Heard back from the World Fantasy Convention and I'm gonna be on a panel!!! Woo hoo!! The theme of the con is "whimsical fantasy" so Skinners should fit in just fine!! Heh. Seriously, I'm happy to be included at all in such a big con. My panel will be at 1PM on Friday the 29th and is about "Humor and Horror". I think I'm a pretty good fit for this one, so I just hope I don't freeze up and sit there like a smiling lump with what are surely going to be much more notable speakers on either side of me. There's also a signing on that same night at 8 or 8:30 so if you're in Columbus, OH the last weekend of this month and feel like getting a world class fantasy fix, come on down and see me. There's bound to be some other pretty good authors and stuff there too.
This will be the first time I've ever been to Columbus, OH so if anyone has any good dining suggestions I'd like to hear them. Thank God I've got my GPS because otherwise I'd have to drive out there with a notebook full of Google maps. This will be an exciting con. Also, it should be the one that puts me over the top for a while in the "outside with other people" department. Most folks don't get just how rough it can be going from sitting in front of my computer all day every day to being surrounded by LOTS of people. At least at cons, lots of those people are in costumes so it makes it easier for me to handle.
I'm plugging away at Skinners #6. I like to think of the series as being told in arcs and Book 6 will be the end of this particular arc. Not the end of the road, but ties up some loose ends. I will tell you that not everything will be wrapped up all perfect and happy by the last page. I mean, what fun is that? I've also been getting tons of ideas for other stuff. A few that I'm really excited about are in the Steampunk genre. More than anything, that genre seems to embody raw creativity at its fun-loving best. All too often, I hear people griping about the more practical aspects of stuff that's just supposed to be entertaining. My favorite will always be the conservation of mass in shapeshifters. Ok, I realize a physical object can't create more bulk than it already has but people really can't change into were-leopards either. Lighten up!! As long as the story is good, the characters are likable and the world is consistent, I'm always willing to go along for the ride. Since Steampunk subscribes to stuff like alien tech, clockwork robots and supernatural science fiction wrapped in a historical setting, that's a ride I want to take! I'm sure they get their gripers too. "But...but....that technology didn't EXIST in the 1800's!!" SHUT IT, ass clown!!!
