LibertyCon Prep

So, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go .... To Tennessee. To be precise, to Chattanooga.

Seventy pounds of books? (Ten copies of each book) Check

Clothing? Check. And yes, I'm going into Chattanooga with the idea of a costume ... or uniform ... or branding.  Let's face it, Ringo's "the one in the kilt," Larry's the "walking mountain with the tetsubo as a walking stick," I'm ... probably going to be the one in the loud suit with the quirky t-shirts and the NYPD baseball cap, lugging around a suitcase.

Also included: Crystal Light, water bottles, meal bars, and a book for me to read. notebooks for notes.

Do I have any plans? Just what I posted the other day.

What might I be doing?

***

Fri 02:00PM Frontiers of Nanotech
Fri 02:00PM Eastern Weaponry --- with Toni Weisskopf and Larry Correia

Fri 04:00PM Monster Hunter International -- with Larry, Sarah Hoyt, and John Ringo
Fri 05:00PM Opening Ceremonies -- Everybody
Fri 06:00PM Autograph Session (Cochrane, Finn, Herring-Jones, J. Young)

Fri 07:00PM Technological Future of War
Fri 07:00PM First Contact Improv  -- with Larry Correia and Tedd Roberts

Fri 08:00PM Georgette Heyer and Her Influence on Science Fiction (Mostly for the people on the panelSarah A. Hoyt, Jody Lynn Nye, David M. Weber, Toni Weisskopf)
Fri 09:00PM Reading: Declan Finn & Jeremy Hicks
Fri 10:00PM Reading - John Ringo

***

Sat 10:00AM Global Pandemics and Biosecurity
Sat 11:00AM Principles of War (with Kratman)
Sat 02:00PM Do Utopian cities or Dystopian cities make the better backdrop for Urban Fantasy?

Sat 04:00PM Ice Cream Social

Sat 05:00PM Panel Noir (Larry Correia, et al (several from Black Tide Rising)
Sat 07:00PM Invasion of the Podcasters (Me)
Sat 08:00PM It's in the Blood: What Fuels our Fears, Attraction and Fascination with Vampires (Me again)

***

Sun 10:00AM Kaffeeklatsch
Sun 11:00AM SIGMA Panel
Sun 12:00PM Black Tide Rising Roundtable
Sun 01:30PM Black Tide Rising Mass Autograph Session
Sun 02:00PM Gene Editing - the Making of Better Humans



That's the broad strokes. Obviously, some sections I have to be at. Saturday is "skimpy" ... by various definitions of skimpy. I'm not booked solid, but I'll live.

Also, this keeps my schedule wide open in case I want to be social. We'll see if that happens.

Captain America Wishes you a happy 4th

Usually, my blog has no visitors on a federal holiday.

But, due to all the hubbub around Captain America lately, I felt like I needed to do something special.

The special part?

I found Alex Ross' Facebook page.

He paints comic books. His artwork is in the Smithsonian. You want to know why?

Because this is his version of the above cover.

Do you need to ask why?

And now, for a brief history of Captain America, all around bad ass.

Ross

Original

What makes Captain America the perfect American icon? Because he started out as the little guy who just wanted to stand up to injustice. He always wants to do the right thing, he always tries to do the right thing, and always has faith in people -- not governments, people.

He's everything Americans would like to be when they grow up -- if he isn't good, he's doing his damnedest. He will fight against oppression and tyranny until he wins or until he's dead.

It's what we want to be when we grow up. Thirteen colonies fighting against one of the best armies in the world, trying to create a new country out of nothing but ideas and the right chunk of land. When only a decade later, France would try something similar, only to have it end in a bloody disaster and twenty years of warfare, you can see just how dangerous an idea it really was. Having a republic without having mob rule? Cute trick.

Captain America -- what the country would like to become eventually.

TONIGHT ON The Catholic Geek: the Military in Fiction 07/03

The Catholic Geek: the Military in Fiction 07/03 by We Built That Network | Books Podcasts:



At 7 PM, EST, Jonathan LaForce joins us to discuss how to create proper military characters in science fiction and fantasy. Building proper military characters in science fiction and fantasy, including ranks, behaviors and attitudes.

A former Marine artilleryman, Jonathan LaForce is now the owner of a BBQ food truck in Southern California. An avid student of history, a voracious reader, and a fanatic for all things related to Warhammer 40,000.

Movie night: TERROR BY NIGHT (1946)

Sherlock Holmes on a train. Enjoy.

Free movies, aren't they great?

Also, I looked for a patriotic film on YouTube. Like Yankee Doodle Dandy, but it didn't quite work out that way.

Music Blog: Within Temptation - Dog Days

More music. Enjoy

LibertyCon Schedule

In case you're interested, this is what my schedule looks like for LibertyCon next weekend

Friday July 8th:

5 PM Opening Ceremonies
"Opportunity to meet the LibertyCon Guests and Staff"
Everyone will be here.

6 PM  Autograph Session (Cochrane, Finn, Herring-Jones, J. Young)
"Autograph sessions will be located in the Dealer's Room. Authors will cycle through hourly, except for the author's that have their own tables who will be available when they are not scheduled in the program. Limit 5 books (if you bring more, get 5 signed and go to the back of the line.)"

Yes, I'll be there with James Young and Julie Cochrane. Yeah, this will be interesting.

9PM Reading
"Come out and have a seat as our author guests read passages of from their works"

Yes, I have to read for an hour. In public. Shoot me now.

Saturday, July 9th

02:00PM Do Utopian cities or Dystopian cities make the better backdrop for Urban Fantasy?
"Gail Z. Martin moderates this panel discussion on what zeitgeist provides the most interesting framework for urban fantasy."

Do you know how strange it will be to be moderated by someone who you had as a guest on your show?

07:00PM  Invasion of the Podcasters
"Brian Cooksey moderates this eclectic panel of experts from different backgrounds on all things podcasting!"

Yeah. They saw my Catholic Geek Cred and said, "Ah ha! We must put him here!"

08:00PM It's in the Blood: What Fuels our Fears, Attraction and Fascination with Vampires
"Karen Bogen moderates this panel on what motivates our unending quest for all things vampire."

Oh dear. I'm not even sure what the hell I'm going to say. Expect a lot of Honor At Stake.

Sunday, July 10

10:00AM  Kaffeeklatsch
"Have coffee / continental breakfast and chat with the pros"
I'll at least be able to say hello to Lou Antonelli.



And that's it. I would have expect that they would have wanted me to work more, but that's it.

Wish me luck. I have to get rid of 70 pounds of books in 72 hours.

Captain America -- NOT an Agent of Hydra

Remember how we had this big hubbub about a month ago, when author and leftist schmuck Nick Spencer turned Captain America into an Agent of Hydra?

Remember how he said 

This is not a clone, not an imposter, not mind control, not someone else acting through Steve. This really is Steve Rogers, Captain America himself.

Remember how everyone said it was just a gimmick?

Yeah. It was. The very next issue explains it.

So, apparently, the short version is that not only is Nick Spencer is still an idiot, he's also a liar.

Well, that was short lived.

Did the backlash do this? Unless they had a MASSIVE crash rewrite from the minute the internet backlash hit them, probably not. This was, most likely, the plan the whole time.

In short, it was a gimmick. Like everyone suspected. They just sat there and plainly lied to our faces.

You must wonder just how much of this gimmick is going to be all about f**king around with the legacy. Because Steve Rogers is still evil, of course. Mind controlled evil, but still evil.

It's going to be interesting to see how long Nick Spencer is still on the writing staff at Marvel, because right now, I'm surprised that they're all not getting the ax.

Though if we here a month from now that everyone involved is fired, I won't be all that surprised.

Now, it is possible that there was a massive turnaround, if there were more artists / inkers than are on the cover.

The cover?

One artist. One stupid writer.

If you want what happened in the continuity, it's simple: a sentient Cosmic Cube that works for Red Skull screwed with Steve's brain.

I'm shocked. Shocked I say.

No, not really, but you all knew that.

Now, I don't think it matters what you think happened. I don't even think it matters what actually happened. If they lied to our faces, or if things changed because of blowback, the end result is the same: they wanted to slander an icon, laughed in the faces of all those fans they just backhanded, and they told us to sit down, shut up, and like it.

Guess what, Marvel. We don't like it. We won't like it. We never will like it, and you twits are just going to have to suffer the consequences of your actions. Because if you think that your sales were suffering before this decision, just wait until your sales suffer over the coming months. I know at least two people who have canceled over a dozen subscriptions from you people.

Welcome to Marvel, they've decided that they just don't care. After all, no one's reading them, the audience is just waiting for the next Marvel film.

Review: The Big Sheep

I hate Rob Kroese. When he gave me a copy of The Big Sheep to review, I thought it would just be another book that I would cross off of my list and move on. Perhaps it would be okay. Few are seriously awesome. Some have been painfully, tear-envokingly bad.

And then some, like Iron Chamber of Memory, makes me want to go out and buy everything else the author has written.

The latter is the case here. Damn it, have you even seen how many novels this guy has out? They'd have my book collection bury me alive if they were collected in physical format.

Anyway, this book was quite a surprise. No, seriously, it was a shock. I was expecting something over the top and insane, like The Fury Clock. This was more like if Jasper Fforde, Tom Holt, or Terry Pratchett went out and wrote a Raymond Chandler novel.

As the back of the cover says,

Los Angeles of 2039 is a baffling and bifurcated place. After the Collapse of 2028, a vast section of LA, the Disincorporated Zone, was disowned by the civil authorities, and became essentially a third world country within the borders of the city. Navigating the boundaries between DZ and LA proper is a tricky task, and there's no one better suited than eccentric private investigator Erasmus Keane. When a valuable genetically altered sheep mysteriously goes missing from Esper Corporation's labs, Keane is the one they call.

But while the erratic Keane and his more grounded partner, Blake Fowler, are on the trail of the lost sheep, they land an even bigger case. Beautiful television star Priya Mistry suspects that someone is trying to kill her - and she wants Keane to find out who. When Priya vanishes and then reappears with no memory of having hired them, Keane and Fowler realize something very strange is going on. As they unravel the threads of the mystery, it soon becomes clear that the two cases are connected - and both point to a sinister conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the city. Saving Priya and the sheep will take all of Keane's wits and Fowler's skills, but in the end, they may discover that some secrets are better left hidden.

Despite the opening paragraph, I would not even consider slandering this book with the label of dystopia. In this future, there was a problem, everything fell apart for a while, it was never entirely fixed, and government, being government, just walled off the problem area and declared it fixed. There's a reason it's called the DZ.

But, in short, the bad parts of LA still suck. No one is surprised.

This was incredibly well put together. I was even surprised at how much the city itself was a character. Hell, the DZ is a character before you even get to the wretched place.

The jokes are sly without being overly cute. The sheep they're trying to find is called "Mary." So of course, they suspect that there's something about Mary, and part of the problem is that she doesn't have a little lamb. We won't even get into the titanium shoulder and the crematorium. You have to experience that one for yourself.

Part of the nice thing about this story is that Kroese knows what the reader will conclude as they work through the mystery. And of course, like any good mystery writer, he cuts ahead of them, and pushes the reader down a flight of stairs. Not only does he offer what the reader is thinking as the solution, he also debunks it within five pages after that.

So, yeah, this was fun. And how can you not enjoy someone named Erasmus Keane?

Keane and Fowler follow the Holmes and Watson school of detective work. Or perhaps Doctor Who. Every great detective in literature seems to need a handler, and Keane is no exception. Unlike needing Archie Goodwin to make Nero Wolfe work, or Watson to tell the stories that Holmes couldn't narrate to save his life, Keane almost needs Fowler to keep him tethered to the planet. They make for an interesting team. Though unlike Arthur Conan Doyle, Kroese doesn't cheat. Fowler sees everything Keane sees, just doesn't see the big picture, which Kroese puts together quite well.

You know what? Just put it on the Sad Puppies 5 list right now. Kroese's The Big Sheep, Marina Fontaine, and John C. Wright. Yes, I'm compiling my list already, because these books have been amazing and awe inspiring. And with my brain, I'll probably forget them come December.

Thoughts on What to Vote for in the Dragon Awards

[Edited, per comments]

So, aside from Honor at Stake, what can you vote for in the Dragon Awards? Or the Flight....

Yes, it's an old joke. Ask your parents, kids.

Anyway, I keep mentioning the Dragon Awards, but mostly in the context of, "Please, for the love of God, vote for Honor at Stake."

Anyway, let's make things easier on people.  There's a little less than a month now to nominate stuff for the flight of awards, and now, let's get down to brass tacks.

What came out last year that is eligible for the Dragon Awards.

Answer...

We have updated the eligibility period for works for consistency across the site. Works released between 7/1/2015 and 6/30/2016 are eligible for this year’s awards.

Okay, so anything from July last year and June are eligible. There is nothing about nominating whole series. Sorry.

So Nethereal isn't allowed ... damnit.

The sequel, Souldancer, however .... Heh heh heh.

Yes, for the record, I'm starting with Sad Puppy authors and their works, as well as plain old thing I've read (neither Stephenson or Ringo from last year, for example, is eligible). Why? Because it's a list that makes my life easier, that's why.

Best science fiction novel -- Oh, we have such a list here: Souldancer; Torchship, by Karl Gallagher, several David Weber books (I'd list them, but I can't keep track), Black Tide Rising. And, The Big Sheep (review tomorrow).

Best fantasy novel (including paranormal) -- Honor at Stake, Son of the Black Sword, Sword of the South, Somewhither, Iron Chamber of Memory, The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass

Best young adult/middle grade novel -- Honor at Stake ... yes, really, it was meant to be YA. And the only other YA I know lately isn't that good.

Best military science fiction or fantasy novel -- Honor at Stake (ninjas, remember), The Cinder Spires: The Aeronaut’s Windlass; and anything by Weber within the time frame.

Best alternate history novel -- assume Harry Turtledove is going to win this one.

Best apocalyptic novel -- Chasing Freedom, Black Tide Rising

Best horror novel -- Honor at Stake?  Black Tide Rising? 

Best episode in a continuing science fiction or fantasy series, TV or internet: pick something from Daredevil, The Flash, Arrow, Person of Interest ... I can't even keep track

Best science fiction or fantasy movie -- Captain America, Civil War. See? That was easy. Oh, and The Martian. and Deadpool, if you're into that sort of thing.

Best science fiction or fantasy PC / console game: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Until Dawn, Rise of the Tomb Raider

Best science fiction or fantasy mobile game -- Fallout Shelter

As for the rest ... damned if I know.

Best comic book
Best graphic novel
Best science fiction or fantasy board game
Best science fiction or fantasy miniatures / collectable card / role-playing game

Enjoy.  CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE IN DRAGON AWARDS.

The Catholic Geek: Captain America and Magi

The Catholic Geek: Captain America and Magi

Erin Lale will be on the Catholic Geek in order to discuss Civil War, and the stupid around Captain America in the comics. She will also discuss her book The Planet of the Magi.

Erin Lale is an author and editor. She's a frequent contributor to Perihelion Science Fiction, owned The Science Fiction Store in Las Vegas, edited Berserkrgangr Magazine, is the author of Asatru For Beginners and American Celebration, the Acquisitions Editor at Eternal Press and Damnation Books, the Editor and Publisher of Time Yarns, and Editor of the anthology No Horns On These Helmets from Sky Warrior Books, and reviews books for Eternal Haunted Summer. She ran for Nevada State Assembly in 2010 and for Henderson City Council in 2013.