After missing Shore Leave, my favorite con, last year, I am eager to check out their new location in Lancaster, PA. As usual, I will be emceeing on the main stage, sitting at the Crazy 8 Press table, and appear on quite a few panels over the three days. One of the fun things about […]
I really didn’t know what pulp magazines were until around 1970 when I was introduced to the Lancer collections of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. Somewhere along the way, as my comic book habit had bled into reading the fanzines of the day, I got to learn about the Shadow, Doc Savage, G-8, and […]
Way, way back in 2020, I was invited by Keith DeCandido and Wrenn Simms to contribute a story to their planned anthology The Four ???? of the Apocalypse. The idea was that the traditional Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, Famine, War, and Conquest) could easily be personified not as horsemen but as…septuagenarians, cats, squirrels, […]
Farpoint was once October Trek and ClipperCon in terms of those who founded and ran each iteration of the media convention that was either in October or February. This year, Farpoint celebrates its 30th and rather than being seen as the little sibling to Shore Leave, it has forged its own identity. Their guest line-up […]
I attempted to fund my homage to the golden age of pulp magazines, Thrilling Adventure Yarns in 2019, estimating I needed $4500 to pay the authors somewhat below market rates, a cover painting, and book designer. I was shocked to do 200+% better with 400 backers. Encouraged, I tried again with TAY 2021, which asked […]
Finally, I am getting to once again walk the halls of the Hunt Valley Inn as I attend Shore Leave 42. Accompanying me will be a legion of authors, many of whom I have not seen in years. Me and the Crazy 8 Press gang will have a table and I look forward to chatting […]
It has to have been a year or so back when Mike Friedman reached out to me and Paul Kupperberg. “Guys,” he said, “I’m thinking of creating a prose superhero universe.” When we couldn’t talk him out of it, we provided feedback on his premise, ensuring it didn’t resemble the plethora of existing shared superhero […]
A freelance writer always likes to be invited in on the ground floor of something new because you never know what will click and what won’t. All too often, I’ve gotten excited by projects that were met with less enthusiasm. Yet, when I was invited to join Systema Paradoxa, I was delighted since it meant […]
Regular readers know how much I love Shore Leave, the largest fan-run con, now up to 41.6. Yeah, they’d playing with the numbers since this year is a virtual con. The good news for those not in the Maryland area is that you can now attend and see what you’ve been missing. All the details […]
I never expected 400 backers and reaching 248% of the goal when I launched the Kickstarter campaign for Thrilling Adventure Yarns in 2019. I just knew I loved the old pulp magazines and wanted to have fun with them, pay tribute to their influence on me as a reader. When the book debuted that summer, […]
So, in theory, we should all be gathering at the Hunt Valley Inn for Shore Leave, but you know, things happened. There’s a virtual version that will have some panels this weekend and throughout the next few weeks. However, Crazy 8 Press won’t be slowed down. As promised months ago, we are debuting our latest […]
Surprisingly, the annual Farpoint convention sort of snuck up on me in the sense that I have been so focused on school work that with just days to go, I have had to shift my focus and prepare to be a writer/editor/bon vivant once more. The show is tremendous fun, with lovely fans, but even […]
So, come Friday night at the Meet the Pros event, I will be representedin not just Crazy 8 Press’ Thrilling Adventure Yarns, more on thattomorrow, but three other releases. eSpec’s Mike and Danielle Ackley-McPhail had some personalissues that slowed down their momentum and growing line of titles, the perilsof self-publishing, but they have gotten back […]
In 1981, I was working at Starlog Press and I received a call from my pal Howard Weinstein. He’d just been invited to be a guest at a new show called Shore Leave. It was their third outing and he thought I’d make a good (and cheap) guest, coming down to talk about SF movies […]
At Farpoint in 2017, we were enjoying our usual Crazy 8 Press panel, when somehow the event ended with the team agreeing to write an anthology where every author would find some gruesome way to kill our member Glenn Hauman.You have to understand, we love Glenn. But, he can’t get out of his own way […]
Hard to believe, but it’s already February which also means it’s time for Farpoint. It happens to be a little different this year, their 25th. First, they’ve relocated to the Marriott Hunt Valley Inn (no matter who owns it or what they call it, that’s how we all refer to the venue). Second, it’s a […]
Between January and July, I have five different projects coming out, which makes me sound busier than I feel.We had Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone kick off the year to much acclaim and (hopefully) good sales.In March, Sequart’s long awaited Bright Eyes, Ape City: Examining the Planet of the Apes Mythos.Then, […]