Next update July 19
The Austin summer furnace is in high gear with a string of 100+ days, so forgive me if this update seems to suffer from heat exhaustion.
Going to keep it simple this time around – a new interview with me, some updates on Annihilation, and some preliminary info on my upcoming appearances. So let’s get to it so I can go jump in my pool.
Old Republic Radio has just posted an interview with me. Even though the site has “radio” in the name, this is an e-mail interview – it’s really hard for me to fit radio interviews into my schedule. We chat about Revan, The Old Republic and Star Wars in general – I think it’s worth checking out.
In other news, Random House has posted a more detailed summary for Star Wars: Annihilation. FYI, I didn’t write this – could have been one of my editors or maybe someone in marketing. But whoever wrote it did a nice job of encapsulating the novel, so I’ll give it my official stamp of approval.
I’ve also learned that the upcoming paperback edition of Revan (coming October 12) will include an excerpt from Annihilation (coming November 13), as reported by EU Cantina a while ago. So my most recent novel will have an excerpt for my next novel – I like the synergy.
Now, onto my upcoming appearances. I’ve mentioned it before, but some people are still asking about it so I think I should mention it again – I will be attending Celebration VI in Orlando at the end of August. I don’t have my schedule locked down yet, but I imagine I’ll be doing a panel or two and hopefully a signing somewhere.
In October, I’m heading up to my old stomping grounds in Canada. I’ll be appearing at STARfest in St. Albert, Alberta – the town where I grew up. On Sunday, October 21 I’ll be giving a talk at the local library and signing some books. Again, we’re still working out the details, but as they become available I’ll post them here and on Twitter.
We’re also working on an appearance in Austin for early October, but I don’t have a lot of info on that yet. Hopefully by the next update.
One final thing before I go – a real blast from the past. ESPN’s Page 2 – the quirky humor spin-off of the famous sports website – is coming to an end. (Probably because Grantland – a Page 2 spinoff – has taken up the mantle.) Here’s a nice story celebrating the wacky goodness of Page 2’s 12 year history.
So what does this have to do with me? Glad you asked. Because I’ve actually had 2 pieces published on Page 2. Sort of. You see, they ran a contest way back in the day called “When Worlds Collide” in which readers submitted accounts of fictional battles between sport legends from different eras. Then the editors picked the “best” ones and published them. They picked my submissions twice – first for Wilt vs Shaq (first submission on the list), and then a week or so later for Roger Clemens vs Pete Rose (my submission is the second one here, so you need to scroll down to read it). Just when I started thinking I should ask to get put on staff – they obviously liked my style – they ended the series and my sports-writing days were done.
Keep in mind, I’m not saying these silly little articles are my best stuff – I save that for when I get paid. But if you want to see a glimpse of my non-sf/f writing, here it is. Remember – this was all written long before the Roger Clemens steroid scandal. At the time Pete Rose was the “villain” for his gambling and HOF ban, while the Rocket was just a run-of-the-mill a-hole. Hopefully those links will stay active, and they won’t be purged with the passing of Page 2.
Drew