Steamcon II - Seattle, WA

Steamcon II was hyped to be one of the biggest steampunk events of the year and guess what... it was. The entire thing was run with clockwork precision, (Sorry, had to get that in.) and there were more activities than you could shake a steam rifle at... Ok I'll stop. The place was packed full of panels. There's no way you could actually see them all but that's the beauty of it. You'll never be bored. There's something for everyone all of the time. There were dozens of bands, some of the most amazing vendors ever and once again great great people.

As for me, I was on five panels all of which went really well. Another great thing is that next year Steamcon will be held in one hotel and yes... there will be official party rooms.

This blog is going to read like a thank you list. Why? Well, once again my friends from all over the country are the best people in the world. So, I'd like to thank my agent, my lawyer, my producer, my driver, my butler... Oops, wrong speech,

ZOVA Books
My new publisher ZOVA Books was awesome enough to fly their entire staff up to Steamcon in support of me and to partisipate in a ton of really amazing panels. There's not enough thank yous I can put here to fully show my appreciation. How cool is that? Really... That never happens but with this new up and coming publishing house there are no limits or boundries. Guys and gals at ZOVA, you rule! Check out their site HERE.

Elizabeth Darvill
Multi-kick ass steampunk/paranormal/romance author that puts the energizer bunny to shame with everything she does. With two books already out, Elizabeth has three more books coming out with Harlequin in 2011. If you get a chance to see her on a panel... well, I'll just say it's not to be missed. She's also the founder and originator of the newest and freshest sub-genre of steampunk... Coffeepunk. If you haven't heard of it, you will soon enough. Check out her website HERE and follow her on Facebook HERE.

The Frenzy Gals
The Frenzy Gals are some of the hardest working women on the scene. This year alone they've been to events from New Jersey, to Ohio, to Indianapolis, and all the way to Seattle. (That's just naming a few. What makes the Frenzy Gals and their company Frenzy Universe so amazing (Besides being the best people ever) is that they have some of the most inovative and best products on the market. It's a close guarded secret where they get their items and a lot of them they make themselves, which is absolutely amazing. I know I talk about them a lot here but that's because they are undeniable as awesome people and creatives. Also, these ladies were awesome enough to drag my books up to the con for me... somehow they set the gold standard for coolness even higher every time I see them. So, go forth! I'm giving you the key to finish all your Christmas shopping with The Frenzy Universe HERE.

Kevin Steil (The Airship Ambasador)
What can I say about Kevin? Simply an amazing fellow in every way. This gent is the organizer, webmaster, interview king, unbelievably nice guy and steampunk scene emperor. He does everything. Blogs, news, interviews, reviews... this list could go on forever. I had an awesome interview with Kevin at the Marriott and I have to say he's top notch all the way. Check out the Airship Ambasador for ALL steampunk news and happenings HERE.

Ed Erdelac
We sat next to amazing author and awesome guy Ed Erdelac, who has a trilogy of Westerns about a Hasidic Mystic that fights lovecraftian monsters and ghosts. Can you say awesome?! Not only is Ed a great guy but he has a hell of story. Wow, I'm full of unintentional puns today. Also, Ed almost sold out of his books at Steamcon... I think he had only 4 left. Go Ed Go! Check out his work HERE.

Martin and Diana Vick
The organizers of Steamcon... Need I say more? Somehow they always have a smile on their faces and a fire in their bellies to run an amazing con. It doesn't matter when you see them, they are always super nice and ready to take on any challenge. Huge huge huge kudos and thanks to these two that are truly the heartbeat of the steampunk scene in the US.

Joseph Vourteque
I met Joseph for the first time (Well, officially I think) here at Steamcon II. We might have met before but my memory is quite fuzzy at times. Anyway, Joseph is an up and coming steampunk, Coupland-esque writer that is all over the scene in every way. Music, writing, fashion.. youi name it , he's there and he's awesome at it. Check out his many endeavors HERE.

Cherie Priest
What does one say about Cherie Priest. She's awesome, she's the nicest person you'll meet and oh yeah, she's talented as hell. We only got to chat for a few minutes at Steamcon, well, she was kind of busy... Anyway, if you haven't checked her out, you need to... like right now. Her new book Dreadnought is out now and seriously, if you haven't read it, there is a little piece of life that your missing out on. Give yourself that little happy piece of life back HERE.

As for me... Next up.
I'll be signing at Hastings in Clarksville, TN this Saturday and Barnes & Noble in Myurfreesboro, TN on Sunday. Come out, say hi and pick up your holiday presents! This will kick off my December Tennessee tour. So far I'm only deviating for the Atlanta Comic Con in early December so if you are just about anywhere in Tennessee, I'll be all around in the next month.

In the meantime...
Pick up Thomas Riley Here
Pick up The e-version of Thomas Riley Here

FREE STUFF
We're giving away Sky Pirate patches to everyone that posts a review for Thomas Riley on Amazon.com. Just let us know your address and which review is yours and voila... we'll send you a patch.

Steamcon Plans

Tomorrow is the day. SteamCon II Seatle WA. I'm super excited. I'm on 5 panels so if you'd like to stop by, I'd love to see you. Also, if you'd like to go out for pints, of course I'm always game for that too. Besides being in the dealer's room most of the time, here's my panel schedule:

Friday



Sub-genres of Steampunk Noon - 1:00 PM Emerald B, Hilton

What are dieselpunk, sailpunk, valvepunk, screampunk, clockpunk, and steamgoth? What can they offer that traditional steampunk can’t? Come and learn about the flavors you didn’t know steampunk came in.

Jay Lake (M), Elizabeth Darvill, Sheyne Fleischer, Nick Valentino



An Author & His Publisher 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Emerald B, Hilton
Join Nick Valentino and his Publisher Zova Books in a discussion of the relationship and expectations between author and publisher.

Nick Valentino (M), Matthew Pizzo, Molly Lewis, Daniel Silva



Thomas Riley
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Suite by Pool, Marriott

Behind enemy lines, Thomas and Cynthia mug a couple in a park to get their clothes. A reading by Nick Valentino.



Sunday


Steampunk YA to Watch For
11:00 AM - Noon Crystal A, Hilton

What writers and new fiction should we be looking out for this year?

Lisa Mantchev (M), Devon Monk, Nick Valentino



Meet Nick Valentino
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Suite by Pool, Marriott

The Airship Ambassador interviews author Nick Valentino.

Kevin Steil (M), Nick Valentino

NOLA Book Fair & Kentucky Book Fair

New Orleans...
one of my favorite cities ever. Everything about it fits me nicely. It's decadent, rich in history, and home to people a lot like myself. Did I mention it gets bonus points for being a Southern Mecca of insanity where otherwise there is none? There's little that disappoints me about this place. Sure the alcohol prices are through the roof but it's just the price you pay for good times.

Once again, I didn't get many pictures. I really need to get better at this. I know, I know, I've been saying that all year. As the book fair went, there were tons of vendors down Frenchman Street. The problem was that many of the vendors (including myself) were in music venues where a lot of people really didn't wander. Still, it's New Orleans right? Yep, and this place rules. Even low attendance can't ruin NOLA. Bourbon St., the blacksmith Bar... I could go on and on. I'm looking for a possible victorious return to NOLA possibly in January... I'll keep you posted. Here's a blurry, yet realistic picture of Bourbon Street:


ZOMBIELAND
and The Kentucky Book Fair
The Kentucky book fair is held annually in Frankfort Kentucky. Now, if you've never been to Frankfort (and I had not) then the first thing you'll see is that its REALLY small. That's not a bad thing, trust me, I've been to really small places. We named the city Zombieland because at night the streets are pretty much abandoned with the exception of a few staggering people holding babies at midnight... I'm not making that up either.

The first night there, we were invited to a reception at The Buffalo Trace distillery... Ok this was awesome. Good finger food, free Buffalo Trace drinks all night and good company with at least 120 authors in attendance. There's nothing quite like getting alcohol of any kind straight from the source.

The next day was the fair. Held in the downtown convention center, there were a ton of really awesome authors and vendors working the massive crowd. I have to give big props to the people at the Kentucky book fair. This event is run very well, complete with massive volunteers, free lunch and a super helpful staff. Honestly, everyone was amazing.

After the fair we went to dinner with Filmmaker, Author, and man of so many talents, Stephen Zimmer where we had a nice Kentucky-centric dinner complete with Kentucky Hot Browns and good beer. It's always awesome to see Stephen. If you don't know him, check out his awesomeness here.

Dinosaur World
And how could I not mention Dinosaur world? Ok, so this place has a giant orange dinosaur just hanging out by the highway becoming people to stop and see the "over 100" scale dinosaurs. So, how could we resist? Awesomeness was around every corner. If you're ever around Cave City Kentucky, give this wondrous world of fake dinosaurs a whirl.



Next Up
The amazing, wonderful, magical Steamcon! (Seattle, WA) One of the premier steampunk events of the year, Steamcon promises to blow the doors off of 2010 in a grand style, with authors, bands, dances, costuming to the max and panels that will inspire steampunkers for the next 365 days. If you're in the Seattle area, come see us!

Other News
I'm was interviewed by Drakk Media in Toronto and the video is up now. Here ya go:
Steampunk Canada

The Georgia Literary Fest (Statesboro, GA)

This picture was taken from the corner of my table. Today it represents a lot of things right now but we'll leave it that it's a home decorating statement that will sweep the nation soon.

This weekend was The Georgia Literary Fest in Statesboro, GA. Quite the haul for me really. It was a good show but sadly sparsely attended, which is a surprise since the speakers were Pulitzer prise winners and Georgia Author of the year recipients. This festival apparently moves from city to city every year and this was the mot remote and Southern location to date.

Despite the thin crowds, I had a great time and as always met some wonderful people. It's amazing that even in a town like Statesboro probably half the attendees knew what Steampunk is... I can't tell you how drastically that has changed in the last year. Seriously, I've noticed all around the country a drastic increase in people that know what the genre is compared to the first half of 2010... and it's everywhere... From Statesboro GA to Elizabethtown KY to Baltimore MD. It's really a great thing to see unfold.

So I was really bad about taking pictures this time. I took one. And that was of one of my insulators on my table. I took it because I'm laying claim to spreading the wonders of lighted insulators across the country. Yep, you heard it here. Sure it's probably been done before but no one has ever toured across the country with it. It's amazing how many people say they are going to copy this idea. So when you see it in Martha Stewart Magazine, or in Opra's house as some kind of Green lighting, you will know that it started here... with steampunk and with the Thomas Riley Tour.I'm not kidding... everyone talks about them... Probably ten people at each event say they are going to steal the idea. Don't know what I'm talking about? The lone picture is at the top.

Next up:
I actually have this weekend off! Can you believe it? Yep, I'll be spending Halloween in Nashville. Honestly it couldn't have come at a better time. Things are crazy with me right now and I need some serious time to recover and gather myself. This will be the saddest Halloween of my life but I'm trying to focus on the positives and there is a ton of stuff in the hopper that I'm really excited about... One includes a new steampunk anthology that I don't think I can talk about yet. Trust me, you'll be the first to know.

Next Next Up
So, next next weekend (Nov 7th)I'll be in New Orleans, LA for the New Orleans Book Fair. Come down to Frenchman Street in the French Quarter and join us! You'll get double your steampunk pleasure, I promise.

Facebook and Twitter
Friend me, ehem... I mean Thomas Riley on Facebook here.
Or follow me, cough cough, I mean Thomas Riley on Twitter here.

The Texas Book Festival

Stardate October 16 & 17 2010 - Austin Texas.



Austin loves their books and I love them for it. Arriving in Austin I discovered that the fest was quite a walk from the hotel room. (Will have to check on that in the future.) Anyway the tables were set up in longhouse styled tents which was a nice change to being totally out in the sun. I shared a table with amazing Steampunk authors O.M. Grey and Elizabeth Darvill. Yes we caused quite the scene. Muhahahaha! As an added bonus, Scott Westerfeld stopped by the table as well as D.B. Grady which was super cool of him.

The crowds were great and Austin is a super cool town. Tons of music, bars and really awesome cab drivers! Yeah, when did you ever think I would say that?
Sadly we were so busy, I managed only one photo the entire time, although there are several others of the table floating around so if you took one, we'd love to see them.

Next Up
I'll be signing Thomas Riley at The Georgia Literary Festival in Stateboro, GA this weekend Oct 23rd at the Georgia Southern University.

Can't be in Georgia? Get your copy of Thomas Riley here.

The Southern Festival of Books

I've been on the road practically all year. From Victoria, BC to Baltimore, MD and nope... it's not even close to being over. In that time, I've never had a big signing in my home town (Nashville, TN). The Southern Festival of Books was the perfect opportunity to make a big splash for a homecoming.


I was nestled in booth number 8 in beautiful Legislative Plaza with Echelon Press and amazing new author Gale Borger who wrote the funny murder mystery, "Totally Buzzed". The hometown crowd was awesome! It's especially nice to have all your friends and family come out even if they just stopped by to say hello. Ok I don;t know this child but he was really into the steampunk weaponry.


The fest was amazing as expected. It's funny, the more I travel the more people know about steampunk. In fact I've seen a huge difference in the last six months of people that are aware and curious about it.

On Saturday night we went out and celebrated with the first hockey game of the season!



Also, many thanks to model, dancer and actress Karina Beck for her help with promotions! Here she is on the lookout for enemy airships.


Things are busy, exciting and amazing but oh so busy. December is going to mainly be a tour of Tennessee bookstores but in the meantime I'll be going to Austin, TX, Statesboro, GA, New Orleans, LA, Frankfort, KY, Seattle, WA and Atlanta, GA.

Next up:
I'll be at the Texas Bookfest this weekend. (October 16 & 17) in Austin, TX with author O.M. Grey and her paranormal steampunk novel Avalon Revisited.

Come see us for all your steampunk literary needs.


Don't forget if you're not around any of these cities you can always get Thomas Riley here at Amazon.

And the kindle version here.

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.