Las Vegas Here I Come -- STOKERCON Schedule

Been on the silent side with my blog for a while. A lot of it has to do with writing-- both good and bad. But I'm back, just in time to publish my schedule for the upcoming horror convention in Las Vegas -- STOKERCON!!!


Friday
10am - 11am  ~ Reading in Red Rock 5 (Wonder what I'm going to read.)

2pm – 3pm  ~ Panel: Research: Where to Begin and How to See it Through in Red Rock 3

3pm – 4pm  ~ Presentation: Book to Film: How to Write Movie-Ready Fiction in Laughlin 2

5pm - 6 pm ~ Signing: Midian Unmade Anthology in Dealers Rooom                                      

6pm - 9pm   Dinner with Agent

Saturday

11:30 am ~ Library of the Dead signing in Dealers Room

3:30 pm ~ Signing in Dealers Room

7:30 - 10:30~ Bram Stoker Award Dinner (Where I get my swag on. I might even wear a tux)

Sunday
9am – 10am ~ Panel Crossing Boundaries: Horror Genre Mash-Ups in Red Rock

Hope to see everyone there!

Weston's World Horror Convention Schedule

I was in AfghaniCon last year, so I missed all the fun times in New Orleans. Of all the years to have it there, last year was the year. Damn. One of the great cities I still haven't been to.

But this year the World Horror Convention is in Portland, Oregon--another great city.

I'm putting my schedule here for anyone who wants to know. I'm including those things I am attending and the ones in which I'm participating. In between these I'll be in the dealers room or hanging out in common areas. So come by and say hi, buy me a drink, bend my ear, or whatever. Between the four books I have coming out this year, SEAL Team 666 movie news, as well as Afghanistan war stories, I have a lot to share.

THURSDAY

6:00 PM -7:00 PM, Multnomah/Holladay
Opening Ceremonies

10:30 PM – 11: 00 PM, Hawthorne
Reading: Yvonne Navarro

FRIDAY

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM, Sellwood
Panel: Being F*cked -Up And In Love
(Weston Ochse, Yvonne Navarro,Brian Keene, Mary SanGiovanni, Jeff Strand, Lynne Hansen, Cameron Pierce, Kirsten Alene) Henry Miller and Anais Nin or Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath? Horror writers discuss the horrors and joys of pair-bonding with our own kind.

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Multnomah/Holladay
Panel: Victoria Price Presents The Life And Influence Of Vincent Price
Daughter of the silver screen legend Vincent Price presents his life and work.

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Ross/Morrison
Panel: Hardcore F*cking Horror
(Jeff Burk, Jack Ketchum, Wrath James White, Christine Morgan, Michael Huyck, Aaron Sterns) Horror has always pushed fiction to the very edge. Follow us over to the most exteme corners of the genre. And is there such a thing as going “too far?”

4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, Multnomah/Holladay
Panel: Grand Master Award Come meet Brian Keene, as the World Horror Society honors him with the Grand Master Award

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Willamette Foyer
Mass Autograph Signing All of your favorite writers are in one spot and are willing to sign books!

10:00 PM,
Deadite Press Party

SATURDAY

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM, Hawthorne
Reading: Weston Ochse

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Ross/Morrison
Panel: You’ll Never Get Out Alive!  Advice To New Writers
(Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Weston Ochse, Lois Gresh, F. Paul Wilson )
Professional authors with decades of combined field experience tell the audience everything they wish they could tell their younger selves when they were starting out as writers.

6:30 PM – 9:30 PM, Multnomah/Holladay
Stoker Award Ceremony and Banquet. I'll be presenting the award for short fiction, along with Joe McKinney.

10:00 PM, Oregon Room
Bram Stoker Awards After-Party
HWA and our sponsor Samhain Horror would like to invite all convention attendees to join us for the traditional party after the presentation of the Bram Stoker Awards. Come and celebrate!

SUNDAY

Dead Dog Party

 I'll let you know if there are any changes. Hope to see you there.

SEAL Team 666 Premier Announced

Do you want to get your hands on SEAL Team 666 two weeks before its official release? 

There's only one way you can make this happen.

Attend TusCon 39. (Information)

What is this you say? Is this a new radioactive isotope? Is it new rocket ship built by Raytheon?

TusCon is only the oldest Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Convention in Arizona. Guests of Honor have included Theodore Sturgeon, Vernor Vinge, Robert Bloch, Karl Edward Wagner, Diana Gabaldon, John Ringo, Laurell K. Hamilton, Weston Ochse, Stephen R. Donaldson, Tim Powers, Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher and Shannon K. Butcher, to name just a few. This years Guest of Honor recipient is S.M. Stirling. 

It's really a fabulous convention at an all suite hotel, where for far less than a hundred bucks a day you can have a great room, meet terrific people, and be able to swim in an outdoor pool in November.

MaryElizabeth Hart, publicity manager for Mysterious Galaxy, has arranged to have the first hardback copies of SEAL Team 666 available for convention goers. She had to pull some strings and bend back some fingers to make this happen, but in the spirit of never-say-die special operations forces, she came through.

I don't know the exact time yet when we'll hold a release party for SEAL Team 666. I'll get with the convention committee and see when they want to do it. 

But when I know, you will know.

All you have to do is be there.

Conventions, Friends and er... Band Camp

Two things happened last weekend that opened my eyes a bit.

I spent last Saturday and Sunday with 100,000 of my closest fans and friends at the Tuscon Festival of Books. Most folks know me as a dark fantasy author, but with Velvet Dogma and Blood Ocean, I think I've taken some strides towards being a science fiction author. Add to that SEAL Team 666 which is a supernatural military thriller, well,  one could argue I'm a supernatural military thriller author too. I know, I know. Those are just labels. Bear with me. I guess I'm as guilty as the next person when it comes to labels. I think I've sort of pigeon-holed myself into treating myself as a horror author, when I'm so much more.

Simon Wood

The first thing is that I bumped into Simon Wood this weekend. We've been friends for ten years. He started out as a horror writer, but has since been writing mysteries. He has five novels out and is striding towards the big time. I'm so proud of him. I've missed seeing him at horror conventions. Even though he has a pseudo of Simon Janus who writes horror fiction, he spends time in the places he needs to... probably with all of his mystery authors.

So I counted on my fingers the conventions I've attended in the last five years that weren't horror or weren't multi-genre. After I got done counting I came up with ZERO.

The second thing that happened is sort of odd to me. I'm normally the center or near the center of attention. It's just who I am. I'm energetic, gregarious and love to talk. This usually pushes me centerward, but this weekend, on several occasions, I found myself on the outside looking in. It was almost like when I was in high school, sometimes, where everyone had grown up with each other and or went to church with each other so they had a deeper bond than just old me and more to talk about.

So here's what happened. I spent time with Sam Sykes (Fantasy author I've met on several occasions), Kevin Hearne (a new urban fantasy author who I just met), Maria Dahvana Headley (an historical fiction author I'd just met) and Cherie Priest (urban fantasy/steampunk/empress of chattanooga whom I've Facebooked a few times because of our Chattanooga connection).  All four seem to be terrific people, open, engaging, talented. They know each other, either in pairs, or all together, and had clearly spent time talking to each other on other occasions. Eager to say hi and take my place at the center of all things, I joined them in the authors green room at the Tucson Festival of Books. They welcomed me, they included me, but they talked about things and people and places I wasn't part of. Why is that? Because of that big fat zero up there.

I really need to get out more. I need to make friends with more people. I need to go to conventions where the predominant T-shirt color isn't black. I know. Most of you all already know this. You're rolling your eyes going, Jeesh that guy is slooow.

Yep. That's me. I admit it. I'm slooow.

And it's not that I want to be at the center of things. No. I just want to make more friends. These look to be terrific people and I want to be able to talk to them. There are other people out there I want to be able to talk too as well. And to do that, I'll need to get out there so we can share experiences.  My whole, "When I was at a horror convention" reads like "When I was at band camp."

When I get back from Afghanistan next year, I'll have a list of places I want to go. I pledge that at least half of them will be conventions I've never been to before.

I'm going to improve myself.

Hell, I deserve it.

And oh yeah, my next convention is going to be LepreCon - Arizona's annual science fiction and fantasy convention with an emphasis on art. You'll note that the word 'horror' doesn't exist anywhere in there.

Double oh yeah - I've been asked to do the convention interview for none other than Joe Haldeman, of whom I am in utter awe.

Come with me to Tucson Festival of Books

'll be at the Tucson Festival of Books tomorrow with 30,000 of my closest friends. I'm participating in a panel and will be signing books. I'll be there all day and Sunday morning. If you want to hook up, twitter me @westonochse when you get there. I should be hanging out somewhere.

THIS IS FREE! Everyone within driving distance should be here. In addition to panels and signings, there will be hundreds of events, booths, publishers, writers, artists, editors...etc.

They have a pretty phenomenal food court that will have cuisine from many of the best local restaurants, representing food from around the world.

My Panel is: What's in a Genre? Marketing and Selling an Original Idea
Multi Genre Workshop
Workshop / Sat 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Integrated Learning Center - Room 119

I'll also be at my Wife's Panel: Where the Paranormal Hits the Pavement: Urban Fantasy
Panel / Sat 1:00 PM - 02:00 PM
Integrated Learning Center - Room 150

I expect to be Tweeted!

http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/section/index

2012... Deep Breath... Afghanistan

My last post was January 4th.

No excuses.

I wanted it that way.

I needed a break. I wrote a quarter of a million words in the last six months and needed a break. So I sat back and watched great friend Brian Keene go to Sundance for his knock-em-dead movie Ghoul, my daughter prepare for a career in the Navy, and my wife pull our new house together. I let life stroll by for a few weeks. I read some books. I enjoyed my family. I poked away at a few new projects. I bought Skyrim and am two-handing my way through the monsters and mages who try and stand in my way. It's been a nice break. But I'm about to climb back on that super-charged, techni-colored creation machine and get cracking.

After all. I have a deadline this year that's much earlier than the rest of them

July 2012 I've been given an all-expenses paid trip to the grand resort called Afghanistan, where I'll wear the finest in body armor, carry the coolest personal weapons, and try and keep my head down for six months. Although I might be able to pen a few words when I'm there, I'm not going to plan on it.

So I gots to get my stuff done.

This is what I have planned so far--

BLOOD OCEAN hits the streets on Valentines Day. I'm going to begin a push for this, so I hope you all are ready to make a few phone calls.

SEAL TEAM 666 is turned in. I'm awaiting edits. Looks like we have an official cover. This book is going to be HUGE. Too bad it's going to be released when I'm in Afghanistan. Gonna make it a bitch for you to get one personalized.

GHOST HEART - YA Novel co-written with Yvonne Navarro. Cover by Vincent Chong. Published by Dark Regions. Hopefully ready by WHC.

THE LOUP GAROU KID - Third Book in Vampire Outlaw Trilogy. Published by Bad Moon Books. Hopefully ready by WHC.

Comic Books - I have several projects going. We're hoping to have BLIGHT ready for Phoenix ComicCon so we can shop it around. We're still looking for an inker/letterer, so apply within.

Animated Project - I'm contracted with Pulp Gamer to help conceive a special animated adult show. Still working on the scripts and back story for this. NFI.

Blight as drawn by Nick Diaz

Short Stories-

War Cthulhu story due in March.

C. Augest Dupin murder story due in September (which means July). This will be my first co-written story with Yvonne.

Psycho story due in March.

Novella due to Dark Regions in September (which means July)

Novella due to James Roy Daley ASAP.

Appearances -

BLOOD OCEAN book signings are being arranged as we speak. I was going to do them, but Abaddon said that they'd like to arrange them for me, through Simon and Schuster. More later.

Feb 4 Appearance - Sierra Vista Public Library
Mar 10 - 11 Tucson Festival of Books

Mar 29 - 31 World Horror Convention Salt Lake City

May 24 - 27 Phoenix Comiccon

Some of the authors scheduled for Phoenix Comicon

If there are any other requests, I'll consider them. But my Spring is tight. I have a trip planned with Yvonne for she and I to spend time together before I go. I hope to fit that in around her birthday.

That's all for now.

Toastmastering 101

Toastmastering. That's a word, right?

I've toastmastered twice now. Both times as a stand in for the esteemed Ed Bryant. The first time was a few years ago. I got 24 hours notice and was asked to introduce John Ringo. As it turned out we had a lot in common. We both served in the Army. His hometown of East Ridge, Tennessee, bumped up against my hometown of Chattanooga. We like the color mauve and long walks on the beach too. It was pretty cool, although I was pretty nervous.

Then last month, 22 hours before opening ceremonies of TusCon 38, I was asked yet again the toastmaster. On this occasion it was to be for Patricia Briggs. She's pretty famous, although I hadn't read any of her work. And the convention committee wanted me to be funny and professional and spontaneous and entertaining, with me not knowing hardly anything about her.After all, they gave me 22 hours, right?

So I did what anyone would do. I created a musical bumper and read her a love poem. It went something exactly like this.




Play Bumper first ---

Then read poem as if you are a complete and adoring idiot.

Ode to Patricia—

Oh Patricia, Oh dear Patricia,

I think of you in the night. 
When it’s dark. 
And it’s night. 
In the black dark.

I dream about being a monster in one of your books.

They are hot. 
And have sex.

Oh Patricia. 
Oh dear Patricia. 
Make me a monster. 
In the Night. 
In the Dark.

In the black dark of your awesome nasty monster sex books.


It brought the house down. There was a lot more after this, but I'll demure to other folks. Needless to say it was a success. I was a lot less nervous this time. Everyone was gracious. I might have goofed a little, but hey. I'm still a beginner. Not at all as good as Ed Bryant or Jeff Strand.


Thanks to the TusCon Convention committee for having faith in me. You know I'll be there for you again if you need me.

From Left to Right: Marsheilla Rockwell, me, Gini Koch and Patricia Briggs

(Note that the music sample was from the Black Eyed Peas - Pump - and is sampled by Fair Use. If you like the song, I recommend going to your favorite music store and buying it.)

Quick Hits - Thanks, Comics, Scarecrows, Pali Boys, NPR

Thanks to Mark McLemore from National Public Radio for returning my pen I left at the studio and sending me a disc of my Halloween reading. For those who didn't hear it, there's a link here. Not only do I read an original story, but I also perform a tongue-in-cheek man-on-the-street what if zombies were real. Loads of fun.

Going to have a big Blood Ocean announcement next week. Going to announce the special Pali Boys Club.

Scarecrow Gods is available in eBook for the first time.

Multiplex Fandango is selling out. Bad Moon Books has 3 of the 26 copies of the lettered edition for sale. As Mark West said on Facebook, these are as rare as rocking horse poo.

I posted pictures from TusCon 38 to my Picasa page today. Nice shots of Yvonne Navarro and her art, Patricia Briggs, Gini Koch, Marsheilla Rockwell, Jordan Summers, Dennis McKiernan and more. Here's the link.

I owe the universe a blog about the convention. I was a last minute replacement for Ed Bryant as toastmaster. Without giving too much away, I read a love poem to Patricia Briggs that brought down the house.

I'm also going to be announcing two comic book deals. One I'm working on myself called BLIGHT with artist Nick Diaz. The other I'm co-writing with William F. Nolan. More on that later too.

And last but not least, I'm finishing SEAL Team 666. Should be done by next week. Boy will my editor be happy.

Horror and Science Fiction in Tucson, Arizona

Where are you going to be this weekend? Are you going to be in the East Coast. Has it snowed there? Have you had to de-ice the car? Do you know what slush means?

If you lived in Arizona you could have 70-80 degree weather right now. You could walk outside dressed in a T-shirt. You could swim in the pool.

You could also spend a weekend at the Best Little Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror Convention in Arizona-- TUSCON!  This weekend is TusCon 38. Previous GoHs include Theodore Sturgeon, Vernor Vinge, Robert Bloch, Karl Edward Wagner, Diana Gabaldon, John Ringo, Laurell K. Hamilton, Weston Ochse, Stephen R. Donaldson, Tim Powers, Jim Butcher and Shannon K. Butcher, to name just a few.  Begun in 1974, TusCon has a rich history of supporting the interests of fans, authors, artists, librarians, booksellers and gamers in Tucson, and throughout the Southwest.
 
I'll be on several panels, reading from MULTIPLEX FANDANGO, as well as just hanging out. Come out and see us and have a great time.

Click for information about the convention


Hope to see you there!