the pre-con jitters and ramblings about books

I haven’t written much lately, because there just isn’t that much going on around here that I can talk about. I’m writing a lot — not as much as I want to, but still doing it every day — and I’ve discovered that if I talk with anyone other than Andrew about my ideas, they lose the need to be told.

It’s like I’ve said before: there are these ideas, knocking at the door, trying to get into our world, and the way we writers open that door is by writing the ideas down. I’ve also figured out that, for me at least, talking about story ideas is like looking through the peephole so I can describe what I see, but when I try to open the door by writing, whatever was on the doorstep has vanished.

So I can’t talk about the ideas I have, which is what I’d probably be talking about right now.

I leave for Phoenix Cactus Con tomorrow, and I have these pre-con jitters that I haven’t had in years. I’ve never been to this show, so I don’t know what to expect (though I guess they’re conservatively estimating over 4000 people.) I shipped out 160 Happiest Days, 25 Barefoots, and 25 Geeks yesterday to meet me at my hotel tomorrow afternoon. It seems like an awful lot (and I’m not expecting that I’ll sell them all) but I’d rather deal with getting extras back home, than not having enough to sell. I’m bringing out some 8×10 pictures, too, because people seem to like those.

Once the rain settles down here, I’m going over to the office store to buy some sharpies, and then I’ll start packing up my stuff. I’ve gotten really good at packing for cons over the years. You didn’t need to know that, but occasionally I like to share fun facts that make me seem cooler than I am.

If you’re going to the con, I found out that it’s super affordable to get in: $25 for the whole weekend including preview night tomorrow (I’ll be there for preview night, of course) or $20 on Saturday and $15 on Sunday. You know what rules even more than that? Kids under 10 are free! I love that the promoters are doing this, because it makes it an affordable family activity that allows geekdads and geekmoms to help their little geeklings gain levels in, uh, geek, I guess.

If you’re going to the con, and you’ve never been to a con before, you may want to read my GiR "Concerning Conventions" which I wrote after doing several conventions last year.

Here’s the schedule for Phoenix, by the way:

Friday Preview Night:

6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Vendor Room
6:30 PM to 11:45 PM Programming

Saturday:

10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Vendor Room
10 AM to 11:45 PM Programming <– I’m performing at 8pm! Come see me or I’ll cry.

Sunday:

10:00 AM to 5:00 PM Vendor Room
10:00 AM to 7:00 PM Programming

 

And there’s gaming! Did I mention that there’s gaming? Yeah, there’s gaming, and you can get a gaming-only ticket for just eight bucks. Eight bucks! If I hit a lull in signing and stuff, I am so going to the gaming area. While the leak in my roof would rather I didn’t have a lull, the geek in myself sure would like to play some German games, so I’m trying to convince myself that, either way, I win.

I plan to do a lot of conventions this year, partly because I’d like to fix this leak in my roof and finish some work around my house that’s been delayed for over a year, but mostly because I just love going to cons. I feel at home when I’m at a con, and if I don’t take care of my inner geek by going to conventions, he rebels in the most unsavory of ways. Everything I’ve seen about Phoenix Comic/Cactus Con makes me feel like this is the perfect way to kick off this year.

Semi-related, but on my mind so I’m posting it:

If I don’t finish it tonight, I’ll finish Elizabeth Bear‘s Hammered on the flight tomorrow. I really love this book, and can’t wait to review it. Candidates for the next book include Joe Haldeman’s Camouflage, Charlie Stross’ Atrocity Archives or Halting State, or The Science Fiction Hall of Fame anthology from 1970 that I picked up on your (that’s the royal "your") recommendation. I’m also working my way through Wastelands, which is an awesome post-apocalypse anthology, and perfect for picking up and putting down while you’re "really" reading something else. I’m also considering Spook Country, though after Hammered — which is the first post-cyberpunk novel I think I’ve ever read — I may want to go with something different, like maybe Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners. Or maybe Coraline, which I’m deeply ashamed to admit I own, but have never read.

I just realized that I really like talking about books. Hm. Nice. Maybe I should get back to writing one.

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41 thoughts on “the pre-con jitters and ramblings about books”

  2. You can’t imagine how much I wish I could go, especially considering how inexpensive it is.
    Envy, thy name is Carol.

  3. Ah. I LOVE the Hammered series. I picked up the first book and expected to hate it. I was in love with it by the end of the first page.
    As a book to follow it, I’d go with Coraline.
    Just for variety.

  4. Coraline absolutely rocks. It was in my “to read” pile for months and after reading it I was deeply deeply ashamed. It shouldn’t take more than a couple hours to read through.

  5. Speaking of Arizona, when I lived in Tucson in the mid 90’s, I took a writing class called “Dragonslaying 101” from author Simon Hawke.
    One great piece of advice he had was to never tell anyone your story ideas. Ideas only have a certain amount of energy in them, and telling people pisses it away.
    More importantly, if the first person you tell your idea to doesn’t totally grok it, then you may begin to doubt that the idea is fertile and abandon it before it has a chance to really germinate.
    Moral of the story: Hoard those ideas like a greedy dragon. Keep them SEEKRIT. Then, only when they are finished, unleash them on an unsuspecting world! Muahahahaha! Or … something.

  8. Brad: I haven’t been invited, which isn’t surprising to me considering that the signing/talk thing is being run by Creation. For reasons I will never understand, those guys seem to think that fans just aren’t interested in seeing me at Trek events.
    I’ve tried to keep a good relationship with them over the years, and I’ve approached them about some of their shows, but I’m really tired of feeling like Charlie Brown and the football, you know?

  9. 1. Have fun and I hope you sell a lot of books!
    2. Coraline is an awesome book! It’s the only book I’ve bought at an airport bookstore. I bought it right when it came out because the cover looked cool and the pages I read in the store were great. And this was before I even knew who Neil Gaiman was. It’s a quick and worthy read!
    Cheers!

  10. Coraline is gloriously spooky, but sweet and short.
    Stross is awesome. Atrocity Archives has the tech from the 80’s meets Lovecraft vibe, and Halting State is glorious 10-years-in-the-future, plausible-geek, gamer fun.

  11. I am currently working on talking my husband into going to the con… who knew I was a bigger geek than him??? Hope to see you there Wil. If you find yourself with spare time while you are here you should go to Heritage Square in downtown Phoenix- BEST PIZZA EVER at this small place called Pizzeria Bianco. It’s always got a wait, but it’s worth it.

  12. Coraline is a great book and a short read. I have a feeling that you will not be packing extra books to take home and that you will, in fact, sell out quickly. Have fun in Phoenix. Maybe I’ll see you sometime when you’re closer to the East coast.

  13. Given that I strongly urged you to read the SF Hall of Fame, take that.
    DON’T TAKE ATROCITY ARCHIVES! Why, you ask? Because you won’t be able to concentrate until you finish it. It’s that good. As is the sequel.
    BTW, my daughter is a fan of one of the bands mentioned in the book (V&V Nation) and after listening to a couple of tracks, I’ve got them in a playlist I use when writing requirements documents and doing Powerpoint.

  14. A quick added note: If the Idiot Powers That Be ever add you to the meet-n-greets for the Trek tour, and you end up in Houston, email me. I can probably get you some simulator time on the Orion simulator, and maybe on a Shuttle simulator.

  15. This is…mostly related to this blog post, which is convenient for me, but anyway, I literally just finished reading Just a Geek (I am reading your books in backwards order on accident) and I loved it. I mean, I never had any doubt that I would, I just wanted to reassure you that you are awesome. Because the words of some nameless 19-year-old girl with the handle RedLeader23 means sooooo much to you. 😉

  16. Yeah. Terry Brooks wrote an excellent chapter about how to do a book signing and his embarrassing first attempt in his autobiography. I had a really bad experience with Salman Rushdie once at a book signing and promptly threw the book into the trash without ever having read it. No matter how good the book might have been or not been, after the way I was treated after standing in line I’ll never read any of his crap.

  17. My husband and roommate and I are coming to the con just to see you. 😉 And we have 2 friends coming in from California to go with us.

  20. PrincessWHN: Score! We’re totally going to have a party!*
    *actual party will not happen.**
    ** but it will still be awesome to meet WWdN readers. Seriously.***
    ***No, seriously.
    /slashie

  21. Wooooo! I am so excited. Even more excited after reading your article “Concerning Conventions”.
    I am excited to meet some other Arizona WWdN readers too.
    Oh, and bring a jacket. It’s been reaaally cold and is supposed to rain this weekend! 🙁

  23. Hey Wil,
    I know you probably get tons of book recommendations, but I was listening to NPR yesterday, and they were interviewing David Anderegg, the author of “Nerds: Who They Are and Why We Need More of Them.”
    The guy was just really funny and sounded very smart. I can’t wait to read his book and it sounds like something that’s right up your alley. Anyway, enjoy the convention.
    If you’re ever in the Albany, NY area, I’d love to come see you speak. Have a good weekend.
    Jon Abrams

  24. Just got word from PrincessWHN that there will be pie at the party we’re not going to be having. Also, that I am to bake this pie.
    ….So, what kind of pie should I bake, bearing in mind I’m not baking a pie since there is no party?
    Also note you are getting advice to dress for cold weather from people who voluntarily live in a place that gets so hot planes can’t go on the runway because they sink into the pavement. Just saying.

  25. Also note you are getting advice to dress for cold weather from people who voluntarily live in a place that gets so hot planes can’t go on the runway because they sink into the pavement. Just saying.
    Dude, that was awesome, and is so totally true. Hahaha.

  26. Stross is awesome and the Atrocity Archive is one of my favourite books. It’s sorta like the Len Deighton spy stories spliced with HP Lovecraft and Wired magazine.I’ve been buying multiple copies to hand off as birthday gifts for my geek mates.

  27. so, if you’re into doing cons this year, i really think you should come to FanExpo in toronto in august! your canadian fans (myself included) would appreciate it! i have Just a Geek and Dancing Barefoot that are begging for a signature!

  28. I vote for Wastelands! I’ve only read the first story so far, but it’s a real hum dinger by Stephen King from 1986. Here’s a teeny excerpt from the second paragraph to entice you:
    “My name is Howard Fornroy. I was a freelance writer. My brother, Robert Fornroy, was the Messiah. I killed him by shooting him up with his own discovery four hours ago. He called it The Calmative. A Very Serious Mistake might have been a better name, but what’s done is done and can’t be undone, as the irish have been saying for centuries…which proves what assholes they are.”

  31. My kids fussed at me about this. They said I should have taken them to Phoenix for the con since you were there. We have family in Mesa, so we could have made a vacation out of it had I planned ahead. Oh well… Kids. 😉

  32. “*actual party will not happen.**
    ** but it will still be awesome to meet WWdN readers. Seriously.***
    ***No, seriously.
    /slashie”
    lmao.
    that is all.

  33. moonsquares, chocolate pecan is a decadent fave, and cherry pie is historical as well as tasty. On the whole, though, I’d say an imaginary party is the perfect occasion for an elegant pie whose preparation is so complicated and/or expensive you’d only ever make it for a fantastical gathering.
    To Wil: Ever read Callahan’s Cross-time Saloon by Spider Robinson? The stories are good, and since it’s a collection, it’d be easy to deal with the interruptions attendant on your travels.
    To any of you luckies attending the 8 p.m. performance tonight, is there a way to share a video clip of it? We were all so cheered by getting to share the big PAX speech …

  34. I’m planning on going to the Con tomorrow, and I am SO excited! After being a fan of yours since I first saw you in that grey jumpsuit, you have totally become the highlight of 2008. See you tomorrow!

  36. How I wish a million times I hadn’t sprained my ankle this week. Wil is in Phoenix, and I am not able to walk.
    Although a bit rainy, I hope you had a good time in Phoenix

  37. Atrocity Archives would be my choice of the bunch.
    Good Luck at the Con and hopefully you’ll come back home with all the merchandise sold.

  41. I will Have to agree with Dawn, It was great meeting you. I was able to buy your book and I plan to start reading it this week-end. Again I wanted to thank you for coming out to Arizona.

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