Anne Bishop Event

Anne Bishop comes to the World's Biggest Bookstore for a reading from her new book Belladonna. And I got to meet her (and help set up the event). If you haven't already done so, check out her books!

Sci-Fi Fan Letter

The World's Biggest Bookstore in Toronto now has a Science fiction / Fantasy newsletter. And guess who the 'editor-in-chief' is? Yours truly. I need some nifty things to add to cover letters when next I send in stories and novel proposals. For the first issue I reviewed Mirror Prince by Violette Malan (a budding local fantasy author) and Armageddon's Children in anticipation for Terry Brooks's visit to the store. The main feature is a listing of most of the sf/fan titles coming out in October. I'm busy at work getting the next issue ready. Right now the newsletter is only one side of one page (I had to prove to management that I could do it and do it fast) but I'm hoping to make it longer and have it include more content with various co-workers writing pieces. We'll see if that happens. In the meantime, it's fun going on all of the publisher's pages and seeing what's new. I also get to read books I otherwise might not pick up, like Koji Suzuki's Paradise. Of course, I can only review books I liked (since this is for a bookstore and it sounds bad if I say, "Don't buy the Da Vinci Code, it sucked" even if that's how I feel). This time around I had to read several books before finding one I liked. Ah, a writer's life is hard.

Why Wyvern's Peak Writing?

Why W P W?
Wyvern's Peak Writing probably strikes some of you as a strange name for a blog site. Actually it's a 'business' I've set up for my 'freelance' writing. The name comes from a fantasy trilogy I'm currently writing. Wyvern's Peak is the mountain where book 2 (oddly enough the first book of the trilogy I wrote) begins. I wanted something original that I could draw a neat icon for. Look out for the icon. It's drawn and coming as soon as I can figure out how to post pictures...

Ad Astra

Have you ever attended an event that made you want to get out and do something? Last weekend was Ad Astra, Toronto's oldest science fiction/fantasy convention. Attending were some well known names in the industry, Terry Brooks, author of the Shannara series, the Magic of Landover books, the Knight of the Word trilogy and the novelization of Phantom Menace; Anne Bishop, author of the Black Jewels trilogy and the Pillars of the World; Ed Greenwood, who created the Forgotten Realms universe, Peter David, who has written so many star trek books it's not funny; and Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Del Rey publishing among others.
I ended up working the event instead of attending it (the World's Biggest Bookstore is back at conventions!) so I was only able to attend two events. I did however, talk to a few of the authors. Anne Bishop had a wonder quote for aspiring authors,
"The very best story you can write today is not the best story you can write."
So the next time you get a rejection letter from a publisher or editor, remember, the next story you write will be better.
Speaking of writing, I'd better go do some. Ad Astra gave me the impetus to start living my dream instead of just thinking about doing it. Sometime you need a good kick to start a project you've been thinking of for a long time. I've finally set up this blog, and I'm going to keep writing stories until they start getting published (and then I'm going to try to get my novels published).
Here's to inspiration!
The muse calls, so, as the Japanese would say, gambarimasho.