Happy New Year, and My illogiCon Schedule

Happy 2013 to one and all! I hope your New Year has started well, and that it gets better as it goes along!


(Professor Schroedington, the illogiCon mascot, from their CafePress store.)

A new year means a new round of science fiction and fantasy conventions, and the first one on my calendar is illogiCon, to be held right here in the Research Triangle 11-13 January. Here’s my schedule for the event:

Friday the 11th

  • Filk Workshop, 8 PM

Saturday the 12th

  • Panel, “Finance for Beginning Writers,” 10 AM
  • Filk Concert, 2 PM
  • Baen Books Traveling Road Show, 3:30 PM

Sunday the 13th

  • Reading, 1 PM
  • Panel, “Sitting in the Hot Seat,” 3 PM

Tim Powers is the Writer Guest of Honor, Mark Van Name is the Toastmaster, and a whole lot of other cool people are guests at this year’s con. I know I’ll have a great time! Hope to see you there.

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New Cover Art for 'The Monster Hunter Ballad'

I announced this yesterday on Facebook, but here’s a big version of the new cover for “The Monster Hunter Ballad,” featuring the artwork by Alan Pollack that was on the cover of Monster Hunter International.


(Click here for an even larger version, if you have a bigger screen.)

Many thanks to Alan for allowing me to use the art. For more of his work, visit his web site.

Thanks also to Toni Weisskopf and the fine folks at Baen Books for letting me adapt the MHI cover type.

If you haven’t already heard it, here’s the song on Bandcamp.

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A Song for Halloween

I put this on Facebook last night, but I decided it should go on the blog as well. My apologies to folks who will, therefore, see this silliness twice.

Just in time for Halloween, the studio version of “The Monster Hunter Ballad” is now available on Bandcamp.


(Click the image to be taken to the Bandcamp page.)

You can listen to the song for free, and you can also download it for free by putting a zero in the payment box.

If you like it, share it with your friends! If you don’t like it, share it with your enemies!

And have a safe and Happy All Hallow’s Eve.

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My Dragon*Con 2012 Schedule

Once again, Labor Day weekend will find me in Atlanta for the annual Dragon*Con science fiction and fantasy conention. I don’t have very many official events, so along with my work responsibilities I’ve filled my schedule with some fun things and some service opportunities.


(Dragon*Con logo.)

Friday, 31 August
1 p.m. — Setting up for the Baen authors’ signing at the Larry Smith Booksellers booth (numbers 309-311 in the Marquis Ballroom in the Marriott) … first up at 1:30, Les Johnson & Timothy Zahn
5 p.m. — Holding down the fort at the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America table (wherever that happens to be)
7 p.m. — Filk and Cookies (Baker Room in the Hyatt)
11:30 p.m. — Open Filk (Baker Room in the Hyatt)

Saturday, 1 September
9:30 a.m. — Setting up for the Baen authors’ signing … first up at 10, John Ringo & Travis Taylor
1 p.m. — Baen Books Traveling Slide Show (Regency V in the Hyatt)
7 p.m. — Chick Fil-A Kickoff Game, Clemson Tigers vs. the like-named team from Auburn (Georgia Dome)
(Tentative) 11:30 p.m. — Open Filk (Baker Room in the Hyatt)

Sunday, 2 September
10 a.m. — Helping lead worship at the Fans for Christ worship service (Augusta Room in the Westin)
2:30 p.m. — Singing one of my original filk songs at Alethea Kontis‘s “Sideshow” (Edgewood Room in the Hyatt)
(Tentative) 7 p.m. — Open Filk (Baker Room in the Hyatt)

Monday, 3 September
10 a.m. — Holding down the fort again at the SFWA table

In between all that, I’ll try to catch some friends on their panels, swing through Barfly Central, and find the occasional quiet (!) spot to hang out. And, if I’m really conscientious, I’ll work on a short story or two, and maybe a song.

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Honorable Mention No. 8

In today’s news, the results of the 2nd Quarter of the Writers of the Future contest are out, and I earned my eighth Honorable Mention.


(Image from the Writers of the Future web site.)

You can see all the results here. I recognized several names from the Codex Writers Group, and noted a sizable representation from here in North Carolina.

According to the contest rules, and as verified to me by the contest director, my forthcoming publications in Analog and Asimov’s will render me ineligible to enter the contest any more. But because the issue dates on the magazines are October and November, if I get a story submitted by September I’ll have one more shot. So guess what I’ve been working on the last week or so?

One last thing, while we’re here …

In space history, 40 years ago today — August 21, 1972 — Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 3 (OAO-3) was launched by an Atlas-Centaur from Cape Canaveral. It was the “second successful spacecraft to observe the celestial sphere from above the earth’s atmosphere,” and operated until February 1981.

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Yes, You Can Nominate for the Pegasus Awards … But Not For Long

Nominations for the Pegasus Awards close in less than two weeks!

The Pegasi are annual awards for filk — generally, folk music with science fiction or fantasy elements — given by the Ohio Valley Filk Fest. Categories include Best Song, Best Classic Song, Best Writer/Composer, and Best Performer, plus two special categories for this year: Best Gaming Song and Best Travel Song.


(Pegasus Award logo.)

I submitted my nominations yesterday. Here’s the online nomination form, if you’re ready to go.

Unsure whether you can nominate? You probably can.

First, you don’t need to be a member of the filk festival itself to nominate or vote. That said, according to the official rules “the purpose of the Nominating process is to poll members of the filk community for their independent opinions of each category.”

Unsure whether you’re a member of the filk community? The rules cover that, too:

Anyone who exhibits an interest in the filk community can be considered a filker. Exhibiting interest can be shown by, but is not limited to:

  • Filking at sf/fantasy conventions
  • Attending filk conventions
  • Attending house sings
  • Participating in online boards/discussions/mail lists/webrings pertaining to filk
  • Discussing filk and filk related issues with other filkers

That last category is pretty broad, but if you and I ever discussed filk in one way or another then it seems as if you’re in.

Curious about what songs, songwriters, and performers are available to be nominated? The friendly folks at OVFF ran a “Brainstorming Poll” to take suggestions for each category; check it out for recommendations, or just to get a feel for the wide variety of filk and filkers. (Something of a shameless plug: As I blogged when the brainstorming results came out, my original song “The Monster Hunter Ballad”* was suggested in the “Best Song” category. Surprisingly, I was also suggested in the “Best Performer” category.)

Who did I nominate? I don’t usually nominate-and-tell (or vote-and-tell), so I won’t go into it category-by-category here on the blog. I will say it was hard to narrow down the choices! In the end, I nominated a number of different people, and some more than once, including Danny Birt, Alex Boyd, Tally Dueshane, Jonah Knight, Michael Longcor, Mikey Mason, Madison Roberts, Carla Ulbrich, and Scott & Kirsten Vaughan (aka The Blibbering Humdingers). Contact me directly and I’ll tell you exactly who I nominated for what.**

So, ready to nominate now? Once again, here’s the online nomination form. You have until midnight on July 29th — go for it!

___
*Inspired by the series of books by Larry Correia. (Full disclosure: I work for Baen Books, which publishes the Monster Hunter novels.)
**And, if you ask nicely, I might also tell you which of my other songs fit the special categories.

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'The Monster Hunter Ballad' Made the Pegasus Award 'Brainstorming Poll'

My first original filk* song made it onto the “Brainstorming Poll” of the annual filk awards!

It’s not an official nomination, but it’s something.


(Pegasus Award logo.)

“The Monster Hunter Ballad”, inspired by the books by Larry Correia, made the poll in the “Best Song” category.

Nominations are open from now until the end of July.

___
*Folk music with science fiction or fantasy elements.

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My ConCarolinas Schedule

My summer science fiction & fantasy convention schedule starts the first weekend of June, when I’ll be at ConCarolinas at the Charlotte Hilton University Place (in Charlotte, of course).


(ConCarolinas program cover by Artist Guest of Honor Robert Luedke)

In addition to “Filking the Night Away” Friday and Saturday nights at 10 p.m., I’ll be on several panels and will also help out at Allen Wold’s writing workshop:

Friday, June 1

Saturday, June 2

Sunday, June 3

Should be fun!

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Filk Award Brainstorming is Open

If you like filk — generally, folk music with science fiction or fantasy themes — you may be interested to know that the Brainstorming Poll for the 2012 Pegasus Awards is now available on-line.


(The Pegasus Award Emblem.)

As the site says, the Brainstorming Poll is not an awards ballot. It’s “a poll to help generate ideas for the 2012 Pegasus Awards.”

The filk-related Pegasus Awards* are presented by the Ohio Valley Filk Fest, which is “the world’s largest fan-run filk convention.” (The Blibbering Humdingers, who also live in my current hometown of Cary, NC, are the Interfilk guests this year.)

You don’t need to be a member of the OVFF convention to nominate and vote, but you do need to be part of the filk community, which is broadly defined as “anyone with an interest in filk.” Do you enjoy songs with science fiction or fantasy references? Then you probably qualify.

The OVFF folks will compile the results of the Brainstorming Poll and attach them to the Nominating Ballot, which they will release sometime next month. The nominating period runs for a few weeks, and then the Final Ballot will be released during the summer.

The Brainstorming Poll will close on May 5th.

// Shameless Plug Follows //

This post has been brought to you by “The Monster Hunter Ballad.”

___
*There is also a set of “Pegasus Awards” for non-broadcast media (video) production. Those awards haven’t even been around for 10 years yet, while the OVFF Pegasus Awards started in 1984.

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Time to Nominate for the Hugo Awards

The deadline to nominate is this Sunday.

My novelette, “Therapeutic Mathematics and the Physics of Curve Balls,” is eligible, and I will happily send a copy to anyone who wants to consider it — it was in the September 2011 issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact. A lot of fine novelettes were published last year, so I don’t know how much attention my little story is likely to get.

Note that the official Hugo Awards site says, “We recommend not waiting until the last minute to cast your ballot.” So if you’re a WorldCon member and haven’t sent in your nominations, be sure to do so!

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