Jim Gavin's Blog, page 4

Adventures in Conland - FandomFest thoughts

I would've called this a "postmortem" but I think that implies an exhaustive overview of the experience and not only am I trying to work on writing shorter posts (the idea being that I'll blog more), but I'm a little loopy on pain meds after another instructive and painful session of my Monday Night Fight Club. Since I haven't mentioned it before, it's basically just a chance for me to get some mild exercise, hang out with people I like, and refresh and expand my skills in unarmed self-defens...

Another Trek Through Conland: FandomFest 7/22-7/24

If you can't tell, I hate blogging. I don't even like Twitter or Facebook all that much. I guess if I could blog for a living, I would do it, but I would have to see the money hit my account pretty fast to get the reinforcement needed for me not to hate blogging.

Some people might argue differently given how epically long my blog posts end up being. But that's just it. I get started and I can't stop. And even if I embargo a post for a couple of days to give me time to read over and be sure I l...

WHC 2011 Postmortem - The Dead Horse Post

The problem with these is the further away I get from the event the harder it is to remember everything. This is probably due in no small part to the fact that most of my activity at the con was spent hanging out with people at parties or smoking and I find conversations to be very difficult to remember. I attended exactly one panel and one reading. This was not for lack of interest in the people involved, but more due to the fact that the late-night partying combined with my natural t...

WHC 2011 Postmortem - Day One - Thursday 4/28/11

Thursday me and the wife got up and went down to the front area to get signed up for the con. Along the way I had the unusual experience of running into people I'd met the night before and having them not attempt to avoid me, in particular Vincent "Vinny" Chong, who was still recovering from jet lag, and the ubiquitous and redoubtable Gardner Goldsmith, who didn't even have a damn card though he has a book, website, podcast etc. that he could've been promoting. Sure, it's not horror bu...

WHC 2011 Postmortem - Day Minus-One (Wednesday)

Well, I'm back. My weekend didn't exactly turn out like my previously-posted programming schedule, which I guess is good even though I planned on that jump from the roof going into the pool, which as we all know would have allowed me to survive unharmed, just kinda wet.

I'm doing this to serve two purposes - first, since I think some people who read this will be interested to hear about who I met, etc, and it's also my chance to write my thoughts about meeting them. Maybe I should email...

WHC 2011 - IT'S ON LIKE EL KABONG!

Taking a break from packing up for my road trip to World Horror Con 2011 in Austin, TX. Since most of my fans seem to be Ukranians (that's my guess from all the email I get - did you know it's customary in their culture to recommend penis-enlargement services as gesture of friendship?), I guess I won't see any of you guys there. So, since I plan to make my big splash at this, my official debut as a published author, I figure this is more of a placeholder entry, a way for people to get to know...

Book Review - Losing the Light by Brian Cartwright

Here we are with another book review. I know, I used to do something besides these but reading books is about the only recreation I get these days that would be interesting or appropriate to write about on this blog. That and somehow they just seem more relevant. Like I guess I could review the TV episodes from six months ago that I just caught up on, or the old movie I just saw, stuff like that. Some day maybe if I feel like people care enough about my opinion that even though everyone alrea...

Goodbye, Sarah Jane

Of course with the recent death of Elisabeth Sladen, the actress most famous for playing Sarah Jane Smith during the 70s and early 80s in the British TV show Doctor Who, I figured people would maybe expect me to say something, given as I've made clear my love for the original show and my general distaste and disappointment with the new series (Call me a Paleo-Whovian, I guess). Or maybe this cold is making my ego swell along with my sinuses and glands. Oh well, this is my blog and I'd like to...

New Reviews of Gischler & Smith, Sands, and Prunty

Apologies for not getting the chance to post this last weekend. If you follow my twitter feed - and you should - you know it was because I consumed so much wine that I ended up having to officially register myself with the BATFE. Which I know is not exactly an excuse, since it wasn't like Donald Pleasance had me strapped to a table and was pouring it down my gullet while he demanded to know what I did to the exploder button. But it's what you get.

First off is Victor Gischler and Anthony Neil ...

Why You Shouldn't Buy Books from Dorchester

(Jim's Editor's note: All this crap may not be 100% correct. Don't believe everything you read on the Internet. Especially when its author is known to drink more than Richard Burton. But everything below is delivered sincerely, with passion, like a Torpedo of Truth, so as always, keep that in mind.)

Came home from work this morning to find that Brian Keene has launched a campaign to boycott Dorchester Publishing, home of Leisure Books. I don't like just jumping in as I'm not a soldier in anyo...