Sam Stone's Blog, page 17

GalaxyFest 2012

We arrived in Colorado on Tuesday 21st February after travelling for approximately 24 hours. Yes! It was a very long trip. David and Diann Wacks met David, Frazer and I at the airport with a lovely young lady called Stacey Vowell. With all our luggage they rightly guessed that we would need two cars.





Relaxing in the lounge

I can't say I remember the journey to the hotel at all, by then we were all pretty out of it. Poor David was so exhausted he barely said a word all the way there. In my case though I became completely hyper and talked Diann and David Wacks to death for the 30 minute journey.



Once at the hotel we discovered that the convention had booked us into a double suite. Frazer had his own bedroom and bathroom on one side and we had a bedroom and bathroom on the other side. Between us was a huge lounge/dinning area with a kitchen and yet another small bathroom. We were utterly spoilt. David went straight to bed and Frazer and I went over the corridor to GalaxyFest Central - where we soon learnt that the heart and organisation of the con was taking place night and day.



Frazer and I had a glass of wine and a donut (dunked in Kraken rum). It was probably about 9pm local time when the jet lag really bit and we both went off to our rooms. We were aware by then that the altitude really did effect our ability to consume much alcohol. One drink, and I was certain to sleep well that night.





David - garden of the Gods

The next day we met up with Karyn Valentine, who has been one of my facebook friends for years. Karyn kindly took us sightseeing. We got our first look at the Rockies and Pike's Peak (from a distance), drove through and took photos of the Garden of the Gods, and ended up in Manitou Springs. I later learnt that Manitou has a unique history and this is going to appear in one of the stories I'm been asked to write recently - more on that to follow. We ended the day with ice cream. I had Pumpkin Pie flavour and it was very strange but also very nice. All of us really liked Manitou and would probably like to spend more time there.




Colorado Springs is a mile above sea level and so this can have an effect on you until you adjust to the environment. David suffered nose bleeds every morning and I did have problems with my breathing - fortunately I had my asthma inhaler and that did help a lot. By about 5pm we were feeling the effects of the jet lag and altitude quite substantially. Karyn took us back to our hotel and said goodbye. We chose to have a very light supper and then all went to bed.






On Thursday David Wacks had arranged for a signing for us and some other authors at a local bookstore. It was really fun to meet some of the others in this intimate venue and we sold a few books to some lovely people who turned up to meet us. It was nice to meet up with Christopher M Salas, Gary A Wilson, David J Corwell and Samantha Shu. David Wacks also surprised us all with a gorgeous cake. I felt pretty honoured to have Killing Kiss named icing covered spine alongside Kevin J Anderson's Veiled Alliances. It was super to see Karyn Valentine again and meet her husband Steve and to hook up with Russell Lott too.




That evening we went out with Karyn for dinner to a lovely restaurant she recommended called Mackenzies and had a great steak dinner - which I couldn't finish partly because of the huge portion sizes and partly because my appetite had shrunk down since we arrived.





Frazer Hines, Chase Masterson in the Dealer's Room


On Friday the convention started and so we were seriously to work for the first time. We were allowed in the dealer's room around 10am to set up our tables and then went off to relax for a few hours. The event officially started at 3pm when the dealer's room would be open. Outside in the lobby there were huge queues forming for people to register and the hotel was buzzing with anticipation and excitement which was emanating from the attendees. The dealer's room was huge, filled with booksellers, steampunk stalls, artists and of course the main guests which included Kevin J Anderson, Dean Haglund, Denise Crosby, Chase Masterson, Angus Oblong, as well as David Howe, Frazer Hines and me. I noticed that outside there were many tables lining the hallways which were rapidly filled with a variety of dealers also.




David Howe, Frazer and I were the first panel - the Brit Invasion. This started at 4pm and was moderated by David Boop, Toast master of the event, who interviewed us all together and individually on stage for an hour. It was great fun.


David, Sam & Kevin J Anderson





Immediately following this event was opening ceremonies and while we waited for this to start I went to the back of the room only to bump into Kevin J Anderson. I recognised Kevin immediately as we are facebook friends and I follow him on Twitter as well. Nothing could have prepared me for the warm welcome I received from him. He said 'Oh my God. Sam Stone. You're just as gorgeous as your photos'. Then he hugged me and I felt an immediate warmth and friendship for him. I never expected him to recognise me and so that welcome was a highlight for the convention for me. He is a truly lovely person.




Opening Ceremonies went off without a hitch. We were all called on stage to say hello and it was really fun to see all of the other guests together. David Boop and James Nimark did the introductions and in James' case gave advice to attendees about personal hygiene (which was not only inspirational but was hilarious as well).




After that Kevin invited David, Frazer and I out to dinner with him and his lovely wife Rebecca Moesta. He took us to a local pub which was literally in walking distance of the hotel and had great food. It was super to spend the evening with Kevin and Rebecca and actually start to get to know them.





David Wacks, Chase Masterson, Sam & David


After dinner we had a con commitment to go to a private party that attendees had paid for so that they could get an opportunity to meet up with the guests and chat to them informally. This is where I first got to speak to Denise Crosby. Denise and I spent the evening putting the world to rights and drinking wine, (I definitely had too much of the latter). I'm a huge Trekkie fan, having watched Next Generation for years. The icing on the cake was to learn that she is so down to earth and incredibly easy to talk to.




By about 11pm though, David and I were feeling the effects of the day again and we went off to bed leaving the party in full swing.





Sam & Chase


Saturday and the first full day of the con. This was a day of panels and spending the time in the dealer's room. One panel was on 'Niche Writing' with Rebecca Moesta, Betsy Dornbusch and some welcome gate-crashers - Mario Acevedo, Jeanne Adams. It was well attended and much fun. It was interesting to hear the views of American authors and their take on niche writing.




That evening Kevin and Rebecca took us to their local pizzeria - which was awesome. Then we returned to attend the guest mixer party for that evening only to learn everyone had disappeared to go to the Kilt Blowing event (I heard it was very, very funny). 




Sunday seemed to come around so quickly. It was the last day on the con and we had more panels, another Brit Invasion interview and Closing Ceremonies to attend. I spent the time in the dealer's room chatting to Dean Haglund whenever we were free, and Denise and occasionally the lovely Chase Masterson. For closing ceremonies Chase performed a terrific riff of 'Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend' but with substituted words that were Babylon Five specific. She was awesome. Stunning voice, great performance and she deserved the standing ovation we all gave her at the end.




That evening Kevin, Rebecca, Dean, Frazer, David and I went back to the pub for dinner. It was less busy and the food was once again terrific. When we got back to the hotel we said our goodbyes to Kevin and Rebecca and they were going home then. I hugged them. A lot. And I was missing them when they went. What a terrific couple.




Afterwards Dean came back to our room with David and Diann Wacks and a lovely couple called Blase and Ellen. Yes we partied ...




On Monday, the con was sadly over but we still had one more day in Colorado Springs and so Stacey Vowell and Christopher M Salas took Frazer, Chase, David and I all western riding at The Stables which was in the Garden of the Gods. I've ridden a lit in the past and wasn't too worried, but the stables were very safety conscious and so we all had a horse suitable for our level of ability. My horse was called Bonita and she was really tall. It must have been hilarious watching me trying to mount her because I did struggle to get my leg over!





David & Sam - Last Evening in Colorado


The weather was glorious that day and so the trip through the Garden of the Gods was pretty special and fun. Afterwards we went out for a very small snack and a drink on the way back. Then David and Diann Wacks took us all out for dinner at the best restaurant in the area - The Famous. Afterwards we all went on to a local club where Dean Haglund was set to do his X-Files improv show. It was EXCELLENT. We were all laughing so hard that our sides were hurting and Stacey and Diann couldn't breath! So Dean - you nearly killed us all with laughter. You rock!




Tuesday morning and it was time to say goodbye and I have to admit this was a little tearful. I am incredibly grateful to Diann and David Wacks, Stacey Vowell and Christopher Salas for taking such good care of us all weekend. Thanks guys. It was totally awesome and I feel like I have several new and wonderful friends in Colorado Springs and other parts of the USA now thanks to you.




Well that was the end of our adventure to the Rockies. We've been invited back next year and - I hope we get the opportunity to make it again!

WHITBY GOTHIC WEEKEND

Getting ready for a fun weekend at the Rifle Club at Whitby .

Steampunk Central is proud to announce' GLADSTONE' will be playing on Friday evening. Doors open 8 pm band on at 8.30 pm.
£5 entry on the door.

Saturday evening' The Major' , and The Cogneys . Doors open 7.30 £5 entry on the door.

Sunday evening Steampunk Pub Quiz and Game Show night, Special Guest 'Mike Stand' free entry.

Steampunk Market from 12.00 - 5.pm Friday. 10.00 - 5 pm Sat and 11.00 - 4.30 Sunday.
See you there.

David J Howe and Sam Stone will be in the rifle club ALL Saturday and until 3 on Sunday. Hope to see you there.

This week I'll be at ... LLANDUDNO WATERSTONES

LLANDUDNO WATERSTONES, 21st April 2012  



Sam Stone and David Howe will be returning to one of their favourite Waterstones stores. With Frazer Hines who will be selling his autobiography 'Hines Sight'.

Time: 12-3pmAddress: Waterstones, 37 Victoria Centre, Mostyn Street, Llandudno, Wales LL30 2NG



See you there!

Current Bargains on Kindle

If you haven't tried Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings then you can now download it from Amazon at a bargain price.



Amazon UK  £2.05



Amazon USA $3.28



Demon Dance Book 3 The Vampire Gene Series is currently reduced also.



Amazon UK £3.80



Amazon USA $6.03



If you don't have Kindle but have and IPhone/ IPad there is a free Kindle app you can download and connect to your Amazon account. This allows you to buy any kindle book and it will automatically download to your device.



So ... have I tempted you to buy and try ...?

This week I'll be at ...

MancMonCon



If you are in the Manchester area, this Saturday Sam Stone and David J Howe will be appearing at MancMonCon (Manchester Monster Convention!) 



Programme includes Reading & Q & A from 12.30pm and signings thereafter.



Address: Sachas Hotel, Tib Street , Piccadilly, Manchester, M4 1SH



For further information of and the programme click HERE

New Appearances Update

I've recently added some more dates to my appearance calender :



WIGAN WATERSTONES, 30th June 2012.  Address: 6 The Grand Arcade,Wigan, WN1 1BHTime: 12-4pm  

THE ASYLUM. 6th-9th September 2012 Address: Lincoln town centreTime: all weekend

For further information : THE ASYLUM

WALES COMIC CON Address: Glyndwr University, WrexhamTime: 10am-5pm 

For Further Information: WALES COMIC CON Hope to see some of you there :)

More dates to follow...

G. R. YEATES - Guest Blog

A Light in the Black

"So, you don't write stories with happy endings, then?"

Someone said that to me a few years ago when I mentioned that I write horror fiction. I have also been involved in discussions before and since about happy or redemptive endings and whether this is something a writer should or should not aim for. My responses often argued for the story to dictate the nature of the ending or something else writerly, and though I still stand by those responses, I wasn't being entirely honest. As Sam has been kind enough to allow me space on her blog, and as I am releasing Hell's Teeth , the third and final novel in the Vetala Cycle trilogy this month, it seems to be an appropriate time to discuss endings and why I write them the way I do.

The short answer as to why I do not write happy endings is that I would need to have experienced something that I consider to be a happy ending in my own life in order to be able to write one. As much as I believe myself to be capable of writing for an audience and their expectations as any other writer, I think there are certain things, certain experiences that, if we do not go through them, then we have no reference point to then convincingly write from, and this is why the endings I write for my stories tend to be fatalistic at worst and ambiguous at best.

However, that being said, I was recently moved to write a very short story as a coda to the Vetala Cycle. It is called The End of War and without spoiling it for readers, there is a small mote of hope present there, and I wonder if it was this that was my motivation for writing such a piece, as the Vetala Cycle did not feel, to me, fully complete until I typed the last line of The End of War. Even though I had already thought that I was done, something was still missing. So, when there was that weird, indefinable sensation in my gut that the last piece of the story was now finally in place with The End of War, after six long years of hard work, this suggested to me that even though I do not write happy endings, there is still space in my work for a little light in the black.

You can find out more about G.R. Yeates, Hell's Teeth and the Vetala Cycle at: http://www.gryeates.co.uk

'Zombies in New York' Does Kindle

Okay, I know quite a few of you have been asking me about the digital edition for Zombies in New York and Other Bloody Jottings and so here it is!



The paperback price for this book is £12.99 



You can now buy this on Amazon Kindle at the following sites:



Amazon .co.uk  Price: £2.91

Amazon .com Price: $4.66

Amazon.de Price EUR 3,48

Amazon.fr Price EUR 3,48

Amazon.es Price EUR 3,48

Amazon.it Price EUR 3,48



Don't you just love the far reach of Amazon?

Weight Matters

I have been struggling with my weight for some time now and have had to come to terms with the fact that no one is going to wave a magic wand to make it all better for me. It's something I have to face and deal with myself.

In order to shed the pounds I have been training 3 times a week, swimming 2 times, and walking whenever I can for the last 3 months. I have also been watching what I eat and had previously cut the worst things from my diet - like crisps - which I really like. Despite doing all this I've barely lost any weight.



On the plus side though I'm definitely toning up, my clothes are fitting better, my stomach is flatter and I feel thinner. Even so, us women are obsessed with poundage aren't we? And despite the obvious results I wasn't completely satisfied. And I'm not sure that many women would be because the media has brainwashed us to be obsessed with size 'zero' figures.



The high street stores don't help one little bit on this score. They have a lot to answer for. If I go to buy clothes I can be a different size in every shop. Matalan are the worst for this ... a size 14 in M&S would be an 18 or 20 there. When I was genuinely a size 8-10 I used to have to buy 12's in New Look. There doesn't seem to be a really universal size anymore and I'm no longer sure what size I actually am. In one store my bottom half will be a 10 another a 14. Believe me that kind of thing messes with your head.



Weight and size matter to women, even if you look okay in your clothes. We don't want to believe we are obese (and believe me the British Medical Board charts say that someone of my height and weight is obese ...), and I don't want to buy clothing that is labelled several sizes bigger than they should be. That certainly doesn't help anyone's ego or sense of worth.



My quest for answers on the weight loss problem led me to my doctor. The weight gain was initially caused by a variety of things. Change in lifestyle and then serious health problems resulting in major surgery last year didn't help. All of this not withstanding, with my current good health and increasingly improving level of fitness even my doctor thought I should have lost a significant amount of weight by now. Blood tests ensued and I'm relieved that they have all come back fine (even my liver! Though that is very hard to believe!!!).



After taking dietary advice, I've been under the impression for some time that the problem might be that I just don't eat enough and that my metabolism is shutting down and storing the food. This is entirely possible because if your body goes into starvation mode it stores everything it can, making it even harder to lose weight. I've monitored it, tried to add things like fruit, but most of the time I struggle with this because I don't feel hungry. I was always brought up to believe that you don't eat if you aren't hungry too, so this goes against everything I've been conditioned to believe. Food should, in today's health terms, be consumed little and often. So basically 5 small meals a day is healthier than two.



Over the last three months I've forced down breakfast (mostly feeling nauseated), and tried to eat regularly to combat the state of my metabolism. It hasn't really worked though, and I'm beginning to understand why. I think I've been deluding myself all along.



Yesterday I was told about this app: My Fitness Pal which you can use on your IPhone, or on your computer. The clever little gadget actually scans bar codes on your food as well. It's an easy way of keeping a food diary and it helps you calculate how many calories you need to eat that day as well as in what combinations of carbs, fat, protein, sugars and so on.



I started using it yesterday and I've already dropped 2lbs although the jury is still out on that one - will have to see if those pounds stay off and I continue to lose more as I tend to fluctuate around the same weight by a pound or two anyway!



Even so, I think this new app may be useful in making me more aware of my food intake - or indeed lack of if that is the case. Maybe foods I thought were OK, just weren't, or maybe it was the portions. Having this gadget is also making me think about sizes of those portions as I don't want to go over my daily limit.



Maybe I have been cheating but just kidding myself that I hadn't.



So why will this new fangled gadget stop me from deluding myself again? Who's going to know if I eat something and then don't add it?



Well ... I will. If I cheat and don't add everything then I am just fooling myself and really what is the point of that?



The other thing I have discovered is that My Fitness Pal calculates how much you've burnt in your exercise and that gives you back more calories which means you possibly still could have your glass of wine (I've cut mine out completely for now though). I think knowing how much my hard work is burning is a real help and might just encourage me to work even harder!



But don't take everything it does as 100% accurate. I was advised that it isn't, but if it helps me gain a modicum of control over my food intake, makes me think twice about making unhealthy choices, then I think I'm going to be on a winner anyway.



It's time for a healthy snack ... and a walk ...

BRITSCIFI - The National Space Centre

Slight Change of plan due to double-booking. Arndale Centre Waterstones to be re-arranged shortly ...



I'm now very pleased to announce our activities for this weekend because we will be joining this fabulous line-up at The National Space Centre for BRITSCIFI Weekend!



A celebration of all things science fiction and British! From the amazing puppets that brought the mind of Gerry Anderson to life, through the years of hiding behind the sofa from the Daleks and on to a journey with the crew of Red Dwarf, British Science Fiction has a lot to shout about, so come along and join in the fun.



Join me on SATURDAY with David J Howe, Frazer Hines, Colin Baker, Terry Malloy and many more.



The event takes place as follows: Saturday and Sunday 10th-11th March 10am-5pm.



At:

National Space Centre

Exploration Drive

Leicester

LE4 5NS



Website Info here:

Space Centre



Call or fax for more details:

Switchboard: 0116 261 0261

Group Bookings: 0116 258 2111

Education/School Bookings: 0116 258 2111

Corporate Bookings: 0116 261 0261

Fax: 0116 258 2100



SO IF YOU'RE IN LEICESTER OR NOT TOO FAR AWAY WHY NOT COME AND JOIN US!