Kevin J. Anderson's Blog, page 5

Website Update and Awards Announcement

I just learned this afternoon that my novel ENEMIES & ALLIES — the first meeting of Batman and Superman during the Cold War — has won the Project Fanboy award for Best Comic Related book 0f 2009.  I loved working on that book, and I am very pleased to hear such favorable fan reaction.  The award will be presented at MegaCon in Orlando, FL in March.

For several months now, behind the scenes, we have been working hard to redesign and revamp the Wordfire.com website.  It's needed a facelift for s...

The View from the Slushpile

When I was starting out, I submitted dozens and dozens of stories to various magazines and anthologies.  At one point, I had 30 different manuscripts in the mail to different markets.  I always wondered what went on in the slushpile when an editor would pick up the stack of envelopes from that day's mail, and how my manuscript was treated among all those other clamoring submissions.

I've served as editor on seven anthologies, most of them specific-concept anthologies where I solicited...

Juggling Projects—Status Update

All the visitors and family obligations during the holiday season threw my regular work schedule into turmoil.  Fortunately, before the first relatives arrived, I spent several days up at a cabin in Rocky Mountain National Park and made good headway on many works in progress.

TERRA INCOGNITA #2: THE MAP OF ALL THINGS—I finished a final read of the copy-edited manuscript, making last edits.  This was also a great way for me to ramp up on new work for the third book in the trilogy, THE KEY TO...

Writing Seminar Topics List Announced

Working closely together, the five writers participating in the SuperStars Writing Seminar—Eric Flint, Dave Wolverton (aka David Farland), Brandon Sanderson, Rebecca Moesta, and myself—have developed the full curriculum of the talks and panels we will be giving during the three-day session.

As I've described in previous posts, the seminar will be held at the Pasadena Convention Center from March 19-21.  This is an in-depth, no-nonsense, nuts & bolts workshop for serious writers, both aspiring ...

Third Day Added to Writing Seminar

Previously we announced our no-nonsense, nuts & bolts writing weekend for serious writers (both aspiring and already published), the Superstars Writing Seminars at the Pasadena (CA) Convention Center this March.  Five international bestselling writers—me, Rebecca Moesta, Eric Flint, Brandon Sanderson, and Dave Wolverton/David Farland—giving solid advice on how to be a successful professional author.

As we developed the detailed schedule and curriculum, we found that we simply couldn't fit all ...

Mediterranean photos uploaded

Many of you have been asking to see photos from our recent trip to Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Egypt with Rebecca and her parents.  I've put them all up on Photobucket, so you can look at the album.  It works best when viewed as a slideshow.  Now you can see what I was talking about in the previous blogs.

http://s905.photobucket.com/albums/ac260/KevinJAnderson/

KJA

Spanish edition of THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

Spanish publisher Mundos Epicos has just released their translation of THE EDGE OF THE WORLD.

They have also created a very ambitious web page that includes plenty of extra interviews, tracks from the CDs, videos, and other material.  Check it out.

http://terraincognita.mundosepicos.es/

MYKONOS AND EGYPT

Leaving Istanbul, we had a short stop at the Greek island of Mykonos.  We boarded one of the ship's small boats, or tenders, and rode to shore.

I hadn't heard much about the island before, but Mykonos was quite a pleasant surprise, featured on many postcards and calendars — tightly packed whitewashed houses, blue roofs, steep streets, and picturesque windmills.  We stopped at a dockside café to have lunch…which turned out to be the best meal we've had on the entire cruise.  Sitting outside...

ISTANBUL

Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul — I've wanted to see this place since I was a kid reading adventure stories…the epitomy of exotic lands.  Photos of the jaw-dropping Blue Mosque on the harbor with its piles of domes and fairy-tale minarets inspired a lot of my fiction, particularly recent books like Crystal Doors: Sky Realm and the Terra Incognita novels.

And the city certainly didn't disappoint.  As the ship pulled in at sunrise, I went off to get coffee for us, and I saw the giant orange...

NAPLES, SORRENTO, CAPRI

 

 

It was an early morning — Rebecca and I left for our tour of Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri at 7:15 AM (after a rushed breakfast in the buffet).  We boarded one of eight buses and rode from Naples to Pompeii, where we wandered the astonishing ruins in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.  The air was filled with a pall of smoke…nothing to do with volcanic eruptions, just agricultural fields being burned.  Pompeii was as incredible as I had hoped it would be.

Next the bus drove along the rugged and...