Catching Up

I haven’t been around much this week for two reasons: First, I’m on Jury Duty - on an actual jury! Second, I’m trying desperately to finish up all my preparations for RT next week. I’d planned to do it this week, but being on a jury from 9-5 each day has messed up all my best-laid plans.

Still, it’s an interesting experience and who knows - maybe I’ll be inspired to write a legal thriller after this is all said and done. LOL.

I’ll be fininshing up my preparations for RT soon - I hope - then getting ready to see a whole bunch of you in Pittsburgh! Look me up if you’re going. I have tons of stuff to give away and I love chatting with folks, so come see me during my Club RT hours or any ol’ time you see me in the hall. I don’t mind one bit!

A Great Weekend at I-Con!

I just had the most amazing weekend! I was a guest at a giant SF Con I’ve gone to for years as a regular con-goer. I-Con is a really big, multi-track sci fi con held on the campus of SUNY Stony Brook for the past 27 years. I usually go for one day on the weekend to browse through the amazing dealer’s room, which fills the entire sports complex floor, and see some cool media guests - writers, actors, scientists, etc.

This year was my first time seeing the con from the inside out, as it were. Because I was somewhat familiar with the campus and environs, they asked me to act as escort for the Author Guest of Honor, Charlaine Harris. I just have to say, she’s the sweetest lady, and I had the greatest time chatting with her and listening to her talks and readings. It was really inspirational to be around such successful authors. In addition to Miz Harris, I got to do a signing sitting next to sci fi legend, Norman Spinrad. He was gracious and kind to a newbie, even though the line of folks waiting for him wrapped around the corner and mine was… well… considerably shorter.

I also got to be on panels with author John Peel, the editor of Asimov’s SF Magazine, Sheila Williams, and my friend, author Michele Lang, as well as meeting a lot of other interesting folks. This was also the first time I’d attended the banquet and got to see Harlan Ellison in action. LOL. Oh! And I got a chance to talk very briefly with actress Tracy Scoggins. She’s so pretty it’s scary.

All in all, it was a great time. I even managed to not spend TOO much money in the Dealer’s Room, though there was this one artist who had bronze doorbell and door knocker sculptures that really tempted me. There was this dragon… *sigh* But I did collect his card, so maybe I’ll splurge in celebration when I sell my next book. (I like to mark special occasions with that kind of thing. Hey, it’s a good excuse to shop!)

Many thanks to Miz Harris and the folks at I-Con who made this weekend such an enriching and pleasurable experience. I learned a lot and drew invaluable inspiration from interacting with authors I admire and respect.

I-Con This Weekend!

Join me at I-Con! Starting tonight and going all weekend, I’ll be haunting the halls of Stony Brook University for the annual madness that is I-Con. This will be my first year going as a guest and I’m very excited! Here are the details:

April 4-6, 2008

I-Con Sci Fi Con - Stony Brook, NY

I’m actually acting as “escort” for Charlaine Harris for most of the weekend, so I’m looking forward to meeting her and showing her around the campus. It’s a pretty huge place, so they like to give the GoH’s folks who know where they’re going. Now let’s just hope I don’t get lost! LOL

If you’re on or near Long Island, come out and see the phenomenon that is I-Con. There’s all kinds of things going on at this con - a very cool science track, celebreties, writers galore, gaming, and a lot of neat fighting demos out on the lawn in front of the sports complex. They usually get the local SCA-types to show up in armor and beat on each other for the mundanes’ amusement.

I’ll be on a few panels throughout the weekend, as well as signing books on Sunday, so if you’re there, look me up!

Update

Been a little lax on the blogging of late with the holiday and various issues. I was watching a lot of the coverage of the space shuttle and it’s amazing mission to expand the International Space Station. Next up - the new European unmanned vehicle will be attempting to dock with the ISS next week, so I’ll be watching that with interest. (I know, I’m a big geek! LOL)

In other news - I’ve been asked to escort Charlaine Harris around the sci fi con I’m attending next weekend (April 4-6). Pretty cool, huh? See, I’m local to the con and have gone to it for several years. Ms. Harris is a guest of honor and they like to make sure those folks have someone nearby to guide them to the right building/room - the con is held on the campus of Stony Brook, a very large SUNY (State University of New York) campus. You seriously need a map to figure out where you are. So I’m the talking map for the weekend. Plus, I get to be on a few panels with Ms. Harris and my friend, Michele Lang, as well as some very notable sci fi authors. It should be great fun! If you’re going to I-Con, look me up.

Happy Friday - hope you all have a great weekend!

Party on the Chat Group Today!

Con Report - FarPoint

I didn’t get to the con until Saturday, but had a very good time, nonetheless. I shared signing times with Allyn Gibson, who is a Star Trek author and interesting conversationalist. We were also on a “pro” panel with a few other Trek authors - I definitely felt like the odd man out at first - but as soon as the jokes started, I was right at home. These guys were hilarious!

One thing I found interesting about the con itself was the prevalence of very serious Trek fans. Most cons I’ve been to have more of a mixture of other shows/genres than just Trek, but here it was pretty obvious that was the core group. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but it was definitely strange to me. Still, there was a large StarGate contingent and other fandoms represented as well.

And there was a guy in a ghilly suit for the masquerade that looked pretty impressive. He had a camo Boba Fett thing going on that was cool.

On a celebrity note, James Callis (from the new Battlestar Galactica) has spikey hair now and is a bit shorter than I expected and Erin Gray looks really great! I remember her from Buck Rodgers and she looks just as perky and hardly any older. (Don’t you just hate her for that?! LOL)

Don’t forget the Davin’s Quest release day party tomorrow on my chat group! I hope to see you all there!

Prince of Spies WINS!

Prince of Spies won the CAPA for Fantasy Erotic Romance! Many thanks to TRS for the honor. The competition was fierce and I truly didn’t expect my book to win. My best wishes to the other nominees and congratulations to my friends Beth Williamson, Maya Banks, Lora Leigh and Lauren Dane for their CAPA wins!

And now for the winners of my Valentines Anniversary Contest. Because it was my 2nd Anniversary, I decided to give away 2 downloads of Maiden Flight. Congratulations to Sandra and Kris. Thanks to all who entered!

If you’re able, please join me tonight at 9pm in the All Romance eBooks Chat Room for their Best of 2007 Awards Ceremony! I bet we’ll see a lot of familiar faces there, and I’m happy to support my friends at ARe.

I’ll also be at the FarPoint Sci Fi Con this weekend in Maryland. I hope you’ll stop by and say hello if you’re in the area!

WW: Temple Cat Surprise

Just a break from the Wordless Wednesday meme for a moment to tell you I’ll be posting a discussion of my writing process over at the Samhain blog today ( http://samhainpublishing.com/blog/2008/01/30/bianca-darcs-world-the-writing-process ). The post goes up at 3pm eastern time, so check it out and leave me a comment if you’re interested in the topic! Now, back to the artshow…

Art by Daio

Monday Mania on the FAR Blog

Hey Everybody! I’m the guest at FAR’s Monday Mania today, so go on over to the blog and say hello. They’ll be doing a giveaway or two, I think, though I’m still trying to figure out how this all works! LOL

B.

http://www.fallenangelreviews.com/blog

It’s That Busy Time of Year

So much to do! And so little time to do it in. I got my hair done this morning and the salon was buzzing with busy people, so at least now I know I’m not the only one. Here are some new developments that some of you might find interesting…

First, the Fortune’s Fool anthology has a new cover for the print edition, which is supposed to be out sometime soon. Have a look:

I don’t know if you can make it out, but there’s a buff guy’s chest in the crystal ball. Hubba hubba.

Also, without my realizing it, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid has released my short Holiday story, Solstice Dreams. It’s in Volume 7 of their Celtic Love Knots series, along with a short story by Barri Bryan. My tale is an uplifting story about the union of opposites.

Two elves - one high court and one lower court sidhe - are both searching the far North, seeking wisdom from the fabled jolly old elf. When the warrior and the witch meet, an instant attraction draws them, though such a union is forbidden. Will they flaunt convention and fall in love or will they remain forever searching? (I bet you can tell how it’s going to end!) Pick up your copy now at the WCPT site.

Tonight, I’m heading into Manhattan to have dinner with a few publishing folks and some writer friends and tomorrow I’ll be signing at the Indie & Small Press Book Fair (see my previous post for the address and website info). I hope I’ll see some of you there! We’ll have both ebooks and print books for sale and I’ll be sitting at a table with my good friend, Stella Price, so you’ll be able to find us pretty easily - we’ll be the ones gossiping and having a good time!