Thursday, March 10, 2011

Me! Me! Me!

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Years ago, I ran into William Gibson at the end of a convention where he was guest of honor.  "Last weekend I was out with friends riding dirt bikes up and down huge piles of rocks and on Monday I felt great," he said.  "When I get home from this thing I'm going to have to lie down in a dark room with a damp cloth over my ego and wait for the swelling to go down."

That's one of the drawbacks of writing.  Promoting your work wreaks hell on your quest to cultivate the Buddha nature.  Nevertheless, periodically you have to go out and promote it.

Which is what I'm about to do.  I'm entering into a season of promotion for my novel.  Here's the very preliminary schedule.  More appearances will unquestionably be added.

 March 19          Lunacon -- Rye Brook, NY

March 25         Philadelphia Fantastic (reading) -- Philadelphia, PA

May 19-22        Nebula Awards (technically not promotion; but I'm the toastmaster) -- Washington, DC

May 27-30         Balticon -- Baltimore Maryland

June 7               NYRSF Reading -- NYC

July 15-17         Readercon -- Burlington, MA

Sept. 21            KGB Bar (reading)  -- NYC 


And if you drop by any of those events . . .

Say hi.  I'll have something to give away to promote the book.

Above:  I took this shot in Edinburgh years ago during the Fringe.  It has nothing to do with today's post.  But what's a blog without an illo?

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6 comments:

Matthew Brandi said...

Gibson: methinks he doth protest too much. Perhaps just a little unkind to repeat his words.

Isn't having to schlep around the country doing the carnival barker routine to shift units enough of an ego deflator? If a sizable chunk of one's income depends on being good with the cane and straw hat, rather than the quill, ...

I wonder what Margaret Atwood's LongPen says about reader and author psychology. A bid for godlike omnipresence? Cocking a snook at bewildered punters? A reductio ad absurdum of the signing session?

Michael Swanwick said...

No, Bill was absolutely right. A weekend of trying to impress people with what a reasonable and pleasant person you are is psychologically debilitating. I am never able to write the day after a convention. Never.

Matthew Brandi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
zamzummim said...

So, West Coast dates? Maybe?

Please?

David Stone said...

Yeah, after all that work surely the publisher can spring for a nice biz class ticket or two to this side of the country.

Michael Swanwick said...

I am working on that possibility. More details as they become real.