Category Archives: Appearances
Come hurl abuse at me on reddit
I’ll be Writer of the Day over at /r/fantasy on reddit this Monday, May 18. I’ll be around in the morning, Pacific Coast time. If you’ve been waiting to ask me questions or anonymously troll me, now’s your chance!
Come on out to the Surrey International Writers’ Conference!
I’m thrilled to be leading a couple of workshops and participating in a conference panel at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference this year. The Surrey conference is a big deal and this is my first time there, so I’m pretty excited about it.
Friday, Oct. 23, 10 a.m.
Are You Talking to Me?
Are you talking to me? Dialogue is one of the most important parts of any novel or story, but it’s often the most overlooked thing in writing. Too often dialogue between characters is just a mundane conversation to set up plot points or reveal information. Dialogue can be and should be so much more, though. Dialogue can be a weapon for characters, and it can create tension and surprise. It can create characters or conceal their true selves. It can even control the reader. Peter Darbyshire draws on his theatre background to help you bring your stories to life through dialogue.
Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m.
Building Connections
Panel Members:
Peter Darbyshire
Jasper Fforde
Sarah Wendell
Sunday, Oct. 25, 11:30 a.m.
What’s Your Voice?
Voice is the most important part of any book. Do you write with the fallen angel lyricism of Raymond Chandler’s detectives? The storytelling magic of Annie Proulx? The pop culture playfulness of Cory Doctorow? Voice tells us what we need to know about the world of the book, who the characters are and what they want. Voice tells us what’s important to the writer — and that tells us what’s important to the reader. The hardest part of learning to write is finding your voice, but once you have it you’ve arrived. Let’s find your voice together.
You can register here. Hope to see you there!
Appearing at the Creative Ink Festival
I’ll be appearing at the Creative Ink Festival on Saturday, April 25. What is the Creative Ink Festival? It’s a day of workshops, presentations and panels from authors and artists.
I’ll be on the “How to Market Yourself” panel at 5 p.m., along with Danika Dinsmore, Kristine Perron and J.P. McLean. Here’s the description:
Whether you’re a writer or artist, indie or traditionally published, marketing yourself is vital to a successful career. What are the best tools out for getting your product out there? What should be avoided? What should your marketing budget look like? Are there any unique ideas left?
Hope to see you there!
Creative Ink Festival
Executive Inn and Suites
4201 Lougheed Hwy, Burnaby
Ich bin ein Storm Crower
Thanks to everyone for coming out to my reading at the Storm Crow the other night — especially the German film crew that randomly showed up. That’s Vancouver for you.
That was my last reading for a while but I’ll still be making a few appearances at conferences and such. Please check my Appearances page for updates.
Reading is coming
Hey, just a reminder I’ll be reading at the Storm Crow Tavern next Thursday, April 16. I’m supposed to be reading from my latest book, The Dead Hamlets, but I may read from my new Cross book, The Apocalypse Ark, due out next spring. Hope to see you there! Details are as follows:
Vancouver launch
Storm Crow Tavern
1305 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC
Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m.
Facebook event
ia ia ia ia!
Cthulhu selfie!
Actually, it was very cool to see the poster for The Storm Crow Tavern Reading Series beside Cthulhu. I’ll see you there in April, if the world doesn’t drown first.
Let’s launch this thing in style
I’m going to hold a couple of local launches for my latest novel, The Dead Hamlets. The first launch will be at the Water Shed Arts Café in Langley on Friday, Feb. 27, at 8 p.m. The Water Shed is a friendly, intimate place that’s home to a lot of the arts crowd in Langley — I like to go there those rare times I can escape the house. If you’re in Langley, come on out.
Langley launch
The Water Shed Arts Cafe
11-20349 88 Ave. (get map)
Langley, BC
Friday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m.
Facebook event
The second launch will be in Vancouver, when I read at the Storm Crow Tavern Thursday, April 16, at 7 p.m. I’m reading at the Storm Crow as part of the Storm Crow Tavern Reading Series – Season Two. It’s sure to be a lot of fun as long as we don’t wake the Elder Ones. If you’re in Vancouver, come on out.
Vancouver launch
Storm Crow Tavern
1305 Commercial Drive
Vancouver, BC
Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m.
Facebook event
I’ll have copies of The Dead Hamlets for sale at both events. In addition, I’ll have a special treat for those who make the effort to make it to either event. It’ll probably be a previously unpublished story, but I haven’t made a final decision yet. I’ve been known to give out lottery tickets at readings before, so you never know. Come on out and you could change your life!
I’ve created a Facebook group for the Langley launch. The Storm Crow Facebook event is here, although it’s the event for the entire reading series. The info for my event will be added closer to the date.
I likely won’t be doing any other launches for The Dead Hamlets. A four-year-old with asthma and a four-month-old with a heart condition that needs monitoring are keeping me close to home this year. If I manage to make it out to any other cities, though, I’ll post about it here.
Looking forward to seeing you!
A tiny reminder
I just sent out my latest author update via the TinyLetter service. If you’re interested in getting updates by email as well as reading this blog, or maybe even instead of reading this blog — insert crushed author emoticon here — then feel free to sign up.
I only send out updates whenever I have a new project to announce, so don’t worry about getting spammed — think of it as an alert service. You can check out the archive of letters here if you’re nervous and not sure you want to commit.
Go have a look. I’ll be here waiting. I should be writing the new book, but I’m waiting for you. No pressure.
Whistles tunelessly.
Roll a d20 for appearances
If you follow this blog, you know that I’m a big fan of the Storm Crow Tavern in Vancouver. Where else can you eat an Elvish Burger while rolling a d20 for random shots — Critical Hit! — while playing one of their many board games — who’s in for a quick game of Arkham Horror in front of the giant Cthulhu head?
On very special nights, such as when the Known Planets align with the Unknown Ones, or certain Thursdays, you can also hear writers such as myself read from their works.
I held the Vancouver launch for The Mona Lisa Sacrifice at the Storm Crow Tavern, and it was a great success, aside from that Curse of Typo Terror cast by the wait staff. Now I’ll be returning to the Storm Crow to read from The Dead Hamlets, the sequel to The Mona Lisa Sacrifice, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 16.
My reading will be part of the Storm Crow Tavern Reading Series – Season Two. Other readers will include James McCann, Kristi Charish, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Claude Lalumiere and Heather Haley. I’m thrilled to be part of such a great lineup.
I already have a special surprise in mind for the reading. But you’ll have to be there to experience it. Book your time away from work and your family now!
It’s Word Vancouver time again!
It’s September and you know what that means. It’s back to school time — and back to Word Vancouver! I won’t be reading at any of Canada’s annual litfests this year, but I’ll be hosting a group of writers at the Canada Writes tent for Vancouver’s street fest of all things literary. Details:
Sunday, Sept. 28
4:00 pm Kim Fu
For Today I Am a Boy (HarperCollins Canada $19.99)
4:15 pm Caroline Adderson
Ellen in Pieces (Patrick Crean Editions $22.99)
4:30 pm Geoff Berner
Festival Man (Dundurn $17.99)
4:45 pm Aaron Bushkowsky
Curtains for Roy (Cormorant Books $21.00)
Get all the full details at the Word Vancouver site.
