It was held at the East-West Book Exchange, an extremely cool little place with some gift shop goodies and a coffee bar (free wifi!) in addition to books and a lovely room that they rent out for yoga classes and small events like mine. Owners Chip and Lisa Semrau are gracious people and their mochas are fantastically good. Like holy-crap-I-think-Starbucks-sucks-now kind of good.
There were 35 people there, which I thought was fairly decent considering that I haven't even been published yet. Many of the people I spoke to had already been published in nonfiction markets but were curious about how to break into fiction, so I explained why getting an agent is a Really Good Idea and how one might best accomplish that, and I also spoke about urban fantasy tropes and the glorious fun of steampunk.
Mmm...pie.
Congrats on the big audience. Most readings/talks around here have smaller audiences.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed you talk at East West yesterday. Your insight into the world of publishing was greatly appreciated. The one thing that meant the most to me, however was when you discussed the sub-genre of "steampunk". Until yesterday, I'd never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteI am working on an historical fiction novel based upon the life of a man who lived in Denver between 1885 and 1925. He was always looking to the future and tried many innovative things - some worked and some didn't. I am struggling with how to put his life into a fictional novel and steampunk may be the answer. If I take his radical ideas and move them into the realm of alternate history, well, who knows? Anyway, thanks again for coming and talking to us.
Yay! You're very welcome, Monte! Glad I could be helpful! Cherie Priest is currently the author to read for American steampunk—Check out Boneshaker and Dreadnought. She has fun with the history, changes things a bit, and it's tremendous fun both for history buffs and fans of the steampunk aesthetic. And thanks, Kay!
ReplyDeleteI got a copy of Boneshaker after your talk yesterday. Also, I'm a fan of Scott Westerfeld, and already had a copy of Leviathan, but hadn't read it yet (didn't know it was steampunk). I guess I've got my reading cut out for me. By the way, did you know that the LA Romance Writer's group is going to have an online course in steampunk writing. Romance is not my thing, but the course sounds interesting, anyway. Good luck with your Driud trilogy
ReplyDeleteThanks very much! Hope you enjoy the reading and it gives you an idea of how to revise your own book. And hey, I'm with you on the romance thing—I'm not a romance writer at all. But the very existence of that course tells you that steampunk is going to stick around and continue to grow for a while. :)
ReplyDeleteI was so disappointed I couldn't make it to this talk. I even emailed the venue to find out if they had talked to you or considered recording it. Any chance of a summary? An encore?
ReplyDeleteMargo, it's my firm belief that someone DID record it. I distinctly remember someone setting up a tape recorder. I think her name might have been Jane? But in terms of an encore, there's a fairly decent chance I'll be speaking in the valley in either January or February some weekend. The APW down there heard about my talk in Payson and wanted to have me speak somewhere in the valley—date and venue haven't been decided yet. When I hear back from them I'll certainly make it public. Thanks!
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