Stage Combat Class

This is for my readers in the South East... or anyone that may get the chance to participate in this class around the country.

Allan Gilbreath, noted author and companion on the Dreams of Steam anthologies, Hollywood professional and completely awesome dude, is putting on a stage combat class in Bartlett Tennessee (Which is right next to Memphis) THIS Tuesday July 24th! It's an awesome opportunity for actors, con goers or people just interested in having a good time doing something different.

Have fun everyone and tell me how awesome this is!

Check out the write up on the Facbook event page:

Smack!... Bam!... Pow!!!

Allan Gilbreath is a Hollywood professional offering a ONE DAY course in the art of deception "STAGE COMBAT"... Learning to battle on stage is an important skill set for aspiring actors. Allan’s Courses usually fill up very fast... not just because they're informative, Allan makes learning this craft so much fun!

(((Stage combat training))) - it's something that actors need on their resume! - Making fights look real, without giving away your tricks. Because all acting is based ...on a certain sense of risk-taking. Storytelling through staged violence such as:

►Pushing and Pulling,
►Punching and Kicking,
►Falling and Rolling,
►Silly and Dirty Fighting,
►Weapons and Armed Techniques,
►Building the Fight,
►Writing the Fight,
►Rehearsing the Fight

These are some of the things Allan Gilbreath will be teaching in this ONE DAY CLASS ON
►►► TUESDAY - JULY 24th - Pre paid classes are only $25 - $35 at the door

If you want to be as convincing like say Angelina Jolie as Laura Croft or Chris Evans in Captain America..this workshop is for you -- DON'T MISS!!!

►►►Class space is limited to12...so PLEASE reserve your space now by calling 901-267-1000
►Pre paid classes are only $25 - $35 at the door (cash only)

► TUESDAY - JULY 24th - 7 - 9:30
► INDIE ACTING STUDIO
► 7715 US Highway 70, Suite 112
► Bartlett, TN
► 901-267-1000

The Great Explosion of 2010

2010... What do I say? It's been the most amazing, devastating, wonderful, stressful, blissful and exhausting year of my life. Hands down. Nothing can compare to the events of this year of the Tiger. Off I go, jumping the boards, going to sea, rocketing into the upper atmosphere... Whatever you want to call it, I'm on board and the ship has a one way ticket only.

You want to know what's even more insane? 2011 & 2012 are poised to be full of absolute whirlwinds of life changing events. So stay tuned for mass chaos. I promise you will be entertained.


To wrap the year up I have a special blog planned for next week or so and with any luck, you'll have a montage (It's a montage!!!) video of 2010 in mid to late January. Think H-Street skate movies meets behind the scenes rock video. I have over 100 videos from events this year so you'll get a glimpse of my year (Well, the busy work parts anyway.)soon.

The last event of 2010 was a signing at Hastings in Murfreesboro, TN. As always, I've been met with nothing but awesomeness from every Hastings staff I've met. I love those stores! I get the next 3 weeks off... wow, that seems like such a long time. And I'll be the Guest of Honor at ShadowCon in Memphis TN on Jan 5th, 6th and 7th... You'll see lots of new and fun things at that one. It'll be so good to see my Memphis friends again and to debut some new things.

So stay tuned... The Year end blog is coming next. So if you haven't gotten your fill of holiday scandal... well, it's coming.

Memphis TN & Southaven MS

This weekend was a rare weekend that I was able to go to dedicated bookstores for signings. It's been at least 3 months since I've been to one. Everything is always bookfests and cons. I'm not complaining, it's just kind of a weird feeling to have your own table at a store when you're used to going to events with thousands of people.

So Saturday was Hastings in Memphis TN. It was great! I think I was 2 books away from selling out of copies but again, I can't ask for much more. I trekked to Beale Street and had a few pints and had some BBQ from Pig and got to run through that weird store on Beal that has well... everything from Masonic merch to voodoo spell casting artifacts. Oh and tasers... Let's not forget the tasers. The let's just say the ehem, cough cough, "wired" employee that approached me really wanted me to buy a taser... or a sword. His selling point was that a sword would really come in handy if I was getting mugged. Needless to say I didn't buy a sword. Here's my picture of The New Daisy where I paused nostalgically in memory of playing there several times with Fall With Me.


Sunday I was off to Southaven MS where I met up with my new good buddy Tyler Smith (who orchestrated the signings by the way) (Many many thank yous Tyler!)at Books-A-Million. Now I've never signed at a Books-A-Million before but this was awesome! People came out specifically for the signing and that pretty much made my day. Everyine in the store was amazing. Really, I've had some really great experiences with people at book stores but this has to take the cake. With their help, we sold out of all the copies in the store. Anyway, it was definitely one of the most incredible bookstore experiences all year and the best part is I've made some really awesome new friends.


While I'm at it, let me introduce the awesome Tony Perry. Tony is an amazing artist that I seriously met yesterday. He drew this first and I had to ask him to do a sketch for the super secret project I'm working on. So... I'm giving you a hint here. The first drawing is unrelated to me but I loved it so here is the steampunk mechanic he did.


Tony was kind enough to do his take on something I'm working on so... Ok here's your first look at Eliza Bell... And that's pretty much all I can tell you right now.


Next Up
This weekend. Oct 8, 9, 10 I'll be signing at the Southern Festival of Books in yes... wait for it... no kidding... Nashville TN. I've never done a real signing in my home town, so this is a big deal for me. (Yes, I signed at Divergence II in Nashville but that wasn't really a public signing)So, I'll be at Booth #8 all weekend with Echelon Press and debut Author of Totally Buzzed, Gale Borger. If you're in or around Nashville, this is a big weekend for me and I'd love to see all my home town friends.

MidSouthCon

Ok, I'm a week behind on my posts so you'll get MidSouthCon right now and I'll post about Virginia in a few days.

MidSouthCon took place in Memphis TN or technically Olive Branch MS, which is right outside of Memphis. We showed up on Friday, set up the table and met the neighbors. Good people. Reconnected with long ago friend Stephen Zimmer, which was a great treat.

You all know I love a good Con and basically I haven't been to a bad one yet. Even the small more family like Cons are wonderful. MidSouthCon was the largest regional one (Besides D*C of course) that I've attended in a while. First off it's packed and I mean packed with panels. There are seriously like 7 panels going every hour in one hotel. That's a lot for a mid sized hotel. The Con Suite was great (Free Beer). May I pause in thanks for this free beer thing that South Eastern Cons have going on. I mean that never happens right?

Saturday I had two panels Steampunk "What puts the punk in steampumk?" It was a great panel with Kimberly Richardson, Sid Reese, and Angelia Sparrow. The moderator didn't show up and the room was pretty full so we just winged it and I have to say that it created a great open forum where everyone, even the crowd was able to speak.

Later, I was on the "To Market To Market... finding one that fits your work panel." This was another great little panel aimed toward the writers part of the convention. It was a thrill being on a panel with Julie Kagawa, Elizabeth Donald and Kathryn Sullivan. Great people with some really good views on writing.

Sunday I was on a panel that I really wasn't suited for called Coloring Inside the Lines which dealt with contract writing for other people's creations. After about 5 minutes I discovered that I really didn't belong there and I think I said one thing the entire hour. Oh this is fun too, I got to sign my first Young Alchemists e-short CD.


Anyway, MidSouthCon is great! Lots to do and a wide variety of subject matter. I have to tell you that a lot of people made the weekend wonderful but I have to mention this mother and daughter that took a Thomas Riley Wanted Poster off the wall so I could sign it... pretty amazing feeling.


Also there was Anna. Anna bought the book on Friday and stayed up all night reading it until she was done. Then to make it even better she wrote a poem about Thomas Riley. It's really quite mind blowing to have some write a poem about your book. It's under her picture. Sorry this is a bit blurry.


Thomas Riley
By: A. M. Paulson
In West Canvia there lives an inventor
Who is more gifted than any other.
His name is Thomas Riley,
And his gifts are in machinery and alchemy.
Deep in his lab he works
Both night and day.
His young assistant,
And his greatest asset,
Is the young and beautiful Miss Cynthia Bassett.
Together they make chemical marvels
And technological wonders
The likes of which have never before been seen.
Can their combined ingenuity
Along with their boundless creativity
Be enough to defeat Lemuria,
Thus win the war for West Canvia?
We will have to wait and see.
Cause there are still two more books in this trilogy.

Next up
This weekend I'll be in Clarksville, IN (Just North of Louisville) for the Almost Famous Book Faire, then on Sunday I'll be at Barnes & Noble in Louisville KY. Come say hi!

As always:
Get signed copies of Thomas Riley Here.
Buy through Amazon Here.
Enlist as a Sky Pirate Here.

www.sirthomasriley.com