Page 17 of posts by: montsamu

Coming to Town: Jeff VanderMeer at Quail Ridge Books for Authority, interviewed by Mur Lafferty

Posted on 2014-07-08 at 19:12 by montsamu

Tallahassee author Jeff VanderMeer has been no stranger to the Carolinas, both through his work teaching at the SharedWorlds teen writing summer camp at Wofford College and quite a few events over the years. We're thrilled to be welcoming him back again this year as part of his Southern Reach Summer Tour which includes 4 stops in the Carolinas in just over a week, starting and ending with Wednesday events (July 9th and 16th) at Hub City in Spartanburg, SC around readings on Thursday (July 10th) at Raleigh’s

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged jeff vandermeer, mur lafferty, quail ridge books

July Newsletter: Wilton Barnhardt, Jay Posey, Jeff VanderMeer, ConGregate, David B. Coe, Serenity, and more

Posted on 2014-07-07 at 12:01 by montsamu

Vol 4. No 7. July 7, 2014: We are in for an absolutely fantastic July, with readings from Wilton Barnhardt, Jay Posey, Jeff VanderMeer, Lydia Netzer, Deborah Harkness, David B. Coe, and Mur Lafferty, new convention ConGregate in Winston-Salem with guests of honor Larry Correia and Toni Weisskopf and the presentation of the Manly Wade Wellman Award, and! even more, including comics events and the annual charity screening of Serenity at the Raleighwood Cinema Grill.

Let's start with NC State professor Wilton

Posted in Uncategorized

Paul Kincaid’s From the Other Side, June 2014: One Three One, Barricade, the Gemmell Awards, and more

Posted on 2014-07-03 at 17:49 by montsamu

From the Other Side, June 2014

By Paul Kincaid

Okay, we have to accept that, however much we might value its qualities, science fiction can sometimes serve as a repository for the mad, the bizarre, the plain bonkers. Which may be why we get One Three One: A Time-Shifting Gnostic Hooligan Road Novel by Julian Cope (Faber). Cope is, of course, the former lead singer of The Teardrop Explodes who has also written  couple of well-received books on ancient megaliths, and some eclectic works on obscure rock

Posted in From the Other Side | Tagged andy remic, barricade, charles stross, jon wallace, julian cope, mark lawrence, one three one, paul kincaid, terry pratchett

ConTemporal 2014: Day One

Posted on 2014-06-27 at 23:07 by montsamu

ConTemporal 2014 is underway, and there's even more mood-setting decorations throughout the hotel, music playing, costumes everywhere. Here's a few photos, including of the massively expanded high tea room:

[caption id="attachment_3566" align="alignnone" width="224"] It wouldn't be a NC sf convention without Allen Wold, here looking quite dapper. Be warned: he's carrying a badge.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_3567" align="alignnone" width="224"] I admit it. I jumped just a little bit when this little

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged contemporal

Coming to Town: Dave Lee for ConTemporal, interviewed by Paul Cory

Posted on 2014-06-25 at 16:01 by montsamu

ConTemporal is this weekend (June 27-29) at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown, and artist guest of honor Dave Lee is one of dozens of guests coming to town for the event. Lee's travel isn't too far, as his Hatton Cross Steampunk is located in Gloucester VA. An accomplished and award-winning Steampunk artist, he is also an author: his Steampunk western novel entitled Country in Ruin:1865 is published through HCS Publishing and its sequel World in Ruin:1870 is due out in 2014. Here, Lee took the time for some

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged contemporal, dave lee, paul cory

Friday Quick Update: Manly Wade Wellman Award nominations close TONIGHT, Monica Byrne reading tomorrow, and! ConTemporal is coming

Posted on 2014-06-13 at 15:01 by montsamu

Friday, June 13, 2014: Today is the last day for nominations for the 2014 Manly Wade Wellman Award, which close tonight at midnight! If you are or were a member of illogiCon, ConCarolinas, ConTemporal, or ConGregate, you are eligible to vote; if you haven’t, please fill out the registration form and I will get your e-ballot to you right away.

Tomorrow, Durham author Monica Byrne is reading at McIntyre's Books at 11 am. She was on WUNC's "The State of Things" with Frank Stasio yesterday, discussing her

Posted in Friday Quick Updates

June newsletter: MakerFaire, Noir at the Bar, ConTemporal, and the last week for Manly Wade Wellman Award nominations

Posted on 2014-06-07 at 14:02 by montsamu

Vol 4. No 6. June 6, 2014: First, it was pretty amazing to see so many fantastic NC authors and fans at ConCarolinas last weekend. (And, OK, sure, those coming in from out of state as well!) June is a bit quieter in terms of readings, though (of course) there's still plenty going on, from Maker Faire this weekend to ConTemporal to close out the month, and the first "Noir at the Bar" event on June 19 with a half-dozen (and counting) crime novelists holding court.

Looking further ahead, while there's rumor

Posted in newsletter

Paul Kincaid’s From the Other Side, May 2014: Comics Unmasked exhibition, and new books from Nick Harkaway, Paul Cornell, Trudi Canavan, and Jeff VanderMeer

Posted on 2014-06-06 at 14:16 by montsamu

From the Other Side, May 2014

By Paul Kincaid

So, with the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the annual awards circus comes to an end (at least until the Hugos in August) in the splendid surroundings of the Royal Society. Under the gaze of Thomas Hobbes and Earnest Rutherford and other worthies we were treated to an award ceremony that seems to be getting longer every year. This time, for instance, there was a nicely unsettling short film from Sci-Fi London’s competition to make a film in just 48 hours, followed by

Posted in From the Other Side | Tagged jeff vandermeer, nick harkaway, paul cornell, paul kincaid, trudi canavan

Friday Quick Updates: ConCarolinas, The Manly Wade Wellman Award, Carolina Book Beat, MakerFaire, and more

Posted on 2014-05-30 at 17:24 by montsamu

Friday, May 30, 2014: Whew! A sold-out ConCarolinas is upon us, and quite a few folks are heading to Charlotte to see George R.R. Martin, Tommy Lee Edwards, Faith Hunter, David B. Coe, A.J. Hartley, Misty Massey, and too many others to list. I'll see people bright and early on Saturday at the 9 AM Breakfast and Books panel -- do bring some "show and tell" for the new books you'd like to recommend!

Meanwhile, nominating ballots have finally started going out (and coming back in) for the 2014 Manly Wade

Posted in Friday Quick Updates, Uncategorized

The Hardest Part: Monica Byrne on The Girl in the Road

Posted on 2014-05-28 at 18:27 by montsamu

Durham author Monica Byrne's debut novel The Girl in the Road hit bookstores (and audiobook stores) last week, and both prior to and after publication the glowing reviews have piled up (from big names like Neil Gaiman, Kim Stanley Robinson, John Scalzi, and Helene Wecker, to blogs and ezines like Everyday eBook, to NPR and The Wall Street Journal). But it's been a long, er, ahem, road for this writer, from dreaming of becoming an astronaut to "falling back in love" with her artistic impulses: writing

Posted in The Hardest Part | Tagged monica byrne, the girl in the road