[Spotlight] Rayguns Over Texas, Rick Klaw, and Conventions
Okay, so today is a Spotlight post day. And I’m struggling – again – it’s not that there aren’t a TON of worthy people to showcase, or that I’ve even run through all my friends/colleagues/professional acquaintances. I haven’t – by a long shot. It’s narrowing it down or making it relevant to a project or event.
Why? Because this is kind of a “Dead Zone†for me. My “Convention Season†is February – October. November – January I tend to be convention/appearance free. I need that time to recharge my batteries and regroup and such so I go out the next year. BUT…when I’m not hanging around (except on Facebook or Twitter – though I’ve been lacking on Facebook lately) highly talented people and come up with a great editorial calendar following those events. So watch out for MARCH man, after Sci Fi Expo and ConDFW? This part of the blog WILL ROCK!
But until then I need to print out my file list so I know who I’ve spotlighted before – and maybe who I haven’t – and see what I can come up with for future blogs. And I will take a moment here to start promoting a new project that I am very proud to be part of – Rayguns Over Texas.
Rick Klaw is an awesome guy I know through conventions. He’s a funny writer of a lot of stuff. He writes for SFRevolution and The Geek Curmudgeon. He’s an excellent editor. He’s … well, he’s an all around swell guy. Last summer he was approached by a long-running fan organization to put together an All-Texas Writer anthology for LoneStar 3 (aka WorldCon 2013). I managed to worm my way into the slush pile (because hey! I’m a Texas writer and I was there when he was talking about it).
There were never, ever any guarantees (there never are and don’t you forget it) and I saw this project filling up fast. But my story made the cut and I couldn’t be happier. WHY??? WHY??? Because I’m sharing a Table of Contents with Michael Moorcock, Neal Barrett Jr, http://www.joerlansdale.com/, and a whole lot of other highly talented writers from the state who are all A LOT HIGHER UP the food chain than me. It’s going to be an amazing project – and I’m still stunned that I get to be part of it when there are so many phenomenal writers in this state.
I only found out about it because I do the conventions, and I meet people, and I talk to them. It’s how this game works. It also doesn’t hurt that I’m up for a good challenge, and when some of these folks at conventions like ArmadilloCon put a challenge before me, I’m foolish not to AT LEAST TRY…which is why I now have a SF/Ape story that needs a home…THANKS A LOT, JOE.
So , this August…kick but anthology launches at WorldCon. You won’t want to miss it.