Vol 2. No 7. October 1, 2012:

September was quite a month for things to do, with an immensely successful inaugural Escapist Expo, great author events with Scott Sigler, Andy Duncan, Neil Gaiman, Junot Diaz, Brent Weeks, and Steven Erikson, and the grand re-opening of Sci-Fi Genre Comics and Games under its new name and at its new Westgate Drive location as Atomic Empire. October is just about as packed, starting with Michael Chabon TONIGHT at Quail Ridge Books and continuing throughout the month. There are several NEW events on the calendar below, including graphic novelist Hope Larson, recently-announced Hugo Award winner Ursula Vernon, bestselling fantasy author Christopher Paolini (Eragon, Inheritance), and more, so definitely check out the events listing. To help remind yourself (or others!) you can print out one of the new flyers, as always in grayscale and color.

In Bull Spec news, the first entries in the teen writing contest have come in! But I’m hoping to see a lot more submissions, so I need as much help as I can get in reaching out to area libraries, high schools, teen writing and reading groups, etc. For more info on the contest, which has a December 1 deadline, see: http://bullspec.com/2012/08/31/announcement-second-bull-spec-teen-writing-contest-judged-by-sharyn-november/

Meanwhile, Issue #8 is heading into the stretch run, with more and more stories and content going final. I’d hoped to be able to launch issue #8 at World Fantasy in Toronto the first weekend in November (in absentia on my part, but with some helpers up there) but that may be a bit too aggressive. We’ll see. I know that is another long, un-quarterly break from issue #7, which was itself a long, un-quarterly break from issue #6. But! Help is on the way in the form of new staff member CD Covington, coming aboard as production manager for the 2013 run of three “ternary” issues. She has schedules and charts in hand and, with new fiction editors Natania Barron and Eric Gregory finally getting to debut their choices of fiction including Ken Liu, Lavie Tidhar, and An Owomoyela (so far!) meaning I’m hopefully out of the bottleneck of story editing, things are looking very, very good for next year’s run. So, in short, now is an absolutely great time to subscribe!

Local publishing notes:

The Kingmakers: Vampire Empire Book Three, by Clay and Susan Griffith, published by Pyr

Kij Johnson’s debut collection, At The Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories, published by Small Beer Press; last month, her short story “Mantis Wives” was published by Clarkesworld: http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johnson_08_12/

A local writer/illustrator collaboration, Pizzula, “The desperate struggle of man versus pizza Dracula.” written by David Foland and illustrated by Jason Strutz: http://www.pizzula.com/

Richard Butner, short story “Give Up” in the September/October F&SF: http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/toc1209.htm

Gray Rinehart, novelette “The Second Engineer” in Asimov’s October/November issue: http://www.asimovs.com/2012_10-11/tableofcontents.shtml

And Gray has a second novelette on newsstands as well, “SEAGULLs, Jack-o-Lanterns, and Interstitial Spaces” in the November Analog: http://www.analogsf.com/2012_11/index.shtml

novelette on newsstands as well, “SEAGULLs, Jack-o-Lanterns, and Interstitial Spaces” in the November Analog: http://www.analogsf.com/2012_11/index.shtml Peter Wood, short story “Repossession” in Every Day Fiction: http://www.everydayfiction.com/repossession-by-peter-wood/

Kristine Ong Muslim, poem in Phantasmagorium #4: http://phantasmagorium.org/wordpress13/?p=269

-Sam

PS: As usual, events come in as soon as I click “send”. See below for “NEW-NEW” events from Mark L. Van Name, Clay Griffith, and Cherie Priest!

OCTOBER 2012

1 (Monday) 7:30 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Michael Chabon (the author of The Yiddish Policeman’s Union and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) for a reading and signing event of his forthcoming non-genre novel, Telegraph Hill. More info: http://quailridgebooks.com/event/michael-chabon-telegraph-hill

2 — Local author new collection: Night & Demons by David Drake (Baen, Oct 2) — Drake’s first collection since 2007’s Balefires has some overlap, but also a few stories not appearing since their first publication (“Codex”, “Dragon, The Book”, “The Waiting Bullet”, “The Land Toward Sunset”), and considerable new words in the form of story introductions. Drake recently contributed a piece on putting this collection together for bullspec.com’s “The Hardest Part” series: http://bullspec.com/2012/09/26/the-hardest-part-david-drake-on-night-demons/

NEW-NEW: 2 (Tuesday) 5 pm — The Regulator will be selling books for the “Suburban Strange” release party starting at 5pm. Durham author Nathan Kotecki will be there to sign books and hang out. More info: http://motorcomusic.com/suburban-strange

NEW: 6 (Saturday) 4 pm — B&N of Cary is hosting a Star Wars Reads event for kids on Saturday, October 6 at 4:00 with characters from the local 501st Legion coming in costume

NEW-NEW: 6 (Saturday) 6 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Durham author Nathan Kotecki for a reading and signing of his new Young Adult fantasy novel The Suburban Strange. More info: http://www.flyleafbooks.com/event/nathan-kotecki-reads-his-new-young-adult-fantasy-novel-suburban-strange

NEW: 7 (Sunday) 2-4 pm: Graphic novelist (and Bull Spec #2 interviewee!) Hope Larson visits Chapel Hill Comics for a reading and signing from hew new adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time: https://www.facebook.com/events/506635952698280/

9 (Tuesday) 7:30 pm — Kij Johnson returns to the Triangle for a reading and signing of her new collection from Small Beer Press, At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories, at Quail Ridge Books. More info: http://quailridgebooks.com/event/kij-johnson-nebula-winner-new-stories

NEW-NEW: 14 (Sunday) 10 am — Atomic Empire hosts the North Carolina State Championship Magic Tournament. Registration begins at 9, winner receives invite to the national championships in Indianapolis. More info: http://www.atomicempire.com/2012s/

NEW: 16 (Tuesday) B&N of Cary hosts Hugo Award winning artist and writer Ursula Vernon for the latest in her Dragonbreath series of part graphic novel, part text books for kids, “When Fairies Go Bad”. More info: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/3878803

NEW-NEW: 18 (Thursday) 7 pm — Local authors Mark L. Van Name (The Wild Side anthology, Baen) and Clay Griffith (The Vampire Empire series, Pyr) will discuss urban fantasy at the Cameron Village library.

NEW: 20 (Saturday) 9 pm til past Midnight — Pittsboro’s Davenport & Winkleperry hosts the Clockwork Ball, a Steampunk-themed gala of costumes and music: https://www.facebook.com/events/274644505987172/

22 (Monday) 7 pm — Jasper Fforde at Quail Ridge Books on Monday, October 22 for his young adult fantasy novel The Last Dragonslayer. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/jasper-fforde-last-dragonslayer

NEW-NEW: 23 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Durham author Nathan Kotecki visits The Regulator Bookshop for a reading and signing of The Suburban Strange. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/241877642602182/ — UPDATE: This event has been rescheduled to Monday, November 12.

NEW: 26 (Friday) 6 pm — Bestselling fantasy author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini, visits Barnes & Noble of Cary for a reading, discussion, and signing of the special “deluxe” edition of the concluding book of his Inheritance series, Inheritance. More info: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/78123

NEW: 27 (Saturday) 5-7 pm — Chapel Hill Comics hosts Brandon Graham as part of his new comic “Multiple Warheads” tour. More info: http://www.chapelhillcomics.com/content/?p=2585

29 (Monday) 7 pm — Clay and Susan Griffith at Flyleaf Books on Monday, October 29 for a reading and signing of The Kingmakers, the conclusion of their Vampire Empire trilogy.

31 — Local author new novel: Alex Granados’s Cemetery Plot to be published by Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing. Taglined “The apocalypse isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”.

NOVEMBER 2012

NEW: 3-4 (Saturday to Sunday) — Ultimate Comics hosts a 24 hour comics day event from Nov 3 Sat to Nov 4 Sunday noon to noon; participants will full 24-page comics in 24 hours. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/409522805782118/

4 (Sunday) 2 pm — Alex Granados reading and signing Cemetery Plot at McIntyre’s Books in Fearrington Village in Pittsboro. (See above for book info.)

NEW-NEW: 5 (Monday) 7 pm: Quail Ridge Books hosts Cinda Chima for a reading and signing of her young adult fantasy novel The Crimson Crown, the fourth and final novel of her Seven Realms series. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/cinda-chima-seven-realms-conclusion-crimson-crown

7 (Wednesday) 7:30 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Greensboro author Orson Scott Card for Ruins, the second book in his Pathfinder series from Simon Pulse (young readers/young adult).

9 (Friday) — Granados at The Storetellers Bookstore in Wake Forest, during the town’s Art after Hours event.

NEW-NEW: 9-12 (Friday to Monday) — The Rocky Horror Show at the Carrboro ArtsCenter, presented by Pauper Players. Tickets: http://www.etix.com/ticket/online/eventSearch.jsp?event_id=570503&cobrand=artscenter

NEW-NEW: 10 (Saturday) 11 am — McIntyre’s Books hosts Ilie Ruby for her second novel, The Salt God’s Daughter, “Imbued with a traditional Scottish folktale and hints of Jewish mysticism”. More info: http://www.fearrington.com/village/calendar.asp?month=11&year=2012

NEW-NEW: 12 (Monday) 7 pm — Durham author Nathan Kotecki visits The Regulator Bookshop for a reading and signing of The Suburban Strange. More info: https://www.facebook.com/events/241877642602182/

12 — Local author new novel: J.L. Hilton’s Stellarnet Prince, sequel to January’s Stellarnet Rebel, to be published by Carina Press.

13 (Tuesday) 7:30 pm — Granados at Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books.

15 (Thursday) 7 pm — Granados at Durham’s The Regulator Bookshop.

NEW-NEW: 17 (Saturday) 3 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Morgan Keyes for a reading and signing of new “ages 10 and up” fantasy novel, Darkbeast. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/morgan-keyes-new-fantasy-darkbeast

17-18 (Saturday and Sunday) — NC Comicon at the Durham Convention Center with a long list of guests: http://nccomicon.com/

NEW-NEW: 19 (Monday) 6:30 pm — Local author Mark L. Van Name will host a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) related writing workshop at the Cameron Village Library.

NEW-NEW: 30 (Friday) 7 pm — Cherie Priest returns to the Triangle, as Flyleaf Books hosts a reading and signing from her forthcoming Clockwork Century novel, The Inexplicables. More info: http://www.flyleafbooks.com/event/cherie-priest-reads-her-new-steampunk-adventure-inexplicables

NEW-NEW: 30 (Friday) 7 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts Allie Condie for Reached, the conclusion of the #1 NYT bestselling “Matched” trilogy, a YA dystopia. More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/allie-condie-matched-trilogy-conclusion

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/

FEBRUARY 2013

NEW: TBD –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. More info: http://bullspec.com/2012/09/06/breaking-event-news-quail-ridge-books-to-host-brandon-sanderson-for-a-memory-of-light/

JUNE 2013

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/

END