Just The Caffeine Talking

A Feather in My Cap

In between stops on the Great Summer 2015 Tor Books Rental Car Rally and Literary Cavalcade of Stars I managed to work in a brief interview for the fan web site Nerds of a Feather Flock Together (thanks to the magic of the Internet). You can read said interview here.

Tors Tour To Towne

Tomorrow, July 22, the Rootin' Tootin' Tor Books Four-Author All-Singing, All-Dancing Book Tour and Menagerie of Savage Carnivores arrives at Towne Book Center in Collegeville Pennsylvania for an evening of readings, signing, and discussion. The show starts at 7:00 p.m. at 220 Plaza Drive in Collegeville, moderated by Chris Urie of the Geekadelphia 'blog.

We have completed our totally secret you can't even suspect what we were doing events in Manhattan. Nobody fell to his death, and you can't prove otherwise. 

The Stamford Incident

On July 20, the four authors of the Tor Books Summer 2015 Literary Stampede will arrive in the dusty town of Stamford, in the far western reaches of Connecticut. There, at 7:00 p.m. we will appear at the Ferguson Library (One Public Library Plaza) for readings, signings, and farewells.

That's right: this is our LAST stop in Connecticut. None of us will ever be here again. If you haven't had the chance to get your books signed, get to Stamford tonight, before we vanish into the secretive warrens of New York for shadowy exploits concealed from the public eye.

A Mystic Experience

Tomorrow the Tor Books Summer 2015 Quad-Author Mobile Quilting Bee and Hog-Calling Rodeo arrives at Mystic, Connecticut for an appearance at Bank Square Books. Join me, Brian, Max, and Elizabeth at 53 West Main Street in mystic Mystic at 1:00 p.m. for readin', signin', and general hootin' and hollerin'. Apostrophes optional.

The Simsbury Massacre!

On Saturday, July 18, at 1:00 p.m. the Tor Books Summer 2015 Author Tour and Steel Cage Masked Wrestling Hoedown arrives at the Simsbury Public Library, 725 Hopmeadow Street, in Simsbury, Connecticut. Brian, Elizabeth, Max, and I will read from our works, sign books, answer questions, and take on all comers luchador style, with no rules and no time limit. 

The Odyssey Continues . . .

. . . at Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts, on July 17 at 7:00 p.m. Elizabeth Bear, myself, Max Gladstone, and Brian Staveley will be reading from our books, signing copies, and generally being literary and fantastickal.

If I had sold Darkling Sea back in 2002 or so, this would be the easiest possible tour appearance for me — from 2001 to 2003 I lived just two blocks from the Odyssey Bookshop, and did a lot of writing in the cafe next door. (I think I wrote some material for Last Unicorn Games's Star Trek roleplaying game there.)

Everyone is welcome: 9 College Street, South Hadley, 7:00 p.m. Be there!

It's PANDEMONIUM!!

The Tor Books Summer 2015 Multi-Author Tour & Custom Car Demolition Derby continues July 16 with an exhibition game of the Pathfinder roleplaying system, at Pandemonium Books and Games in sunny Cambridge, Massachusetts.

SEE! Four fantasy and science fiction writers revert to being fourteen-year-old geeks in somebody's basement rec room as they sit down at the table for an epic session of Pathfinder! MARVEL! At their ability to drink caffeinated sodas and consume Cheetos! GAZE IN AWE! As they try to get through an adventure without succumbing to the urge to backstab the other players and grab their loot! 

We'll also be signing books and all that kind of writery stuff. Elizabeth Bear, ME, Max Gladstone, and Brian Staveley. July 16, 7 to 11 p.m. at Pandemonium Books and Games, 4 Pleasant Street in Cambridge. All are welcome!

 

It Begins . . .

The Big Summer Book Tour-a-Palooza-o-Rama kicks off at 7:00 p.m. this coming Tuesday, July 14 (Bastille Day, for Francophiles) at the Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts. We'll be having a book launch party for Max Gladstone's new novel Last First Snow, along with readings and book signings by Elizabeth Bear, Brian Staveley, and ME.

Meanwhile, approximately 7.5 billion kilometers away, the New Horizons probe will whip past Pluto, snapping the first close-up photos of the ex-planet.

The Big 2015 Summer Book Tour!

I haven't been talking much about promotional events for Corsair, but that's about to change. Apparently the three-author road show I did with Ramona Wheeler and Brian Staveley back in the winter of 2014 was enough of a success that Tor Books's publicity department has arranged a bigger and more elaborate version this year.

Four SF and fantasy writers! Ten libraries and bookstores! Twelve days! A savage journey to the heart of the American Dream, or something like that. 

The four writers: Elizabeth Bear (whose new book is the steampunk adventure Karen Memory); James L. Cambias (author of Corsair, duh); Max Gladstone (promoting his amazing new fantasy novel Last First Snow); and the inevitable Brian Staveley (with his new book The Providence of Fire, the sequel to The Emperor's Blades).  

The Tour:

July 14, 7:00 p.m.: Harvard Book Store (1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge MA)

July 16, 7:00 p.m.: Pandemonium Books and Games (4 Pleasant St., Cambridge MA) — watch four SF/fantasy writers play the Pathfinder roleplaying game!

July 17, 6:00 p.m.: Odyssey Bookshop (9 College St., South Hadley MA)

July 18, 1:00 p.m.: Friends of the Simsbury Library (725 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury CT)

July 19, 1:00 p.m.: Bank Square Books (53 W. Main St., Mystic CT)

July 20, 7:00 p.m.: Ferguson Library (1 Public Library Plaza, Stamford CT)

July 21: Totally Secret Private Event in New York City That You're Not Allowed To Know About

July 22, 7:00 p.m.: Towne Book Center (220 Plaza Drive, Suite B-3, Collegeville PA)

July 24, 6:00 p.m.: Northshire Bookstore (424 Broadway, Saratoga Springs NY)

July 25, 6:00 p.m.: Everyone's Books (25 Elliott St., Brattleboro VT)

July 26, 2:00 p.m.: Phoenix Books (191 Bank St., Burlington VT)

COME AND BE DAZZLED!

Space Battle Music

When I learned that James Horner had died, I felt as sad as if it was one of my friends. Mr. Horner and I never met, but I have enjoyed his work ever since I became aware that someone had to create the music behind my favorite movies. It is literally true that on more than one occasion his name in the credits made me decide to see a movie. 

In particular, the music he wrote for two of the Star Trek films — Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock — was a large influence on my latest novel. Both when I wrote the original short story "The Barbary Shore" and then the novel Corsair, I used Horner's music for inspiration during the space-battle scenes.

If you want to read those scenes with "the original" soundtrack, play this music, and think for a moment of the man who wrote it.