Virtual Con and The Mechanical Masquerade

Virtual Con 2011
Starting Friday, Elizabeth Darvill and I will be virtually attending the first Virtual Con as their steampunk guests of honor. This is a new kind of con done 100% online so you can see panels, game and hang with other like minded friends without leaving your home. http://www.thevirtualcon.com/

Here are my panels:
Friday 11/11/11
7:00PM "Meet The Author of Thomas Riley Series"
Sunday 11/13/11
4:00 "Thomas Riley Reading"

Also as a special treat for my reading, I may read a bit from Thomas Riley II which is due out in the first quarter of 2012.


The Mechanical Masquerade II
This Saturday 11/12/11 5:00PM - Midnight?
Some of you know that my first steampunk event was the first Mechanical Masquerade held in 2010 in Decatur, GA. The people I met there set the tone for a host of amazing friends I've met over the last year and a half. So, I'm super excited to see them again and have an great time at the fabulous Mechanical Masquerade II put on by the awesome Doctor Q. If you're in Atlanta or in the area, I promise you don't want to miss this event.

How cool is this?

So I had an amazing Halloween and to put the cherry on top, when I got home I saw on facebook that someone had dressed up like Thomas Riley for the holiday. This is a really cool milestone for me. I never really thought that anyone would dress up in character as anyone from the Thomas Riley books but this just takes the cake in coolness. And I don't know this person! So color me stoked as can be. Here's the pic I saw on Facebook: (Thank you awesome fan!) Oh, and if anyone knows this fine fellow, please let me know. I'd love to send him some goodies.

The Southern Festival Of Books

I'm back! I can't wait to do another book festival and I finally get to start back up with the awesome Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN. The festival goes from Friday October 14-16 at the War Memorial plaza in downtown Nashville. What makes it even sweeter is I will be sharing a tent with fellow amazing authors and top notch people Elizabeth Darvill and Teresa Burrell.

We'll be in booth 43 and with any luck you shouldn't be able to miss us. We'll have pirate flags flying and all manor of gaudy steampunkery around the tent. This year, we will have:

By Nick Valentino:
Thomas Riley, Dreams of Steam I and Dreams of Steam II Brass and Bolts

By Elizabeth Darvill:
Love in a Time of Steam, Love's Immortal Pantheon and will be promoting her new Harlequin release, Steam Heat

By Teresa Burrell:
The Advocate, The Advocate's Betrayal and her brand spanking new The Advocate's Conviction.

So come by and say hi, we'll have all types of shenanigans going on.

Kindle Gold

I want to make you all aware of a new website called Kindlefinds (located at Kindlegold in the blogosphear)that features all types of awesome books. Many of which have super great prices. I've always wanted a Kindle or Ipad so I could pick up all the wonderful short stories and inexpensive books. It just seems like such a steal for some great entertainment.One day... one day...

So check this new site out, you won't be disappointed.

Dreams of Book fests

I got my author copy of Dreams of Steam II Brass and Bolts today which is an anthology published by Kerlak Publishing featuring a ton... and I mean a ton of awesome steampunk authors. This book is HUGE! It looks like I'll be debuting Dreams of Steam II at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN next weekend. I'll be sharing a booth with Elizabeth Darvill and Teresa Burrell at booth 43. Trust me, you'll see us, look for the pirate flag. So if you're in or around Nashville, come and say hi, we love hanging with our friends and readers. More to come on this...

OUT NOW

Yesterday marked the release date for Elizabeth Darvill's first Harlequin release, "Steam Heat" in the "Love in a Time of Lust" mini-series. So, it's time for celebration and much rejoicing. I also get to be the first to announce that Elizabeth will be changing her name (writing and legal) to Elizabeth Valentino. So, check out Steam Heat on Amazon and get a super sexy and super steampunk story for the low low low price of $2.99! Treat yourself today.

Click here for the Amazon Link

Steam Steam Steam Heat & Dreams of Steam II

Steam Heat
We found out today that Elizabeth Darvill's first steampunk/romance story "Steam Heat" published by Harlequin is now available for pre-order from Amazon.com. This is super exciting news so join us in our bliss and take a peek!
Click here to see the pre-order on Amazon.



Dreams of Steam II Of Brass and Bolts
Also available now is the wonderful steampunk anthology "Dreams of Steam II" from Kerlak Publishing. This one is HUGE and has like 25 stories from 25 amazing authors. My steampunk/horror story "Bedeviled" is in this one and I can't be more excited. Click here for the e-book version.

Real Life Romance (His)

Two days ago I proposed to the love of my life Elizabeth Darvill and I'm so excited. So this is my companion story to her blog post which can be found HERE.

I've been planning this for a while and due to constraints, I haven;t been able to get the ring I wanted until recently. So I toiled over how to ask, what I would say and where I would do it for quite some time. Every night I would drift off to sleep planning and contemplating how when and where.

Liz wanted a Claddagh ring so I wanted to get her a real one made in Ireland. Ok, check. Then it was where do I pop the question? I wanted it to be in Nashville, and I wanted to do it at a memorable place. You know, one we could drive by in the future and say, "Wow, that's where it happened." After many Internet searches and running through every local cool place in my head, I decided that The Parthenon would be the best and most permanent location. Now how do I get her up there without raising suspicion?

A few years ago I helped one of my best friends in the world hatch a plan to propose to his girl at the same location. So I took the story we came up with and slightly modified it.

Before hand, she didn't have anything to wear so she mentioned she wanted to go get a dress of a shirt for date night. She wanted to run to Goodwill(Yeah that's how we roll) but when we left the driveway, I totally spaced out and went the other direction. Liz, said, "oh are we not going to look for a shirt?" So I turned around and we went to look. The ring was burning a hole in my pocket and while she looked for something fun to wear I feel like I was distant. Hey, my mind was elsewhere. She found an amazingly hot dress and all was well.

Keep in mind, this was going to be our date night anyway, so we had plans to go out, have dinner then a few drinks at the amazing Patterson House here in Nashville. So I concocted a story that there was a pop art exhibit that I wanted to stop by before dinner. Hey, that's totally plausible. That's something we would do. So I parked on the opposite end of the actual entrance of the gallery under The Parthenon which forced us to walk around the giant place. I was totally nervous and honestly, I'm not sure what I said. I had a bunch of things I wanted to say, (Like it was rehearsed) but I think I still hit the main points. In the end, I got on one knee and asked Liz to marry me. Well, she said yes. And I am the happiest boy in the world.

We finished the night actually going out to The Flying Saucer for dinner then to Patterson House for wonderful drinks from scratch and finally to ChaChah for a nightcap. Again... happiest Boy in the world.

Twilight at Forks Washington

So Elizabeth Darvill and I went for a very not normal trip for me. We went to the Twilight, (yes the movie/books) capital of the world, Forks, WA. We took a very enthusiastic fan (and self proclaimed wife of Edward Cullen) and went on an adventure.

First off, I need to say that I'm seriously impressed with the town of Forks and their unashamed embrace of the books and movies that made their town famous. Nearly every store had Twilight paraphernalia in the window regardless of the type of business. So it was totally normal for the Chinese restaurant, the lock and key store and the hotels to have posters and even merchandise on display. Also, there were tons of places that had Twilight themed food and beverage items. (Many were surprisingly good!)

Being in Forks for 3 days, we thought it would be best to just jump into the fandom head first and have no shame about any of it. Here's a quick rundown: The Bella Burgers and Twilight punch at Sully's Burgers are to die for. It's a diner/drive in kind of place and seriously, the burgers are awesome. The Twilight punch is nothing more than lemonade with strawberry and again it's really good. (Best meal in town if you ask me)

We also ate at the diner and sat at the same table where Bella and Charlie eat all the time. (The Forks Coffee Shop) The burgers were pretty good but the real star was the Berry Cobbler that Charlie eats all the time. I picked some up for breakfast and it was truly awesome.

Other stuff we hit that was fun:
Forks Outfitters (where Bella works and has an Employee of the year plaque) They also have Twilight themed coffee which so far is really good. The Cullen's house: Its a bed and breakfast that has the cap and gown art on the inside and sports a daily sign from the caretakers telling where the Cullens are that particular day.
The Swan's House: It's a private residence that pimps itself as the home of Bella and Charlie Swan. Really, there's nothing more than a sign in front of someones house but you can pull up and take pictures.
The Forks Police Station: Yes you can go to Charlie's workplace and take pictures with the cop cars and even walk in where there's a small Twilight display.
The Forks Chamber of Commerce: This place has Bella's truck(s) out front (one from the movie and one from the book which apparently is a different model) so you can take pics there and when you go in, there is Twilight posters, and merch everywhere. Also, the people that work there are insanely awesome and nice and will tell you all types of good info.
First Beach (La Push, WA): Fifteen miles away you can go to the beach where Bella and Jacob walked on the beach. It's kind of indistinguishable from the movie, but worth a very cold dip in the water.
The Forks High School: Yep. it's there too although this is not the same one that's in the movie. It has the same sign but isn't the actual place where the school scenes were filmed.
Dazzled by Twilight: This is their Twilight one stop shopping experience. The store is everything Twilight. You name it and they probably have it.
Three Rivers Resort: It's only a resort to those that want to camp in nifty little cabins. Half way to La Push, you'll find Three Rivers Resort with was a place with a full Twilight menu. We had the Werewolf Burgers (Which were good and HUGE) but still not quite as stellar as the Bella Burgers back in Forks.
Bella Italia: This is the place where Edward took Bella on their first date. It's 57 miles away in Port Angeles, WA, but a fun drive through the national park. The restaurant was surprisingly good. Yes we had the Mushroom Ravioli that Bella ate and while it was good, the carbonara was better.

Coffee Stops:
There are three main coffee stands in town. I got Mocha's at each and sadly none of them had Twilight themed stuff. Gathering Grounds, Mocha Motion and Shot in The Dark. The best was Gathering Grounds in case you're wondering.

The funny part:
I'm not even a Twilight fan yet I had a blast doing all the touristy things and just living life. Being this free is a wonderful part on life 2.0. There's also something awesome about small town charm that I really liked as well.

Okay, Pictures:

Me with Bella's truck


Twilight Punch (They come with fangs)


At First Beach


Vampire Threat Level


Werewolf Burger!


The Cullen's House (B&B)

Woke up to some awesomeness

Team Victoria
I'm currently in Washington heading toward the small town mecca of sparkly vampires with my insanely awesome, inspiring, talented sexy girlfriend Elizabeth Darvill... no kidding. I'm super excited to jump head first into the touristy goodness that is "Bella's Blend", "Jacob's Java", and "Edward's Espresso"... Yes those kind of sound dirty but I promise they're not... I think. Also, I'm sort of looking forward to gathering a Little inspiration for a sort of far off project I'm going to be working on where I'm thinking about throwing a little of the local Forks flavor into the story.

The Coolness
So this morning I woke up to some total coolness. Someone I met last year at my first bookfest ever wrote an amazing and insanely nice post on SWAG steampunk writers group. Check this out: http://steampunkwriters.ning.com/profiles/blogs/blame-it-on-nick-valentino-and-thomas-riley Yeah, how bad ass is that? Like my comment said, it really does make my year to read stuff like this and I will forever be so happy that I inspired someone. That's what life's really about right?

Ten Thousand Steam Heated Bedeviled Black Dresses

So after months of constantly struggling to get back on my feet, things are starting to look up. I have a ton of exciting projects, trips, anthologies and fun things coming up. I'll cut to the chase.

The Black Dress
I'm submitting "The Black Dress" to the Imagicopter Steampunk vs. Magic anthology. This story is a much more action packed take on the Ipswich Witch Trial.

Ten Thousand Years
"Ten Thousand Years" is my contribution to the Echelon Press steampunk anthology "Her Majesty's Mysterious Conveyance" and has a projected release date of October of this year. (It has a rad cover too!)

Bedeviled
My steampunk/horror short "Bedeviled" will be in Dreams of Steam II (Kerlak Enterprises)

Thomas Riley II
I'm still working on Thomas Riley II and I only have a working title for it but I have received some preliminary cover art from the amazing Will Routon. I can't quite show you yet... not that it isn't amazing but I don't think it's legal to show without every one's permission.

Dragon Con
It looks like the amazing Elizabeth Darvill and I will be attending Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA this year and we are super excited!


Steam HeatSpeaking of the Amazing, gorgeous and super talented Elizabeth Darvill, she just received her cover art for her first Harlequin book "Steam Heat" that is also due out in October. Here's the blurb:
In a world of speed steamers, poisoned air and soulless paranormal beings, two people hold the fate of millions in their hands—and their bodies…. As a half-succubus, Angel needs energy from sex to live. The temporary fulfillment she gets from strangers is nothing compared to the erotic encounters in her linked dreams with Ian, the man whose soul she shares. Lately the dreams have become more intense and intoxicating, which can mean only one thing: she and Ian are dying, just like the magical crystal that purifies the city’s air. Only by making love in person and joining their split soul can they heal both themselves and the crystal. Yet despite Ian’s amazing sexual prowess, Angel doesn’t want to give up her other lovers, like sassy steam engineer Jezebel. Can they resolve their differences and continue sharing a bed to save themselves—and the world?

Bedeviled

So very excited! My steampunk/horror short, "Bedeviled" will be in the new Dreams of Steam II "Of Bolts and Brass" anthology published by Kerlak Enterprises. I'm not sure when this will come out but last year they had it out by Dragon Con.

Bedeviled follows failing and drug addicted inventor Joshua Hardwick as he returns to his laboratory following a murder he just commited. Joshua speaks to a self proclaimed demon who calls himself Bartleby Green and seems to have control over the poor inventor. When Bartleby reveals his brutal plan to Joshua, he attempts to take control and alter his destiny by the most extreme action available.

I wrote Bedeviled based on my own personal demon who I also call Bartleby Green. Really Bartleby is more of a manefestation of Murphy's Law and all things life throws at me but in Bedeviled you get a little inside look at the demon (Both fictional and real) and his personality. Basically, it's a steampunk/demonic styled look at the Jack the Ripper killings. (You'll see how that fits in.)

In quick other news:
I'm now on Google+ click and friend me.
https://plus.google.com/welcome?hl=en-US#112014935462055692390/posts

The Update

Things have been crazy. Crazy in a different way than they were last year but still absolutely crazy. Last year to the day I was flying up to Chicago for the Chicago Tribune's Printer's Row Book Fest. This year I'm immersed in writing and a whole new lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, last year's lifestyle of traveling the country will surely come back to a degree, this is just a time to regroup and refocus because holy cow I have some serious writing to do, and in no time promote.

First up in the time before Thomas Riley 2 comes out I am in an international steampunk anthology on Echelon Press called "Her Majesty's Mysterious Conveyance" where each story has two requirements. 1) The story has to take place in a nontraditional steampunk country and 2) The story must revolve around a queen or Empress. My story is a Japanese steampunk tale called "Ten Thousand Years". I'm in it with some amazing authors including Elizabeth Darvill who wrote a Serbian steampunk story and Sean Hayden, amongst others. The cover poster is at the top of the page.

I also just submitted another steampunk short for the fabulous Dreams of Steam 2 anthology on Kerlak Enterpirses. This story is a really dark explanation/retelling of Jack the Ripper in a steampunk world. I went back to my horror roots on this one so it's much darker and eveil than my other steampunk works. Think the movie "Fallen" with Jack The Ripper and steampunk...

I have a few other shorts I will be submitting to anthologies soon and one will not be steampunk! Can you believe it? It will be nice to play around with a differetn genre after over 2 years of almost strictly writing steampunk. Not that I've lost anything for the genre, I still love it with all my heart.

Travel will be off and on this year. I know Elizabeth and I will be doing The Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, TN and hopefully Bookmarks in Winston Salem and The Texas Book Fest oin Austin but those are kind of case by case right now. I'll let you all know fo sure.

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The Alabama Book Fest & The Clockwork Carnival

Last week, we made our way back to Montgomery Alabama for the second year in a row of The Alabama Book Fest. We drove through a massive storm the entire way from Nashville to Montgomery. Imagine five hours of driving in 10 foot visibility with crazy winds trying to push the car off the road. Upon arrival on Friday night Montgomery wasn't was what I remember. The streets were empty, a lot of downtown was closed and the local brewery was gone! Yes, we were looking forward to that the entire drive. Last year, prom was going on and the streets were absolutely packed with people. We immediately figured the zombie apocalypse had happened. This is the second time in our journeys that we've come across this kind of thing. First, we discovered a very empty Frankfort, KY (The Capitol of Kentucky) Now the Capitol of Alabama has fallen. We're being surrounded!!!

So, after driving all around trying to find a suitable place for diner, we ended up back downtown to Joe DiMaggio Jr.'s Italian place called ZaSa's. Again, last year there was a line out of the door for this place. It was pretty good but nothing super amazing. Also, word to the wise, if you happen to visit Montgomery, do not stay at the downtown Clarion for any reason. I've stayed in a lot of hotels but this one took the cake in terrible. Don't worry Montgomery people, I really still love your city. We just had some bad experiences this time.

The Book fest was awesome as usual. It was so amazing seeing repeat readers and it was great to get a chance to sell Liz's brand spanking new book "Love Like Clockwork" which just came out in print last week. Oh here is a pic of this crazy guy trying to make sky writing in the insane wind. He tried but it didn't work out so well.

After the Book Fest we hauled everything to the car and darted to Atlanta, GA for the Clockwork Carnival, put on by the amazing Doctor Q and the steampunk crew in Atlanta. Ok, this blew me away. The location, The Goat Farm, was huge and full of activities everywhere. It was like a whole con that took place in one night! We had amazing food at the food truck (Poodle Hotdogs rule!) There was music all night, a coffee shop, ice cream truck, an entire room of vendors, home brewed beers and entertainers having a blast all night. I have nothing but awesome things to say about this event. Seriously these events are awesome and I encourage everyone to go. Big big kudos to everyone that helped with the Clockwork Carnival.

Wild Wild West Con

From the second I took off from Nashville to the moment I left Arizona I had these Murder By Death lyrics running through my head from the song, Until Morale Improves, The Beatings Will Continue, "I walked the road, from Tucson to San Antonio. The smell of blood on my breath." Yeah, I probably only had stuck in my thoughts because Tucson was the location of Wild Wild West Con, a wonderful new steampunk con that took place at the ultra amazing Old Tucson Studios. (over 300 movies have been shot there. Tombstone, The Quick and The Dead, Winchester 73, Three Amigos, Etc...)


Anyway, it was awesome! The location was super cool. Everything in the town was totally western and yes they had beer in the saloon. So, yeah, guess where I was popping in every now and then?

Some rad highlights. Steam Powered Giraffe. Seriously, they caught me off guard doing a song called Honey Bee... Amazing voices and an amazing show. I'm just bummed I didn't get to see more. I'll definitely catch them at The World Steam Expo in May. Here we are with them after their performance outside of The Inn.





I did a super fun reading at The Baroness' Tea Party in the saloon in front of about 150 people with Cherie Priest, Elizabeth Darvill, O.M. Grey and David Lee Summers. Here we all are posing together outside the author vending area at The Inn, then me reading in the massive saloon.






We also hung out quite a bit with the wonderful Frenzy Gals from The Frenzy Universe who are some of my favorite people in the world. I know I pimp them all the time but seriously, if you haven't been to their website, its really amazing. Check them out here: Frenzy Universe

We had awesome neighbors in the vending area too. The writer and an actor from the steampnk web series Mantecoza were there showing their trailer and giving swg from the show away. Super fun people and the series looks so fun. Look out Sci-Fi Channel! Check out the trailer here!

I also attended Elizabeth Darvill's adult only reading late on Saturday night which was also super fun and totally different for any con I've ever been to. It was such a success that it's going to probably be a regular thing at future cons. I highly recommend it. I tried to get pictures but the mood lighting was too dark for my ghetto camera.


I've been to a lot of first time steampunk cons and this was a blast. I'm absolutely going back next year.

Next Up:
I'm taking some time off from traveling for a few months but I will be at The Artifice Club's Clockwork Carnival with Elizabeth Darvill in Decatur, GA on April 16th vending and having a blast with the Atlanta Steampunk crew.

Anachrocon

My first Anachrocon (Atlanta, GA) was last year and it was a blast. This year they are growing by leaps and bounds, making a rock solid home for hardcore steampunks in the South East. They improved the hotel, they have more programming, many more bands, and so so much to offer anyone in the Steampunk community. I'm telling you, if you're in the are, or if you're not, Anachrocon is an amazing con and not to be missed.

I was on two panels, "Not Your Daddy's Steampunk" with Dan Hollifield and "Victorian Science Fiction Literature" With Kimberly Richardson, Emilie P. Bush, G.D. Falksen, Allen Gilbreath, and Dan Hollifield. Both were awesome panels and It was so good reconnecting with all my steampunk writer pals. When you're gone like I am, I really miss them. They're the kind of people that if we lived in the same town, we'd hang out often.

Something I have to give HUGE kudos to was the burlesque show that Talloolah Love put on at Anachrocon. I've seen my fair share of cabaret and burlesque and this blew the doors off any performance I've seen before. Top notch all the way. Basically it was like seeing a huge production on a smaller stage. Such a treat. Fun, Funny, Sexy, and even a little spooky at times, this show seriously bested anything I've ever seen and given me a renewed respect and love for burlesque.

Next Up:

This weekend, I'll be in Tuscon, AZ for Wild Wild West Con which is a very hyped steampunk con held at the Old Tuscon Studios (where they filmed a ton of old western movies). This one promises to be a very busy and awesome con for a steampunk starved area of the country. Very excited to see so many of my friends coming down for this one. If you're there, I'll have a table set up as well as participating in "The Baroness' Tea Party" with O.M. Grey, Elizabeth Darvill, and none other than Cherie Priest!

And now for Anachrocon Pictures!

I LOVE shelties. So my heart melted when I saw a steampunk one at Anachrocon named Sebastian.




Here are the amazing, talented, super driven, always perfect Frenzy Gals giving the "Nicky V" sign. If you want anything Steampunk you must go to there site HERE.


I had to get a picture of this... Yes they digital eye moved around.



The Extraordinary Contraptions! A band rocketing into steampunk stardom. Always a good time and a great band.

Thomas Riley Nominated in The Predators & Editors Readers Poll

Tis the season for nifty award nominations! Thomas Riley has been nominated for best novel in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll. Click the link below. (TR is toward the bottom if you feel so inclined.) Vote, and put your name and email in the form. (They will not spam you) And be sure to verify your vote via email. It takes a few seconds and is super easy.

Thanks everyone!

P&E Readers Poll

Shadowcon 2011

Shadowcon (Memphis, TN) was the first con I ever sold Thomas Riley. Everyone was absolutely amazing a year ago. It was a small con but wonderfully perfect in every way. This year, they asked me to be the Writer Guest of Honor, so of course I most happily said yes.


This year was just as perfect as last year. Seriously, everyone there is absolutely amazing. Shadowcon is a family-ish con home of the SCA (Shadow Legion) and I have to say that I really feel like part of the family there. We had a blast as usual with all the Memphis crew and this year I was one of the judges in the costume contest. Yeah, I was pretty stoked about that. (Congrats to Steampunk Batman for the overall win by the way!)

A really fun bit that I didn't expect is we did a live radio read of the stage version of Arsenic and Old Lace where I was chosen by King Kane to read the part of Mortimer Brewster (Yes Cary Grant's part in the movie!) I was petrified at first but had a blast once it started up. Kudo's to the Shadowcon organizers for putting that on. Super fun!

Ooo! And here's a print magazine called Imagyro that I have an interview in! Look closely for a rare image of Ensign Sparklebunny.


And here I am coloring before breakfast at Cracker Barrel (You can;t deny the color pages...)


I really hope to go back next year! Thank you so much Shadowcon!!!

Next Up:I'll be writing for a bit so no travel until Anachrocon in Atlanta at the end of February. Yes, I'm kind of excited about it too.