Midlist Writer: Worldcon

Showing posts with label Worldcon. Show all posts

Thursday, 21 August 2014

Back from Worldcon!

As regular readers of this blog know, this week I was at Loncon3, aka the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention. I made lots of friends and ended up on the Iron Throne! It's good to finally get the recognition I'm due.
It was a great five days of panels, parties, readings, and meeting fellow fans. I did a signing of Radio Hope and A Fine Likeness on the 16th (my 45th brirhday) and was on a panel on refugees in fiction. For more on the con, check out the Worldcon report I did for the Black Gate blog.

Thanks for Jerome Finn for the photo!

Thursday, 14 August 2014

Free Post-Apocalyptic Ebook and Kindle Countdown Deal!

Hello from Worldcon! I'm in London at the world's largest, and oldest science fiction convention. I'll be turning 45 here on Saturday, surrounded by science fiction fans. There are worse places to to grow old.

In honor of Worldcon and my oncoming decrepitude, I'm running a special promotion for two of my Toxic World titles of post-apocalyptic books. Radio Hope is on a Kindle Countdown deal. It's usually $3.99 but for August 14-15 it will be 99 cents. On August 16-17 it will be $1.99. On August 18-19 it will be $2.99.

Also, my short story The Scavenger will be free August 14-18.

Grab these titles while they're cheap, and tune in next week for a full convention report and plenty of photos!

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

Looking forward to Worldcon, plus an upcoming giveaway!

On Thursday I'm heading down to London for the World Science Fiction Convention, otherwise known as Worldcon, this year hosted by Loncon. It's five days of panels, movies, special events, making new friends, and of course a giant dealer's room!

I'm doing a panel on Thursday, plus a signing on Saturday, the same day yours truly turns 45. Yipe!

I'll be writing up a full con report next week for Black Gate and will post the link here.

In honor of Worldcon and my oncoming old age, I'll be running a special promotion for two of my Toxic World titles of post-apocalyptic books. Radio Hope will be on a Kindle Countdown deal. It's usually $3.99 but for August 13-14 it will be 99 cents. On August 15-16 it will be $1.99. On August 17-19 it will be $2.99.

Also, my short story The Scavenger will be free August 14-18.

Saturday, 19 July 2014

My Worldcon Schedule

I've received my final schedule for Worldcon, the 72nd Annual World Science Fiction Convention, which is being hosted by Loncon in London this August. One nice surprise is that I have a book signing on my birthday!

Here's my lineup:

Refugees Have More to Worry About Than Revenge
Thursday, August 14, 16:30 - 18:00, London Suite 2 (ExCeL)
War stories in genre fiction tend to focus on the soldiers, but what about the effects of conflict on people living in war zones, or coping with the fallout once the battle is done? What roles are available for individual refugees in genre fiction, beyond victim or avenger? How are societies shown to respond to displacement, or the arrival of the displaced?

Autographing 7 - Sean McLachlan
Saturday, August 16, 15:00 - 16:30, Autographing Space (ExCeL)

Asymmetric Warfare
Sunday, August 17, 19:00 - 20:00, Capital Suite 15 (ExCeL)
Despite massive military superiority, armies still lose out to insurgent forces who use asymmetric warfare techniques - some of which might be called terrorism - to pursue their goals away from conventional battlefields. How does this work, how does it win, and is there any way to fight against it?

Thursday, 26 June 2014

Trench Raiders is done, and other news from the world of me

This has been a big week for me. We've moved back to Madrid from Santander, and it's nice to be in a big city with a lot of cultural life again. We got to visit the newly reopened archaeological museum (more on that in tomorrow's post) and yesterday I finished the first draft of Trench Raiders, the first book in my World War one action series.
I'm also busy reading the candidates for the Hugo Award, the annual science fiction awards presented at Worldcon. The convention is in London this August and I'll be there. I'm even hosting a couple of panels! I'll have a big con report for you come August.
Oh, and my eight-year-old son has started a blog, Remote Islands and Stuff. He's obsessed with Google Maps and loves to find obscure little islands in the middle of nowhere. Strange to say, that's something I used to do with paper maps back when I was his age, although I never suggested he do it himself! Could an interest in coral atolls be genetic?

This image from Wikipedia shows the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, the heroes of trench Raiders, busy seeing off the Prussian Guard at Ypres in 1914.

Sunday, 2 February 2014

I'm going to Worldcon!

I just bought my membership to Worldcon, the 72nd Annual World Science Fiction Convention. I've always wanted to go to one of these because it's the big convention, with thousands of fans, writers, actors, and directors mingling. Since it's in London this year while I'll be in Oxford, it's going to be right in my back yard. I couldn't miss this opportunity!

I'm going to try to get on some panels on the strength of my archaeology and writing background, and of course I'll have a copy of Radio Hope tucked under my arm, The print edition will be out by the end of February.

Anyone else ever been to a Worldcon? Anyone planning on going this year?

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The Case of the Purloined Pyramid

The Last Hotel Room

He came to Tangier to die, but life isn’t done with him yet. Tom Miller has lost his job, his wife, and his dreams. Broke and alone, he ends up in a flophouse in Morocco, ready to end it all. But soon he finds himself tangled in a web of danger and duty as he’s pulled into scamming tourists for a crooked cop while trying to help a Syrian refugee boy survive life on the streets. Can a lifelong loser do something good for a change? A portion of my royalties will go to a charity for Syrian refugees.

Warpath into Sonora

Arizona 1846: Nantan, a young Apache warrior, is building a name for himself by leading raids against Mexican ranches to impress his war chief, and the chief’s lovely daughter. But there is one thing he and all other Apaches fear—a ruthless band of Mexican scalp hunters who slaughter entire villages. Nantan and his friends have sworn to fight back, but they are inexperienced, and led by a war chief driven mad with a thirst for revenge. Can they track their tribe’s worst enemy into unknown territory and defeat them?

Radio Hope

In a world shattered by war, pollution and disease. . . A gunslinging mother longs to find a safe refuge for her son. A frustrated revolutionary delivers water to villagers living on a toxic waste dump. The assistant mayor of humanity's last city hopes he will never have to take command. One thing gives them the promise of a better future--Radio Hope, a mysterious station that broadcasts vital information about surviving in a blighted world. But when a mad prophet and his army of fanatics march out of the wildlands on a crusade to purify the land with blood and fire, all three will find their lives intertwining, and changing forever.

Refugees from the Righteous Horde (Toxic World Book 2)

When you only have one shot, you better aim true. In a ravaged world, civilization’s last outpost is reeling after fighting off the fanatical warriors of the Righteous Horde. Sheriff Annette Cruz becomes New City’s long arm of vengeance as she sets off across the wildlands to take out the cult’s leader. All she has is a sniper’s rifle with one bullet and a former cultist with his own agenda. Meanwhile, one of the cult’s escaped slaves makes a discovery that could tear New City apart. . . Refugees from the Righteous Horde continues the Toxic World series started in Radio Hope, an ongoing narrative of humanity’s struggle to rebuild the world it ruined.

The Scavenger

In a world shattered by war, pollution, and disease, a lone scavenger discovers a priceless relic from the Old Times. The problem is, it's stuck in the middle of the worst wasteland he knows--a contaminated city inhabited by insane chem addicts and vengeful villagers. Only his wits, his gun, and an unlikely ally can get him out alive. Set in the Toxic World series introduced in the novel Radio Hope, this 10,000-word story explores more of the dangers and personalities that make up a post-apocalyptic world that's all too possible.

Trench Raiders

September 1914: The British Expeditionary Force has the Germans on the run, or so they think. After a month of bitter fighting, the British are battered, exhausted, and down to half their strength, yet they’ve helped save Paris and are pushing toward Berlin. Then the retreating Germans decide to make a stand. Holding a steep slope beside the River Aisne, the entrenched Germans mow down the advancing British with machine gun fire. Soon the British dig in too, and it looks like the war might grind down into deadly stalemate. Searching through No-Man’s Land in the darkness, Private Timothy Crawford of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry finds a chink in the German armor. But can this lowly private, who spends as much time in the battalion guardhouse as he does on the parade ground, convince his commanding officer to risk everything for a chance to break through?

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