I’ve finally started to get things here at home back on track after being away all weekend at Shore Leave.

The con was a blast, as always. It was great seeing friends from around the country all in one place, and the con staff and fans at Shore Leave are some of the nicest any writer could ever be fortunate enough to meet.

I was especially pleased with the success of the opening-night event I produced and participated in: The First Annual Shore Leave Comedy Roast for Charity. Our guest of honor (read: victim) was my longtime friend, bestselling author and IAMTW Grand Master Keith R.A. DeCandido (kradical). The evening was emceed to perfection by Bob Greenberger, and after I coaxed a few laughs from the standing-room-only crowd, true hilarity was provided by the performances of Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore; Kirsten Beyer (on video); Michael Jan Friedman; Marco Palmieri; an animated short I created with new voices dubbed over footage from Star Trek: The Animated Series; Glenn Hauman; and Peter David.

We raised more than $1,000 in donations for the American Red Cross ($450 was from those of us on the dais, as well as Kirsten) and signed up some folks to donate blood.

My editor Margaret Clark announced two of my new upcoming Star Trek novels for 2010. Coming in August is Star Trek: More Beautiful Than Death, which is based on the new blockbuster feature film. In November, as part of the Star Trek: Typhon Pact miniseries, I will be penning an SF-espionage-thriller, Zero Sum Game.

Then I had a great time signing books for fans at Friday night’s Meet the Pros party, for which Russ Doyle of Borders Express had generously pre-ordered 100 copies of my new original novel, The Calling, to make its debut at Shore Leave. Over the course of the weekend, we managed to sell all but a few of those 100 books, and those left over went with Russ to his store to form a spiffy display to tempt his customers.

I spent Saturday with the most brutal (and thoroughly deserved) hangover. When I wasn’t groaning in pain, I was apologizing to all the people to whom I’d said stupid things Friday night.

Sunday was great; I got up at 7:30am, met several of my fellow authors for a delicious buffet breakfast, signed some more books, spoke on some panels, then signed some more books. After staying to see the uproarious show-closing Mystery Trekkie Theater, I caught a ride back to New York with Michael Jan Friedman — who has graciously (and courageously) agreed to be the guest of honor for next year’s Shore Leave Comedy Roast.

I have much work to do this week: preparations before  I leave for Ireland next weekend; a novel outline to write; domestic errands to run; a guest post appearing today on the blog of my literary representatives, The Knight Agency; and whatever other crises rear their ugly heads before I’m able to catch a flight out of the country.

Enough rambling here. Time to get back to work….