NY Comic Con 2011-Get Your Geek On!

Comic Con, four days of intense geekery, in other words—heaven. First, the haul I got a gorgeous feathered hair clip from Rock Love Jewelry. 

I"m pretty flamboyant, but even I wouldn't wear this to the office. I have a party coming up at the end of the week, I might debut it then.


The first thing I actually bought was The World’s Greatest Search and Discover Poster, a 3 foot by 6 foot feast for the eyes and imagination. WGSD is like the ultimate “Where’s Waldo” type puzzle there are dozens of items to find hidden in hundreds of images.

Ostensibly, I got it for my niece to play with when she visits, but I’m already planning to hang it in my writing space for those times when I need a little distraction. My two-year-old nice, came over last week and I broke out the poster. Searching for the items she picked in The World's Greatest Search and Discover Poster held her attention for a good 10 minutes. That's like an hour for a two-year-old. 

The best con swag I got was the 21, yep 21, free books I collected from publisher’s row. The major publishing houses all had booths and part of the attraction was hourly signings and book giveaways. Thanks big six, my reading list is full three months or so. I can’t wait to dive in.

The book haul:

• Pariah, Bob Fingerman
• Gardens of the Moon, Steven Erikson
• Under the Never Sky, Veronica Rossi
• Shatter Me, Tahereh Mafi
• Gossip Girl Psycho Killer, Cecily Von Ziegesar
• Awakenings, Edward Lazellari
• The Iron Hunt, Marjorie M. Liu
• Shadow Ops: Control Point, Myke Cole
• Across The Universe, Beth Revis
• All Men of Genius, Lev AC Rosen
• Halo Evolutions Essential Tales of the Halo Universe Vol 1
• Into the Storm, Taylor Anderson
• Planet Tad, Tim Carvell
• The Lost Fleet Dauntless, Jack Campbell
• Outlander, Diana Gabaldon
• The Warded Man, Peter V. Brett
• Working Stiff, Rachel Caine
• The Demon Lover, Juliet Dark
• Cry Wolf, Patricia Briggs
• Lady Lazarus, Michele Lang
• Ripper, Stefan Petrucha

On the work side, I handed out flyers about Spirit Wolf to let people know it’s out there and let them know that Ravening, the novel that continues the story is coming soon. I gave out about 340 of them myself. I had my sister and a couple of costumed adventurers, I met in the line, helping me at various times to give out the other 500 plus. I was nervous at first, but after a while engaging the people became a game. I never knew who would stop and take one of my flyers. I can’t wait to see how many of them take the next step and download Spirit Wolf.

I learned some lessons about working conventions and doing my marketing in general. I had a lot of lead time to get ready for Comic Con. I didn’t use it to my best advantage. I procrastinated, so of course I ended up working down to the wire.

Also, it turned out that I was not able to offer Spirit Wolf for free on Amazon or Barnes and Noble. I didn’t know that until I’d printed my free download cards. I scrapped the cards. Stressed, but undaunted I designed a flyer and had it reproduced just before leaving for Comic Con.

Despite, my rocky start, being in the creative soup that was NY Comic Con was exciting, inspiring, and quirky as hell. Artists are out there making everything imaginable, and don’t sleep on the fans. Folks use a writer’s world as a jumping off point for their own creative expression. The weekend left me so energized, I’m already looking ahead to projects for next year.

Some Summer Reading

I’ve accepted that I’m what Barbara Sher refers to as a scanner. I have a zillion interests that I pursue with varying degrees of passion for however long the fire lasts. I say this to prepare you for my summer reading list.It seems a little, how do I put it politely—eclectic?

The Post American World

Fareed Zacharia says, "This is not a book about the decline of America, but rather about the rise of everyone else." I’m nearly done with this refreshing look at the past and future of American hegemony. 

Knitting the Old Way, by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson

I’ve been a knitter for about three years now and I’m just becoming adventurous enough to try to stop being a slave to patterns. Ms. Roberts breaks down the construction methods for traditional garments so that line by line instructions aren’t necessary. I made a shawl using basic “how to make a triangle,” instructions and embellished it with stitch patterns of my own choosing. I frogged that thing more times than I care to count, but in the end I love wearing it and I have an understanding of how to make a triangular shawl with or without a pattern.

UnHoly Angels, by Karen Fenech

I added this to my reading list because when I got to the end of the sample I downloaded I wanted more immediately. What can I say about a thriller that has murder, suicide, grave robbing, child abuse and political corruption in the first four chapters—buckle up it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Hard Day’s Knight(Black Knight Chronicles), by John G. Hartness

How can you not laugh at a story about an overweight, vampire who tries to solve mysteries wearing a spandex body stocking, a cape, and a utility belt? The sample chapters had me laughing out loud.

On China, by Henry Kissinger

I see On China as a companion to the Post American World. I’ll be taking a look at the modern relationship between China and the United States through the eyes of the man who designed the American side of the exchange.

That’s the lineup so far. I’ll post another one of these updates in August