Recently in Ken Rand Category

Pax Dakota is due out in May 2008 from Five Star.

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.

Y'all,

Port Chicago Isn't There Anymore--But We Still Call It Home is DONE. I've said that before, I believe, as I've touched several milestones that felt like 'the end,' and it makes me wonder when a book is really, finally, finished. When you write 'the end' on the last page of the first draft? When you finish the 'final' edit, macro or micro? When it sells, or when it goes to print? Some special award or recognition? It's all a process--no news there. I'm realizing the process RIGHT NOW. I just got my POD copy of Port Chicago Isn't There a few minutes ago from Lulu. It arrived sooner than I thought. There are some tweaks I need to make--I should have a TOC for the ARCs, IMHO, and an author's bio in the back, but I can proceed for now without an index and the memorial list and that short '3 questions' chapter I've been chewing on. (Come to think of it, the book can be published--as is--NOW.) I'll see how easy it is to make the tweaks this week. If it isn't easy, I'll fuggetaboutit and order 25 of what I got. It'll do for my purposes--solicit corrections, additions and comment from a select list of principle contacts.

I done it. There are more milestones yet, of course. When Patrick sets it, when we get a cover done, when he ships the first box of books, when I ship the first signed copy to the first buyer--and so on. More milestones—but I done it.

I done it.

I started this project in 1984. Quit several times. Worked on it almost daily for the past two years. Got rejected 116 times. Tens of thousands of hours of research and reading and writing, thousands of articles and documents parsed, millions of words written deleted and rewritten and edited, and hundreds of interviews conducted.

I done it.

By the way, if you don't know what I'm talking about it, read the intro to the book on my website. Comments welcome.

Ken

Read the introduction to Ken Rand's Port Chicago Isn't There Anymore--But We Still Call It Home at www.sfwa.org/members/Rand/. (to be published Saturday, July 26, 2008).

    -- I have Rock 'n' Roll Universe coming out in a few weeks as a free e-book (on my website).

    -- I have Where Angels Fear, a short story collection from Fairwood Press, coming out December 2007.

    -- I have Fairy BrewHaha at the Luckly Nickel Saloon, a reprint from Yard Dog Press in February, 2008.

    -- I have Port Chicago Isn't There Anymore--But We Still Call It Home from Media Man! Productions in July 2008.

    -- I have short story collection The Gods Perspire from Fairwood Press in late 2008.

Dragons of the Highlord Skies (Lost Chronicles vol. 2)

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman  

Wizards of the Coast, July 2007

Chris Stewart

Deseret Book, July 2007

Mistborn: The Final Empire (paperback)

Tor, July 31, 2007

Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (hardcover)

Brandon Sanderson

Tor, August 21, 2007

Julia Lawrence

Brushfire Press, August 2007

Tor, September 4, 2007

Shadow Mountain, September 11, 2007

Bloomsbury, September 18, 2007

Brandon Sanderson

Scholastic, October 1, 2007

Obert Skye

Shadow Mountain, October 1, 2007

Michael O. Tunnell

Dutton, October 4, 2007

Tunnel was just named to the Newbery committee

Daw Books, 2007 (unconfirmed)

Jessica Day George

Bloomsbury, January 8, 2008

James Dashner

Shadow Mountain, April 2008

Ken Rand

Five Star, May 2008

The cover art is by Alan M. Clark

Jeffrey S. Savage

Covenant Communications, 2008

Jeffrey S. Savage

Shadow Mountain, 2008

Thanks to Marny and Jani for the information!