Wotcher all,
After some positive feedback on the FantasyCon vlogs, here is a vlog I dun in the office:
Enjoy.
David
What we did at Fantasycon 2010.
So, here's my Con report. Not quite as high-tech as David's 'vlogging', but then if you saw my grizzled visage it would melt your mind!
Friday afternoon, Ali (my good lady wife), David and I drove up to Nottingham, me taking a route I was convinced would only take about an hour and ten minutes from Oxford. It took three hours, but the witty banter and occasional musical interludes kept our spirits up and soon we were wafting into the luxurious splendour of the Britannia Hotel Nottingham in a cloud of literary excellence, wafted by the wings of a thousand muses.
We checked in and saw our boxes... sorry, rooms. But the convention is really about the guests and the events and this is the last year Fantasycon is in Nottingham, so enough moaning about the hotel.
Friday evening saw us at The Salutation Inn, Nottingham's premier pub for heavy metal, where Abaddon Books sponsored an evening of metal karaoke. The place was heaving and many attendees turned up to rock out with us. David Moore, desk-editor extraordinaire (or the Antipodean Anvil as we like to call him) lead proceedings, doing 4 numbers himself along with a goodly amount of moshing. But man of the night was Rio Youers, with his take on Killing In The Name by Rage Against The Machine. He was verily the metallist of metal and was rewarded with the promise of a bounty of Abaddon books. Much fun was had and it was particularly aces for the good lady wife and I to catch up with some old friends, and show off Ali's bump (she's in the family way you know?).
Then it was back to the hotel bar for some night caps and to hook up with such splendid folk as Simon Bestwick, Paul Meloy, Paul Finch, Rio again (who draped himself over me and told me why he should write for me, he's a bit forward that Rio (but, sadly, he doesn't dance amongst the sands)) and several other fine scribes and lovely fans. Then it was way past my bedtime so I said adieu.
Saturday afternoon saw us do a preview launch of The End of The Line, with a massive multi-signing. We rapidly sold out of every copy we brought along. Many thanks to our crew of writers and the fans who brought copies. It was great to sign for people and put names to new faces.
Then, later on, I was on a panel called 'How Not To Get Published' with Marc from Angry Robot, Jo from Gollancz and Stephen Jones, legendary anthologist. It was good fun with Jo reading some startling submission letters, and the rest of us relating various stories from the frontline. A few more audience questions would have been ace, but time was not on our side.
Then the rest of the convention involved hooking up with friends old and new, seeing a couple of readings by Paul Meloy and Chaz Brenchley. Saturday night was Ali's birthday so we took ourselves away from the convention for a quiet meal, which was very nice.
Overall, a splendid time was had by all. It was exhausting but fun, and over all too quickly.
Thanks once again to the organisers for a terrific Con. We shall see you all next year for the Brighton Bash.
Jonathan Oliver
Editor
Corvus Free Chapter!
Wotcher all,
Mr. Paul Kearney has asked us to provide a free sample chapter of the upcoming release Corvus for you all to salivate over, so here it is:
So go ahead and download it, read it, buy it if you like it. Why not comment here or twitter us with your feedback?
Cheers,
David
Mr. Paul Kearney has asked us to provide a free sample chapter of the upcoming release Corvus for you all to salivate over, so here it is:
So go ahead and download it, read it, buy it if you like it. Why not comment here or twitter us with your feedback?
Cheers,
David
Abaddon & Solaris FantasyCon Vlog III!
Okay, okay, that proper blogpost with text and pics still coming.
Here's the third video:
Here's the third video:
FantasyCon 2010 Blog Part II: More Vloggery
Righto. Will do a bloggy blog with pics and stuff in a bit. In the meantime, a second vlog:
Cheers,
David
Cheers,
David
FantasyCon 2010 Blog Part I: The Vlog!
Hola chaps,
Will be getting onto you with some quality typage (such as you have come to expect from us here at the Solaris Books Blog) a little later in the day, but I decided to start with an exciting foray into Vlogging! Yes! We're totally twenty-first century here at Solaris Towers.
Or I am. Jon's catching up.
Cheers,
David
Will be getting onto you with some quality typage (such as you have come to expect from us here at the Solaris Books Blog) a little later in the day, but I decided to start with an exciting foray into Vlogging! Yes! We're totally twenty-first century here at Solaris Towers.
Or I am. Jon's catching up.
Cheers,
David
Fantasycon 2010
Hello Ladies and Gents
Well, Fantasycon is nigh. And in attendance this year will be myself and my estimable colleague, David Moore. We have some things planned for this weekend which, if you're along for the Con, I think that you will enjoy very much.
Firstly, on Friday 17th from 8pm, David and I will be at The Salutation Inn, there to oversee a raucous evening of heavy metal karaoke, sponsored by our sister imprint Abaddon Books. Which is also us, just in case you hadn't made the connection. The first 50 customers will get a free Abaddon zombie novel and there will be a prize for the best singer of the evening. This event isn't restricted to Fantasycon guests, so if you are in Nottingham and at a loose end, and loveth the metal, come join us.
Saturday, 1pm, Fantasycon, Britannia Hotel main bar - we will be launching the horror anthology edited by myself, The End of The Line. Not only will you be able to get this book two months before it hits the shop, you will also be able to get it for the discounted price of £5! Not only that, but many authors in the collection will be in attendance to deface your copy if you so wish.
Saturday, 4pm - I will be on a panel on what NOT to do when trying to get published. With me will be Marc Gascoigne and Lee Harris from Angry Robot, Jo Fletcher from Gollancz, and editor extraordinaire Stephen Jones. Come along and hear us rant.
Other than that, David and I will both be there to talk to punters, authors and generally feel the vibes flowing from the industry.
If I see you in the bar, mine's a pint.
Jonathan Oliver
Editor
Reviews of The Monarchies of God
Hey all,This is a bit of a one-off Reviewspam Special, but it's not often you get this kind of feedback, so I thought I'd blog about this individually.
Yagiz Erkan, over at the Speculative Book Review, has just given us these two kickass reviews of Paul Kearney's The Monarchies of God Volume 1: Hawkwood and the Kings (click here for the review) and The Monarchies of God Volume 2: Century of the Soldier (click here for the review).
And the dude's given Paul ten out of ten each time!
So check out his reviews, and if he persuades you, check out the books...
David
How to Survive a World SF Con
Rowena Cory Daniells is the author of Solaris Books' King Rolen's Kin fantasy series, which began with The King's Bastard, then The Uncrowned King, and the final book in the trilogy, The Usurper, has just been released.
On the 2nd to the 6th of September this year Rowena attended the World SF Con, and agreed to write us this Con report...
In early September the 68th World SF Con was held in Melbourne, Australia. Guests of Honour were Hugo Award Winning Kim Stanley Robinson, Award Winning Australian Artist Shaun Tan and long time fan Robin Johnson, who I used to know when he had red hair. Also present were lots of wonderful writers and dedicated fans, most of whom had travelled from across Australia and overseas to attend the Con.
2. How to handle the dilemma of the person whose face you recognise, but name you can’t remember. I find it’s best to be up front about this. Apologise for having a mind like a sieve and ask where you know them from. Chance are, they are standing there trying to remember your name. I ran into Melinda Snodgrass in the green room and we both felt we’d met before. Was it the Canada World Con? Was it the Glasgow World Con? Was it the 1999 Australian World Con? No? We finally remembered that we’d been introduced at breakfast!
3. Camera. Don’t be like me and pack a camera, then forget to take it out of your hotel room.
4. Internet addiction. I thought I could go cold turkey for the length of the Con. This was a mistake. I found myself hanging over my friends’ shoulders as they checked their Facebook. Sad, I know.
5. The Green Room. This is a room for panellists where they can meet up, have a coffee and a sandwich and prepare for panels. It took me 3 days to find the green room and then half an hour to work out how to use the coffee machine, which did everything but tap dance. All I wanted was hot water to make a hot chocolate. Even the person manning (womaning?) the green room had trouble figuring it out.
6. Wear comfortable shoes. These Cons get held at huge convention centres often over several levels. At the Glasgow World Con there were different sections down long tunnels and I seem to remember setting off to go to a panel and never reaching it, but I did wander into another panel that turned out to be really interesting.
7. Following on from that, be flexible. It’s the panels you see by accident and people you meet by chance who enrich your Con experience.
8. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t get to all the panels you want to see. There seems to be a rule, that if there are three panels you really want to see on a certain day, those three will all be on at the same time. In fact they will probably be on at the same as you have to be on a panel!
9. So go each day prepared to miss panels. If possible co-opt friends to go to the panels you’re going to miss and ask them (very nicely) to take notes. Offer to do the same for them. (This is where blogs are wonderful. People write up their impression of panels and, if you have organised access to the internet, you can catch up. This way your Con experience becomes multi-layered with other people’s observations).
10. The dealers’ room. I love the dealers’ room, but it took me three days to get to the end of the first aisle because I kept running into people I knew, having a chat, then having to dash off to go see a panel.
11. Eating. You will have to eat and you will certainly run into friends (old and new) who also have to eat. Before the Con starts go on a tour around the near-by streets to find the best coffee shops and restaurants with the most reasonable prices. This will make you extremely popular since there is a rule at Cons that goes like this - the length of time it takes to decide where to eat is directly proportional to the number of people who are trying to make up their minds. If you can suggest a cheap place that makes good food near-by you’ll save everyone from endless discussion.
12. Books. I have a weakness for books, maybe you do, too. I buy far too many. This time I was lucky enough to have a pair of boots and a pair of shoes break while I was at World Con. This necessitated buying a new pair of boots to wear (at a discount, very nice thank you). The throwing out of the old shoes and boots meant more room in my suitcase for books. It is also possible to post books back to yourself if you exceed your baggage weight limit.
This is my World Con Survival Guide and I’m sure other people have different suggestions so do your homework and be prepared.
What are your best memories from Cons?
-Rowena Cory Daniells
On the 2nd to the 6th of September this year Rowena attended the World SF Con, and agreed to write us this Con report...
In early September the 68th World SF Con was held in Melbourne, Australia. Guests of Honour were Hugo Award Winning Kim Stanley Robinson, Award Winning Australian Artist Shaun Tan and long time fan Robin Johnson, who I used to know when he had red hair.
Every time I found myself in a lift or in a queue with a stranger I would ask where they had come from and you would be surprised how many people were attending a Con for the first time, let alone a World Con.
Since this Con was in Australia and not the US or the UK the attendance was around 2,500, not large by World Con standards, but huge for a Con in Australia. For anyone thinking of attending a World Con for the first time here are my survival tips:
1. Get a hotel near-by so that you can sneak away when it all gets too much for you. There is no shame in hiding out in your hotel room to curl up in bed with a book. If you’re anything like me you’re used to being alone for many hours each day while you write. Having to be sociable for several days in a row is a real challenge, especially when you keep running into people you only see every 10 years (the last World Con in Australia was 1999) and you can’t remember their names.2. How to handle the dilemma of the person whose face you recognise, but name you can’t remember. I find it’s best to be up front about this. Apologise for having a mind like a sieve and ask where you know them from. Chance are, they are standing there trying to remember your name. I ran into Melinda Snodgrass in the green room and we both felt we’d met before. Was it the Canada World Con? Was it the Glasgow World Con? Was it the 1999 Australian World Con? No? We finally remembered that we’d been introduced at breakfast!
3. Camera. Don’t be like me and pack a camera, then forget to take it out of your hotel room.
4. Internet addiction. I thought I could go cold turkey for the length of the Con. This was a mistake. I found myself hanging over my friends’ shoulders as they checked their Facebook. Sad, I know.
5. The Green Room. This is a room for panellists where they can meet up, have a coffee and a sandwich and prepare for panels. It took me 3 days to find the green room and then half an hour to work out how to use the coffee machine, which did everything but tap dance. All I wanted was hot water to make a hot chocolate. Even the person manning (womaning?) the green room had trouble figuring it out.
6. Wear comfortable shoes. These Cons get held at huge convention centres often over several levels. At the Glasgow World Con there were different sections down long tunnels and I seem to remember setting off to go to a panel and never reaching it, but I did wander into another panel that turned out to be really interesting.
7. Following on from that, be flexible. It’s the panels you see by accident and people you meet by chance who enrich your Con experience.
8. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t get to all the panels you want to see. There seems to be a rule, that if there are three panels you really want to see on a certain day, those three will all be on at the same time. In fact they will probably be on at the same as you have to be on a panel!
9. So go each day prepared to miss panels. If possible co-opt friends to go to the panels you’re going to miss and ask them (very nicely) to take notes. Offer to do the same for them. (This is where blogs are wonderful. People write up their impression of panels and, if you have organised access to the internet, you can catch up. This way your Con experience becomes multi-layered with other people’s observations).
10. The dealers’ room. I love the dealers’ room, but it took me three days to get to the end of the first aisle because I kept running into people I knew, having a chat, then having to dash off to go see a panel.
11. Eating. You will have to eat and you will certainly run into friends (old and new) who also have to eat. Before the Con starts go on a tour around the near-by streets to find the best coffee shops and restaurants with the most reasonable prices. This will make you extremely popular since there is a rule at Cons that goes like this - the length of time it takes to decide where to eat is directly proportional to the number of people who are trying to make up their minds. If you can suggest a cheap place that makes good food near-by you’ll save everyone from endless discussion.
12. Books. I have a weakness for books, maybe you do, too. I buy far too many. This time I was lucky enough to have a pair of boots and a pair of shoes break while I was at World Con. This necessitated buying a new pair of boots to wear (at a discount, very nice thank you). The throwing out of the old shoes and boots meant more room in my suitcase for books. It is also possible to post books back to yourself if you exceed your baggage weight limit.
This is my World Con Survival Guide and I’m sure other people have different suggestions so do your homework and be prepared.
What are your best memories from Cons?
-Rowena Cory Daniells
Nightmare Ball Participants Photographed by Cat Sparks
Peter Watts has a close encounter with Cthulu photographed by Cat Sparks
-
Raise your hand if you want more Eric Brown! (Me! Me!)
Coming from Eric Brown in April 2011...
1999, on the threshold of a new millennium, the novelist Daniel Langham lives a reclusive life on an idyllic Greek island, hiding away from humanity and the events of the past. All that changes, however, when he meets artist Caroline Platt and finds himself falling in love. But what is his secret, and what are the horrors that haunt him?1935. Writers Jonathon Langham and Edward Vaughan are summoned from London by their editor friend Jasper Carnegie to help investigate strange goings on in Hopton Wood. What they discover there – no less than a strange creature from another world – will change their lives forever. What they become, and their link to the novelist of the future, is the subject of Eric Brown’s most ambitious novel to date. Almost ten years in the writing, The Kings of Eternity is a novel of vast scope and depth, full of the staple tropes of the genre and yet imbued with humanity and characters you’ll come to love.
Just thought we'd post the art for Eric's Kings of Eternity, which'll be hitting the shelves next spring. We know how you guys love to see a new cover.
If you can't wait that long for your Eric Brown fix, Engineman comes out next month, containing the Engineman novel and eight, count them, eight of Eric's short stories, and reviewers are already saying some very nice things about it...
niallalot With Engineman, King Rolen's Kin and The Monarchies of God, @SolarisBooks seems to be at the very top of their game lately.
markchitty @SolarisBooks I finished the main Engineman story last night - excellent! It's great that I have another 8 shorts to read though :)-
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