Despite a grueling drive from the Lehigh Valley, I arrived at the Crowne Plaza in Cherry Hill, NJ only 30 minutes later than I’d planned on Friday evening. While in line to check in, I was greeted by the ever-cheerful Sharon VanBlarcom, Farpoint chairwoman. Minutes later, we were joined by the Wilson crew— Steve, Renee, Ethan, and Jessica Headlee.
After a late dinner at Houlihan’s (thank you again, Sharon, for driving!) Steve presented me with a contributor copy of our double horror novel—a thing of beauty if I say so myself. Immense gratitude to Ethan Wilson on his incredible design and formatting. We called it a night after that and regrouped for breakfast the following at the Westmont Diner. With a few hours to spare, we visited a few local shops, including HO Sattler’s Trains and Hobbies, Fat Jack’s Comicrypt, and House of Fun—a vintage toy shop in Oaklyn, NJ.
Finally in my hands!
By the time I returned to the hotel for my noon panel, I was struggling with mild nausea and a severe headache. I skipped the panel, took a moment to breathe, and strolled the dealer room where I managed to score a near mint condition autographed copy of Harlan Ellison’s 1987 graphic anthology, Night and the Enemy for $35. I also added several more vintage paperbacks to my collection from Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and A.E. Van Vogt. I stopped by the Shore Leave table to catch up with good friend and astronomer, Dr. Inge Heyer, who also happens to be Shore Leave’s co-chair and writer liaison.
Although my nausea abated, I relented to the headache and took a nap in my room before celebrating the release of my latest novella, Like Mother, Like Daughters, part of a double horror offering along with Steven H. Wilson’s vampire tale, Freedom’s Blood. Our book launch was held in the convention suite with pizzas (thank you for making the run, Renee!), kiffles (fruit-filled pastries), and Hershey’s Kisses that I had brought with me. Con Suite coordinator Gene Olmstead served some of his home made birch beer. We sold a few books, gave copies to two of our Kickstarter donors, Sharon VanBlarcom and Ann Stolinsky, and enjoyed a fun but hectic hour. I stole away to chat with veteran author and graphic designer Aaron Rosenberg, who had kindly snagged for me a vintage ACE edition of A.E. Van Vogt’s The Weapon Makers from the free book table. Thanks again, Aaron!
After cleaning up and heading out to dinner, Steve and I took time to sign all of the paperbacks necessary to fulfill Kickstarter rewards and “thank you” copies for our advance readers. A few hours later, I finally attended my first panel of the convention— a retrospective on the life and career of legendary writer, Harlan Ellison. I was honored to have been chosen as moderator and to be joined by writers Jay Smith, Darrell Schweitzer, and Mark Wolverton. Much of the panel was devoted to anecdotes of Harlan’s infamously intractable personality, but also to his blunt honesty and integrity in standing up for himself and his fellow writers. Some of us shared our personal interactions with Harlan and pondered whether many of his outrageous acts of revenge against publishers and television producers were truth or folklore. All in all, the panel capped off my Saturday night on a high note.
On Sunday, I packed up the car and moderated my final panel of the con, What Your Body Language Says About You, with co-panelist Mary Spila. There was a great deal of audience participation as we discussed the signals we send with our posture and body language— especially on the topics of personal safety and flirtatious behavior— but also during job interviews and social interactions. We also touched on the topics of misreading body language, and the various interpretations of body language across diverse cultures.
After the panel, I sat with Sharon VanBlarcom at the Farpoint table for an hour or so to unwind before bringing to an end another marvelous Philcon.
Clear skies and milder temperatures ushered in Shore Leave’s 40th anniversary SF convention in Hunt Valley, MD this past weekend. Celebrity guests included William Shatner, Ming-Na Wen, Allison Scagliotti, Peter Williams, Peter Kelamis, Chase Masterson, and Aron Eisenberg.
After checking into the hotel and collecting my convention materials (badge and program book), I made an initial round of the dealer room and convention areas to get the lay of the land—which hasn’t changed much in the 25 years I’ve been attending Shore Leave.
For me, Friday’s events kicked off at 7PM with an hour-long discussion panel called “Anthologies: Share the Love,” which turned out to be a lively round-table discussion among several writers about what attracts readers to short story collections, themed anthologies versus mixed genre, and what draws writers to submit to anthologies. In addition to myself, participants included Keith R.A. DeCandido, Richard White, Joshua Palmatier, Christopher Bennett, Jenifer Rosenberg, and our moderator, Greg Cox.
It should be noted that while my wife was with me—and had begun attending Shore Leave three years before I—she did not stay at the con beyond Friday evening. Following Shore Leave, we were scheduled to begin a weeklong vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE. Evon wanted to get there a few days sooner, so we planned for her to leave on Saturday morning with our friends Steve and Renee Wilson, with whom we rent a house for a week each summer. I would then join then on Sunday evening.
At 10PM on Friday, it was time for Meet the Pros, where all 45 writers in attendance gathered to sell and sign books. It was also where I finally had the pleasure of meeting Michael and Denise Okuda, who collectively worked in graphic design, and other capacities, for Star Trek: The Next Generation through Enterprise. I’d brought with me three of their Star Trek reference books to be autographed including the Star Trek Chronology, Star Trek Encyclopedia, and Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual.
During the remainder of Meet the Pros, I managed to sell a few books and catch up with fellow writers Diane Baron, Kelly Meding, Heather Hutsell, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Russ Colchamiro, David Mack, Kelli Fitzpatrick, Derek Tyler Attico, Lorraine Anderson, and others.
Saturday began at 9AM with “Science Fact” an edifying discussion panel about incorporating real science into your fiction and what scientific advancements have been most exciting to write about. My fellow panelists included Christopher Bennett, Marie Louise Davie, and moderator Kelli Fitzpatrick. The panel afforded me the perfect opportunity to chat about the SF novel I’m currently writing and the various sciences involved including advances in personal communication and space ship propulsion as well as the soft sciences such as the socioeconomic effects of the events in the story.
After that, it was back to my hotel room to change for my photo ops with Ming-Na Wen and Allison Scagliotti, and William Shatner. First, however, I stopped by Allison’s autograph table and picked up a Warehouse 13 photo. It was an honor to meet her, given how much I enjoyed her character on the show.
A minor delay and some scheduling confusion caused a brief imbroglio with the photo op lines, but everything worked out well in the end. At the start of my photo op with Allison and Ming-Na, I stood between them and said, “fanboys, eat your hearts out,” which got a laugh out of Allison. Ming-Na didn’t hear me until I repeated the comment after the photo was taken and it gave her a chuckle.
After that, it was time for two more discussion panels. The first, Firebringer Press Presents, was supposed to be a one hour update about what books are forthcoming from Firebringer—the small press I work with most and owned by the aforementioned Steve Wilson—but we were scheduled opposite Ming-Na’s stage talk and she was only at Shore Leave for one day. Needless to say, our panel had no audience other than my friend Omar who just happened to cross paths with me in the hallway and wanted to catch up. Thus, Ethan Wilson, Diane Baron, and I sat and talked with Omar for about 25 minutes before abandoning the room.
However, I returned to the room at 4PM for my final panel of the day, “Robert Heinlein’s Five Rules of Writing,” moderated by Laura Ware. My fellow panelists included Jim Johnson, Lorraine Anderson, and Dayton Ward. We managed to actively fill the entire hour expounding on each of Heinlein’s Rules of Writing, which are:
You must write.
You must finish what you write.
You must refrain from rewriting except to editorial order.
You must put your work on the market.
You must keep your work on the market until it sells.
The final task of the day was obtaining a Ming-Na autograph, which I managed to do surprisingly quickly during the official 5PM autograph session.
Then it was out to dinner at Andy Nelson’s BBQ with several writer friends, then back to the hotel to hang out with Farpoint Con Chair Sharon VanBlarcom for a few hours before finally crashing in my room.
Sunday began with an overpriced breakfast buffet in the hotel’s Cinnamon Tree restaurant before my 11AM panel, “The Writing Life” with Heather Hutsell, Roberta Rogow, Richard White, and Diane Baron. The panel covered such topics as writing schedule, obstacles and distractions to writing, and overcoming burnout.
As that was my final panel for the day, I packed up my car, said my final goodbyes to as many friends as I could track down, then hit the road to meet up with my wife and friends in Rehoboth Beach, DE, from which this blog post was written.
All told, it was a triumphant 40th birthday celebration for Shore Leave! Kudos to the Star Trek Association of Towson, organizers of the convention. Next stop, Farpoint SF convention in February.
2018 marks two milestones for two of my favorite annual science fiction conventions in Hunt Valley, Maryland and the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, my second favorite Trek series.
Next month, Farpoint celebrates its 25th anniversary with celebrity guests Matt Frewer (Max Headroom, Orphan Black, Eureka, Timeless), Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine), Nora McLellan (Killjoys), and Hugo award-winning author Timothy Zahn.
Additional writer guests include Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Howard Weinstein, Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Keith RA DeCandido, Heather Hutsell, Dave Galanter, Steven H. Wilson, Mary Fan, Phil Giunta (hey, that’s me!) and more…
In July, Shore Leave celebrates 40 years with the return of William Shatner as well as Deep Space Nine cast members Chase Masterson and Aron Eisenberg. From Dark Matter, Melissa O’Neil and Alex Mallari, Jr. will also join us.
Writer guests include many of the same from Farpoint including Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Howard Weinstein, Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Keith RA DeCandido, Heather Hutsell, Steven H. Wilson, Mary Fan, Dave Galanter, Phil Giunta (hey, that’s me again!) as well as Dayton Ward, Lorraine Anderson, Scott Pearson and more.
So far, 2018 is shaping up to be a great year! Keep an eye on my Upcoming Events page for updates on these and other conventions and author events.
The Write Stuff writers conference this weekend proved my point yet again about the power of presenting. After delivering a fun and engaging session first thing Saturday morning on “Writing the Compelling Short Story,” I proceeded to sell 10 books at the afternoon book fair. Compare that to last year where I worked only as a volunteer and sold one book.
Going back further in the time to 2014 when I last presented at the Write Stuff, my sales at the book fair were higher than one year later, when I was the conference chairman.
With one exception, it never fails that delivering a quality solo presentation—or participating in a discussion panel—and connecting with an audience will generate books sales for an up and coming writer. Whereas merely showing up and sitting at a table with your books without first building a rapport with the attendees will almost always fail to generate decent sales unless you’re already a well-established name/best-selling author.
After decades of attending conventions like Shore Leave and Farpointand becoming a regular participant in discussion panels there, I can always count on selling at least a few books at these conventions. Whereas at Philcon or Balticon, where I am a relatively fresh face, sales are few or nonexistent right now. These things take time.
The aforementioned exception to my rule was last year’s Great Philadelphia Comic Con in April in Oaks, PA. There, I had no presentations or discussion panels. I merely set up a table and proceeded to sell about a dozen books. It was an amazing weekend and I will be returning to the Great Philly Comic Con again in two weeks along with writer pals Steven H. Wilson of Firebringer Press and Bob Greenberger, Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, and Russ Colchamiro of Crazy 8 Press.
All told, the Write Stuff conference was a fantastic three days filled with brilliant presentations, excellent information, and most of all, camaraderie with generous and supportive writers. Keynote speaker Michael Hauge was outstanding.
Kudos to two-time Conference Chairman Charles Kiernan and the entire Write Stuff committee for their herculean efforts!
This morning, I learned about a brilliant initiative called Hold On To The Light,spearheaded by SFF author Gail Z. Martin.
Beginning on September 20, hundreds of science fiction and fantasy authors began an online conversation across blogs and social media about mental illness, domestic violence, suicide, depression, PTSD, and related issues that are often extremely upsetting
and difficult to discuss for so many.
Over the past five years, I’ve opened up about my nearly 40-year battle with depression both on social media and at personal appearances. I sometimes discuss how depression has affected my writing and I never cease to be surprised at how willing others are to reveal their own struggles. My, times have changed. Society is finally opening up a dialogue about mental illness and that’s wonderful. The old stigmas are rapidly disintegrating.
My first novel, Testing the Prisoner, is a paranormal mystery that deals with the brutality of child abuse and the trauma that stays with the victims for the rest of their lives. This was intimately familiar territory, but that made it no less challenging to write. I had to confront my own pain, my own memories, my own struggles with a darkness that pushed me toward a desire to take my own life at least a half dozen times during my younger days and even a few times in recent years.
Still, I knew the story had to be told for a number of reasons. First, I wanted to let others who have been victims of child abuse to know that they are not alone. Secondly, and perhaps more selfishly, I wanted to turn the tables on a demon that has persistently robbed me of happiness and instead, use it as a storytelling tool to launch my writing career.
As for surviving depression, perhaps it was faith, willpower, or a hope for a brighter future that dissuaded me from any “permanent solutions” to my problem. Much of the credit should also be given to SFF fandom and my growing interest in writing. Watching Star Trek and seeing Star Wars at the tender age of six inspired me. Later, the media tie-in novels became a gateway to speculative fiction and hard SF in my teen years. I began reading Asimov, Clarke, Ellison, Bradbury, and many others. Like many SF films and TV shows, books became my anti-depressant and while they were not an instant panacea, they helped pull me through countless dark and terrible times. They still do today.
Most importantly, the friendship and community that I found in SFF fandom has been the most enriching experience I could ask for. The best and most supportive friends in my life came from my three decades attending SF conventions such as Farpoint, Shore Leave, Balticon, and others.
More, I wouldn’t be published today were it not for the mentorship of august writers like Steven H. Wilson, Howard Weinstein, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, and Aaron Rosenberg, all of whom I met at the aforementioned cons. I am honored to call these chaps my friends, and in the case of Steve, Bob, and Aaron, my publishers!
If you are suffering from depression, I encourage you to reach out and find the help you so richly deserve. You are not alone. You have a right to happiness and health. You have a right to achieve your potential without being hagridden by a demon that wants to convince you of the lie that you’re inadequate, unworthy, or that life is not worth living. I beg you to find the light and hold on to it.
About Hold On To The Light
September/October are the months for Depression Awareness, Suicide Prevention, Bullying Prevention, Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness, World Mental Health Day and Domestic Violence Awareness.
What’s our end game? We want to bring the issues, struggle and treatment out of the shadows and make it clear that no one is alone in the journey. We want to demonstrate fandom taking care of its own. And we want fandom to be a safe space for everyone.
The steering group behind #HoldOnTotheLight is made up of John Hartness, Jaym Gates, Jean Marie Ward, Emily Leverett, Mindy Mymudes and Gail Z. Martin.
How can you help? Share, retweet and engage with the blog posts and social media outreach about the campaign and by the participating authors to spread the word. Encourage the conventions you participate in to add or expand panels on mental wellness. Learn more about the issues, so you can be an educated participant in the discussion.
If you want to get even more hands-on, please consider donating to or volunteering for organizations dedicated to treatment and prevention such as: American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Hope for the Warriors (PTSD), National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Canadian Mental Health Association, MIND (UK), SANE (UK), BeyondBlue (Australia), To Write Love On Her Arms (TWLOHA) and the National Suicide Prevention Hotline.
Together, we can #HoldOnToTheLight because #FandomTakesCareOfItsOwn.
Goodreads is kind enough to send a weekly email alerting me to recent blog posts from some of my writer friends. With my project load and generally frenetic schedule for the past four to five months, it’s been a struggle to maintain my own blog, let alone keep up with everyone else’s.
However, today I took the time to read the latest three posts from Kristen Lamb on her Warrior Writers blog. The first one caught my attention because it’s something that’s been on my mind for more than a few years: Is Facebook Dying? What’s Killing It? In her analysis, Kristen posits that when social media was new, it was FUN and people enjoyed connecting with one another. Further, most people maintained a friendly rapport, but then we became comfortable with this novel method for connecting (and in many cases reuniting) with others.
We all know that it doesn’t take much to ruin a good thing, and if the human race excels at one specific skill, it’s destroying almost everything we touch. Additionally, it only takes a few to ruin it for the majority.
Spend a just minutes on any social media platform and you’ll see what I mean—posts and comments replete with hatred, racism, threats, abuse, derisiveness, and good ol’ fashioned ignorance—especially during election years and most especially during this one. As the old adage goes, there ain’t nothing new under the sun. Humanity has always found a way to quickly turn every method of communication ever invented into a shit show.
In the case of social media, just as it was in the case of bulletin boards back in the 90’s, it’s easy to talk trash when you’re sitting at a keyboard, using your favorite movie, TV, or comic book character as an avatar and posting under a fictitious name.
With anonymity comes ersatz courage.
Here’s an episode from Harlan Ellison’s Watching from the early days of the Sci-Fi channel, when they actually knew how to spell “Sci Fi”. In this segment, Harlan discusses the appalling behavior of computer bulletin board users (remember those days?). Ignore the inane vampire novel ad in the middle of the episode.
Just goes to show, this behavior ain’t new, folks! Technology may change, but human behavior is a constant. Today, people continue their proud displays of disgusting ignorance on Facebook and Twitter (and other social media sites that I do not frequent and probably never will) with increasing fervor.
Kristen compares this adolescent stage of social media to the petulant and volatile demeanor of teenagers, something I’ve often pondered, considering how even allegedly mature adults conduct themselves like juvenile-goddamn-delinquents!
The question is, will social media ever mature beyond this? Probably not, and honestly, I don’t have time or patience for it.
Kristen concludes her post with a theory that Pokemon Go might actually be the next level of social media, and one that could kill Facebook—or at least deliver it a solid punch in the gut. One cannot argue that Pokemon Go is drawing people out of their houses and into the wild. It’s forcing people to interact face-to-face (y’all remember how to do that, right?), providing physical activity, and returning “social” to its original definition.
Now, I’m a child of the 70s and 80s. I don’t need an online game to get me outdoors. I love the outdoors. I love walking, I love fishing, I love the beach, I love state parks. Get me outside as often as possible! However, if Pokemon Go is what inspires the troglodytes to vacate their caves for a few hours, then I’m all for it because most people have a tendency to mind their manners when face-to-face than when face-to-screen.
Kristen follows up her post about the imminent demise of Facebook with Breaking Facebook Dependence–How to Create an Enduring Author Brand. In summary, Kristen explains that social media sites may come and go, but a good blog is forever. She encourages writers to post their thoughts and experiences on blogs rather than social media sites. Not only do blogs “offer an intimacy with authors second only to the books they write”, not only do they “make us leaner, meaner, faster and cleaner at what we do: writing”, but the reach of social media is limited and anything you post there is ephemeral. Most of it is invisible to search engines and it’s gone in a few days after all of your friends and contacts have “Liked” and commented on it and have moved onto the next 50 captivating posts-du-jour from their other social media friends.
Yet, blog entries, if properly titled and tagged, are searchable and will remain as long as the Internet. People can and will continue to find and/or stumble upon your blog posts years later and could potentially become subscribers or readers who purchase your books.
Now, please don’t take this as a string of excuses, but in addition to writing and editing, I work full time in the IT industry. When I come home, I often have a few hours of chores and errands to complete and possibly a 60-90 minute workout to destress and keep myself in shape before I can sit down to work on the current writing project. I’m often up until midnight, and no, I’m not waking up at 3:30 or 4AM to write when I already need to be up at 5AM for work. The only other activity that gets me out of bed that early is fishing.
So I cannot always make the time to blog consistently. I do not blog “two to three times per week” as some experts recommend. I blog as often as I can. Look, if you asked me, “How would you like to use this next hour or two—make progress on your current writing project or write a blog post?” My answer will ALWAYS be “work on the current writing project”. EVERY TIME. It is far more important to me to finish the the next short story, the next scene, the next chapter in the novel, or to research something for a story, than it is to write a blog post.
While I agree with Kristen that blogging makes us write “leaner, meaner, faster, and cleaner”, so does short story writing, so does flash fiction writing, and so does a few rounds with an experienced editor over your novel.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not at all against blogging. After all, you’re reading this missive now. I blog as often as I can and I enjoy it. In fact, I’m writing this blog post over my lunch hour, when I had originally planned to start my next short story, because Kristen’s comments struck a chord.
My point? In order to maintain sanity as writers, we should prioritize our workload. This is nothing revelatory, you all know this. That doesn’t make it any less challening, though, does it? Or any less frustrating.
For example, over the winter, I finally outlined a science fiction novel that had seen minimal progress over the past five years, while I wrote and published other books and stories. Excited that I now had a fully developed plot, I wrote the first four chapters from January to April—then put the project aside as my publisher and I were prepping a new anthology to be released on August 1, but the pre-launch was scheduled for July at Shore Leave 38. It went very well and you can read about it here
Elsewhere in the Middle Eternity is the second installment in a speculative fiction anthology series that I created. I
am not only the editor, but the project manager as well which means I work with the writers and the artist to bring stories, cover art, and interior illustrations together. We financed the project through Kickstarter, so I had to record the video for that, write the blurb, and create the reward levels.
What’s more, it was spring, which always brings with it yard work and one or two home renovations and yes, spending time outdoors!
I didn’t completely put aside writing during all of this. For the past few years, I’d wanted to enter a story into the annual Rehoboth Beach Short Story contest sponsored by Cat and Mouse Press. Rehoboth Beach is a quaint coastal town in Delaware with the feel of an old neighborhood rather than a resort town. I consider it my second home—if only I could afford a house there! Well, this year, the contest’s theme matched a story that had been percolating in
the back of my mind for a year or more so I finally wrote it in April and submitted it in May. Winners will be annouced on August 1, the same day Elsewhere in the Middle of Eternity will be released. Should be an interesting day so stay tuned!
During the month-long Kickstarter campaign in May, my blog was active with semi-weekly author interviews for our anthology, which generated spikes in donations. Since then, I’ve been promoting the book on my blog, of course, but I also heeded Kristen’s advice and began blogging about “high concept” topics like vacations, day trips, museum visits, and even this post about social media and, yes, blogging. At the moment, I have a fair number of followers, but I’m working to build my audience here.
Addtionally, July gave my wife and I a scare as a family member was rushed to the hospital for life threatening complications and again days later as a result of a severe infection.
After all that rambling, have you forgotten about the science fiction novel I was working on? Wouldn’t blame you if you did. Well, I didn’t forget about it and now that the dust is settling on the aforementioned projects and emergencies, I hope to get back to it again…in between editing stories for the third annual anthology to be published by my local writing group next year and the final two Microsoft exams I need to take to complete yet another IT certification.
If it ain’t one damn thing, it’s another…or two…or three…
I’m burned out again just from writing about everything that’s been burning me out all year! As such, it was refreshing to read Kristen’s latest post, Stress & Burnout—How to Get Your Creative Mojo Back, where she explains how and why your mind and body react to stress and what to do about it. I already practice some of the advice offered, such as freewriting. Don’t overthink it, just break away from your current project and write something different. For example, I did that back in June over another lunch hour, and then revisited the piece earlier this week. After some revisions, it resulted in a lovely vignette that will be my submission to the aforementioned writers group anthology.
This was probably the longest blog post I’ve ever written. My apologies, but I hope I’ve directed you to some useful information on Kristen’s blog.
media about mental illness, domestic violence, suicide, depression, PTSD, and related issues that are often extremely upsetting
. This was intimately familiar territory, but that made it no less challenging to write. I had to confront my own pain, my own memories, my own struggles with a darkness that pushed me toward a desire to take my own life at least a half dozen times during my younger days and even a few times in recent years.
