Whew, what a great weekend. ComicCon was awesome. I’m still feeling sensory overload. In addition to walking, talking, and gawking, I also managed to do a little shopping. Tempted as I was by the swords and armor, I wound up buying some manga Pigma brush pens and a handmade leather journal with recycled cotton paper. It’s not quite what Rallie carries around, but I couldn’t find any quills.

Leather journal and pens

I met a lot of new and very cool people and also reconnected with some old friends. I was surprised by C.C. Finlay and his wife Rae Carson! I’ve known Charlie since the early days when we were both on the old Del Rey Writers’ Workshop. I wasn’t even in NY yet, and neither of us had published a book. Eleven years later and we look almost the same…

C.C. Finlay and yours truly

Charlie is the acclaimed, multi-nominated author of short fiction as well as the Traitor to the Crown series, about the American Revolutionary War with witches. Deep, rich stuff. And muskets! His significant other, Rae, has just published her first book, the YA Fantasy The Girl of Fire and Thorns, and true to the title, it is on fire!

The dynamic writing married duo of Rae Carson and C.C. Finlay at NYCC 2011

With everything going on I didn’t get much of a chance to hit the panels. I had really wanted to see the one on The Walking Dead (OMG, and yes, I am using OMG, the episode last night was killer!) but I was fortunate enough to catch the panel with friend and fellow military fantasy writer, Myke Cole, author of the forthcoming Shadow Ops: Control Point. He had the audience in stitches, which is impressive for a panel on military anything!

Myke Cole, Jack Campbell, not sure, and Taylor Anderson

I still have more photos to post, but I’ll save those for another day. Oh, and did I mention, Ashes of a Black Frost goes on sale tomorrow in North America 🙂

I like to think I wear the same costume every year – single, cute, funny fantasy author. Not sure everybody gets it. Maybe I need a graphic novel 🙂

Had a lot of fun yesterday. In no particular order I bumped into Anne Groel (George RR Martin’s editor), Anthony Ziccardi (Deputy Publisher at Gallery Books/S&S), Peter V. Brett, author of the Warded Man series, Rita of Glaser’s bakery (best bakery in New York City), her husband and his daughter (and I’m kicking myself for not remembering their names at the moment!) Thalia, a recent Columbia grad looking to break into the publishing business, Myke Cole, author of the forthcoming Shadow Ops series, Ed Schlesinger, my editor at Gallery, Julia, Ed’s assistant, and Parisa,  Betsy Mitchell of Del Rey, Sarah, currently attending Seaton Hall and a big Walking Dead fan, Josh and Carl of Premier Collectibles where I’ll be signing today at 2pm, Jay Franco, formerly of the Book Club and now at DK, SueMoe, formerly of Del Rey, dressed as Darth Vader, Quail Man, three Wonder Women, a slew of zombies, anime and manga characters that I have absolutely no idea who or what they were, and a woman who looked like a smurf but turned out to not be a smurf.

I also learned that I don’t have a clue about online gaming. A kid started talking to me about World of Warcraft and honestly, he might as well have been talking Latin for all I understood. For some odd reason I felt the urge to yell at him to get off my lawn.

You can find me at @CEvans_Author on Twitter. The hashtag for the chat will be #nycc  for New York Comic Con, where I’ll be this weekend starting Friday. My official signing there will be Saturday afternoon at 2pm at the Premier Collectibles booth right across from the Simon and Schuster booth.They will have lots of copies of Ashes of a Black Frost as well as copies of A Darkness Forged in Fire and The Light of Burning Shadows.

Today also marks the first official on sale date of Ashes of a Black Frost as it goes live in the UK. And for all those who have asked, I’m hoping to get over to the UK next spring/summer.

Cheers!

Chris

As most of you know, Terry Pratchett is one of my big influences. I don’t think I’ve read every single Disc World book, yet, but I’m close. Of the Disc World cast of characters, most of my favorites reside in the Watch, and Pratchett’s new book, Snuff, revolves around Sir Samuel Vimes, Watch Commander. I haven’t read the book yet, but only because I am saving it as a reward for getting all kinds of tasks done I’ve put off for too long.

Here’s the interview: http://boingboing.net/2011/10/10/an-interview-with-sir-terry-pratchett-on-his-new-novel-snuff.html

A friend gave me his ticket to a live music event down in the Village tonight. I thought, with some trepidation, that it was going to be jazz, but it turned out to be a group of exceptional country music singer songwriters. And when I say exceptional, check out the lineup. These guys have written number one hits for some of the biggest singers in country music. The kicker, and I use that expression pointedly, was that Kix Brooks was in the audience and came on stage and sang a song with them. For a couple of hours, my New York City was a honky tonk somewhere in the south. I have the sudden urge to buy a beat up pickup truck, call women ma’am, and learn to play the guitar. Seriously, these guys were telling story in song and they were good, very good.

Craig Morgan
Performance credits only
“Almost Home”
“Redneck Yacht Club”
“That’s What I Love About Sunday”

Josh Thompson
“Way Out Here”
“Won’t Be Lonely Long”
“Beer On The Table”

Bob DiPiero
“If You Ever Stop Loving Me” / Montgomery Gentry
“Southern Voice” / Tim McGraw
“Blue Clear Sky” / George Strait
“You Can’t Take The Honky Tonk Out Of The Girl” / Brooks & Dunn

Scotty Emerick
“I Love This Bar” / Toby Keith
“Beer For My Horses” / Toby Keith and Willie Nelson
“Good as I Once Was” / Toby Keith
“I’m Just Talking About Tonight” / Toby Keith

David Lee Murphy
“Live A Little” / Kenny Chesney
“Living In Fast Forward” / Kenny Chesney
“Big Green Tractor” / Jason Aldean
“Dust On The Bottle” / David Lee Murphy