Wednesday, June 22, 2016

The Kanga-Roundup

Yesterday was the "book birthday" for my debut novel WAYPOINT KANGAROO, and I did a bunch of guest blog posts and interviews to coincide with its release! But first things first...

Tor.com is running a sweepstakes to give away five copies of the book! Enter before 12noon Eastern Time this Friday, June 24th (US/Canada only).

And now on to the blog posts! Some of these may be more interesting to writers and other publishing professionals, but I hope they give every interested party some more insight into what went into creating Kangaroo:

John Scalzi, one of my instructors at Viable Paradise XII, was kind enough to offer me a spot on The Big Idea.

Mary Robinette Kowal, erstwhile Portlandian and all-around outstanding human being, generously let me ramble on about My Favorite Bit.

Alex Shvartsman, editor of the Unidentified Funny Objects anthology series, hosted my breakdown of WK's opening chapter on The Hook.

Sally 'Qwill' Janin—who, coincidentally, founded The Qwillery on my birthday in 2008—interviewed me about a variety of writing-related topics for the Qwillery's 2016 Debut Author Challenge.

Stephen Geigen-Miller, a fellow writer in Toronto and friend of the fabulous Claire Humphrey, interviewed me about Breaking In as a writer.

BONUS: related to "My Favorite Bit" above, you can hear an excerpt from the forthcoming audio book!


Thanks to everyone for supporting WAYPOINT KANGAROO. Launch day was fantastic. Now let's see if we can push this rocket all the way to Mars... and beyond!

Curtis

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

My Preliminary Westercon 69 Schedule

Two blog posts in one week? Madness! (But it is technically a different month, so.)

I've received my draft schedule from the Westercon 69 programming department, and it's pretty light (as I requested):

Curtis Chen Reading
Madison
Fri Jul 1 3:00pm - 3:30pm
Curtis Chen reads from a selected work.
Curtis Chen

Choosing a Writing Workshop
Roosevelt
Fri Jul 1 4:00pm - 5:00pm
From one-day workshops and moderated critiques to residential programs and even MFAs — what are the possibilities? How do you figure out what you need, and when? Panelists with experience as students, instructors, and program administrators review the pros and cons and answer questions.
Curtis Chen, David D. Levine, Karen Anderson (moderator), Manny Frishberg

Saturday 10am Kaffeeklatsch
Multnomah
Sat Jul 2 10:00am - 11:00am
Small group discussions with authors, artists, and other interesting personalities (referred to as "hosts") Sessions are limited to the host and a small group of attendees.
Anthony Pryor, Carol Berg, Curtis Chen, David D. Levine, Diana Pharaoh Francis, Sonia Lyris, Tod McCoy

Autographs
Autographs
Sun Jul 3 10:00am - 11:00am
Get your goodies signed!
Anthony Pryor, Curtis Chen, Emily Jiang

Of course, I'll be around all weekend. I'm always around.

Any updates to the above will be published in the official online schedule. If you're into Facebooking, feel free to add yourself to my rogue event listing for possible additional updates. And, of course, follow me on Twitter for my most up-to-the-minute blathering.

Curtis