I had a terrific time at the convention. I was tempted to try to mention everyone I met, but I know I’d forget a few names…so I decided what the heck and will attempt it anyway, albeit in broad, sweeping terms:

Thanks to very kind and generous staff of the Green Room. They kept it well stocked with drinks and snacks for authors in need a respite between panels. The coffee was hot, the bottled water ice cold, and the mini-bagels delicious. I don’t know if everyone is aware of this, but often at Cons there will be a Green Room where those participating on panels can go and hang out and fuel up. It’s one of the perks of participating. Not that I agreed to be on panels for the mini-bagels…not entirely.

Authors…yeah, the place was thick with them. Here’s just a few that left a very positive impression on me: Ruth Lampri, Janine Spendlove, David Sherman, Robert Waters, Myke Cole, Peter V. Brett, Michael J. Sullivan, Roy Klein, Jeff Young, Nicole L. Bates, Bernard Dukas, Jon Sprunk, D.H. Aire, Compton Crook winner TC McCarthy, last year’s Compton Crook winner James Knapp…oh, and musician and podcaster John Anealio and bloggers/reviewers Mel Hay, Jennie Ivens of Fantasy Faction, and Justin…I can’t remember his last name right now, but when I do I’ll come back and add it.

I have yet to try CosPlay, but one of these years I will dress up. As what I have no idea. Any thoughts?

Went to a fascinating panel on the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer and learned a ton about neutron stars which I have pretty much forgotten again. For a brief moment in time, however, I had my Sheldon on.

And lest you think I was sponging off the hospitality of the nice folks at Balticon without giving back, I participated on panels on Guns in Fantasy, The Walking Dead, Alternate History, The Fantasy of Physics and the Relationship between Fantasy and Historiography. And I did a reading with the very funny Janine Spendlove (also a Marine Corps Hercules pilot) and the exceptionally charming Ruth Lampri who is also a terrific artist. Oh, and did I mention I gave blood, too? Thanks to nurse Shequoia for making it relatively painless.

It was a long weekend, but a wonderful break from NYC and a chance to connect with a lot of fantasy people. Next up is probably Comic Con (NYC, don’t think I’ll make it to San Diego) and possibly the con coming up in Toronto this fall.

Fantasy question for the weekend – how has racism been addressed in fantasy? This one really fascinates me because fantasy would seem like the perfect place to explore it, yet in most fantasies the races/species (elves/dwarves/humans) appear to get along, unless they’re at war. Even then, however, I haven’t gotten the sense of racial animus, but more that they’re evil and we’re good.  Sure, we’ve all seen the initial distrust between elf and dwarf, but it’s often more culturally motivated than out and out racism.

Has fantasy stayed too insular in creating worlds where elves, dwarves, and humans form questing groups and happily go adventuring? Not that fantasy hasn’t gotten darker, but it appears that in getting darker elves and dwarves were removed in order to explore the more troubling issues. I’m betting it can be done with all the fantasy elements firmly in place.

Sorry you can’t leave a comment here at the moment, but we’re talking about it over on FaceBook Racism in Fantasy

I can’t write with music on in the background. I’ve tried, but I find it too distracting.  But music still plays an important role in my writing. In my case, I can jot down notes and most importantly, craft scenes in my mind as the music plays. Then I write down the scene after the music has stopped (although echoes of it remain deep in my skull.)

My next novel, The Tree Line, is, to borrow a marketing tagline that’s currently in the works, Apocalypse Now meets Lord of the Rings, a fantasy that wails like Hendrix. You will therefore not be overly surprised by my music playlist. Here are a few of the songs currently in rotation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4WJlLNIsyY

This is the End

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMyH4XTlVgs

Voodoo Chile (slight return)

Paint it Black

Heavy Metal

What Are We Fighting For?

White Rabbit

Mickey Mouse Club (Full Metal Jacket)

Ballad of the Green Berets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0w6Bqma4qM

Is there (or should there be) a natural evolution in fantasy? By that I mean most fantasies have been set in something like the Middle Ages. Everything from castles to swords, archers and knights on horseback, taverns with roasting meat on a spit, and on and on. I’m not knocking that, but at the same time I find myself exploring an evolutionary path in my fantasy. That’s why I placed the Iron Elves in something like the Napoleonic era. I enjoyed mixing gunpowder and cannons with swords and magic.

So I guess what I am asking is, where would all these Medieval-like fantasies be 500 years on? Would gunpowder be invented? What about the sciences? Physics and astronomy? Medicine? I believe these worlds would evolve, but that’s not the same as saying they should, at least from a literary entertainment perspective. For the most part readers seem to be OK with evolution/progression in fantasy. But clearly, traditional fantasy still abounds. What’s changed or evolved appears to be the elimination of elves and dwarves and a downplaying of magic, at least judging by the success of series like Game of Thrones.

We’re chatting about this now over on FaceBook.

I’m still in the throes of a productive writing binge. The more I allow myself the freedom to write without editing every sentence a dozen times the faster and smoother the process goes. For those looking to break a logjam or generally get things moving I’ve found the following have been helpful:

1. No music, no tv, just a fan for white noise
2. No internet connection while writing
3. Throwing in ??? placeholders whenever I get to a place that I’m not sure about or need to do more research on this. This allows me to keep writing and not stop while I look up the various kinds of materials used to make crossbow strings in the Middle Ages.
4. Setting a goal of a scene at a time. I envision the arc of the scene, think about what I want it to convey, then write it out, knowing I’ll refine it later.
5. Minimal re-reading of previous scenes. I skim what I wrote to make sure I’m continuing in the same tone, but I resist editing the earlier scenes at this point because the intention is to move the story forward.
6. Checking in with the senses. As I write the dialogue I consider what the characters might be hearing, smelling, seeing etc. It alleviates the white room syndrome and through the details plot ideas expand.
7. Most important of all (for me) is I refuse to flay myself when a scene doesn’t initially work. Instead of spiraling down, I shrug it off and take a new swing at it. I couldn’t really do this before because the process was soooooo slow, so I would instead edit and re-edit until my eyes bled. Now that I am writing faster I find I am far more willing to junk big chunks of text because I can create more quite readily.