NORWESCON 2008 Day 2 (Friday)

Mar 21, 2008 at 5:43 AM
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Another edifying day filled with morsels of good information. Today, I was fortunate in meeting author Joshua Palmatier, author of The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne. I am a regular reader of his blog and looked forward to meeting him at Norwescon. He is kind, approachable, and filled with funny anecdotes and advice. He has also graciously agreed to participate in my 6-sided Q&A (along with Jay Lake): I am very excited about these nano-interviews.

Also, in meeting Patrick Swenson, I made an unexpected discovery: Talebones magazine. It is a first-rate Sci-fi and Dark Fantasy magazine of impeccable quality—with a fantastic editor—Mr. Swenson. I happily picked up the Spring 2008 edition at the convention and have been pondering some of the back issues (and a current subscription) that are available online at www.talebones.com. It seems that this wonderful tome of quarterly fiction could use our support to carry on; please consider an issue or two or even four today! It should also be said that Patrick seems to be a fine acquisitions editor with an eye for outstanding short fiction. He also proved to be a wealth of experience and advice; panel after panel, day after day. It would be a pleasure to see my own work featured within the pages of his reputable publication someday.

Jay Lake and Me

Now for the highlight of the whole convention: The Liars’ Panel. This rummy gathering of authors consisted of: Jay Lake, Patrick Rothfuss, Joshua Palmatier, JC Hendee, and Barb Hendee. The panel was comic gold! I have not laughed so intensely in a very long time. Jay Lake is an electric personality; he captivates his audience, diffuses his addictive energy to the crowd, and keeps you wanting more. I have been a fan of Jay for a long time through his prolific blog (and he was my number one reason for attending the Con), but I did not expect such a dynamic and enjoyable personality to exist behind this profuse advocate of LiveJournal. It is my opinion that Jay is only at the beginning of a potentially colossal career. Everyone really came alive on the panel and were very entertaining. Jay and Patrick were animated; Joshua was more conservative, but still hilarious. JC is very distinct in appearance, but conservative in speech. His true gift—however—is when he does speak, it is worth listening too (whether being humorous or serious). The real surprise was Barb, she was delightful, witty, and has excellent comedic delivery.

Make sure to check out Jay's two major novels available now: Mainspring and Trial of Flowers. There is also a sequel to Mainspring available for preorder entitled Escapement, and a sequel to Trial of Flowers entitled Madness of Flowers, due out December 2008 from Nightshade Books.

Sails and Sorcery Cover.jpg

Finally, I have something to admit: I judged a book by its cover. Well, maybe 'judged' is not the correct, perhaps was seduced by a cover is more appropriate. In one of the final panels I attended Friday, I met author Renee Stern, and she was displaying a book she contributed a story to named
Sails & Sorcery: Tales of Nautical Fantasy. I had to get up and hold the book, I had to tell Renee how wonderful the cover was, I had to keep staring at it throughout the whole panel, I had to look it up on the internet when I got home that night, I had to read reviews and excerpts, obsess about it awake and within my dreams, and finally, I had to buy it and I should have 'my precious' next week.

Next up: Day of the convention horde (Saturday)

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I think you are right--- Jay Lake is certainly poised for the big breakthrough. He is an outstanding craftsman and famously prolific.

I am glad that someone agrees with me in regards to Jay Lake. Thank you for posting Michael. I will get those questions to you (and the other authors) within the next few days (probably Monday)

NORWESCON 2008 Day 2 (Friday)

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