My latest feature article for Capital Gains is now online, I interview someone who moved to the Lansing area from China.  I have two more stories in the hopper, I’ll post when those get put online.  I also have two new assignments–one of which deals with being single in Lansing.  Should be interesting.

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I had the pleasure of being a guest at the science fiction and fantasy fan convention, ConClave once again this weekend.  I had a great time like always,  running into  Jim C. Hines, who was there promoting his latest release, Mermaid’s Madness, and the always entertaining M. Keaton.

It is fun to reconnect with writer friends and to make new ones at these conventions.  I was a part of nine events, including the Writer’s Workshop (I read and critiqued stories), panel discussions (ranging from zombies to werewolves to comic books) and I was even a contestant in a Last Man Standing Sci-Fi/Fantasy Trivia Contest–and I came in 2nd place.

My prize for coming in second is that my name will be used for the name of the president of the CDC in an upcoming zombie novel (The Ravening) by Stewart Sternberg. Stewart said that there will be a quote at the start of a chapter, which will be attributed to said CDC president, so something along these lines perhaps, to give you an idea:

“I see no reason to panic. As long as none of them bite you, you’ll be just fine.  Oh, and wash your hands.  Seriously, people.”

- Daniel Hogan, President of the CDC.

I’m excited to see what Stewart comes up with–he’s threatening to make it something that will cause an angry mob to show up at my door. Hey, I can use the publicity.  The novel will be available in stores and obviously I’ll do a post once that happens.  The grand prize winner will be made into a character that gets ripped apart by zombies.  Lucky.  Amusingly, I lost my shot at first place by not knowing the name of Barbara’s brother in the original Night of the Living Dead (Johnny).

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Speaking of Mr. Sternberg, we were on a panel about werewolves at ConClave, which I recorded for this week’s podcast.  Check it out. I’m glad I recorded it, because between late nights at work this week and getting ready for the con, I didn’t have the next episode of the Magic of Eyri finished. Hooray for filler. Give the panel a listen, it is a fun time. Jon David, Rick Moore, Charles Zaglanis and William Jones join us as well.

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My latest freelance piece for Lansing Capital Gains is now online–it is about the website LifeInLansing.com.  This was a fun story to work on, as it was great to see these folks doing what they can to help promote events around town. I turned in my next assignment this week (on deadline–bam!), a tour of some of Lansing’s world food restaurants.  It is by no means a “Best Of” list, just a quick informational piece. It was a tasty piece to “research,” and I have the extra pounds to prove it.

I also updated my Writing Samples and Resume pages.

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In Halloween costume news, I swung by a local costume shop–one of the mega costume stores that appears in early September and disappears on November 1st, like some kind of costuming Bringadoon.

My plan for the moment is go as The Man With No Name character from thee Fistful of Dollars trilogy.  The main thing I need to pull this off is the trademark poncho Clint Eastwood wears.  Thankfully, they had ponchos (not the exact design, but that’s OK), so that part is taken care of.  Next, I need to find a decent looking gun with a hip holster, and a hat.  I can get the Eastwood squint/scowl down, no problem–and I’ve already been working on the voice (which I use for the Magic of Eyri podcast).

All in all, this should be an easier task than last year’s Ghostbuster costume.

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That’s right y’all, you can listen to the audio from the panel on Fantasy Writing I was a part of on September 1.

http://magicofeyri.com/2009/09/fantasy-writing-panel-podcast/

The panel featured Jim C. Hines (Goblin Quest series, Stepsister Scheme, Mermaid’s Madness), Phil Kline (Curse of the Kitsune) and myself.  It runs about 49 minutes and is worth a listen–especially when Jim starts talking about his werewolf-muppet story.

The audio quality is not on par with my normal episodes, as I just set up a recorder on the table and let it go, but I did what I could in GarageBand to make it a little better (tried to cut out some of the long pauses too).

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This Sunday, instead of the next (exciting) episode of the Magic of Eyri Podcast (”Double Trouble”) I shall be running the audio from the panel discussion about fantasy writing I was a part of at the Delta Township District Library on September 1st.

Joining me in splendid 64 kps glory are Jim C. Hines and Phil Kline.  I haven’t listened to the audio yet, but I’m sure it turned out just fine (or fine enough for this purpose).

I’m curious how this will turn out and if people will like it or not. This will not be a regular feature, but I know people do enjoy this sort of thing (listening to writers talk about writing)–otherwise no one would ever attend any of the panels I’m on. I keep meaning to record non-podcast stuff to have at the ready if I ever need filler in case I don’t have an episode ready or something comes up (illness, vacation, pirate-ninjas).

Regular transmission of episodes will continue on September 27th.

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Yes, the latest episode of my free podcast is online kids: http://magicofeyri.com/2009/08/magic-of-eyri-011-the-trial/

Starting with the next episode, things really start kicking into high gear, action-wise anyway.  And we’ll meet some new characters too.

Event this Tuesday: I’m going to be part of the Fantasy Author Panel at the Delta Township District Library. Join Jim C. Hines, Phil Kline and myself as we rap about writing fantasy fiction. FREE. 6 PM to 8:30 PM.

We will be signing and selling books afterwards…well, I won’t be selling books, but I’ll be giving out free podcast CDs.  I may only put the first few episodes on there and make them audio CDs instead of .MP3s. We’ll see.

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I went to a shooting range for the first time every today (an outdoor DNR operated range). Why? Well, because I can and also because a friend asked if I wanted to go. But the main reason is because I wanted to experience firing a handgun and a rifle as research for my in-progress novel.

The novel I’m working on, while mostly goofy fantasy/horror, does have characters using guns. I figured it would probably be a good experience to try using a firearm myself, so I can write about their use a little more realistically (although the characters in my novel are using fire arms comparable to late 1800s/early 1900s weapons, but whatever).

We stopped at Dick’s Sporting Goods and each picked up two boxes of 20 rounds of ammo for my friend’s M4A3 Carbine rifle and then we were off to the range. My friend also had a handgun, the style of which escapes me at the moment, but it was semi-auto and its clip held 19 shots.

The biggest impact this outing had on me was just how LOUD the guns were. When I fired that M4 for the first time, I thought for sure I went deaf (yes, I had ear plugs in but they sucked. If I ever go again, I’m buying a set of those earmuff things). The effect the gunfire had on my hearing was really interesting–how it distorted the sound I was hearing, etc.

I didn’t have much luck with the handgun, as I barley hit the target. I had similar luck with the M4 at first–but once my friend helped me with my aiming, I improved greatly.

Not bad for my first time out. This was at a distance of 50 yards. My friend was even impressed.

I was really happy with my results after I finally learned how to aim. I fired sitting down, with the barrel propped up on sandbags. I took my time too and the main thing I had to get over was the sound when firing (as in “oh man, here it comes…EEUGH”).

I certainly noticed the difference between firing a rifle and firing a handgun. The differences are night and day, that’s for sure.  The handgun kicked up more than the rifle, which makes sense because the rifle had a stock and it was supported by the sandbags.

I enjoyed the outing and I would gladly go again. Target shooting was a lot of fun. I’d like to give a handgun another chance, since that is mainly what my characters use, but I certainly liked the rifle more–but that might be due to me being able to sit down and line up a shot instead of standing up to shoot.

Lastly, today proved to me that when the Zombie Apocalypse arrives, my weapon of choice will be a high-powered rifle.

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