Finally recorded a new 15-minute video newsletter on my YouTube channel with updates about life, death, books, awards, conventions, and an upcoming change in format. Click here to check it out!
New Video Newsletter on YouTube!
Category Archives: Conventions
After Action Report: 2024 Write Stuff Conference
Another Write Stuff Conference has come and gone all too soon. Although the convention is three days long, I was only able to attend on Friday and Saturday.
Friday’s full-day session was divided into two sections, both taught by NYT bestseller and five-time Bram Stoker award winner Jonathan Maberry. The morning class was a three-hour crash course on creating a salable novel while the afternoon was all about building compelling characters in fiction. Jonathan’s advice was compelling, entertaining, poignant, and direct.
While I was not able to attend the Page Cuts critique sessions and agent Mark Gottlieb’s talk on Mastering the Submission Process, it wouldn’t be a Write Stuff without the Friday night social event from 8:30-10PM. I never miss that opportunity to kick back and chat with fellow writers and catch up with some folks I haven’t seen since the last conference.
In recent years, cosplay has been encouraged with people dressing up as characters from short stories and books. Our first cosplayer who started years before, however, was con-chair Charles Kiernan as Mark Twain seen here with Laurel Wenson as Sister Katherine from Michael Daigle’s series of detective novels starring Frank Nagler.
Saturday was a full day of hour-long presentations by our faculty including Jonathan Maberry, Amy Deardon, Jordan Sonnenblick, Laurel Wenson, and Melissa Koberlein.
Given the fact that I’ve had a romantic comedy idea bouncing around my head for several months, I attended Melissa Koberlein’s wonderful presentation on writing rom-coms (above) and left with a list of elements that comprise a good rom-com and a few book recommendations.
I remained in the room for Jonathan Maberry’s talk on crafting the perfect pitch. At one point, he asked the audience for a title, character name, and logline for a story. Armed with that info, he instantly created a verbal pitch for the book, summarizing both the plot and the protagonist and naming comparable titles. He did this without stammering, hesitating, or reconsidering a single word. Stunning.
At that point, I decided to set up my table for the afternoon book fair and managed to sell a few books before lunch while chatting with fellow writers Laurel Wenson, Michael Daigle, and Jon Gibbs.
By the time I made my way to Salons A& B for lunch, the joint was packed. I found a seat in the back corner table with friend, writer, and editor Weldon Burge and his wife, Cindy. I had suggested Weldon as a presenter, having worked with him when he accepted and edited my story for A Plague of Shadows anthology in 2018. Weldon and I have also had stories in three other anthologies over the years. He is an experienced presenter, small press owner, and a good friend.
Over dessert, Jonathan Maberry delivered an encouraging, delightful, and uplifting keynote speech that was part advice and part anecdotes from his writing career. Always a joy to be in his company.
After lunch, I attended Weldon’s back-to-back presentations on writing for anthologies (above). After that, it was time for the book fair. My hottest seller was the second edition of my first paranormal mystery novel, Testing the Prisoner, which had won three awards since November, including two just days before the conference. I also sold four anthologies before the end of the day. By 5PM, it was time to call it a day, pack it in, and say goodbye to Weldon, Cindy, Jonathan, and my fellow members of the Greater Lehigh Valley Writers Group who did a stellar job of organizing the conference yet again.
To add a little more literary fun to this weekend, two items arrived in the mail, one on Friday and other on Saturday. The first was the pack of award stickers from The BookFest Spring 2024 competition in which Testing the Prisoner took second place in the Horror\Ghosts & Paranormal category.
The second item was the 12×18 poster for the second edition of my second paranormal mystery novel from 2012, By Your Side. The new edition is available on preorder in ebook format now with the paperback to follow next week.
After-Action Report: Lehigh Valley Comic Con
Farewell to a Home Away from Home
On Saturday, October 28th, a few hundred longtime attendees of Farpoint and Shore Leave SF conventions descended on the Marriott Delta in Hunt Valley, MD to bid the hotel goodbye. After 40+ years of hosting genre conventions, the hotel will close on October 31. According to the rumor mill, the building will be demolished and replaced by a Tesla dealership or condos or both.
My wife and I spent part of the day wandering the hotel and taking final pictures all while a dog show was in progress. Adorable pooches everywhere, which added an element of fun to an otherwise bittersweet occasion.
It was wonderful to spend time with so many old friends including Sharon VanBlarcom, Steve and Renee Wilson, June Swords, Daniel Patrick Corcoran, Cindy Shockey, Bob Greenberger, Royce Essig, Sashi German, Susanna Reilly, Rhonda Greene, Diane Baron, Blair Learn, Paul Balze, Lance and Cindy Woods, Inge Heyer, Jay and Pam Smith, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Mike McPhail, Ann Hande, Susan Staneslow Olesen, and more. Apologies if I’m forgetting anyone.
While at the farewell party, Farpoint announced their new home at the Hilton Doubletree in Pikesville, MD. Shore Leave will make a similar announcement in the coming weeks.
After Action Report: FrightReads Book Festival
On Saturday, September 30, I attended the third annual FrightReads Book Festival in Millersville, MD as an author guest. It was my first time there and will certainly not be my last.
It was a magical weekend of hanging out with old friends, making new ones, and putting faces to names I’d only known through Discord or social media.
I managed to sell 14 books (not bad for my first time at this event) and as a bonus, my hotel was directly across the street from the Bass Pro Shops in Arundel Mills and I had a $50 gift card to burn, which meant a new winter jacket!
Many thanks to showrunner Harry Carpenter and his wonderful staff. Check out these pics from the show. I look forward to next year!
After Action Report: Shore Leave 43
As one of the east coast’s longest-running science fiction conventions, Shore Leave celebrated its 43rd year on July 7-9, 2023. Technically, it should have been their 45th, but blame COVID for botching the numbering. Either way, I’m proud to say that I’ve been around for the past 29 of those.
Celebrity guests included Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Robert Picardo, Robert Duncan McNeill, Penny Johnson Jerald, Alaina Huffman, Peter Macon, Aaron Douglas, Grace Park, and Bonnie Gordon.
In addition to myself, the roster of amazing writer guests is too lengthy to list here so check out this stellar lineup on Shore Leave’s website.
Like the eye of a storm, Shore Leave 43 was graced with a day and a half of fair weather between Mother Nature’s attempts to drown us on Friday and Sunday.
My wife and I arrived on Friday afternoon with ample time to check into our room, collect our registration materials, and grab a quick dinner before my first panel—a lively discussion about the new Quantum Leap TV series. The panel included fellow writers Mary Fan, Rigel Ailur, Lorraine Anderson, and Joshua Palmatier. Panelists and audience members alike compared the original series with the new one, touched on some inconsistencies within each (and between the two), and expressed our hopes and predictions for the next season.
After that, my wife and I caught up with several friends in the hotel lobby before getting ready for Shore Leave’s traditional two-hour Friday night book fair, Meet the Pros, at 10PM. As usual, it was a bustling event. I sold four copies of the new hot-off-the-press crime noir anthology, Hard-Boiled and Loaded with Sin, one of which went to writer Dayton Ward, famous for Star Trek novels and other media tie-in work. A few readers had purchased books in advance and brought them to me to deface with my autograph.
After the book fair, I spent another hour chatting with a few of the writers in the hotel lounge before calling it a night.
This was the first time Shore Leave scheduled me for a 9AM panel, but I was awake and alert on Saturday morning for Providing Actionable Writing Critiques. Fellow panelists included Joshua Palmatier, Amy Sisson, Laura Ware, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and John Coffren. We covered a lot of ground including the value of critique groups, proper etiquette for providing and receiving a critique, different types of editing (developmental vs. line editing), evaluating an editor for your work, and what editors look for when selecting stories or novels.
Since my next panel wasn’t until noon, my wife and I watched a presentation about NASA’s planetary defense program known as DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test). Panelists included:
Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer and Program Executive of the Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO).
Kelly Fast, Near-Earth Object Observations Program Manager for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
Timothy C. Miller, Chief Scientist of the Seeker and Information Processing Group at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
The panel was moderated by Joshua A. Handal, Program Analyst for the Planetary Defense Coordination Office at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The goal of the DART mission was to launch a small craft at an asteroid in an attempt to alter its course. In November 2021, the craft was launched on a SpaceX rocket from Vandenburg Space Force Base in California and successfully impacted the asteroid Dimorphos in September 2022. The presentation included footage and images from the mission. It was a remarkable achievement!
At 11AM, I ambled to the room next door for What Makes a Good Detective? with panelists Christopher D. Abbott, Lorraine Anderson, Lauren Ware, T.J. Perkins, and Melissa Scott. Panelists and audience members alike offered their opinions on what traits a good detective should possess. Discussions ranged from earth-based sleuths—such as Holmes, Poirot, Columbo, Jessica Fletcher, and others—to detectives in science fiction and fantasy settings.
My final panel of the weekend was just a few doors down from the previous two and in a room that was adequately air-conditioned (unlike most of the rooms in what we call the “glass hallway”). I had the privilege of speaking about Pacing Your Fiction in an Attention-Short World along with Michael Jan Friedman, David Mack, Russ Colchamiro, John Coffren, and Christopher D. Abbott. The panel ended up focusing more on the topic of pacing and flow of story based on theme and genre than on writing for readers with shorter attention spans. Nevertheless, it was an edifying discussion.
For almost 30 years of attending conventions, one of the major attractions for me were the celebrity guests. I enjoyed their Q&A sessions and obtaining their autographs despite the often long lines. The appeal of this faded about three or four years ago, but to kill time before dinner, my wife and I sat in for Ben Browder and Claudia Black. Each had a microphone, but that didn’t prevent the audio from being muddled. Still, what I heard was entertaining as they discussed their work on Farscape and the final seasons of Stargate SG-1.
At 5:30PM, my wife and I made our way to the McCormick Suite for the third annual Authors Dinner organized by Keith DeCandido and Wrenn Simms with food provided by the incomparable Andy Nelson’s BBQ on York Road. As always, it was the perfect opportunity to catch up with friends and fellow writers, some of whom only see each other once or twice a year.
Afterwards, my wife and I spent time chatting with a few more friends before calling it a night.
With no panels on my schedule for Sunday, we packed up the car, checked out of our room, and attended a presentation on the Hubble Telescope. A Third of a Century Discoveries with Hubble was hosted by Kenneth G. Carpenter, Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Operations Project Scientist.
The presentation covered Hubble’s inception, an overview of its myriad discoveries in it’s first 30+ years of service, including new data from 2023. Dr. Carpenter also touched on the James Webb Space Telescope, comparing and combining images from both orbital observatories, and concluded with a brief look at the upcoming Roman Space Telescope to be launched in 2027.
On our way out, we made the goodbye rounds and in some cases, it was the first time we had a chance to see or chat at length with some of our friends who had been at Shore Leave all weekend. It happens. Cons are hectic.
Of course, no genre convention would be complete without a cadre of amazing cosplayers. I didn’t have time to take pics of all of them, but my friend Blair Learn caught a few that I missed. There were so many more than what you see below. You’ll just have to come to Shore Leave next year and see for yourself.
As always, the Shore Leave committee delivered a fantastic weekend and I look forward to #44!
