Month: August 2009

My friend , author of The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies, has begun posting a new novel, in the planetary romance/sword-n-planet genre, for free on his website while he continues work on his main series.

The novel, Queen of the Iron Sands is a gender reversal of the typical Barsoomian model — in this adventure, the protagonist is a woman, a WWII WASP pilot, transported to the Red Planet to engage in swashbuckling adventure. The novel will be appearing in weekly installments.

Click the link below to visit the novel’s page on Scott’s site.

For all the coolness of the industry’s largest convention, the coolest thing for me was getting the opportunity to shake the hand of Howard Tayler, creator of the Schlock Mercenary web comic, who was at the Margaret Weis Productions booth.

I don’t read his comic (which was the focus of his booth presence), but, as I told him, his keynote address at the 2008 Utah Open Source Conference was an epiphany for me, and has completely changed the direction of where my company is headed.

He seemed genuinely thrilled to have someone thank him for that keynote, rather than his webcomic efforts.

Here’s the video of the keynote. Watch it.

Jess Hartley has put out a 16-page PDF article, “GenCon For the Aspiring Professional,” which details tips and suggestions for folks looking to use the largest convention as a venue to break into the industry.

The tips offered are solid, and well worth reading.

The only thing that I would suggest as an addition is that I don’t think GenCon is the best venue — I think that the GAMA Trade Show (GTS), held in the Spring in Las Vegas, is far, far better. The publishers are far less busy, the show (and its after-hours socialization) is far more centralized, you’re not likely to be just another face in a sea of thousands that the publisher has spoken to that day, and, perhaps most importantly, going out of your way to attend a trade show (rather than a gamer-focused convention) sends a message about your professionalism and seriousness — you’ve made the trip to specifically talk business, rather than squeezing business talk in between slots where you’re shopping or gaming.

GenCon is a more “target rich environment” — but I would argue that you get more face time, and get taken more seriously, at GTS.

Something to consider.

Either way, read the PDF.