Page 22 of posts by: montsamu

Book Harvest collecting children's book donations on Monday for their annual MLK drive

Posted on 2014-01-19 at 16:13 by montsamu

On Monday, January 20, 2014, from 1 to 4 pm, Book Harvest is having a children's book drive at the Carolina Theatre of Durham. "10,000 Books for Kids (10KBK) is Book Harvest’s annual community-wide book drive on MLK Day and a celebration of diversity, literacy, and book ownership for all kids.  Help us bring in 10,000 books in a single afternoon! Everyone! Round up your new and gently used children’s books – and those of your neighbors, friends, classmates, and coworkers – and bring them to us at the

Posted in Uncategorized

Coming to Town: Carrie Vaughn for Dreams of the Golden Age, interviewed by James Maxey

Posted on 2014-01-13 at 13:00 by montsamu

As the author of the "Kitty Norville" urban fantasy series Carrie Vaughn has built a career and a following, and her origin story as a writer includes the 1998 Odyssey Writing Workshop and a long string of short story publications, including a Hugo Award nomination for "Amaryllis" and multiple appearances in George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards superhero book series. In 2011, Tor published her superhero novel After the Golden Age, and now Vaughn is out on tour for the January 7, 2014-published sequel, Dreams of

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged after the golden age, carrie vaughn, dreams of the golden age, james maxey, quail ridge books

Friday Quick Updates: illogiCon is here!

Posted on 2014-01-10 at 15:51 by montsamu

Friday, January 10, 2014: I'm likely the last to post my own illogiCon panel schedule, so let me get that out of the way first:

• FRIDAY 3 PM -- The Things About Thieves -- SMITH
• FRIDAY 4 PM -- The Fortunes of Small Press -- REYNOLDS [moderator]
• SATURDAY 11 AM -- A Million Nations -- REYNOLDS
• SATURDAY 12 PM -- Social Scientists' Science Fiction -- SMITH
• SATURDAY 4 PM -- Best F&SF Novels of 2013 -- SMITH

Posted in Friday Quick Updates | Tagged illogicon

Coming to Town: Misty Massey for illogiCon, interviewed by Edmund R. Schubert

Posted on 2014-01-09 at 22:00 by montsamu

Misty Massey is the author of Mad Kestrel (Tor Books), a rollicking adventure of magic on the high seas which was nominated for the 2010 SCASL Book Award. Misty is one of the featured writers on the MagicalWords.net blog, along with David B. Coe and Faith Hunter. When she’s not writing, she studies Middle Eastern dance. Misty’s short fiction has recently appeared in the Rum and Runestones anthology (Dragon Moon Press) and the Dragon’s Lure anthology (Dark Quest Books). A sequel to Mad Kestrel, Kestrel’s

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged edmund r schubert, illogicon, magical words, misty massey

Coming to Town: Lawrence M. Schoen for illogiCon, interviewed by Ada Milenkovic Brown

Posted on 2014-01-09 at 21:32 by montsamu

Author, Klingon expert, and certified hypnotist Lawrence M. Schoen is one of the guests of honor at illogiCon this weekend (Jan 10-12) in Raleigh. He holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. He spent ten years as a college professor, and has done extensive research in the areas of human memory and language. This background provides a principal metaphor for his fiction, for which he was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2007. He received a Hugo Award

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged ada milenkovic brown, illogicon, lawrence m schoen

Coming to Town, link edition: Zack Smith interviews William Shatner about "Shatner's World"

Posted on 2014-01-09 at 15:12 by montsamu

Local writer Zack Smith has had some fantastic, fantastic interviews over the years. But this one, I mean, c'mon. He talked via phone with Shatner! On his blog, Zack posts his full/extended interview with the actor ahead of "Shatner's World: We Just Live In It", Shatner's one man show in Raleigh on Sunday evening. A compressed version of the interview appears in this week's Independent Weekly. In the full interview, Shatner talks about how this one-man show started and grew, about Chapel Hill musician Ben

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged shatner's world, william shatner, zack smith

The Hardest Part: Jenna Black on writing a full novel after having sold it on proposal

Posted on 2014-01-09 at 03:38 by montsamu

Durham author Jenna Black's next novel publication is a re-issue of her 2006 novel Watchers in the Night, which begins her series The Guardians of the Night, all set for re-release in 2014 starting with book one next week. With two additional series also in print, Faeriewalker and Morgan Kingsley, she has two more series ongoing, her Nikki Glass urban fantasy series and her new near future YA dystopia Replica, and with all these novels she's had plenty of time to examine and exercise her craft. Here she

Posted in The Hardest Part | Tagged jenna black

Coming to Town: Laura Anne Gilman for illogiCon, interviewed by Jaym Gates

Posted on 2014-01-07 at 03:55 by montsamu

Author Laura Anne Gilman joined the illogiCon guest roster a few months back, and now I'm very happy to have her on bullspec.com's "Coming to Town" series, the first of hopefully a few features on the incoming illogiCon guests and other panelists. Gilman is the author of multiple fantasy series including Retrievers, Paranormal Scene Investigators, Grail Quest, and The Vineart War, along with media tie-in and other novels, non-fiction books, not to mention a long list of short stories, on and on. She'll be

Posted in Coming to Town | Tagged illogicon, jaym gates, laura anne gilman

Ack! Alack! I've been remiss, because you are invited!

Posted on 2014-01-05 at 15:55 by montsamu

So apparently among the people I failed to tell about today's local sf holiday party are YOU, dear readers of bullspec.com. Yipes! If you're in the Durham area and free to stop by between 3 and 8, let me know and I'll shoot the address to you straight away. -Sam (sam@bullspec.com)

Posted in events

Friday Quick Updates: The Manly Wade Wellman Award's prospective eligibility list is announced, and the many things I missed in the January newsletter

Posted on 2014-01-03 at 22:06 by montsamu

Friday, January 3, 2014: As usual, as soon as I click "publish" and "send" on the newsletter all manner of books and events and news come flying in or are finally finalized. Finally. Ish.

First, the North Carolina Speculative Fiction Foundation is proud to announce the prospective eligibility list for the 2014 Manly Wade Wellman Award for North Carolina Science Fiction and Fantasy, adding more than 10 novels to the preliminary list announced in December. Thank you very much to those who wrote in with

Posted in Friday Quick Updates | Tagged manly wade wellman award, monica byrne, mur lafferty, ncsff