shunn | Entries tagged with conventions

First things first. You look fabulous. Happy Valentine's Day, you sexy thing, you!

Second—look, I don't know how many more ways to say this. It's time for you to help support our Kickstarter campaign for the Glitter & Madness anthology. There's less than two days left to hit our funding goal and get it done.

If you don't recall, Glitter & Madness is the new anthology edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas and John Klima, chock full of speculative stories about the secret history of 20th century nightlife and party culture. The book will be published by Apex Publications and will feature a standalone novella from New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire set in her InCryptid universe. There will also be stories by Alan DeNiro, Amal El-Mohtar, Daryl Gregory, Damien Walters Grintalis, Maria Dahvana Headley, Kat Howard, Jennifer Pelland, Tim Pratt, Cat Rambo, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Diana Rowland, Sofia Samatar, David J. Schwartz, Rachel Swirsky, and yours truly.

What's more, there are plenty of exciting recent developments. For instance, Amber Benson of Buffy fame, an accomplished writer and director in her own right, is going to write the introduction to the anthology. How cool is that?

Also, there are plenty of perks available to funders, including Tuckerizations from any of a dozen different contributors at the $250 contribution level. That's right! You could be a character in my story, or Diana Rowland's, or David J. Schwartz's, or Jennifer Pelland's, or on and on and on!

But all this glittery goodness can't happen without you! We still have over $4,000 to raise, and only 48 more hours in which to do it. So please, look into your glamorous heart and dig deep to support the party anthology of the year!

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

It feels like we Glitter & Madness participants are, like, in NPR Fund Drive mode. I've already told you all about this anthology project, and if you still want to know more about it, you can head on over to the project on Kickstarter. What I'm here for now is to answer a quick Q&A designed by the editors of the anthology:

What about the theme drew you to the anthology?

We're often told to write what we know. Did you draw your G&M story from your own nightlife experiences?

What's your favorite way to make life more glittery?

If you had to create a cocktail that reflected your story, what would it be?

If you knew you were up for a surreal evening, what and whom do you bring with you, and why?

Oh, and one more thing—kick in a few shekels now, please! And watch this new video, where Daryl Gregory and others get all swanky and glittery...

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

Love rollerdisco? Love science fiction and fantasy? Then you need to support the Kickstarter campaign for the Glitter & Madness anthology!

What's this, you ask? It's a new anthology edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas and John Klima, chock full of speculative stories about the secret history of 20th century nightlife and party culture. Think glam rock! Think rollerdisco! Think glitter! Think madness!

The book will be published by Apex Publications and will feature a standalone novella from New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire set in her InCryptid universe. There will also be stories by Alan DeNiro, Amal El-Mohtar, Daryl Gregory, Damien Walters Grintalis, Maria Dahvana Headley, Kat Howard, Jennifer Pelland, Tim Pratt, Cat Rambo, Tansy Rayner Roberts, Diana Rowland, Sofia Samatar, David J. Schwartz, Rachel Swirsky, and yours truly!

In fact, I'm writing my story together with my fabulous wife Laura Chavoen, so you can be among those contributing to support her fiction debut! And the anthology itself will debut this August at the San Antonio Worldcon, with an otherworldly party at the world-famous Rollercade! Groovy!

Only three days remain to make nearly the half the funding requirement! Be glamorous! Contibute now!

What's more, there are plenty of exciting recent developments. First of all, having reached the 50% funding goal, the anthology is now open to general submissions! If you want to be part of this spectacular publishing event, check out the submission guidelines now!

Second, having reached the $8,000 level, the first of two book trailers has been released. Check out the "scary" version below. If contributions reach $9,000 today, the "swanky" version will go live. (Keep an eye out for me in both!)

Also, there are plenty of perks available to funders, including Tuckerizations from any of a dozen different contributors at the $250 contribution level. What's a Tuckerization, you ask? It means we'll put your name in our story. That's right! You could be a character in my story, or Diana Rowland's, or Cat Rambo's, or Tim Pratt's, or on and on and on!

So what are you waiting for? Change into your best day-glo fashions, strap on those chunky roller skates, and pony up for the party anthology of the year!

And if you want to submit a story of your own for consideration, here are your writing prompts:

Roller derby, nightclubs, glam aliens, (literal) party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, debauchery, etc.

Do it now!

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

The Chicago Writers Conference is Chicago's only homegrown mainstream literary conference focusing on practical business advice for fiction and non-fiction writers alike. The brainchild of Mare Swallow, it will feature such editors, agents, and authors as Chuck Sambuchino, Christine Sneed, Robert K. Elder, and Jennifer Mattson.

But it can only happen with support! The CWC is in the final eight days of its Kickstarter campaign and still needs to raise over $4000 for equipment rental, web development, speakers' travel expenses. There are lots of great incentives remaining for various donation levels, including art, signed books, and query letter or story manuscript critiques from Chuck Sambuchino and, ahem, yours truly.

But here, let Mare tell you more about the conference, and why you should support it:

So please help, and support Chicago's long tradition of literary excellence!

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

Chicago is getting its own down-home writers conference! The Chicago Writers Conference will take place September 14-16 at Tribune Tower in beautiful downtown Chicago. Speakers and presenters include Chuck Sambuchino, Robert K. Elder, and Cinnamon Cooper, while special readings will be staged by both Essay Fiesta and Tuesday Funk.

But the Chicago Writers Conference can only happen with your help! I'd explain why the conference deserves your support, but there's already a compelling plea from organizer Mare Swallow, Write Club founder Ian Belknap, and yours truly up on Kickstarter. Check us out:

So please kick in a few shekels and help support the Chicago Writers Conference. Several great incentives are still available, including a story critique (up to 10,000 words) from me for a mere $175 pledge. (The custom poem is already gone. Sorry!) Please help, and we'll looking forward to seeing you at Tribune Tower in September!

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

It's rare that I'm a) paying attention closely enough and b) on the ball enough to get myself out to one of the local science fiction conventions. Usually at the last minute people start asking me, "Hey, are you going to be at Whatevercon?" And I have to answer, "No, because I'm a dork," and kick myself for not having responded to the con's programming invitation months earlier.

That's why I have to boast about having actually made it out to Capricon 32 in Wheeling for half a day this past Saturday. Mind you, I still didn't get it together enough to get on any programming, but I did attend. I saw a couple of readings, I went to a couple of panels, and I saw Cory Doctorow's scary/hopeful/terrific keynote address "The Coming War on General Purpose Computation." Then, as these things tend to happen at cons, the rest of the items on my schedule went out the window as John Klima and Holly McDowell and I hung out in the bar with three proseccos and a plate of antipasti.

After a panel examining Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party, I shanghai'd Cory and Klima and (welcome) surprise guest John Scalzi back to Chicago for a Mexican food outing with Laura, for whose sake everyone was (of course) willing to make the trek. We shared grilled calamari, and Scalzi ordered a mango shake that arrived in a goblet roughly the size of his head. Family and dog pictures were passed around. Much merriment was made.

Oh, I also ran into Steven Silver at Capricon, who extracted a promise from me that I wouldn't fail to sign up for Worldcon programming. So I'm going to go do that now. I swear.

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

Okay, sometimes it's fun to see yourself on TV. In 2004, the Trio network debuted a documentary series called "Parking Lot," which featured snippets of conversations with attendees at events like concerts or conventions. The show didn't last long, but it did last long enough for Scott Edelman and Bob Howe and I to end up in one episode.

Scott (who has written a longer post about our brief appearance) has just discovered that the producers of "Parking Lot" have been uploading segments of the show to YouTube. And voilà!, there we are outside of I-CON 22, a science convention at SUNY Stony Brook.

See if you can spot Scott and Bob and me, nine years younger, trying to sound all erudite and set ourselves apart from the rest of the madness. And, um, failing. Our bits are interspersed throughout the segment.

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

Hugo Award nominations are now open, and that means it's time to make good on my ~~threat~~ promise to spearhead a campaign to get the @MayorEmanuel Twitter stream nominated.

As you may recall, Bob, @MayorEmanuel was the anonymous but highly popular tweeter who created a profane and fantastic alternate Chicago during the course of our 2010-11 mayoral election season. Though it started out as something of a lark, by the time it wound down on the night of the election the stream had grown into one of the most absorbing works of science fiction of the year.

The author soon revealed himself to be Chicago journalist and educator Dan Sinker, and late that summer the tweets appeared from Scribner in book form, collected and annotated, as The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel.

I think this innovative story is deserving of a Hugo. At the very least, a nomination for this most Chicago-centric of SF works would be appropriate in a year when Worldcon comes to our fair city. I've consulted with experts, and we agree that we're best off to nominate @MayorEmanuel in the Best Related Work category. If you're with us, then for consistency please fill out your nominating ballot in that category exactly as follows, including the asterisks:

TITLE: The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel
AUTHOR: Dan Sinker
PUBLISHER: Scribner

The book is essentially a work of non-fiction that describes and fully annotates the process of writing the original work, even though the tweets are included in full. For that reason, calling the book a Related Work seems to fit best. We think it would be dicey to attempt to nominate a Twitter stream in one of the fiction categories.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with @MayorEmanuel and want to catch up, the annotated book is a terrific place to start. And here are a few other relevant links to get you going:

@MayorEmanuel in 2012! Together we can make a difference.

Crossposted from Inhuman Swill

Of 2011, I mean. This has been one crazy travel year. Seems like every other week we're rushing off somewhere or other, and we're kind of tired of it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's been a great year, a ton of fun. Well, Laura travels all the time for work, and that's not always fun, but as far as personal trips go this year between the two of us we've been to Los Angeles, Portland, Denver, St. Louis, Lake Geneva, a hunting lodge in southern Illinois, Waukesha, and then New York City at least four times. Also, Venice, Paris, many small cities and towns in Normandy, and we even spent three days with friends from London at Disneyland Paris. I keep meaning to post here about all those trips, but I haven't even had time to sort out and label all the photos on Flickr. Every time I think about it, it's time to pack for another trip.

I'm posting this trip report preemptively from our flight to San Diego. Yes, we're on our way to World Fantasy, even though we don't have memberships. We hope to see a shit-ton of you there, because it might be our last chance to see you until you come to Chicago next summer for Worldcon. (You are coming to Chicago next summer for Worldcon, right?). This is absolutely our LAST TRIP of the year, and the only one we intend to take next year is to SXSW in March.

Yeah, right. Just wait and see how that works out for you, buddy.

Current Location: somewhere over a vowel state

If you'll be at Wiscon tomorrow afternoon, I'll be part of a terrific group reading at 4:00 pm in Conference 2. The participants include Carrie L. Ferguson, Nicole Lorenz, Chibi-Evil and me. Here's the program description:

Disappearing Acts
Reading | Conference 2 | Friday, 4:00–5:15 pm
Come on in, sit down and get comfortable—we're only going to erase certain important things from the world. You don't need those stars, do you? Oh—you'll miss the words, surely, but we'll read that one last. Trust us. We're only ending the world here.

I was originally planning to read from Cast a Cold Eye, but given the theme it might be more appropriate to read a bit from my in-progress-but-nearly-done novel Endgame.

This will be the first group reading of the whole convention, so please come over to Conference 2 and help us make it a success. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Current Location: Chicago, IL
Current Music: Broken Bells, "October"

The Visitors at Wriggly Field, by William Shunn

Batter up! My pulpy new short story, "The Visitors at Wriggly Field," is now online as part of the Pulps series at ChicagoIn2012.org. It's probably my first sports story, and may well be my last, so I hope you enjoy it. (The illustration is by Frank Wu!)

The Pulps series supports Chicago's bid for the 2012 Worldcon. Earlier stories in the series, both in print and online, have been contributed by Frederik Pohl, Gene Wolfe, Mike Resnick, Phyllis Eisenstein, Roland Green, Richard Garfinkle, Lois Tilton, and others. I'm glad I hadn't read any of the earlier stories before I wrote mine, or I might have been too intimidated to produce.

The stories are an homage to Chicago's past as a home to many classic publishers of pulp science fiction. The guidelines we all were given were that:

the hero must be square-jawed and dim-witted, with B.S. for his initials;
the heroine must be smart, capable and beautiful, with the name Elaine Ecdysiast;
the evil-genius villain must be dastardly and scenery-chewing, with the name D. Vice;
and the story must be set at least in part in Chicago.

Even by those standards, I clearly went for the lowest common denominator. No, seriously. Frank chose wisely by not illustrating the story's climax.

Current Location: Chicago, IL
Current Music: Michael Brecker, "Everything Happens When You're Gone"

We leave for Japan in a little less than ten hours. I'd better get some sleep!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Chicago, IL
Current Music: Miles Davis, "Nefertiti"

Epidode #48 of "ShunnCast" is now available, in which Bill attempts to convince you to order his brand-new six-pack chapbook—only five bucks!—and a definition for the term "chapbook" itself is sought.

http://www.shunn.net/podcast?id=48

See also

shunncast.

Current Location: Chicago, IL

Here, if you're interested, is my Worldcon program schedule:

Sat 1200 Kaffeeklatsche
Participants: William SHUNN

Sat 1400 Religion In SF
Participants: Jessica LANGER, Kari MAUND, Robert Charles WILSON, William SHUNN
Though their pursuits are not mutually exclusive, religion and speculative fiction are almost anathema to one another. In SF, religion is ridiculed as superstition, derided as a pursuit of less advanced minds. Why is this kind of discrimination acceptable? Why are there not more proudly religious characters in SF?

Sun 1400 The Integration of Science and Religion in SF&F
Participants: Lisa C. FREITAG, Robert Charles WILSON, William SHUNN, Edward JAMES
Science Fiction is the literature of the humanist, the rationalist and the skeptic. As theoretical physicists look at the underpinnings of the physical universe, they see the presence of the hand of God. How do authors integrate religion and science? Can it only be done in fantasy?

If you'll be there, I hope you'll catch the Saturday panel or its Sunday rerun!

(Full programming schedule.)

UPDATE: I received an updated version of my schedule a short while ago, and I have edited this entry accordingly. A noon kaffeeklatsch was added on Saturday!

Current Mood: eager
Current Location: Chicago, IL
Current Music: Hue & Cry, "Sign 'O' the Times"

Epidode #47 of "ShunnCast" is now available, in which Bill reflects on sex and the modern Mormon missionary, with illustrations from his own post-Canada mission service. Live from Balticon, more or less!

http://www.shunn.net/podcast?id=47

See also

shunncast.

Current Location: Cockeysville, MD

FRIDAY
Derby, 10 PM
LIAR'S PANEL ON HOW TO GET PUBLISHED
Carol Berg, Joshua Palmatier, Laurence Schoen, William Shunn, Diane Weinstein

SATURDAY
Derby, 3 PM
HIGH TECH WAYS TO PROMOTE YOURSELF
Walter Hunt, Robert Jeschonek, Melissa Marr, Jana G. Oliver, Joshua Palmatier, William Shunn

SUNDAY
Salon F, 12 PM
PODCASTING AND MUSIC
Matthew Wayne Selznick, Jason Adams, Heather Welliver, William Shunn, Phil Rossi

Salon E, 4 PM
SOLO PODCASTING
Grailwolf, Command Line, Chris Merle, William Shunn, Mur Lafferty, Leann Mabry

MONDAY
10 AM
READING
William Shunn

Derby, 11 AM
VOICE ACTING AND PUBLIC SPEAKING
Cindy Shockley, JR Blackwell, Tee Morris, William Shunn, Rich Sigfrit, J.C. Hutchins, Renfield, Steve Wilson, Leann Mabry

Current Music: Wilco, "Shake It Off"

So Laura and I went back to see our bowling-champion accountant last night to pick up our taxes. He met us rushing back from dinner at a neighborhood Italian place down the avenue. The news was so good that we went straight over to a bar called Dillinger's for celebratory beer and wings.

Of course, good news is relative, and in this case means the news was not nearly as bad as we feared it would be. We may still be able to afford to move to Chicago and go to Worldcon in Yokohama.

And of course, even if the news had been truly bad, we still would have gone to Dillinger's for consolatory beer and wings. They just wouldn't have tasted quite as good as the celebratory ones.

Current Mood: relieved
Current Music: Maria Muldaur, "Midnight at the Oasis"

See if you can spot Scott Edelman, Bob Howe, and me (and maybe other people you know!) in this old segment from the premier episode of the Trio series Parking Lot. We're trying to be all erudite and shit while they intercut our interview clips with furries. It's pretty funny, and no less than what we deserve!

(Taped in 2003.)

Current Mood: amused

Scott Edelman just sent me some photos he took at World Fantasy, one of which fairly screamed to be posted here.

( Not particularly inflammatory but might offend my mother )

Current Music: The Move, "Hey Grandma"

Laura and I didn't take many photos at World Fantasy, but luckily the irrepressible John Klima did.

William Shunn in the Austin Renaissance atrium

Klima and his Spilt Milk Press are bringing out my chapbook in May, but in the meantime you would be well served to snap up a copy of their first chapbook, The Sense of Falling by Ezra Pines. That link is to an old pre-order page, but rest assured that this slim volume is out and available and well worth your five measly bucks.

Had a great time in Austin. Laura and I caught up with several New York friends who have decamped to Texas in the last couple of years, saw Idiocracy (at last) at a movie theater that serves beer, drank more Shiner Bock than we ever hoped to in our wildest dreams, attended a plethora of great readings, managed to get lost more than once on the Capital of Texas Highway, ate ourselves silly, and at least met great folks like Evan McClanahan and Trent Hergenrader in person. I was very sorry to have arrived at the bar too late Sunday evening to meet up with ShunnCast listener Andrew Langston—my deepest apologies!—but I did arrive in time to meet by chance an editor who spoke enthusiastically about the novel proposal for Inclination that is on her desk.

So all in all, a splendid weekend, and I thank Laura for, as usual, keeping me out of the hotel room and on track.

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Inhuman Swill

Entries tagged with conventions

The clock is ticking for "Glitter & Madness"!

My "Glitter & Madness" Q&A

Please support the "Glitter & Madness" anthology!

Entering final week of Kickstarter campaign for Chicago Writers Conference!

Help support the Chicago Writers Conference!

My Saturday at Capricon

Posers in the "Parking Lot"

@MayorEmanuel needs you (for Hugo)!

The final trip

Friday Wiscon reading

New short story online

Last of the packing

ShunnCast #48

Worldcon schedule

ShunnCast #47

Balticon schedule

There's good news and bad news—and it's the same news

In the land of the furries

The birds of Austin

Back from Austin

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April 2014

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