Farpoint celebrates its 32nd anniversary with a con running this weekend. It is once again at the DoubleTree Hotel in Pikesville, MD and, of course, I will be on hand. Given my high school commitments, I couldn’t be on Friday programming but will be there to help set up the Crazy 8 Press table. On […]
The world Peter David leaves behind is a webbed one. Like Spider-Man, whom he wrote for several years, Peter spun a web trapping unsuspecting people, until we all found how connected we were to one another. Social media is filled, since news broke of his dying in his sleep Saturday night, with stories and anecdotes, […]
I will be back at Trek Long Island this weekend, joining a coterie of fellow authors in addition to an impressive line-up of media guests, We open at 6 on Friday and traffic willing, I’ll be there. On Saturday, you can find me at my table, or on the following panels: 10:00-10:50 am, Pale B […]
I really didn’t know what pulp magazines were until around 1970 when I was introduced to the Lancer collections of Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. Somewhere along the way, as my comic book habit had bled into reading the fanzines of the day, I got to learn about the Shadow, Doc Savage, G-8, and […]
Last year, all my buddies were having a ball at Trek Long Island, and it sounded like too much fun to pass up. I reached out to con organizer Stefanie Gangone, who was delighted to have me come for their second show. I can’t tell you how excited I am about a pure Star Trek […]
Way, way back in 2020, I was invited by Keith DeCandido and Wrenn Simms to contribute a story to their planned anthology The Four ???? of the Apocalypse. The idea was that the traditional Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, Famine, War, and Conquest) could easily be personified not as horsemen but as…septuagenarians, cats, squirrels, […]
Farpoint was once October Trek and ClipperCon in terms of those who founded and ran each iteration of the media convention that was either in October or February. This year, Farpoint celebrates its 30th and rather than being seen as the little sibling to Shore Leave, it has forged its own identity. Their guest line-up […]
So, what kind of year has it been? Looking back, as I do at this point of the year, I see 2022 as an okay year. Good things happened; few bad things happened. And all mostly went according to plan. I didn’t write as much as usual, although I did manage to complete the second […]
I report back to St. Vincent Pallotti High School this morning, beginning my sixth year as a teacher there. Somehow, the ten-week summer break has evaporated and the 2022-23 academic year is poised to begin on the 29th. So, what did I do on my summer vacation? The big project was writing the second Above […]
The freelance life is beginning to take shape as projects are finally getting announced. As mentioned earlier, coming in March is The Phenomenons, the new super-hero prose universe masterminded by Michael Jan Friedman. Kickstarter backers have started receiving their copies and the response has been positive. Also now announced, is the Peter and Kathleen David-edited […]
It has to have been a year or so back when Mike Friedman reached out to me and Paul Kupperberg. “Guys,” he said, “I’m thinking of creating a prose superhero universe.” When we couldn’t talk him out of it, we provided feedback on his premise, ensuring it didn’t resemble the plethora of existing shared superhero […]
I never expected 400 backers and reaching 248% of the goal when I launched the Kickstarter campaign for Thrilling Adventure Yarns in 2019. I just knew I loved the old pulp magazines and wanted to have fun with them, pay tribute to their influence on me as a reader. When the book debuted that summer, […]
So, in theory, we should all be gathering at the Hunt Valley Inn for Shore Leave, but you know, things happened. There’s a virtual version that will have some panels this weekend and throughout the next few weeks. However, Crazy 8 Press won’t be slowed down. As promised months ago, we are debuting our latest […]
I have written very little over the last few months. Once the Flash: 100 Greatest book was put to bed, I have managed two short stories and my usual reviews and columns. The sixth 100 Greatest Moments book has been pushed on the schedule by the publisher so I should have time to do more […]
Mike Friedman doesn’t think small. He has envisioned worldafter world and one of his most ambitious projects was an alternate history. Some years back, he wondered how mankind would have evolvedhad Pangaea, the super-continent, neve shattered into the seven continents weknow today. He did some research, did some wishful thinking, then invited hisfriends to come […]
In 1981, I was working at Starlog Press and I received a call from my pal Howard Weinstein. He’d just been invited to be a guest at a new show called Shore Leave. It was their third outing and he thought I’d make a good (and cheap) guest, coming down to talk about SF movies […]
At Farpoint in 2017, we were enjoying our usual Crazy 8 Press panel, when somehow the event ended with the team agreeing to write an anthology where every author would find some gruesome way to kill our member Glenn Hauman.You have to understand, we love Glenn. But, he can’t get out of his own way […]
I’m tired, plain and simple.We were away in Italy for a pilgrimage, returning on July 4 and then on the 7th, it was the Shore Leave marathon. As a result, the late nights required by the con and a special event Sunday has left me worn out.But the con was good.Shore Leave remains a fun […]
It’s hard to believe it’s time for Shore Leave 39 already. I’ve been coming steadily since SL 3 back in the early 1980s and I delight at how it has grown but retained its intimate, fan-centric experience.I’ve got a rather packed schedule along with playing emcee most of the weekend. For those attending, here’s where […]
Between January and July, I have five different projects coming out, which makes me sound busier than I feel.We had Planet of the Apes: Tales from the Forbidden Zone kick off the year to much acclaim and (hopefully) good sales.In March, Sequart’s long awaited Bright Eyes, Ape City: Examining the Planet of the Apes Mythos.Then, […]
Hard to believe it’s already mid-February and I’m off to Timonium for my annual visit to Farpoint. While smaller than Shore Leave it is no less fun with a more intimate environment. Fewer guests and fewer fans means more time for extended conversations.I’m really excited to see Nicholas Meyer there since the last time I […]
Thanks to the blizzard and the rapid advance of time, suddenly it is time for Farpoint. Once the little sibling to Shore Leave, the show has forged its own identity over the last few years. Small in size but packed with talent, the con is a relaxing and fun way to spend a weekend.My schedule […]
After technical difficulties slowly derailed the best laid plans of Crazy 8 Press, my old story, “A Matter of Faith” is now available for the Kindle. The Nook edition will follow next week (once the IRS confirms I am really myself).As discussed over at Crazy 8 Press recently, it’s one of two original short stories […]