BaltiCon wrap up & a preview of the Half-Blood is available

Whew, has it already been over a week since BaltiCon? I suppose it has! I would ask where the time goes, but I know where it does: my family, the Marine Corps, and all the million other little things that take up time in our days. Oh, and you know, I did see Avengers in the theatre. Again. Okay, 3 times.

What? It was really good! I’ve got to admit I’m having to restrain myself from writing an Avengers fanfic that’s been rolling around in my head for the past few weeks. Trust me, it’s EPIC. But I need to focus on my own original stories.

Speaking of which, in case you missed it, Songs of the Seasons: White Flag is now out. It’s a short story that takes place in the War of the Seasons universe and is the back story of a few of the side characters. Also, it’s got the exclusive preview for my next novel, due out later this month, War of the Seasons, book 2: The Half-blood, sequel to the best selling War of the Seasons, book 1: The Human. You can buy it from Amazon here and from Barnes & Noble here.

Bestselling, you ask? Why yes! Last week, thanks to all of you and your fantastic “word spreading” to all your friends and family about War of the Seasons, The Human – was the #3 downloaded YA Fantasy kindle book on Amazon (it was #8 in general fantasy) for a couple days. It dropped off on Friday, but I don’t care. It was a bestseller, and that was a dream come true! A dream you all helped me achieve, so thank you.

And hey, if you want to help some more, I’d love to see your reviews on goodreads, amazon, and well, pretty much anywhere you can think to post them!

Now back to BaltiCon.

It was my first time at this convention and for a while it appeared I would not be able to go as I was scheduled to be overseas for the Marine Corps. As luck would have it, we got back 1 day before the con and I found myself able to attend!

So, completely jet lagged and more than a bit loopy from a week’s lack of sleep, I showed up with Ron & the youngling (who also brought a school friend) in tow, and we had a fantastic time!

I made some fantastic new friends (fellow authors Jeff Young, B. Pine, fantastic artist Eimi), got to see some more recently made ones (hello wonderful authors Elaine Corvidae, Gail Z. Martin, Danielle Achley-McPhail, Mike McPhail, Cindy Young Turner, & Jean Marie Ward (she just had a fabulous story come out in The Modern Fae’s Guide to Surviving Humanity – go check it out!), and you guys, YOU GUYS…

I WAS ON 2 PANELS WITH CHRIS EVANS!

No, not this one (though that would have been awesome too, especially if both Chris’s had been there)

But THIS ONE!

He was all kinds of awesome and you REALLY should check out his books at (btw, he can write flying like WHOA… amazing)! www.ironelves.com

Ruth Lampi is also fantastic – she writes and illustrates a wonderful pulp series of YA stories that she releases at her website as pulp serials (the black feather chronicles). I couldn’t help picking up her first book for my daughter.

I think the most fun I had at the con was with Ruth and Chris. We had a reading together and we took turns reading small nuggets of each of our stories, having fun leaving our audience on tenterhooks waiting to find out what happened next as we swapped from story to story. Such fun!

And now how about some pics…

I had a lot of fun signing this book for sure – HAPPY TOWEL DAY!