Vol 3. No 1. January 6, 2013:

Did you ring in the New Year at Davenport and Winkleperry’s Clockwork Ball? If so, have you found your way home? In any case, December had quite a lot going for it, from Geek Mom to Winter Tales [an hour video there!] and of course the RTSFS holiday party. We also had a good bit of fun in December raising $2500 in pledges toward the SFWA emergency medical fund to send John Kessel to watch The Hobbit … dressed as Galadriel. Singing Leonard Nimoy’s “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins”. Yeah. That happened.

There’s also some late December publishing news, in particular James Maxey’s third Dragon Apocalypse novel, Witchbreaker, which released on December 25th and about which he contributed an entry in The Hardest Part guest column series. To toot my own horn just a bit, Tina Connolly’s Parsec Award winning Toasted Cake podcast adapted and produced my short (short!) story “Bad Elf” just in time for the holidays. Already in 2013 there’s been some activity (with much more to come, but more about that in a second) as Katherine Traylor self-published a short collection Five Stories for the Dark Months which includes two previously unpublished stories.

About that “more to come” in publishing news: boy, oh boy, will 2013 be awesome. It took a while, and it’s still a work in progress and in needs of a few updates (sorry John Hartness and Stuart Jaffe, still haven’t incorporated your books!) but the official Bull Spec 2013 Local and Regional Author Preview is up, with imminently forthcoming books from Gail Z. Martin, Beth Revis, and Megan Shepard. Check them out and support our local and regional authors!

Also imminent:

Sam will be on Carolina Book Beat tomorrow (Monday, January 7th) at 10 AM (podcast later) to talk about the 2013 local and regional author preview

Natania Barron will be on WUNC’s The State of Things on Tuesday January 8th in the Noon hour

It’s finally here: illogiCon 2: Schrödington’s Revenge, with guest of honor Tim Powers, toastmaster Mark L. Van Name, and a huge slate of guests including the legendary Analog editor Stanley Schmidt is Friday Jan 11 to Sunday Jan 13. I’m both honored and a bit terrified to announce that they’ve entrusted me with interviewing Tim Powers, so do come out and support the convention, its guests, and dealers. Here’s a handy flyer for illogiCon to post on your doors and in your windows.

From the broken record department, Issue #8 really, really is coming. Soon. Gabe in particular has been working tirelessly to get final layout together, Alex Ward getting final edits of the non-fiction, amazing, beautiful art is coming in. It’s here. We’re trying to get it here in time for illogiCon, but it looks like it won’t quite make it. Maybe Saturday? There’s an outside, outside chance. But most likely, it’ll be something else to pick up while you’re hitting up the excellent lineup of February events, from Kim Harrison, to Cory Doctorow, to Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal. See you out and about,

-Sam

JANUARY 2013

11-13 (Friday to Sunday) — illogiCon 2 will be held at the Embassy Suites of Raleigh-Durham/Research Triangle on January 11-13, 2013, with writer guest of honor Tim Powers and webcomic guest of honor Garth Graham, and toastmaster Mark L. Van Name: http://www.illogicon.com/

NEW: 18 (Friday) 7 pm — The Regulator Bookshop hosts Hal Johnson: “Immortal Lycanthropes tells the incredible story of Myron Horowitz, a disfigured thirteen-year-old just trying to fit in at his Pennsylvania school. When a fight with a bully leaves him unconscious and naked in the wreckage of the cafeteria, Myron discovers that he is an immortal lycanthrope—a were-mammal who can transform from human to animal. He also discovers that there are others like him, and many of them want Myron dead. Hal Johnson will be in the store to read and sign books.”

NEW: 19 (Saturday) 1 pm — Atomic Empire hosts Hal Johnson (see above for book info) for a signing. Another reminder that Atomic Empire is the relocated and renamed “Sci Fi Genre”, now at 3400 Westgate Dr Suite 14B in Durham.

NEW-NEW: 19 (Saturday) 7 pm — Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books hosts Hal Johnson (see above for book info) for a reading and signing. More info: http://www.flyleafbooks.com/event/hal-johnson-reads-his-new-young-adult-novel-immortal-lycanthropes

NEW-NEW: 19 (Saturday) 4 pm and 8 pm — The Durham Performing Arts Center hosts a staging of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, presented by Fellowship for the Performing Arts.

NEW: 26 (Saturday) 7-10 pm — Legs McNeil, author of “Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk”, is going to be speaking at RebusWorks. More info via a Facebook flyer.

FEBRUARY 2013

2 (Saturday) 3 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts NY Times bestselling urban fantasy author and NC native Kim Harrison for Ever After, the latest in her Hollows series.

16 (Saturday) 2 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Cory Doctorow for Homeland, sequel to Little Brother. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/530598563635194/

20 (Wednesday) 7:30 pm – Quail Ridge Books again hosts best-selling author Brandon Sanderson, this time for the conclusion of The Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. In addition, special guest Harriet McDougal will be joining Sanderson for the event. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/393451974063637/

22-24 (Friday-Sunday) — Durham’s Carolina Theatre hosts the Nevermore Film Festival. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/440070299375523/

22-24 (Friday-Sunday) — MystiCon in Roanoke, Virginia, with Orson Scott Card, Larry Elmore, Rich Sigfit, and more. More info: http://mysticon-va.com/

APRIL 2013

5-21 — NC Science Festival with events statewide. More info: http://www.ncsciencefestival.org/

19-21 (Fri-Sun) — DeepSouthCon at JordanCon in Roswell, Georgia with guests Seanan McGuire, Eugie Foster, and Michael Whelan, along with the Phoenix and Rebel Awards.

JUNE 2013

May 31 – June 2 (Friday to Sunday) — ConCarolinas in Charlotte, with writer guest of honor Timothy Zahn. More info: http://www.concarolinas.org/

27-30 (Thursday to Sunday) — ConTemporal 2013 at the North Raleigh Hilton, beginning with the Thursday evening guest of honor dinner and continuing all weekend, as this Steampunk-themed convention is back for a second year. More info: http://contemporal.org/

AUGUST 2013

TBD: We’re working out details for a fantastic summer event — stay tuned!

NOVEMBER 2013

NEW: 9-10 (Saturday and Sunday) — NC Comicon will be returning to the Durham Convention Center. “Twice the space, four times the fun. It’s exponential.”