The fourth annual StokerCon is only five weeks away! I’ve been to the first three — in Las Vegas, Long Beach, and Providence — and I intend to be at the latest one in Grand Rapids as well.

If you’ll also be attending, here’s where you’ll be able to find me —

Rise of the Pod(cast) People
Thursday, May 9, 5:00 p.m-6:00 p.m.
Podcasting is growing into an entertainment powerhouse. Horror-focused podcasts have been around for over 10 years, new pods are entering the field, and nearly every pro-paying magazine has added a podcast as part of their platform. Formats range from audio magazines to horror news, film and book discussions, author interviews, fancasts, and fully-dramatized serials. How do creators distinguish themselves from the pack, get funding, and grow their audience? Are there opportunities for under-represented authors and subgenres? Aside from delivering pure, unadulterated fear directly to your brain, what other opportunities do podcasts offer the horror community?
with S. Kay Nash, Brian Keene, Tonia Thompson, Karen Bovenmyer, and Lisa Kroger

Librarians Day — Podcasting 101
Friday, May 10, 2:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
Join award winning Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror writer and editor, as well as podcaster [Eating the Fantastic] Scott Edelman as he moderates a panel about those who have started their own successful podcasts and YouTube book channels. Already confirmed to appear is author and podcaster Brian Keene, as well as Lisa Quigley and Mackenzie Kiera, the team behind the popular Ladies of the Fright podcast.
with Mackenzie Kiera, Lisa Quigley, and Brian Keene

Reading
Saturday, May 11, 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.
I haven’t yet decided which story to read. If you’re in the audience, I might ask you to choose!
with Marc Abbott and Steve van Patten

For an as yet unspecified hour or two, you’ll also be able to find me in the lobby handing out donuts! But there’ll be a catch …

As part of my Eating the Fantastic podcast, I’ve hosted one donut-related lightning-round episode each of the past three years — the Readercon Donut Spectacular, the Balticon Donut Extravaganza, and the Nebula Awards Donut Jamboree — and I’ve decided to record one again during StokerCon.

I won’t know when and where I’ll let the sugary anarchy reign, not until I’m on site and have scoped out the con, but if you want to be in on the action, follow my Twitter feed for an announcement once the con begins.

Hope to see you there!

I’m home from having been one of the Guests of Honor at this year’s World Fantasy Convention in Baltimore, and the first thing I want to do as I re-enter my non-con life is share with you the speech I gave 4:00 p.m. Saturday. As much fun as every moment was — the five panels in which I participated, the three food hikes I led, the ukulele singalong I arranged, the docent tour I gave of original comics artwork from my past, the hanging with old friends and meeting new ones — explaining what I’d learned from 48 years of con-going was the most important moment for me at the con.

The video is below for you to watch, but so is the full text for you to read … keeping in mind I surely made minor deviations as I talked.

Welcome, everyone! I’m Scott Edelman, and I’m touched that out of all the things you could possibly be doing here in Baltimore at the 44th World Fantasy Convention, you chose to spend these moments here, with me. Believe me, I understand what a tough decision it was. I know all about having to study the program to figure out where best to be when, while still leaving time to hang out in the place where we all know the most interesting conversations really happen — at the hotel bar.

The reason I’m aware of your struggle is because I’ve been having to pore over programming exactly like that myself at World Fantasy Conventions ever since my first, which was the fifth World Fantasy Convention, held in 1979 at the Biltmore Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island. To illustrate how long ago 1979 was, back then, Stephen King, one of the Guests of Honor — and how we got from inviting Stephen King as a Guest of Honor to ending up with me, I have no idea — could still wander among us without being trailed into a public restroom by writers who would shove their manuscripts at him under his stall.

Yes, that was really done! Not by me, of course. I wasn’t one of them, really. I promise!

That was the same World Fantasy Convention, however, at which — and I’m not joking about that — the Dalai Lama and I had a brief encounter one afternoon in front of the hotel …

So I got that going for me, which is nice. (more…)

Assuming I survive the upcoming Nebula awards weekend in Pittsburgh, I’ll be attending Balticon 52 over the Memorial Day weekend.

If you’ll also be there, and would like to track me down and hear me pontificate, here’s where you’ll be able to find me—

Crowdfunding New Media
Saturday, May 26, 2:00 p.m.
Panelists who have successfully crowdfunded their non-dead tree projects will discuss the pros and cons of doing so and the hurdles to be aware of.
with Melissa L. Hayden (moderator), J. R. Blackwell, Nobilis Reed, and Nuchtchas

Writing Psychological Horror
Saturday, May 26, 9:00 p.m.
What is it about certain ideas and concepts that disturb us? How can you best incorporate it into your works?
with K. Ceres Wright (moderator), Scott Roche, Paul E. Cooley, Jay Smith, and C.S. Friedman

Best Books on Writing
Sunday, May 27, 11:00 a.m.
What books should you have on your shelf when you’re trying to read about writing?
with Joshua Bilmes (moderator), Val Griswold-Ford, Sarah Pinsker, and Marilyn “Mattie” Brahen

Reading
Sunday, May 27, 1:00 p.m.
I’ll likely share a chunk from my Ray Bradbury-inspired story “The Final Charge of Mr. Electrico”
with Jack Clemons and Tom Doyle

Kaffeeklatsch
Sunday, May 27, 5:00 p.m.

How to Self-Edit That Lousy First Draft
Sunday, May 27, 7:00 p.m.
Panelists will discuss techniques for editing when you don’t have outside readers to help.
with Mark L. Van Name (moderator), John Grant, and Julayne Hughes

Hope to see you there!

This year’s World Science Fiction Convention begins in 18 days, and you want to know how to find me there, don’t you?

Worldcon has taken me out of the U.S. to many wonderful destinations since I started going as a kid back in 1974—including London, Glasgow, Melbourne, and Yokohama—but this will be my first time in Helsinki. I’m looking forward to hanging out with old friends (and making new ones) there.

Here’s where you’ll be able to find me—when I’m not in the bar or wandering the exhibit hall and dealers room, that is!

Collecting (Worldcon) memorabilia and what to do with it
Friday, August 11, 13:00 – 14:00
with Kent Bloom, Tara Oakes, David Haddock, Ben Yalow
Many of us collect Stuff. The panelists discuss their joys in collecting as well as the potential pitfalls they have encountered.

Monsters and the Monstrous
Friday, August 11, 18:00 – 19:00
with Natania Barron, Julie McGalliard, Magdalena Hai
What makes a monster? Why do we preoccupy ourselves with the monstrous? What stories challenge us, and what stories frighten us? A look at what lurks in the dark.

Strolls with Stars
Saturday, August 12, 09:00 – 10:00
Join Scott Edelman on a Stroll to the near-by garden area! Max 60 minutes in duration.

Food Lies
Saturday, August 12, 16:00 – 17:00
with Fran Wilde, David G. Shaw, Aliette de Bodard, Nalo Hopkinson, Barry Goldblatt
Food described in speculative fiction is often speculative itself: things that aren’t possible, or haven’t been, or turn out to sound great but are illusions. Our panelists talk about food lies in everything from The Night Circus to Sendak’s In The Night Kitchen, Narnia (and, yes, that food) to all the various birds baked into pies dishes (Hardinge’s upcoming Face Like Glass has birds whose songs are baked right out of them).

Signing
Sunday, August 12, 11:00 – 12:00

I hope to see you there. If you see me first, be sure to come over and say hello!

The latest iteration of Capclave is only 11 days away! So it’s about time I let you know where you’ll be able to find me at this Gaithersburg, Maryland con.

Here’s the programming they’ve assigned me, as well of the names of the co-conspirators with whom I’ll be making mischief.

Well Worn Classics
Friday, October 7, 5:00 p.m.
Some science fiction classics are so steeped in the time they were written, they are painful to read now. In some ways, getting the technology wrong is secondary to getting the sociology wrong, as when sexism and racism rear their now-ugly heads. What classic novels show their age but are still a pleasure to read, and which make us wince?
Panelists: Scott Edelman, Barbara Krasnoff (M), Karen Wester Newton, Lee Strong

Reading
Saturday, October 8, 11:00 a.m.

Literary Inspirations
Saturday, October 8, 1:00 p.m.
What author’s works have influenced, inspired and even just amused the panelists.
Panelists: Scott Edelman, J. J. Smith, Lee Strong, Joan Wendland

Biggest Mistakes Made by Beginning Writers
Saturday, October 8, 3:00 p.m.
The panel will discuss both writing and promotional mistakes: How writers have screwed themselves over and killed their chances of making it in the publishing world by doing easily preventable things.
Panelists:Scott H. Andrews, Marilyn “Mattie” Brahen, Scott Edelman, Bjorn Hasseler, Hildy Silverman

Plus—I hope to record a few new episodes of Eating the Fantastic during the weekend.

Hope to see you there!

Six years before I attended my first comic book convention, 44 other fans attended the first comic book convention. And as part of an article recapping the 2014 New York Comic Con panel “Survivors of the First Comiccon,” Alter Ego #137 reprinted a list of those who attended that July 27, 1964 gathering at Manhattan’s Workmen’s Circle Building.

Check out the first name on the roster published immediately after the event by Bernie Bubnis. It should be one you recognize.

And if you were reading Blastr back when I was editing that site, you’d already know he was also the first person to purchase a ticket to the con.

(Note that according to the caption accompanying this image, Jerry Bails didn’t actually attend that first con, while Pat Yanchus did, but was left off the list.)

To find out more, and read reminiscences from Len Wein, Howard Rogofsky, and others, why not order a copy of Alter Ego #137?

Each day of this past weekend was split between the Baltimore Book Festival and Baltimore Comic-Con, and while that first event felt forward-thinking, the second was all about the past. Not only did I wander a dealers room in which I recognized every comic published or piece of original art created before 1980 or so, I also managed to catch up with seven people I’d worked beside during my time as a professional in the field.

And some I hadn’t seen in more than thirty years!

My nostalgia ride began with artist Ramona Fradon, whose work I’d loved as a child on titles such as Metamorpho and Aquaman.

Here we are posing with a copy of House of Mystery #273 opened to a story of mine which she drew in 1979! Not only was it a thrill to work with one of my idols, I couldn’t and still can’t imagine any artist more perfectly suited for that particular story. (more…)

Capclave is only two weeks away, so if you don’t get enough of me at this weekend’s Baltimore Book Festival, come track me down then in Gaithersburg.

Here are the three panels—all scheduled for Saturday, October 10—on which you’ll be able to find me.

Tiptree Retrospective
10 a.m.
Alice Sheldon, who wrote as James Triptree Jr. was born 100 years ago. She was a complex individual who kept her true identity secret even from the many writers who communicated with her by mail. Robert Silverberg famously wrote that only a man could have written Triptree’s stories. What did she have to say and what was her best work? Why is she important to the field?

Small Press Vs. Self-Publishing
2 p.m.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of small press compared to self-publishing? Why did you choose one over the other? How will the rise of both affect the creation and distribution of books?

Building Your Audience
6 p.m.
Now that you finished your book and found a publisher, how do you get people to read it? What promotional devices work and what turns potential readers off? And, after you’ve published three or four books, what can you do to expand your readership and get readers of your newest book to look at your older ones?

I hope to see you there!

When I shared my tentative Worldcon schedule a few weeks ago, I left out some of the specifics because rooms, dates, times, and even my the identities of my co-conspirators for each panel were open to change.

But now that Sasquan has released its final schedule, I figure I’m safe. So here are the definitive places to find me when I’m not otherwise wandering and schmoozing (more…)

Whenever I attend a convention panel or reading these days, I tend to use my Flip mini camcorder to capture the event, because I hate for the wisdom of our field to effervesce. And whatever video I record—assuming I obtain consent from the parties involved—I then toss up on my YouTube channel.

Which is what I did for Readercon, from which I returned late Sunday night. Some videos I was able to get live during the con itself, honoring Edelman’s First Rule of Convention Reporting, while others had to wait until I got back home, because I was having too much fun with the likes of David Kyle (below) to spend much time online. (Except for Twitter, that is, which is too addictive to stay away from even in the midst of the Readercon whirlwind.)

Now that I’ve uploaded all 10 panels and 3 readings totaling 526 minutes and 27 seconds, though, I’ve gathered them together here so you can experience what I experienced there … minus the time I spent schmoozing in the bar, lobby, and con suite.

So here, in chronological order, is as much of Readercon as I was able to capture last weekend. (more…)