Author, Author, Author, Author

March 29, 2017 at 3:08 pm

We love writers at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, and April is going to be one of our biggest months ever for author events, with no less than four of them scheduled.

First up, on Sunday April 2, we’ll be hosting the editors and contributors for the GUNS, an original anthology about… yes, you guessed it, guns. Editor Gerald Hausman will be joining us for the evening, together with writers Trent Zelazny, Jane Lindskold, M. Scott Momaday, Rebecca Godfrey Poe, Peter Lauritzen, Peter Eichstaedt, Jim Terr, and Alice Carney.

One week later, on Sunday April 9, we’ll once again be hosting one of our favorite people, the one and only CONNIE WILLIS. Connie’s got a new book out: CROSSTALK, her long-awaited romcom, and as usual it’s a delight… as is she. Of course, we’ll have her other books as well, the many Hugo- and Nebula-award winners, and the one or two that were only runners-up.

Just a few days later, on Saturday April 15, we will have the honor to host one of New Mexico’s own treasures, JOHN NICHOLS, the author of THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR. There’s never been a writer who captured the soul of northern New Mexico like Nichols, and the Jean Cocteau is thrilled to have him.

Last but not least, JOHN SCALZI will be hitting town on Monday, April 17, with his new novel THE COLLAPSING EMPIRE. (And rest assured, we’ll have his older books on hand as well, including his Hugo award winning REDSHIRTS).

Remember, the Jean Cocteau has only 130 seats, and some of these events are already filling up fast. To reserve a book, and a seat, go to the Jean Cocteau website http://jeancocteaucinema.com/ and get in your order now.

See you at the ~~movies~~… er… the booksignings.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signed books, signings

Coming to Santa Fe

March 3, 2017 at 9:37 pm

We have some really cool events scheduled for the Jean Cocteau in March and April.

On Monday, March 13, we’ll be screening the second season premiere of HAP & LEONARD, and Joe R. Lansdale his own self will be returning to Santa Fe to host the show, talk some, and scrawl in some of your books.

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Then, just a few days later, on Thursday March 16 and Friday March 17, H.P. LOVECRAFT will be returning from the dead, to our stage. That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. Aiee aiee shub niggarath, the goat with a thousand young…

On Saturday, April 8, we have a special screening of the classic animated film WATERSHIP DOWN. We’re doing this one in connection with Rabbit Rescue, who will be offering free pet bunnies for the attendees to take home. C’mon, boys and girls, help Hazel and Bigwig find a new warren.

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On Saturday April 15, JOHN NICHOLS, author of the MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR and many other great titles, will be visiting us for some conversation and booksigning, and we’ll be screening the film of his novel in honor of his visit.

Just two days later, on Monday April 17, JOHN SCALZI will be in town on his COLLAPSING EMPIRE book tour. We’ll talk, he’ll sign, a good time will be had by all.

And on April 21-22, we’ll have a return visit from the magician FRANCIS MENOTTI, who stumped Penn & Teller and filled the JCC the last time he was in town.

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A number of these events are a good bet to sell out, so if you’d like to join us for any of them, I’d advise going to our website to secure your tickets now.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, jean cocteau cinema bookstore, movies, signed books, signings

Jimmy Is Coming

February 11, 2017 at 10:51 am

Come join us at the Jean Cocteau tomorrow.

James S.A. Corey — that famous two-headed science fiction writer, otherwise known as Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck — will be on hand at 1 pm to talk about his/ their latest installment in the Expanse series, BABYLON’S ASHES. And of course he/ they will be scribbling in books afterwards.

The fun starts at 1pm. Admission is free with the purchase of a hardcover book, $5 with the purchase of a paperback, and $10 without book purchase. You can call ahead and reserve a book if you like, and I do advise it; stocks are limited.

Daniel and Ty are also Wild Cards contributors (though Jimmy is not), the creators, respectively, of Jonathan Hive (Bugsy) on the one hand, and Tinkerbill and Horrorshow on t’other. And of course we’ll have piles of Wild Cards titles on hand for them to sign as well, along with the earlier books in the Expanse sequence, and lots of Daniel’s solo fantasy novels.

For what it’s worth, I loved BABYLON’S ASHES. One of the best Expanse books yet, and a novel that will certainly be on my own Hugo nomination ballot. If there’s any justice at all, it ought to be a finalist this year.

Might also mention that we have lots of other great guests and special events coming up at the JCC in the weeks and months to come. Comedian CARLOS MEDINA will be here on Tuesday, February 14, if you’d like to spend Valentine’s Day laughing. On March 13, Joe R. Lansdale His Own Self will be returning for a special screening of the second season of HAP & LEONARD… and of course to sign some of His Own Books as well. Further down the road, we’re expecting visits from JOHN NICHOLS and from TERRY BROOKS (not the same night, no), dates and details to come. And yes, we have MAX HEADROOM and H.P. LOVECRAFT coming as well! Visit the JCC website at http://jeancocteaucinema.com/ and sign up for our newsletter and e-mail blasts, and you’ll never need to miss one of our special events.

See you at the movies.

Tags: jean cocteau cinema, jean cocteau cinema bookstore, signings

Carrie, Carrie, Carrie

January 29, 2017 at 4:53 pm

We had a fun afternoon with Carrie Vaughn today at the Jean Cocteau. Talked about new book, MARTIANS ABROAD, about Old Mars and New Mars and Podkayne and Heinlein, about her bestselling Kitty Norville series, about her contributions to Wild Cards.

If you missed it, have no fear. We taped it, and plan to upload a streaming video soon.

Before she left, of course, we made her sign lots and lots of books for us, so if you’re looking for an autographed copy of MARTIANS ABROAD or any of her earlier books, or a hardcover of INSIDE STRAIGHT signed by both Carrie and yours truly, you need look no further than the JCC bookshop.

Check out these and other signed books at http://jeancocteaucinema.com/product-category/author/

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

Carrie Is Coming…

January 23, 2017 at 2:28 pm

… back to the Jean Cocteau.

Colorado’s own Carrie Vaughn, one of our favorite people, will be returning to New Mexico on Sunday for an author event at the Jean Cocteau. We’ll do doing an interview and a Q&A, and Carrie will be signing copies of her new novel, MARTIANS ABROAD.

We’ll also have plenty of copies of Carrie’s Kitty Norville series on hand for autographing, as well as all the Wild Cards books that she has contributed to. (Her Wild Cards characters include Curveball, Earth Witch, Rikki, and Wild Fox).

The fun starts on Sunday at 1:00pm. Come join us, in you’re in the vicinity of Santa Fe. And if you’re not, you can still get a signed book by mailorder through the JCC website.

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

South of the Border

November 28, 2016 at 2:55 pm

Strange to say, although I have lived in New Mexico since 1979, I have never really visited Old Mexico. Oh, I attended a Westercon in El Paso a few years back, and spent an afternoon in Juarez with some other fans and writers. And I spent a few hours in Tijuana back in the late 80s, I believe, while attending Comicon in San Diego. But that hardly counts. There’s a lot more to Mexico than the border towns.

My first real visit to Mexico starts tomorrow, when I jet down to Guadalajara for the Guadalajara International Book Fair: https://www.fil.com.mx/ingles/i_info/i_info_fil.asp

I’m one of the guests at the conference. I’ll be doing interviews, a press conference, a live streaming event, and a signing. I expect I will be doing some tequila tasting as well. I am informed that Guadalajara is the tequila capital of Mexico.

I am looking forward to meeting my Mexican publishers, editors, and fans.

This is my last scheduled event for 2016. My appearance schedule for 2017 is very limited, and will remain so until WINDS is completed. So if you want to meet me or get a book signed, this will be the last chance for a good few months…

See you south of the border.

Tags: conventions, signings, travels

At the Jean Cocteau

November 5, 2016 at 1:20 pm

TRUMPLAND opened yesterday at the Jean Cocteau Cinema, playing to large and enthusiastic crowds. Whatever you may think of Michael Moore or his politics, he’s never less than entertaining. He makes some great political points in TRUMPLAND, but even if you disagree with every one of those, there are a lot of laughs as well. We’re the only theatre in New Mexico showing the film and we’ll be running it through the election, so do come down and catch it if you can.

We do have one break in the TRUMPLAND screening schedule, however. Come Monday night, we’re having another one of our famous author events. This time the JCC is honored to be hosting EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL, the best-selling author of STATION ELEVEN and other acclaimed novels.

I’ll be doing an interview with Emily, followed by an audience Q&A, and of course a signing. We should have all of her earlier novels in stock, as well as the new paperback of STATION ELEVEN.

Emily St. John Mandel is one writer that I’ve never met before, but I’m very excited that I will have a chance to talk with her. STATION ELEVEN just blew me away when I read it, a few years ago. Actually, it was the best novel I read that year (2014), and I was hoping it might be a Hugo contender, as regular readers of the Not A Blog might remember. I wrote, “One of the 2014 books that I did read stands above all the others, however: STATION ELEVEN, by Emily St. John Mandel. As best I can recall, I’ve never met Emily St. John Mandel, and I’ve never read anything else by her, but I won’t soon forget STATION ELEVEN. One could, I suppose, call it a post-apocalypse novel, and it is that, but all the usual tropes of that subgenre are missing here, and half the book is devoted to flashbacks to before the coming of the virus that wipes out the world, so it’s also a novel of character, and there’s this thread about a comic book and Doctor Eleven and a giant space station and… oh, well, this book should NOT have worked, but it does. It’s a deeply melancholy novel, but beautifully written, and wonderfully elegiac… a book that I will long remember, and return to.”

((Sadly, no, STATION ELEVEN did not get a Hugo nomination. The reports of my vast power and iuence within the field seem to be greatly exaggerated. So far as I can tell, my effect on the Hugo nominations is exactly nil. But I’ll keep recommending good stuff anyway. I’m stubborn)).

Anyway… if you’re here in the Land of Enchantment, come down and join us on Monday night and meet Emily St. John Mandel. And if you’re not, well, autographed copies will be available afterwards for mail order. Of her books, my books, books by all the great authors we’ve hosted. (Depending on what happens on Tuesday, we may remember Monday night as the last good time before the lights began to go out. Though I hope not).

Tickets to both TRUMPLAND and Emily St. John Mandel are available on the Jean Cocteau website: http://www.jeancocteaucinema.com/

Tags: jean cocteau cinema bookstore, movies, signed books, signings

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.

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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

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