Archive for the ‘News’ Category

Off to Comic-Con….I hope

Well, sports fans, this it: I depart today for Comic-Con International in San Diego.

At least, I hope I do. I have awoken this morning to rain, lightning, and thunder here in New York City. Exactly the kind of weather I do not want to see on a day when I am scheduled to go hurtling through the air in a pressurized aluminum tube.

Assuming I make it to San Diego today as planned (or close to it), my schedule for the con is fairly simple.

Wednesday: Check in to my hotel, pick up my credentials, and go to the Comic-Con Preview.

Thursday: I have a panel at 4pm: “Star Trek Without a Blueprint,” that includes authors and editors from Pocket Books and IDW Comics, as well as blogger, author, and actor Wil Wheaton. At 5:30pm, I will join authors Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, and Glenn Hauman to sign copies of the SCE story collection Creative Couplings, which features my novella “Small World.”

Friday – Sunday: Troll the con looking for new work for 2009. Maybe visit the zoo.

Monday: Battle the horde of con escapees and try to make it home in one piece.

Those of you who will be at San Diego Comic-Con International, I look forward to seeing you!

George Carlin, RIP

The New York Times: George Carlin Dies at 71

“I don’t have pet peeves. I have major, psychotic hatreds.”

Throughout most of my teenage years, George Carlin was my favorite comedian. When I was 13, I went to see him perform live in Springfield, Mass. Afterward, I bought several of his albums and began memorizing them. His style of observation, his verbal patterns, and his unique brand of wordplay were a major influence on my own sense of humor.

Little known trivia fact: George and I shared a birthday, May 12.

I had always hoped I might get to meet him someday. Alas, I guess not.

Nothing much will seem funny today, methinks.

Good-bye, George.

It’s done

I have tendered my notice at SCIFI.COM. Caesar has crossed the Rubicon.

The song that seems to capture this moment best for me is “Don’t Look Back” by Boston:

Don’t look back
A new day is breakin’
It’s been too long since I felt this way
I don’t mind where I might get taken
The road is callin’
Today is the day

And I can see
It took so long just to realize
I’m much too strong now to compromise
I see what I am is holding me down
I’ll turn it around
Oh, yes I will

I finally see the dawn arrivin’

I see beyond the road I’m drivin’

It’s a bright horizon but I’m awakin’
Oh I see myself in a brand new way
The sun is shinin’
The clouds are breakin’
‘Cause I can’t lose now, there’s no game to play

I can tell
There’s no more time left to criticize
I’ve seen what I could not recognize
Everything in my life was leading me on
But I can be strong
Oh, yes I can

I finally see the dawn arrivin’

I see beyond the road I’m drivin’
Far away and left behind, left behind

Oh the sun is shinin’ *and I wanna go*

(guitar solo)

Don’t look back
A new day is breakin’
It’s been too long since I felt this way
I don’t mind where I get taken
The road is callin’
Today is the day

I can see
It took so long just to realize
I’m much too strong now to compromise
I see what I am is holding me down
I’ll turn it around, oh yes I will

I finally see the dawn arriving
I see beyond the road I’m driving
Far away and left behind

Don’t look back
Don’t look back
Don’t look back
Don’t look back…

Amen, my friends.

Lost Souls on paper

It is my pleasure to report that I have, this evening, finished the first-draft manuscript of the final volume of the Star Trek Destiny trilogy, Lost Souls.

I still need to do a read-through and polishing draft, and it then it will need to go to my beta readers for seriously rushed comments and revisions so that I can turn this in before I leave for Mexico…

…but the manuscript is done, and I feel good about it.

It clocks in at 108k words, 490pp. I have been slogging away on this project for 16 months now, and there are still more months of copyediting, line editing, rewrites, and page proofs to come.

But at least all the fucking manuscripts finally exist. Hallelujah.

Me & Ed in a Picture

Here’s a followup to my previous post — a photo of me with Edward James Olmos.

Well, kind of.

The guy on the left is my pal Christopher Gabbert. The guy on the right, of course, is Mr. Olmos (a.k.a. “Ed”).

I, naturally, am the upstaging twit in the background.

Why Am I Smiling?

If you’d seen me this afternoon in real life, you’d have seen a man with a grin on his face. Why?

Because today I had the pleasure of meeting actor Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama on Battlestar Galactica, Gaff in Blade Runner, etc.).

EJO was the original inspiration for the character of Commodore Diego Reyes in the Star Trek Vanguard series I developed with editor Marco Palmieri. Today, I got the chance to tell Mr. Olmos that, and give him signed copies of Harbinger and Reap the Whirlwind. He remarked that he had been asked several times to be “on Star Trek,” and I replied, “Well, in my version of it, you are.”

In case you’re wondering, Mr. Olmos is an incredibly funny, charismatic, and generous person. Gregarious and charming, he energized the room just by being there, and when he smiles everyone smiles with him.

Helluva guy. Glad I had the chance to shake his hand.

And then I came home to find I’d received a residual check from the Writers Guild. Sweet.

Yes, a fine day, indeed. 🙂

Lunacon schedule

Because I know you all care so much about how I spend my weekends, click here to see my schedule for Lunacon.

In capsule form for those of you too lazy to click:

FRIDAY, MARCH 14
7PM – The Year in TV (Grand Ballroom North)

SATURDAY, MARCH 15
11AM – David Honigsberg Life Jam (Mianus River)
2PM – Playing in Someone Else’s Sandbox (Odelle)
4PM – The Author as Sadist: Torturing Your Characters (Poplar)
6PM – Autographing (Westchester Assembly area)

SUNDAY, MARCH 16
12:30PM – Author Reading (Port Chester)

Those of you attending the con, I look forward to seeing you there!