It IS the heat, and it IS the humidity. Most importantly, however, is the air conditioner humming along nicely. When I began this journey the day I defended my Masters thesis I was living in Kitchener-Waterloo, ON in an apartment with a southern exposure and no air conditioner. It was warm. Sauna warm. I sat at my computer writing in my boxer shorts, drinking gallons of water and wondering if all that suffering would ever lead to anything beyond building my character.

Speaking of saunas, I did the 4 mile loop in the park this morning before the worst of the heat and have been puttering around the apartment the rest of the day waiting for the thunderstorms due to roll in this evening.

In a few days I’ll be able to announce a very cool development, but in the meantime I have a few I’m happy to pass along now.

Actually, this first one you’ve already heard about, but I have more details. I’ll be signing on Friday, July 25th at ComicCon at the Mysterious Galaxy booth along with several other writers. You can get more information here.

They gave me a great review and have been very supportive which is much appreciated. I’ll also be on at least one panel, though the time and topic has not yet been confirmed.

There are also some free giveaways of A Darkness Forged in Fire, both of the ARC and signed 1st edition, going on out in www land. Please check out Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist and Fantasy Book Critic for more details on how you can win.

The first full day of BEA is drawing to a close and it was an eventful one. It was a real thrill to meet up with R.A. Salvatore and get a signed copy of The Orc King and to personally thank him for blurbing A Darkness Forged in Fire. He is a true gentleman.

While meandering about the show I bumped into Scott Sigler, author of the podcast sensation turned major book, Infected. Years and years ago Scott and I and Steve Nagy shared a hotel room at a con so it was nice to see how far we’d come from those humble beginnings.

I stopped by the huge S&S booth and chatted with my publisher, Louise Burke, saw Barbara Walters signing her new memoir, Audition, caught up with Random House #2 Ed Volini (he was deputy publisher at Ballantine back when I started there) and had my first and likely last salmon burger (there’s something just fundamentally wrong about that.) Saw my old boss from Del Rey days, Steve Saffel, who has written probably the definitive book on Spiderman. Also talked briefly with Del Rey’s former head, Kuo Yu Liang, who is now at Diamond Comics.

I sometimes think BEA is as much reunion as anything else. Still, business does get done.

A Hallmark moment it wasn’t, but the emotions were close to the surface as my red wheelie suitcase was rolled out to me last night by the hotel bell hops after I returned from dinner. I have clothes! And shoes! And extra boxer-briefs again! American Airlines came through and I am appreciative.

I did some noodling on the plane out yesterday and came up with some really intriguing plot points for the second book. I’ve been writing scenes and building the structure, but a few areas had eluded me. Something about being on the jet for over five hours really concentrated my thoughts and the ideas flowed. Years ago when I lived in Ottawa I suffered through a severe bout of insomnia. Unable to sleep and refusing to watch television at 2 in the morning I would hop in my car, drive to the airport and sit in the terminal and write. I think it was the knowledge that from there I could literally go anywhere in the world that sparked a lot of ideas. Of course, if I did that now I’d probably wind up on a watch list.

I got here just fine, my luggage, however, is nowhere to be found. American Airlines assure me they’re doing everything they can to find it and deliver it to my hotel so I guess there’s no reason to worry… I’m staying at the Westin Bonaventure which is the series of five silver columns featured in many movies, usually right before they’re destroyed! The good news is if I have to flee for my life I won’t have much luggage to carry with me.

I’m in the city of smog for BEA (Book Expo America) in my job as editor at Stackpole Books. This is a once a year show that is often held in New York and brings together publishers from all over the world. This gives me a chance to meet with other publishers about subrights among other things and especially to follow up my meetings when I was in London last month for the London Book Fair.

In much more wonderful news, I’ll be attending ComicCon in San Diego in July as part of Mysterious Galaxy’s first author signing event (or something like that) in conjunction with Pocket Books. I was thrilled when they contacted my publisher and asked if I could attend and naturally I am happy to comply. I think I’ll be on a panel while I’m out there, too, though what it will be I have no idea at this point. Hopefully something I have some knowledge in, but if not I’ll just wing it. Translinear whatchamacallits? Sure, sign me up.