Countdown for World Fantasy

[pbray]

A gross of lizards are in the hands of UPS, and should arrive before I leave for World Fantasy next week.*

Other preparations continue apace. I have meetings scheduled with my editor and agent, double-checked the hotel reservation, and confirmed my panel assignment. Arrangements for the ZOMBIES NEED BRAINS party are well in hand, and I'm in the process of negotiating just how often I'll have to break away from the con to check in with the day job. Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm wearing, and start packing this weekend.

*Most authors will blog about various writing topics, for instance how to write a query letter, or the challenges of first person POV. But few are willing to discuss the truly important topics, such as how to find a good source for lizards when your former supplier dries up. Fortunately you can trust me to reveal all.

Comments

[janni.livejournal.com]

Do tell, about the zombies need brains party.

Especially, do tell whether attendees can expect to be acquiring brains or providing them.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Oops, I thought I'd announced it already.

It's Thursday night at the hotel. Everyone's invited--we're serving microbrews, hard cider and gourmet cookies (plus various non-alcoholic drinks). The zombie hosts are myself, S.C. Butler, Barbara Campbell, Jennifer Dunne, C.E. Murphy and Joshua Palmatier.

The official slogan of the party is "FOR TASTY BRAINS, READ OUR BOOKS."

But mostly it's an excuse to hang out.

[janni.livejournal.com]

Whereabouts? (If you even know yet.)

We're getting in late Thursday, but if it doesn't wind up being too late will try to stop by ...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

It's in one of the hospitality rooms, but the concom hasn't told us the room name/number yes. But we'll have signs up in the hotel lobby, and by the elevators, to lure in our victims guests.

Be great if you can stop by. I think the party is starting around 10, and we'll go until the alcohol runs out, or all of the hosts have lost vertical hold. Or both.

[rhonawestbrook.livejournal.com]

OMG I am totally going to come to this!!!!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Cool, we'd love to have you.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I love the lizards!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Lizards are inherently cool.

[tcastleb.livejournal.com]

Have fun . . . it's too far for me to go this year. Actually, I was doing a bit of searching for grosses of lizards for a promo with one of my e-books and found some at Toy Connection, which seemed to have the best price. Sad thing is, it's not the price of the lizards, it's the damn shipping that's expensive. I just got the plastic rainforest ones, not the sticky ones. Two gross. Woohoo!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Shipping is always the killer. Last year I found cool metallic stretchy lizards, but the supplier no longer has them, so I'm going with lizard key chains. We'll see how they turn out.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

And commiserations on not being able to make WFC this year. I'm lucky in that it's within driving distance, which means I don't have to shell out for plane fare, nor do I have to worry about the airlines charging me for excess luggage for all the booty I'll pick up in the dealer's room.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

So, will the lizards be coming to Toronto with you in January? 'Cos I totally want a lizard :-)

Just finished The Sea Change this afternoon. Was awesome. (Though I read a particular scene near the beginning on the bus one morning earlier this week, and started to feel rather queasy. But that scene was probably supposed to make me feel queasy anyway...)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Well if I like these lizards, I'll definitely bring some for Toronto. If not, the great lizard quest will go on, and I'll have substitutes.

Glad to hear you liked The Sea Change. And that scene was as hard to write as it is to read--it's right on the edge. Effective, but I couldn't sustain that tone for an entire book. Which is probably why it's for the best that I'm not trying to write horror.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

w00t! I heart lizards :)

(A few years ago, my friend T and I thought up an awesome business plan: a Rent-a-Gecko service from which people could, er, rent geckoes to eat up any insects that happened to be infesting their homes. How to catch the geckoes and get them back again at the end of the contract, however, was a wrinkle we weren't able to iron out.)

I can imagine that it must have been hard to write. I remember when you were blogging about writing it -- now I really know what you were talking about!!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Now imagine being my critique partner--this scene was written while at a con, so I then went to the hotel's business center, printed it off, found my friend in the hotel bar and dropped the pages in front of her saying "I need you to read this right now."


The rent a gecko business does sound like a good idea, if you could iron out that pesky little wrinkle.

[scbutler.livejournal.com]

Lizards are always gross, in my opinion.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Well inanimate lizards are fine. I draw the lines at ones that are independently mobile.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

>printed it off, found my friend in the hotel bar and dropped the pages in front of her saying "I need you to read this right now."

I wonder what she'd say if you dropped an independently mobile lizard on the bar in front of her...

No, scratch that -- memory has filled in a probable response.

My lizard from last year is in the bathroom -- he likes it there. But I'm fairly sure he stays where he's put.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I still have a dozen lizards surrounding my computer, staring at me as I write. They seem to like the gig.