Reminder: Vote for the Pegasus Awards!

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This is your public service announcement: It’s time to vote for the annual Pegasus Awards for Excellence in Filking — i.e., for excellence in science fiction and fantasy-related music. (Note that yours truly is not on the ballot.)

Pegasus Award Logo
(Pegasus Award Logo.)

So you can make an informed vote, the 2014 Pegasus Final Ballot includes audio snippets of each finalist in every category:

  • Best Filk Song
  • Best Classic (at least 10 years old) Filk Song
  • Best Performer
  • Best Writer/Composer
  • Best Adapted Song (2014 Rotating Category)
  • Best Song of Passage (2014 Rotating Category)

Just by virtue of reading this post, you should be eligible to vote, since anyone who has an interest in science fiction and/or fantasy music is considered part of the “filk community.” The award by-laws define “exhibiting interest” using such activities as filking at SF&F conventions, attending filk conventions or “house sings,” taking part in related on-line forums, and just “discussing filk and filk related issues with other filkers.” I’m willing to count this as a discussion if you are!

The last full day to vote is October 19th, so you have two weeks to get your votes in! The Pegasus Awards will be presented at the Ohio Valley Filk Fest, October 24-6, in Worthington, OH.

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The Musical Extravaganza That Was Dragon_Con

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Dragon_Con 2014 was terrific! I’m sorry that it took me so long to put together this post about it. I’m also sorry that I’m not a better photographer with my phone … so I apologize that the pictures below are in general blurry and badly exposed.

This year’s Dragon_Con had a number of highlights — including the fact that a few people I didn’t know came to my solo concert! Overall, the convention turned out to be a musical tour de force. Mainstage groups like The Cruxshadows and Bella Morte get most of the attention, but thanks to the Dragon_Con Filk Track lesser-known groups like The Gekkos, The Ken Spivey Band, and Foot-Pound Force also got the chance to perform throughout the weekend.

Mikey Mason, the “comedy rock star” and “white trash geek,” had a number of shows:


(Mikey Mason, performing on the Hyatt Concourse.)

The Blibbering Humdingers also had several shows, in addition to putting on a standing-room-only medieval music workshop:


(The Blibbering Humdingers, and friends.)

One fantastic musical discovery of the convention was Pandora Celtica, who had been absent from Dragon_Con for a couple of years. I remembered catching snippets of their music before, but this time I was able to hear their marvelous harmonies several times.


(Pandora Celtica.)

In addition to their “Dragon_Con reunion,” the Brobdingnagian Bards — Andrew McKee and Marc Gunn — put on several solo concerts and workshops. Marc’s “Firefly Drinking Songs” concert overflowed the room, with dozens of people standing in the hallway to listen!


(The Brobdingnagian Bards. L-R, Andrew McKee and Marc Gunn.)

And Mikey Mason was paired with Tom Smith, “the world’s fastest filker,” for a comedy music duel:


(Mikey Mason and Tom Smith.)

Last but not least, Tally Deushane played some of her delightful songs in the filk room (and also came to my concert!) — I didn’t get the chance to ask her if she’s been working on a new album.

So, while Dragon_Con is a crazy, loud, confusing, hectic event, from a musical standpoint it was terrific! My thanks go out to Robby Hilliard, Amber Hansford, and Pat Var for their enthusiasm and diligence in running the Filk Track, and especially for inviting me to participate at a higher level. I hope to make it back next year!

___

P.S. If you want more information on any of my musical friends, check out their websites:
– Andrew McKee
– Brobdingnagian Bards
– Foot-Pound Force
– Marc Gunn
– Mikey Mason
– Pandora Celtica
– Tally Deushane
– The Blibbering Humdingers
– The Gekkos
– The Ken Spivey Band
– Tom Smith

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The ISLANDS Audio Drama is Set to Debut September 19th!

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Hey, you podcast listeners and lovers of radio drama! Tune in on Friday, September 19th to the Baen Free Radio Hour to hear the first part of our newest dramatic addition to the podcast: Islands, based on a novella by Eric Flint and adapted for audio by Tony Daniel.


(Islands poster — click for larger version.)

Islands is an alternate history story that takes place during the later days of a Roman Empire that has been vastly transformed by the early introduction of industrial age technology such as muskets, steam engines, and the telegraph.

The audio drama was produced with some wonderful actors from the Research Triangle region. Tracey Coppedge and Paul Kilpatrick star as Anna and Calopodius Saronites, and the story features Lex Wilson, Jeff Aguiar, Izzy Burger, Rika Daniel, Carter, Paris Battle, Samuel Montgomery-Blinn, Pj Maske, and Cokie Daniel. Yours truly also played several minor roles in the drama.

The Islands premiere will take place on Wednesday, September 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the Living Arts College in Raleigh, and will be serialized in four installments on the Baen Free Radio Hour starting that Friday.

We would all appreciate you listening in!

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Going to Dragon_Con

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With a shout-out to my classmates who will be gathering for a multi-year reunion this weekend,* here’s my schedule for Dragon_Con 2014 — the largest science fiction and fantasy convention in the Southeast! — being held this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia.

While I will be attending as many of my writing and musical friends’ sessions as I can fit into the schedule, I’m taking an active part in these events:

  • Thursday, 7 p.m. (Dragon_Con Eve) — “Spaceships & Zombies,” a Baen Books launch party for ISLANDS OF RAGE & HOPE by John Ringo and A CALL TO DUTY by David Weber & Timothy Zahn — Peachtree Ballroom, Atlanta Westin
  • Friday, 8:30 p.m. — “Princess Alethea’s Traveling Sideshow,” hosted by Alethea Kontis (whose book of essays, Beauty and Dynamite, was recently re-released) — Room A707, Marriott Marquis
  • Saturday, 1:00 p.m. — SOLO CONCERT! — including songs from Truths and Lies and Make-Believe and the hopefully-soon-to-be-recorded new album … including the DEBUT of a new song based on Howard Tayler’s “Schlock Mercenary” webcomic — Baker Room, Atlanta Hyatt
  • Saturday, 2:30 p.m. — “Baen Books Slide Show and Prize Patrol!” with Baen Publisher Toni Weisskopf and the rest of the Baen crew — Regency V Ballroom, Atlanta Hyatt

Meanwhile, here’s an interview with yours truly on Andrew McKee’s “Everything is Filk” Podcast. Hope you like it!

If you’re coming to the convention, I look forward to seeing you! But whatever you do this Labor Day weekend, I hope you have a terrific time!

___
*I started a rumor that they picked Labor Day weekend because I was already booked.

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Swamped

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I haven’t posted, haven’t sent out a newsletter, haven’t done much of anything since before our trip to the World SF Convention.

P5205540
(Image by Hunter Desportes, on Flickr under Creative Commons.)

I am still here, still working, just … swamped.

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On Reaching the Fifteen Percent Mark

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As a bit of insight into the economics of independent music publishing, this weekend I broke the 15% mark in terms of CD sales.


(Image by Paul Cory Photography.)

To be precise, I reached the 17.15% point, which means that so far I’ve made back a little over 17% of the cost of recording, engineering, manufacturing, distributing, etc., the CD.

In other words, I’m still over 80% in the hole, almost a year after releasing the album.*

Maybe you didn’t even realize I had a CD out. In that case, at this link you can listen to all 10 songs of Truths and Lies and Make-Believe, which I call “a compendium of musical selections, inspired or influenced by science fiction, fantasy, life, and faith … a multitude of things.” If you decide to buy it, it’s $7 for a download or $10 — only $1 a song! — for a physical CD. (Though you can pay more, if you want to.)

So as I told folks at my concert this past weekend at ConGregate, if you’ve ever bought a copy of my CD, THANK YOU!

And if you like any of my songs, even a little bit, I’d be much obliged if you told a friend or wrote a review or otherwise helped spread the word.

And maybe next month I’ll crack the 20% mark!

___
*And yet I’m crazy enough to be thinking of starting to record a second one!

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Next Weekend I’ll Be at ConGregate, a New Convention in Winston-Salem!

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A week from today I’ll be at the inaugural — yes, the first-ever! — ConGregate science fiction and fantasy convention.


(Greg-8, the ConGregate mascot.)

ConGregate has been put together by a wonderful team of experienced and talented convention organizers, so I anticipate it will start out as one of the best conventions going. I’ll actually be there all weekend and will be busy with a number of events, including a solo concert on Sunday morning where I will debut at least one new song:

Friday:

  • 8:00 p.m. — “Beyond the First Draft” workshop
  • 9:00 p.m. — Filk Collective

Saturday:

  • 2:00 p.m. — “Ask the Military” panel
  • 3:00 p.m. — Baen Books Traveling Road Show
  • 8:00 p.m. — “Beyond the Evil Goddess/God” panel

Sunday:

  • 9:00 a.m. — Non-Denominational Prayer Service
  • 10:00 a.m. — CONCERT
  • 1:00 p.m. — “Managing Your Finances as a Writer” panel

As usual, I will have copies of Truths and Lies and Make-Believe as well as “Another Romulan Ale” bumper stickers. Should be a lot of fun — if you’re there, be sure to find me and say hello!

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Happy Declaration-Signing Day

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The Continental Congress passed the Declaration of Independence on the 2nd of July, 1776, and then gathered on the 4th to sign it.

On July 8th, Thomas Jefferson sent a copy to my 5-times-great grandfather, John Page, who was President of the Virginia Council. Page wrote back on the 20th:

I am highly pleased with your Declaration. God preserve the united States — We know the Race is not to the swift nor the Battle to the strong. Do you not think an Angel rides in the Whirlwind and directs this Storm?

 

Page wrote to John Hancock the same day that Virginia’s citizens “have been impatiently expecting it, and will receive it with joy.”

What did he mean by “impatiently expecting it”? The calls for Independence had grown quite strong throughout the colonies before the Declaration was finalized, and in fact the delegates had been debating the resolution since it was introduced on June 7th. But even back in April, Page had written to Jefferson,

For God’s sake declare the colonies independant [sic], at once, & save us from ruin

The fervor for Independence was so strong that the delegates pledged their “Lives, … Fortunes, and … sacred Honor” to the cause. Though not a delegate, Page himself was as dedicated as any of them: he served as an officer in the Virginia militia, raised a regiment and contributed to it from his own money, and even donated the lead from the casements of his windows to be made into bullets.

When I was in high school, our English teacher gave us all copies of Paul Harvey’s little book about the Declaration and its signers, and to each of us he inscribed a challenge: “What will you give?” I ask myself that question every 4th of July.

Often I conclude that I have much more that I could, and should, give.

___
Letters quoted from The Declaration of Independence: Its History …, by John Hampden Hazelton.

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My Reluctance to Offer Writing Advice

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Are you an aspiring writer, looking for advice on how to get started, how to craft a story, and/or how to get that story published? Would you like me to give you my ideas on any or all of those subjects?

written in slumber
(Image: “Written in Slumber,” by matryosha, from Flickr under Creative Commons)

If you read this blog much at all, you know that I don’t offer much in the way of writing advice. A lot of my friends post advice, often quite good, on their blogs. Some deliver great practical advice on the tedious task of sitting down and pounding out prose; others share thoughtful insights into the elements of stories and how writers, like alchemists, transmute leaden ideas into golden tales of wonder and delight.

Why don’t I offer writing advice? Why am I reluctant to do so? I think it’s a combination of imposter syndrome — my own insecurity about my grasp of the craft — and my perception that there’s more than enough writing advice being passed around already.

If I’m wrong about that, let me know.

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My Friends

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The other day I posted on Facebook that “I have some pretty cool friends.” What did I mean by that?

Friendship
(“Friendship,” by Celestine Chua, from Flickr under Creative Commons.)

I posted the following clarification, which I include here for any readers who aren’t on Facebook:

My friends are passionate, smart, funny, creative, inventive, and all around good people.

Some of my friends make music, some make furniture, some make policy; some make people laugh, some make people comfortable, some make really good food that they don’t mind sharing. Some write books, some write poetry, some write academic papers; some write computer programs, some write thank you notes, some write recipes. Some paint portraits, some paint houses. It doesn’t matter if they are creating some new work of art or creating a friendly environment that they share with other people, I can’t think of a single exception to the statement that my friends make my life better and make the world a better place.

So, again: I have some pretty cool friends.

And if you’re reading this, then I reckon you’re one of my pretty cool friends. So, thanks!

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