over times.  Plus I have to keep an eye on wayyyy down the road in the books, trying not to hamstring the future developments I’m working towards.  This results in some mini-cliffhangers from book to book, but I think I also leave my readers with enough answers that they walk away satisfied from book to book. At least that’s what I’m told from readers who have joined me for the long haul.

Even before you were a published author, you were in the publishing industry. What sorts of trends have you seen crop up or change since you started working on the Simon Canderous series? Is there something in you that wants to ride those waves or do they make you want to run in the other direction?

God, I’ve seen it all!  Vamp trends, shapeshifters, dragonkin, werewolves, weretigers, selkies… hell, Jim Hines and I even coined the werejaguarpunk movement!  Being a publishing insider, I see a trend being bought about a year and a half before it’s going to trend.  By the time it’s popular, some of the buying of it has waned in popularity, so I’m not one for trying to chase a trend.  I try to write the best books that I can on whatever interests me as a reader at the time.  I tend to pick and chose elements of stuff that I think fits with the story I’m trying to get down, but I’m not seeking out trends on a conscious level.  Now I write pretty trope heavy.  The paranormal detective is nothing new, but when I chose to start writing Simon, I didn’t see anyone writing quite the type of stories I wanted to be reading, so I decided to do my take and have a little fun with it.  I love what I do and I hope others love it too.  That said, sometimes I see trends and think, “Yeah, that’s a sandbox I want to explore…”  I’ve been poking around a bit of steampunk long form, but I get more opportunity to dabble in trends thanks to the short story anthologies I get invited to, so I’ve got some outlet for that.

The natural question now that you've wrapped up your latest book is, what comes next? Will there be more Simon Canderous novels or are you looking to break into something new?

Well, I’d love for their to be more Simon books, I have ideas for it and stories still to be told in the Simonverse, but Ace is asking for something different from me for now, so I’m pitching them my Spellmason Chronicles, which is loosely based on my gargoyle short ‘Stannis’ as seen in DAW’S Spells of the City.  I’m also working on YA steampunkish idea that I’ve been calling A Dickensian Iron Man Voltron kinda thing.  Then there’s always my regular fiction band book I’ve been ignoring for about five years now for the paying gigs… no rest for the wicked!

So last year at World Fantasy in Columbus, I got a chance to meet some of the new Night Shade authors that have books coming out next year. I met Courtney Schafer, Stina Leicht, and Martha Wells. Courtney, the industrious little gal that she is, asked me if I'd like to join her and some of the other authors in a group blog that we would use to talk about our writing and also impart a bit of our journey along the way. It'd be a way to get the word out, but also to help other author, too, as we'll largely be talking about the journey we're taking and some of the lessons we've learned over the years.

From this discussion came The Night Bazaar, which opened just this week. There are seven of us in the blog so far, and we'll probably add more along the way. Each week has a new topic for discussion so you can see what each of us will be discussing from week to week.

Stop on by and say hello, and if you know of anyone that might be interested in the blog, please feel free to pass along the link.