Go somewhere or win something

Good morning bookies! Stand by for news.

*** Have you ever attended a convention for books and/or authors? If so, then you know how much fun they can be, both as a chance to discuss mutual likes (or dislikes) with other fans of the genre, or to listen to favorite authors answer questions on a panel, to be exposed to new ideas...just to be stimulated and given new enthusiasm for something you already love. If you have not been to a convention, make it a goal in 2009 to go and have some fun. I'll try to keep you updated on some that I think might be fun. And to start off with:


http://www.mwaflorida.org/sleuthfest.htm

You love mysteries, so there's great writers to hob-nob with. It's March, so most of the country is cold, what's not to like about a Florida beach? The site only has the Guests of Honor currently but usually there is a contingent of Florida writers who show up, Florida having more than its share of great crime writers, and in the end who really cares, anyway. It's probably a lot warmer in Florida than wherever you are going to be.

If you prefer something a bit more general than a crime convention, and maybe something a bit more northerly, than you might try the Southern Kentucky Festival of Books.

http://www.sokybookfest.org/

Or, if you are really looking for something big, there's always the Virginia Festival of the book in Charlottesville.

http://www.vabook.org/index.html/

*** The World Fantasy Awards were announced yesterday at the World Fantasy Convention in Alberta, Canada. I notice some old favorites of mine on the lists, authors I read during the heyday of my SFF reading some 30 years ago. Kim Newman is still around and I loved Anno Dracula and its sequels, real ground-breaking stuff. Good for him!

http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/

*** Marilyn Ferguson, a new age author, has died at age 70. The extremely influential 1980 book, The Aquarian Conspiracy, tied together disparate threads of research, such as biofeedback, seeking a comprehensive whole. This gradually coalesced into the New Age Movement.