The Cards Get Wilder

October 26, 2016 at 2:06 pm

Some cool new stuff to announce for you Wild Cards fans out there.

We have a couple of brand new original never-before-published Wild Cards coming up on Tor.com, and available for free. The first of them is “The Thing About Growing Up in Jokertown,” by Carrie Vaughn, a prequel of sorts to FORT FREAK, featuring two of your favorite 5th precinct joker cops as teenagers. John Picacio just sent us the cover art, and as usual it’s wonderful.

Carrie’s story will be uploaded to Tor.com on December 21. Hope you’ll enjoy the read. (I did).

Meanwhile, on other Wild Card-ish fronts… Tor taped hours of interview with myself and a whole legion of my Wild Cards writers in Kansas City, during the big launch event for HIGH STAKES, and will be releasing them in a series of videos. The first came out in late August. The second has just been released. Enjoy.

<lj-embed id=”844″/>

More videos will be forthcoming in future months.

HIGH STAKES is available now from your favorite local bookstore and online bookseller. And if you’re an autograph hound, we do have copies at the Jean Cocteau Bookshop with signatures from Melinda Snodgrass, John Jos. Miller, Ian Tregillis, and yours truly. http://www.jeancocteaubooks.com/bookstore/high-stakes-wild-cards/

Tags: signed books, tor, wild cards

Coming in August

July 25, 2016 at 2:58 pm

We had an amazing, goofy, fun event at the Jean Cocteau Cinema yesterday, when more than a dozen Wild Cards authors got together and donned the personae of their characters, while my assistant editor Melinda Snodgrass (in the person of Noel Matthews, aka Double Helix) interviewed them. The whole thing was taped, so we hope to be able to upload it here soon.

Meanwhile, Tor has just sent us the final cover for the next original volume in the series: HIGH STAKES, scheduled for release on August 23 (though we will be launching it a little earlier in Kansas City at a special group signing event).

Cover art, as always, by the amazing Michael Komarck.

HIGH STAKES is the third and concluding volume in the triad that began with FORT FREAK and continued with LOWBALL. It’s the twenty-third volume in the overall series, but don’t let that intimidate you, boys and girls. It is NOT necessary to have read all of the preceding twenty-two volumes to make sense of this one… though it would help to have read the aforementioned LOWBALL and FORT FREAK.

This one is a “full mosaic,” like many of the other climactic volumes of our triads; there are no individual stories per se, but rather six storylines featuring six different viewpoint characters, interwoven so as to create a full on collaborative novel. Which is a lot of work for all concerned, yes, but our fans and readers seem to think it’s well worth it.

In HIGH STAKES, the participating writers (and their featured characters) are John Jos. Miller (the Midnight Angel), Caroline Spector (the Amazing Bubbles), Ian Tregillis (Tesseract), Melinda M. Snodgrass (Franny Black), Stephen Leigh (Babel), and David Anthony Durham (the Infamous Black Tongue). Editing by yours truly, assisted by Melinda Snodgrass.

Fair warning, this one is not for the faint of heart. HIGH STAKES is our Lovecraftian horror volume, and things get pretty dark. But it’s when things are darkest that heroes are most needed…

FYI, while we won’t have any copies of HIGH STAKES for another month, the Jean Cocteau Bookstore can now offer both hardcovers and paperbacks of many earlier Wild Cards books with lots of signatures from the authors. Me, yes, but not just me. We have WILD CARDS, ACES HIGH, JOKERS WILD, ACES ABROAD, INSIDE STRAIGHT, BUSTED FLUSH, SUICIDE KINGS, FORT FREAK, LOWBALL… and even the very scarce and hard to find volumes sixteen and seventeen, DEUCES DOWN and DEATH DRAWS FIVE. Email the JCC for details and prices.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signed books, signings, wild cards

Next Monday at the Jean Cocteau

July 17, 2016 at 1:36 pm

We have a very big Sunday coming up at the Jean Cocteau Cinema.

But that’s not the end of the excitement. There’s a great event scheduled for Monday, July 25 as well, one week from today.

That’s when Dutch author THOMAS OLDE HEUVELT will be be visiting us, to talk about his new horror novel, HEX. Heuvelt was the winner of a Hugo last year for his novelette “The World Turned Upside Down.” HEX is something very different, though…

Thomas does not get to this side of the pond very often, much less down here to the Land of Enchantment, so don’t miss your chance to meet him, and get your book signed. HEX is creepy and gripping and original, sure to be one of the top horror novels of 2016.

<lj-embed id=”751″/>

You can reserve a seat and a copy of the book at the JCC website: http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signed books, signings

Next Sunday at the Jean Cocteau

July 16, 2016 at 7:36 pm

If you’re going to be in Santa Fe a week from tomorrow — or anywhere in the Land of Enchantment, really — do swing by the Jean Cocteau Cinema.

We’ve got not one but two very special events planned for Sunday, July 24.

First up, at 2:00 in the afternoon, will be a Wild Cards Author Event, followed by a signing. Yes, most of the Usual Suspects will be on hand, the motley crew of New Mexico writers who started the series some thirty years ago, but they’ll be joined by some Wild Carders, new and old, who are coming in from afar to join us. Right now we have some nineteen (yes, I said 19!) writers scheduled to take part… from Chicago, from Denver, from New Hampshire, from Texas, from California, from Kentucky. Come by and meet them all! And get your books signed… not only your Wild Cards books (though we expect to have all the volumes presently in print on offer), but also some of the other great novels by the participating writers.

The format of this one should be fun. Melinda Snodgrass will be hosting, interviewing each of our guests in turn. But we’ll be doing this “in universe,” so she won’t be interviewing the writers, she’ll be interviewing their characters. And Weeds knows where all the bodies are buried, so I expect this to be a hoot and a half.

And that’s just the afternoon event.

Come evening, we’ll be putting Melinda to work again, with a very special screening of CHAOS ON THE BRIDGE, William Shatner’s tell-all documentary about the rocky beginnings of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. <lj-embed id=”748″/>

Melinda knows where the bodies are buried on the Enterprise as well; she was there, and she was one of the insiders that Shatner interviewed for the documentary. She will be hosting the screening, and answering questions afterwards… and if that was not enough, she’s arranged for DAVID GERROLD to join us as well, via the wonders of Skype.

It should be quite a Sunday. Be there. I will.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, signed books, signings, television, wild cards, writing

Wild Cards in Kansas City

July 14, 2016 at 12:32 am

As this year’s worldcon in Kansas City moves ever closer, schedules are starting to firm up, and there are going to be some exciting things in the works… especially for fans of Wild Cards.

HIGH STAKES, the concluding volume in the current Wild Cards triad and the twenty-third in the overall series, is actually scheduled for hardcover release on August 23, after worldcon is over. However (fingers crossed), Tor is doing all it can to get some advance copies to Kansas City ahead of time, so we can launch the book at worldcon. (This one is our Lovecraftian horror outing. For a taste, check the sample chapter on my website).

To celebrate the release of the new one… and hell, all the old ones too… we are planning to have a huge WILD CARDS MASS SIGNING at the con. It seemed only fitting; there will be more Wild Cards authors (old and new) present in Kansas City than at any other convention ever (yes, even more than at Nolacon in 1988, where Wild Cards lost a Hugo to Watchmen). At last count, the list includes Walter Jon Williams, John Jos. Miller, Gail Gerstner-Miller, Carrie Vaughn, Caroline Spector, Diana Rowland, Walton (Bud) Simons, Bob Wayne, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Stephen Leigh, S.L. Farrell, David D. Levine, Michael Cassutt, Marko Kloos, Saladin Ahmed, Pat Cadigan, Laura J. Mixon, Paul Cornell, Mary Anne Mohanraj… and of course Melinda M. Snodgrass and yours truly. So if you have a large collection of Wild Cards books you’d like defaced… or would like to start a large collection of Wild Cards books… MidAmericon II is the place to do it.

The signing will be sponsored by Rainy Day Books, and will be a ticketed event. It will take place in the Marriott Muhlebach (room tba) on Friday August 19, from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Rainy Day Books should have all of the volumes currently in print for sale there, in addition to HIGH STAKES… and also a good selection of other titles by all of the participating writers, for those who would like to sample their non-wild card books. (However, I won’t be signing any Ice & Fire events at this event, I have two other general signings in the dealer’s room, three hours total, so there will be ample opportunity for readers to get their GAME OF THRONES books signed there).

The signing will not be the only Wild Cards activity at Big MAC II. With so many writers on hand, doing your traditional panel discussion would have been impossible. By the time all the panelists finished introducing themselves, the hour would have been up. Instead we’ve decided to offer WILD CARDS DEATH MATCHES. Kind of like Thunderdome with writers (and their characters). Sixteen writers enter (well, maybe only twelve, the count keeps jumping around as plans change), and one will emerge. The audience will pick the winners and losers of the fights. That one is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, August 20, 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Should be a hoot and a half… or a bloodbath. Who the hell knows? We’ve never done this sort of thing before.

Put the times and dates down in your worldcon calendar, and come join the fun.

(And hey, for all those who can’t be in Kansas City for the mass signing, autographed copies of all the books pictured above are available from the Jean Cocteau Cinema Bookstore, though admittedly they don’t have as many signatures as the ones bought in KC are like to have. And yes, we are now taking international orders).

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signed books, signings, wild cards, worldcon

MAC Nattering

July 13, 2016 at 11:48 am

Worldcon is coming up soon… MidAmericon II in Kansas City, Missouri, the long awaited successor to the original 1976 MidAmericon, which some of us old pharts still consider to be the Greatest Worldcon Evah. (It was certainly the most innovative, a true game-changer, for both good and ill).

I will be there, along with hundreds of other writers, artists, and editors, and thousands of fans. If you have never been to a con before, this is the one to go to… assuming you’re a reader. Worldcon has always had a strong literary slant, and while costuming, television, films, comics, and games are all included as well, it is the written word that occupies center ring here.

If that interests you, you can join here: http://midamericon2.org/

Join now, and you’ll be able to vote for the Hugo Awards (and to nominate next year).

For readers who would like to meet and talk with their favorite writers (including me), a worldcon is a MUCH better place to do so than a booksigning.

For what it’s worth, however, there are also booksignings AT worldcon, so you’ll have plenty of opportunity to get your books scrawled in, be they rare limited editions or battered paperbacks. I have committed to four (count ’em, 4) booksignings at MAC myself:

— I’ll be doing two ninety-minute signings in the convention autograph area, signing whatever you want me to sign, be it books, comics, swords, games, Funko Pop dolls, t-shirts, or body parts, (but only one item per person, please, and no personalizations or inscriptions, sorry),

— I will also be doing a one-hour signing in the dealer’s room at Gary Gianni’s booth, but at that one Gary and I will be signing ONLY copies of A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, and the new Gianni sketchbook that GG will be debuting at MAC,

— and in conjunction with Tor Books and a local bookstore, I’ll be part of a huge WILD CARDS signing, joined by more than a dozen other Wild Cards authors new and old. My “no personal inscription” rule will still hold for that one, alas, though many of the other writers will inscribe. However, I am suspending my “only one book per person” rule for this event. I’ll sign as many books as you want here… so long as they are all Wild Cards books.

Dates, times, and locations will all be forthcoming, so watch this space.

And yes, of course, I’ll be doing other stuff in Kansas City as well. A couple of panels, a reading, maybe some other stuff.

See you at Big MAC! And save me some burnt ends!!!

Tags: signed books, signings, wild cards, worldcon

Books Books Books

June 24, 2016 at 11:50 am

Well, so far so good so far as international shipping is concerned.

Orders are coming in, books are being weighed, packed, and shipped.

Assuming that there are no problems en route, or with customs on the other ends, maybe this will fly and we can make all our fans overseas happy. So keep those emails and orders coming.

Oh, and speaking of autographs, my friend Diana Gabaldon dropped by the JCC the other day, and signed a few more stacks of books for us. So we have replenished our supply of OUTLANDER titles (have you guys been watching the series? it’s amazing). And Diana also signed some hardcovers of one of the anthologies she’s in, SONGS OF LOVE AND DEATH. While the supply lasts, we can offer copies of that one with four signatures: the two editors (me and Gardner), plus Diana Gabaldon and Neil Gaiman.

Happy reading!

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signed books

The King of Horror

June 22, 2016 at 3:25 pm

Here’s that video I promised.

<lj-embed id=”740″/>

Enjoy.

((Those signed copies of Joe Hill’s THE FIREMAN I mentioned are available from the Jean Cocteau website, while the supply lasts. Sorry, we have no signed Stephen King books to offer)).

Tags: author events, signed books, writing

Signed Books – International Edition

June 18, 2016 at 4:03 pm

Ever since the Jean Cocteau Cinema began offering autographed books from our author events for sale via mailorder, we have been getting queries from readers in Europe, South America, Asia, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand about placing orders. We haven’t been able to fulfill those requests, alas. Up till now, books were only available within the US.

The problem is shipping. There is, unfortunately, no simple, easy, and inexpensive way to ship books (or anything else, alas) outside the US. Not any more. Once upon a time, a shipper could choose between air mail (fast but expensive) and sea mail (slow but cheap). Then sea mail got abolished. After that, for a time, there was a thing called an M-bag (slow but cheap). That got abolished too. Within the US, there is Media Mail, formerly known as Book Rate, which saves a lot of money… but Media Mail does not work beyond the borders of the US. Internationally, there is only air mail… oh, and the various express services, like DHL and FedEx. So effectively the shipping options for our friends overseas are limited to Expensive and Very Expensive and Very Very Very Expensive (for overnight).

I’ve had my JCC staff working on this problem for many months, trying to find a solution. Sadly, there does not seem to be one. Yet even so, the queries still come in. So we’ve decided to bite the bullet — for a short time, at least, as an experiment — and offer the signed books from the JCC bookstore for sale to everyone around the world. We’ll see how much demand there is, and how much time order fulfillment requires from my already overworked staff.

But please take note. The process is complicated and onerous, and shipping costs will be high. In many cases, depending on what you’re ordering, shipping will be more than the actual cost of the books themselves. ALSO, please note, there could be additional charges on your end. We have no control over taxes, tariffs, customs costs, and import duties. Every nation has its own rules. Once the shipment leaves the Jean Cocteau, it’s out of our hand… so if your customs people stop the package and ask for fees, there’s nothing we can do about it.

((All these problems are among the reasons why we have not been taking international orders up until now. Too many complications, too many complaints)).

So… if I haven’t discouraged all of you sufficiently, here’s the complex and expensive procedure for placing orders from outside the USA:

1. Guest selects item(s) from the JCC website. http://www.jeancocteaubooks.com/

2. Guest has to email: jeancocteausantafe@gmail.com. The email should contain the following: item(s), and destination.

3. JCC will review the order and weigh the item(s)

4. JCC will enter destination, weight, value, dimensions of shipping box on USPS website to get the shipping cost. Unless instructed to use FedEx of DHL or other more expensive method, we will always look for the cheapest method.

5. JCC will email the guest with the total cost of the order (books, shipping, handling).

6. If the guest agrees, JCC will invoice him/ her via PayPal. PayPal is the ONLY payment method we can accept for international orders, sorry.

7. Guest pays invoice.

8. Books are shipped.

All of the books pictured above are available, along with many more. Visit the Jean Cocteau website for the full list. Stocks are limited, however. We do sell out.

ALL the books sold by the JCC are signed by the author and/or editor. Some of the anthologies and Wild Cards books have multiple autographs, though we cannot guarantee that. However, we cannot offer personalizations or inscriptions. Just signatures.

At the moment, we are only offering English-language editions… but if this system does not prove too costly for the readers, or too burdersome for my staff, we may be able to offer limited amounts of foreign language editions and translations in the future. Watch this blog for announcements to that effect from my minions. (And if you are looking for one of my books in a specific language, feel free to write the JCC at the email above and request it. We may have some).

We know this system if far from ideal, and for that we apologize… but we wanted to do something to show that we do value all the readers around the world who have written us, and would like to do our best to serve them.

Happy reading.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signed books

The King and I

June 17, 2016 at 1:40 pm

What a great time last night in Albuquerque, at the Kiva Auditorium.

Stephen King is on tour to promote his new novel, END OF WATCH, the third and concluding volumes in his ‘Mercedes killer’ trilogy, and the good folks at Bookworks were kind enough to ask me to sit down with him for an hour of conversation.

We talked about childhood, writing, reading, naked day, the nature of evil, and rats.

Went for an hour, but we could have gone for ten. Steve’s an amazing guy, and a great writer.

(We hope to be able to offer a video soon. Watch this space).

Tags: author events, signed books

Not a Blog