More Alien Contact Anthology PR

Michael Swanwick, author of the story "A Midwinter's Tale," doing his best PR routine for Alien Contact at Readercon, Burlington (Boston), Massachusetts, Friday, June 13, 2012. [Note the stack of ACs on the table next to Michael!]

And speaking of PR:

If you are interested in reviewing the Alien Contact anthology, please contact me: you can post a comment below or, if you would prefer a private email, just click on "View my complete profile" for a link to my email addy. I can provide a print copy, a PDF file, a Kindle ebook, or Nook/Sony/Kobo ebook. In your comment or email, please include a link to your book review site or, if you review for another resource, a link to one of your reviews. And if you have any questions, you now know how to contact me.

Readercon Recap

As I wrote in a previous blog post, Readercon 21 was the official book launch for my anthology Is Anybody Out There? which I co-edited with Nick Gevers for Daw Books.

When I saw the programming schedule for the convention I became quite apprehensive: the book launch was scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on Friday, July 9. I repeat: a Friday afternoon -- a workday, following a three-day holiday weekend. When I shared my concern earlier that Friday with contributing author Paul Di Filippo, he essentially told me to have faith: he said the Thursday evening panels were well attended and Fridays have historically been well-attended at Readercon as well.

I had flown the JetBlue red-eye direct from San Jose to Boston, leaving at 9:10 p.m. Thursday evening and arriving in Boston around 5:30 a.m. Friday -- a five-and-a-half-hour flight, but the loss of an entire night. By the time I arrived at the Marriott and checked in, it was nearly 7:00 a.m. Shortly after arriving, I made my way to the convention area, and posted flyers that I had printed to advertise the book launch. I taped these to a couple con tabletops, spread them across the tops of three hallway console tables, and placed the remaining flyers in the freebie handouts section. I knew that con attendees would arrive Friday afternoon -- and most likely head straight for the dealers room; I wanted to catch their attention in time for the event.

I arrived at the meeting room for the book launch about fifteen minutes early. A panel was still in session, so at the 1:55 p.m. mark I opened the door and gave the panelists the "time" sign. With me in the hallway were a dozen other people whom I assumed --  hoped! -- were also waiting for the book launch. And if all twelve actually attended the launch, then I would be satisfied.

Well, by the time the event actually started, there were more than fifty people in the audience -- and standing room only. (I did a quick headcount and stopped after fifty, though there were still others in the audience.) What was even more rewarding to me, as the organizer and moderator of this event, was the fact that only one person walked out of the panel (at about the fifteen-minute mark) before it ended.

In addition to me and author Paul Di Filippo, contributing authors Yves Meynard and James Morrow were also present.¹

Is Anybody Out There? -- Book Launch

The official book launch for my anthology Is Anybody Out There? (with Nick Gevers, from Daw Books, June 1) is now set for Readercon.

The book launch -- scheduled for Friday, July 9, at 2:00 pm -- will be one of the programming events at Readercon, the Boston area's annual "imaginative literature" convention, held at the Burlington Marriott, July 8-11.

In addition to myself, these other Readercon regulars will be participating in the event: Paul Di Filippo, Yves Meynard, and James Morrow; though not a scheduled Readercon guest this year, Alex Irvine is hoping to attend the convention as well, and will also be participating in this event. (I'm counting on you being there, Alex!) If you will be attending Readercon next month -- or just happen to be in the neighborhood of the Boston/Burlington Marriott on Friday, July 9 -- please do join us at 2:00 pm in Room ME/CT.

I just realized that the six stories I posted online from the anthology were not written by any of the authors who will be participating in the book launch event. Interesting how that worked out! Totally unplanned, honest! So this is a great opportunity to meet each of these authors, hear them talk about the genesis of their stories, and then read a snippet from their stories as well. And if you just happen to have copies of Is Anybody Out There? in hand, the five of us will gladly sign those copies for you. [Copies of the the anthology will be available for purchase in the Dealers Room from Larry Smith; copies will also be available for purchase at the event itself.]

This year at Readercon, the Guests of Honor are Charles Stross and Nalo Hopkinson. Charlie's newest Laundry Files novel -- The Fuller Memorandum -- will be available within a couple weeks. As readers of this blog may recall from an earlier post of mine entitled "Charles Stross: On Her Majesty's Occult Service," I had a wee bit of a hand in the editing of this very fine book. It will be great to see Charlie once again (the last time was in 2002 at ConJosé, the 60th World Science Fiction Convention), and hopefully we will be able to spend some time chatting together. (Charlie is currently working on the next Laundry Files novel, The Apocalypse Codex, but don't let him know I told you!)

But all that aside, I hope to see you at Readercon on Friday, July 9, at 2:00 pm, for the official launch of Is Anybody Out There? If you are new to this anthology, if you haven't been reading about it on this blog, if you haven't read the six stories I have posted from the book, then the best place to begin is right here -- a dedicated page I've set up on which you'll find links to all the blog posts, including the stories.

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