Recently in Eric James Stone Category

As many of you know (since I saw you there), Mountain-Con III was held about a week ago (September 21-23) at the University Park Marriott in Salt Lake City. Major guests included Garrett Wang, Felix Silla, David Prowse, BarBara Luna, Femi Taylor, Cynthia Cummens, Chase Masterson, and Craig Richard Nelson (returning for his third appearance). 

Local guests included Diana Pharaoh Francis, Jake Black, Andrew Dabb (don't recal seeing him there, though), Paul Genesse, Ken Rand, Eric James Stone, Karen Anne Webb, Dan Willis,Tyler Kirkham, and Howard Tayler.

The convention was mostly on the first (lower) floor of the hotel, with the main convention rooms surrounding a central area with club tables and tables for various guests for signing and chatting with fans. All of the guests were very friendly toward the fans, and all but one were very open to fans taking photos of them and with them. 

Wang seemed to fit right into the fans, and could likely blend in without such a well known face. Silla enjoyed joking with people as well. Nelson even helped out with making announcements throughout the con.

Mountain-Con had their first Masquerade, which had 14 entries (pretty good for a first time!). Everyone seemed to be having fun, and their were some excellent costumes and acts. Charlie and Steve Harmon reprised their "Mirror, Mirror (Part II)" act, the perennially updated Borg was a favorite, and Dr. Frank-N-Furter even put in a crowd-pleasing (or shocking, perhaps) appearance.

KSL did a story about the con, and they were featured on a segment with Big Buddha on Fox 13. 

Looking forward to next year. I'll be posting some pictures later.

Brandon Sanderson's pre-release party for the second Mistborn book, The Well of Ascension, at the Provo Waldenbooks was a great success. Everyone who came and purchased one of the new books had it signed and numbered by Sanderson. Waldenbooks also had copies of Elantris (in hardcover and paperback) and the first Mistborn book (Mistborn: The Final Empire, in paperback) on hand for anyone who wanted one.

The line stretched out the door, across the bridge, and around the corner, eventually holding 150-200 people (the line ended back by that Pepsi machine in the back of the picture by the palm tree).

Waldenbooks ended up selling between 130-150 books--I lost count after I got through the line (books #121 and #122), and there were 20 or so people after me. Some fans purchased as many as five books (I saw one person carrying that many to the register after Sanderson signed them).

After the signing, Sanderson answered several questions from the gathered fans about tips for getting published, finding an agent, and what to expect when trying to break into the writer's market. After the questions and answers, he drew out the winners of the raffle, the first prize being an edited copy of the third Mistborn novel (left) which isn't due out for another year. Four other lucky winners received gift cards from Waldenbooks.

Also at the signing was Isaac Stewart (right), the illustrator for the maps and internal ornaments found in both Mistborn books. He also signed all of the books and spoke with people at the release party.

Eric James Stone (left, watching Sanderson sign books) was at the event and told me that he has a story ("Premature Emergence" according to his bibliography page) coming out in Jim Baen's Universe in February 2008, and that he just sold a story to Analog, though he doesn't yet know the issue in which the story will appear. Keep an eye on this blog for more information as I find out. 

On a "that's just cool" note, Stone was wearing a "Mistborn Llamas" t-shirt.