I have a nice schedule at Balticon this year, with seven panels, all looking interesting, and I hope I'll have a chance to meet some of you this year. And if you don't see me at a panel -- hey, I'll be around the bar or the dealers room or looking for a game of something in the games room.
Balticon 48 is a four-day extravaganza that takes place from Friday May 23, 2014 thru Monday May 26, 2014 at the Hunt Valley Inn, in Hunt Valley, MD. Of the long-time conventions in the Northeast, I think it's done the best job of integrating games, anime, podcasting, and all sorts of other things of interest to the newer generations of sf fandom with the classic elements of regional sf conventions as they came together in the years after World War II. I always have a blast, and this looks like one of the best personal schedules I've had at the convention. Though they do seem to have a lot of the publishing panels in the early hours.
All times are Eastern, and all room assignments are at the Hunt Valley Inn:
1700 Saturday May 24: In the Hot Seat (Panel) (Participant), Sat 17:00 - 17:50, Belmont Room
1800 Saturday May 24: Forgotten Works in Sci-Fi / Forgotten Works in Fantasy (Panel) (Participant), Derby Room
0800 Sunday May 25: Finding an agent (Panel) (Participant), Derby Room
0900 Sunday May 25: Editors Q&A (Panel) (Participant), Salon B (lower level)
1000 Sunday May 25: How NOT to Break into print- The Bad Advice panel (Panel) (Participant), Salon A (lower level)
1100 Sunday May 25: Dealing with Problematic Authors (Panel) (Participant), Derby Room
0800 Monday May 26: Long-term Career Planning for Creatives: Surviving the Next 10 Revolutions (Panel) (Participant), Chase Room
Several other JABberwocky clients will be attending Balticon this year.
Brandon Sanderson is the Author Guest of Honor.
Myke Cole is the winner of last year's Compton Crook Award, given at Balticon.
Jon Sprunk celebrates the launch of Blood & Iron.
Joshua Palmatier celebrates the launch of Zombies Eat Brains, ahead of the fall publication of his new novel Shattering the Ley.
Peter V. Brett may not be on the programming, but will be around the con.
Our friends at Graphic Audio will be around for Brandon Sanderson's signing on Saturday, so you can sample their dramatic abridged audio editions of his work.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Thursday, May 8, 2014
The Devane and I
Watching the premiere of 24: Live Another Day earlier in the week gets me to thinking where it is that I have heard the name of William Devane before...
Once Upon a Time, 24 years ago strangely enough, in September 1990, a client of mine named Barbara Paul called to say that there was a TV movie on NBC by the name of Murder COD being previewed in TV Guide that sounded a lot like her book Kill Fee.
The TV movie and a perfectly respectable cast. Patrick Duffy, still on Dallas, starred as a police detective, and one William Devane was the bad guy. Devane was on Knots Landing.
And if it sounded a lot like Barbara Paul's novel Kill Fee -- well, that's because it was.
The book had been under option for a while. The option had, if memory serves, expired on September 10, which was now a few days in the past. The producers of the TV movie had not quite forgotten to pay the purchase price for the TV movie, which they should have done months before when the started filming the movie. And now, the check really was in the mail.
I don't know how it would have played out if they had sent their late check even a coupe of weeks or a month sooner, when the check would have been late but at least within the option period. Had it come in before we knew the movie and actually been shot and delivered we almost certainly would have cashed it and then been a little perturbed to find put two weeks later that they had screwed us a bit.
But here, the option had expired, the producers had no rights to the movie, and they were planning to show it on NBC in a few days. So of course the check was returned.
We ended up getting a few dollars more. Not a lot, I wonder if we could have held out longer and gotten more, but as little as it was it represented a 60% increase in what they needed to have paid had they done so just that wee bit sooner.
So this is my William Devane story that had absolutely nothing to do with William Devane.
You can give a listen to the Audible audio edition of Barbara Paul's novel Kill Fee.
Once Upon a Time, 24 years ago strangely enough, in September 1990, a client of mine named Barbara Paul called to say that there was a TV movie on NBC by the name of Murder COD being previewed in TV Guide that sounded a lot like her book Kill Fee.
The TV movie and a perfectly respectable cast. Patrick Duffy, still on Dallas, starred as a police detective, and one William Devane was the bad guy. Devane was on Knots Landing.
And if it sounded a lot like Barbara Paul's novel Kill Fee -- well, that's because it was.
The book had been under option for a while. The option had, if memory serves, expired on September 10, which was now a few days in the past. The producers of the TV movie had not quite forgotten to pay the purchase price for the TV movie, which they should have done months before when the started filming the movie. And now, the check really was in the mail.
I don't know how it would have played out if they had sent their late check even a coupe of weeks or a month sooner, when the check would have been late but at least within the option period. Had it come in before we knew the movie and actually been shot and delivered we almost certainly would have cashed it and then been a little perturbed to find put two weeks later that they had screwed us a bit.
But here, the option had expired, the producers had no rights to the movie, and they were planning to show it on NBC in a few days. So of course the check was returned.
We ended up getting a few dollars more. Not a lot, I wonder if we could have held out longer and gotten more, but as little as it was it represented a 60% increase in what they needed to have paid had they done so just that wee bit sooner.
So this is my William Devane story that had absolutely nothing to do with William Devane.
You can give a listen to the Audible audio edition of Barbara Paul's novel Kill Fee.
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