Worth a thousand words and all that...

Like father like daughter.

Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience!

Hey alls!

Salt Lake Comic Con's FanXperience is coming up later this month! It's basically an excuse to have another Comic Con event, and let me tell you the ones that these people put on are fantastic. There are tons of celebrities, lots of cool booths and shops and statue replica thingies and cosplaying and all kinds of other awesome events. Not to mention...I'll be on panels at this one!

I'm on two panels at FanXperience. Check 'em out!

Thursday 24 March at 3:00 PM (Room 151A) - "The Whedon Effect: Perfectly Imperfect Protagonists Then and Now"
Comic Con's description: "Joss Whedon is an undisputed master of the smart snarky hero/heroine that could really use therapy. Still they manage to save the world anyway, and we love them for every flaw. From Buffy and Angel, to Malcolm, River and the Firefly, and now to his grand twists on the Marvel Universe, Whedon has a way of changing the landscape and giving us worlds and characters we can't let go of... even years later. A discussion with authors and superfans of why we love these damaged characters and where Whedon seems to be headed next."

Friday 25 March at 1:00 PM (Room 255F) - "Buffy, Twilight, Vampire Diaries: Why Are Vampires So Popular?"

Comic Con's description: "Vampire lore has existed from the beginning of literature. Why does it remain so popular? What more can creators do to make them unique to their stories?"



I'm very excited to be on both panels. As you can see, both cover topics that I love to talk about. If you'll be at FanX, come check them out! Say hi! Get a business card (because I'll have official business cards)! It's gonna be awesome.

What have I been doing for like the past six months? you ask.

Let me tell you:

TAKING CARE OF A BRAND NEW BABY, that's what.

This, folks, is baby B. Back in late August my incredible wife had a very short but intense labor, totally rocked it, and little B is the result.

In December my wife went back to work, and I've been doing the stay-at-home-dad thing while also trying to write full time. It has been an interesting process (one worthy of another blog post entirely), but I'm happy to say that things are going wonderfully on both fronts (baby and writing). And it looks like blogging may finally be working its way back into my regimen as well :-).

I've included a picture montage of the past six months for you. Enjoy (because, seriously, my child is freaking adorable).

Things started out a bit slow.

Sleep was the general order of the day.

But soon B's curiosity took over.

She's become a wide-eyed observer of the universe
(and totes has FOMO--if she knows Raych and I are doing
 something and she isn't part of it, she definitely lets us know).

Her personality has begun to emerge, and let me tell you--she's an absolute card.

We've explored the outside world together (and sometimes she wasn't that impressed tbh).

She experienced her first Christmas. (Also pictured: her amazing, gorgeous mother.)

Alaskan blood runs strong in her veins.

She owns a pair of mighty fine kicks (probably a few dozen pairs, actually).

And when she isn't wearing her mighty fine kicks, one of her recent hobbies includes chomping on her own toes.

She got her first haircut just last week and had a ball.

We're pals, she and I.

And she's pretty much had me wrapped around her finger from day one.

So yeah. That's why I haven't blogged for the past six months. Pretty great excuse, if you ask me.

Where to buy DUSKFALL

In other news, one of the many cool things that's been happening lately is seeing Duskfall pop up for pre-order in all kinds of places. I figured I'd collect all the locations I can find where DF is available for purchase and list them here, for your convenience (and for my ego).

You'll notice the gorgeous cover art is already up on most of these websites--I'm still completely fanboying out about that.

In most online places, Duskfall is available in trade paperback for $14.95 and in ebook format for $7.99.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

iTunes/iBooks

Kobo

I'll try to update these links as they become available!

DUSKFALL Cover!

Long time no blog!

So, some of you may have already heard this already, but I just have to post it here. Something awesome happened:

Yeah. That's the cover of my first novel, Duskfall, coming out June 21st. Well, what do you think of this cover, Chris? some of you may be asking. Allow me to respond.

IT.

IS.

AMAZING.

Folks, this cover is gorgeous. It is everything I've ever hoped for in a cover. It is beautiful, it is detailed enough to draw me in but subtle enough to leave me with questions (or at least I think it would if I hadn't read this book a dozen times already), it totally avoids typical fantasy cover cliches, I love the title font, I love the fact that my publisher came up with "Chaos Queen Quintet" (because that sounds much cooler than the "Chaos Queen Series"). I love it all. This cover is divine. (It reminds me of a UK Joe Abercrombie cover, which are some of my favorite covers of all time.) Huge thanks to the folks at Titan for coming up with such an awesome design.

So, yeah. I'm very happy about it.

That's all for now--there's a lot of other stuff going on right now that I'm excited to blog about, so hopefully I'll be posting a bit more in the future. But, in the meantime, here's some awesome things people are saying about my book cover:

My publisher, Titan Books, revealed the cover on their blog.

Stefan over at Civilian Reader had some pretty neat things to say about it.

My agents-across-the-Atlantic featured it on their blog.

More info to come!

Scary Books! For Halloween!

I enjoy a good scare. Theres something primal about the sensation that deepens--and connects--the human experience (and I've already talked about why I think horror as a genre has value). So if a book, movie, or any other medium can give me the wiggins or scare me so bad that my body threatens to leak one fluid or another, I'm totes on board.

Normally I take the month of October to read something that genuinely scares me, but given the tiny life I'm responsible for these days I didn't even think about it until today. So, instead, and in that same spirit, I'll tell you about some of my all-time favorite scary stories, in no particular order.

Dracula by Bram Stoker
Vampires? Check. Blood and gore? Check. Thinly veiled exploration/critique of Victorian sexuality? Double check. Stoker didn't invent the vampire by any means, but he injected them into pop culture, and for that I can never thank him enough. Dracula is a great and genuinely scary read.

Carrie by Stephen King
King's first novel, and one that has endured the test of time. I know I gush a lot about Stephen King, so I won't do that here, other than to say that Carrie is awesome. It's a short read, perfect for a weekend (and, incidentally, the second novel told in epistolary form on my list after Dracula). Oh, and if your kids are bullying others at school, drop Carrie on their lap. It just might change their tune. (Or just have a serious talk about how bullying is terrible, but that's a whole other thing.)

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman has written some phenomenal stuff, but my list needed something a bit more light-hearted and The Graveyard Book seemed a perfect fit. (Although for a light-hearted entry, this one still made me feel ALL the feels.) Plus its a retelling of The Jungle Book in a graveyard, so that's pretty cool.

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
Stoker may have stoked (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) the vampire genre, but Lindqvist helped...lind..qvist...okay that bit won't work (NOTHING, I DID NOTHING THERE), let me start over. In the midst of Twilight-fever, Let the Right One In was both a harkening back to the terrifying nature of vampires and a fascinating twist on the genre. And, while this is a horror list so at least some scary content should be expected, some really messed up stuff happens in this book, so it comes with an extra warning. And it's really really good.

Inferno (Part I of La divina commedia) by Dante Alighieri
Yearning for some classic horror? Look no further than Inferno--definitely not talking about the Dan Brown book, by the way. I'm talking about the epic poem with demons and devils (and if you thought the movie Se7en owned the punishment-fits-the-crime trope, you've got another thing coming) that has influenced how we view hell for the last 700 years. 'Nuff said, right? (Note: I recommend the Mandelbaum translation I've linked above if you're looking for an entertaining read that still maintains the spirit of Dante's brilliant poetic structure.)

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
I read this one just last Halloween, and I can say hands down it's the most terrifying book I've ever read. Like, genuinely messed-with-my-head-and-gave-me-nightmares scary. I'll include a passage from the introduction at the bottom of this post just for good measure*, but trust me. If you really want your skin to crawl and to look-over-your-shoulder-terrified-of-what-you-might-see as you read, check out House of Leaves. Extra content warning for this one, too, by the way.

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
I've said all I have to say about The Reapers are the Angels in a blog post from last year. It's a zombie novel, it's beautiful, and it's one of my all-time favorite books.

Check out any of these books this (or any subsequent) Halloween--you won't be disappointed. I love scary movies as much as the next guy, but there's something about reading a scary story that gets under my skin in ways the film medium can't do. I highly recommend it. Happy reading!

Oh, and for good measure, some honorable mentions:

Looking for more of a classic approach? Try the works of Edgar Allen Poe or H.P. Lovecraft.

Looking for a more modern take on zombies? Try Feed by Mira Grant.

More ghosts and demons? Try The Keeper by Sarah Langan.

Want to experience a YA horror/thriller novel? Residue by Steve Diamond.

Horror in comic/graphic novel form? Try From Hell by Alan Moore or The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman (which is actually quite different story-wise from the television series, and equally well-written).



*From House of Leaves xxii-xxiii:

This much I'm certain of: it doesn't happen immediately. You'll finish and that will be that, until a moment will come, maybe in a month, maybe a year, maybe even several years. You'll be sick of feeling troubled or deeply in love or quietly uncertain or even content for the first time in your life. It won't matter. Out of the blue, beyond any cause you can trace, you'll suddenly realize things are not how you perceived them to be at all. For some reason, you will no longer be the person you believed you once were. You'll detect slow and subtle shifts going on all around you, more importantly shifts in you. Worse, you'll realize it's always been shifting, like a glimmer of sorts, a vast shimmer, only dark like a room. But you won't understand why or how. You'll have forgotten what granted you this awareness in the first place.

Old shelters--television, magazines, movies--won't protect you anymore. You might try scribbling in a journal, on a napkin, maybe even in the margins of this book. That's when you'll discover you no longer trust the very walls you always took for granted. Even the hallways you've walked a hundred times will feel longer, much longer, and the shadows, any shadow at all, will suddenly seem deeper, much, much, deeper.

You might try then, as I did, to find a sky so full of stars it will blind you again. Only no sky can blind you now. Even with all that iridescent magic up there, your eye will no longer linger on the light, it will no longer trace constellations. You'll care only about the darkness and you'll watch it for hours, for days, maybe even for years, trying in vain to believe you're some kind of indispensable, universe-appointed sentinel, as if just by looking you could actually keep it all at bay. It will get so bad you'll be afraid to look away, you'll be afraid to sleep.

Then no matter where you are, in a crowded restaurant or on some desolate street or even in the comforts of your own home, you'll watch yourself dismantle every assurance you ever lived by. You'll stand aside as a great complexity intrudes, tearing apart, piece by piece, all of your carefully conceived denials, whether deliberate or unconscious. and then for better or worse you'll turn, unable to resist, though try to resist you still will, fighting with everything you've got not to face the thing you most dread, what is now, what will be, what has always come before, the creature you truly are, the creature we all are, buried in the nameless black of a name.

And then the nightmares will begin.

Yeah...read that on a dark night around Halloween and try not totally having a freak-out.

SLC Comic Con 2015 Schedule!

Hey alls! Long time no blog.

In short: my wife gave birth to a baby girl and I've been busy fathering. But more on that later, because tomorrow Salt Lake Comic Con 2015 begins! And I'm on paneling! Here's my schedule!

Logo courtesy of Comic Con website.

Thursday 24 Sept 4:00-4:50 PM (Room 151G): Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Icon and Heroine for the Ages
How. Cool. Is. This?!?!?!?! Me, on a BtVS panel! It's a good thing I did all that blogging earlier this year about it (and I guess that means I should probably finish the last BtVS blog post or two I've been meaning to write...). Anyway. Here's Comic Con's blurb for the panel:

There are a lot of fun, interesting discussions that can be had about Buffy. A conversation about Buffy herself and her impact as an icon is arguably more important than all of those discussions combined: Buffy means a lot of things to a lot of people. In this panel, her iconic status will be explored.

Friday 25 Sept 1:00-1:50 PM (Room 150G): I Ship It: Fandom's Favorite Couples
Man, someone must really think I have Things To Say about couples and relationships (considering I was on a "Romance" panel at CONduit and now this...). But I'm totally cool with it. Because you know what? I think I do have things to say. And I'm excited to say them. Here's how Comic Con describes the panel:

Troi and Riker, Harry and Ginny, Mal and Inara, Dean and Castiel...wait, what? Come for a discussion of what makes our favorite couples tick, why fans love to ship their own non-canon couples, and learn how to give some of those traits to the lovers in your own stories.

Saturday 26 Sept 2:00-2:50 PM (Room 151G): Welcome to Mystic Falls: Vampire Diaries and The Originals
I mentioned a few years ago some feelings I had about TVD--what I liked, and namely, what I thought they could do better. But the truth is, I've consistently watched the show for, what is it, six seasons now? There's a lot to like about TVD, and I'm excited to share my thoughts about it.

For fans of The Vampire Diaries, this panel will explore the characters we love (and love to hate), the plot lines that had us hooked, and the pitfalls the show has had to overcome. Come spend some time in Mystic Falls with us.

So there you have it! I'm very much looking forward to the Con, and to each of the panels I'm on. If you find yourself at Salt Lake Comic Con this year, drop by one of my panels, or just say hi! I'd love to chat!