Ken Lizzi's Blog, page 19
November 6, 2022
Rose City Comic Con 2019. Resurrected Post.
Some might consider that I wasted a three-day pass to Rose City Comic Con by only attending Friday night. But downtown Portland is a bit of a trek from my house, and I only needed to be there Friday for my panel. I took a few trips through the maze of the convention floor, seeing the merchandise and the artist and writer tables. Friday is the evening for it, if, like me, you don���t care much for crowds.
The panel turned out fine, I believe. I���m not overly fond of public speaking, and the last minute request that I offer a few opening remarks didn���t help. But my impression is that the panel was well received. In fact we ran out of time long before we ran out of questions. And there was a short line of people wanting to chat afterwards.
I���m afraid I didn���t get much of a chance to promote my books. I was only once able to refer to one of my books as a relevant example in helping answer a question. But, perhaps I boosted my name recognition. Boost the signal, eventually you will reach someone. Right?
In any case, my thanks to the Miller Nash law firm for inviting me. And for dinner after.
Published on September 15, 2019 16:25
Publicity, Ugh. Resurrected Post.
It is self-evident, of course, that if no one hears of your work, no one will purchase it. I understand that, I acknowledge and accept it. That doesn���t mean I have to like the necessary corollary: publicity.
But I���m doing it, with as much good grace as I can muster. I write these books, I���d like you to read them. So I���m trying to get the word out.
For example, I recorded a podcast interview about a week ago. I���ll update you with a link once I learn it���s available to hear.
This coming Friday (Friday the 13th, appropriately enough) I will appear on a panel at Rose City Comic Con with a few other lawyers, discussing entertainment and publishing law.
6pm
Room 2
Q and A with the Pop Culture Lawyers, for free! (50 min)
There are many legal considerations that affect pop culture, from rights of publicity, ownership of content, and publishing contracts to intellectual property, including copyrights, trademarks, and even patents. Come hear what these PNW pop culture lawyers have to say, and please bring your questions ��� they will be happy to answer you, and at no charge!
I have some familiarity with both the legal and creative side of the topic, so the organizers of the panel figured I���d have something to contribute. I normally prefer to maintain separation between my two careers, but given the opportunity to get my name and books before a reading audience I can���t well pass it up.
Once Karl Thorson and the Jade Dagger is published (still presumably mid-November) I���ll need to engage in even more publicity to promote the book. But, it is a good book. You���ll like it. So, if I need to slip into my tap shoes, perform a few Vaudeville routines, then so be it. It���ll be worth it.
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Published on September 08, 2019 09:17
Fair Enough. Resurrected Post.
I have been writing about little excursions here and yon recently, haven���t I? Well, I���ve been taking these little trips, after all. No reason not to mention them. For example, today I drove MBW and the HA down to the State Capital for the State Fair. Rides, livestock, and fried foods. Under a brutally punishing sun. What���s not to like?
The State Fair brings out all sorts, doesn���t it? Whether you want them out or not. Still, for a writer, it is top shelf people watching. The composition of the jostling crowd raises all sorts of questions. What���s that guy���s story? Why did her mother let her dress like that? What���s this dude���s interest in sows, anyway?
A lot of stories and novels occur in and around fairs and carnivals. Think Ray Bradbury���s ���Something Wicked This Way Comes.��� Jack Vance���s ���To Live Forever��� starts off at a perpetual fair/carnival. Jim Butcher set a Harry Dresden short in a fair. There is something about fairs that encourages the dramatic instinct. The crowds. The venial air of the midway, with the knowledge that the games are rigged. What is going on behind the scenes? What is hidden behind the veneer of paint and jollity? Is the pie-judging rigged? What���s really going on in rancher���s trailers after hours? Is it really worth all the cases of heat stroke to be able to sell three-dollar bottles of water instead of simply installing a few frickin��� drinking fountains? (Okay, that last one is more of a personal gripe, rather than a story prompt.)
The HA enjoyed herself. In indulged her in a few carnival rides, a skee ball game, pony ride, etc. Might as well encourage a few good memories, right? I can hold those over her head once she hits her teens. (I kid, future daughter, I kid.)
Here are a few pictures for you.
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Published on September 01, 2019 19:28
Florence. No, Not That One. Resurrected Post.
MBW, the HA, and I just returned from a weekend at the central Oregon coast, visiting my father and step-mother. A late return means much to do in a short time before Monday���s inevitable arrival. Thus this will be primarily a pictorial post. Lucky you.
Here are a few snapshots of our travels.
Sea Lions. No, really. See?
Published on August 25, 2019 18:20
October 30, 2022
Halloween Reading. Plus Savage Journal Entry 15.
Time again for another holiday-themed post. Halloween is not my favorite holiday. I don’t care for the decorations, the general ghoulishness or the faux-macabre. I don’t dress up. I’m not much of a candy eater, not possessing much of a sweet tooth. Still it is on the calendar. One must deal with it.
I’ve written before about Roger Zelazny’s A Night in the Lonesome October. And I haven’t changed my opinion as to its merit as a Halloween read. But there are other options. You can’t go far wrong with Clark Ashton Smith, or Karl Edward Wagner, or even Robert E. Howard. There is a significant link between sword-and-sorcery and the horror genres, as I’m sure I’ve written before. So even with a straight up S&S yarn you’re likely to enjoy a bit of spook and shiver, second hand or not.
Today, however, I thought I’d recommend an alternative Halloween read, something you might consider S&S adjacent: Poul Anderson’s Operation Chaos. The book is a fix-up novel, combining four stories Anderson wrote in the 1950s and 60s. It offers all the mental Halloween candy you need: werewolves and witches; monsters and devils from across the spectrum from Universal films to 1001 Arabian Nights. This is high concept fantasy, but Anderson — like de Camp and Pratt did with the Harold Shea stories and Niven did later with The Magic Goes Away — felt a compulsion to systematize his magic and fantastical concepts, fitting them into a self-consistent order. Thus Operation Chaos carries with it an oddly appealing overtone of science-fiction.
So, if you want to add a touch of variety to your Halloween reading, find a copy of Operation Chaos and let it take you from an alternate universe version of WWII to the very gates of Hell.
Of course, you could also pick up something of mine. How about Santa Anna’s Sword? That one has werewolves. Two, in fact.
And now, for those of you following Magnus Stoneslayer’s journey, here’s another entry in his journal.
SAVAGE JOURNAL
ENTRY 15.
For one gifted with my physical attributes, thievery is an alluring occupation, dear diary. I’m not referring simply to strength and intimidation. I’m not above bashing someone over the head and taking his money. I’ve done it when circumstances so require. But strong arm robbery lacks a certain finesse. There is no challenge to it.
No, dear diary, when I referred to my physical attributes I meant such vital characteristics as balance, grace, endurance. I can swarm up a wall like an ape. I can glide through shadow like a cat. (I don’t suppose I need to pause here to remind you how much nearer the barbarian is to nature than is the civilized man.)
The more rewarding thefts are, therefore, those that employ the gifts of stealth and cunning. (Those who consider the savage a mere brute without the intellectual power necessary for more than a straight forward snatch and run are the most fun to steal from. Very gratifying.) Scaling a wall barefoot, armed with naught but a long knife or a short sword, evading patrols and guardian beasts, sliding a strong box from beneath the very sleeping head of the master of the house ��� these are the tests worth of the itinerant barbarian at play in arrogant cities.
Of course on occasion the master of the house proves a light sleeper. So tonight, dear diary, I was afforded an opportunity of exercising my sprinting skills, my rooftop leaping skills, my night watch avoidance skills, my hiding in a stinking midden skills, and my accepting with poorly concealed ill grace a criminally low price from a fence skills.
There were also, dear diary, a couple of bashing over the head moments. So, as I bid you good night, dear diary, I take to my rest the valuable reminder that no matter how much fun it is to employ more advanced and polished methodologies, the basic skills are not to be despised.
Magnus Stoneslayer
Pros and Cons. Resurrected Post.
I received invitations recently to serve as a panelist on two conventions, MALCon in August and Orycon in November. I suppose I will accept and attend. However, I have been considering whether or not I should.
For many of the fans of the sort of fiction involving spaceships and magical swords (my genres, gentle reader) conventions are essential events on the social calendar. I went to my first at, as I recall, the age of eighteen and attended a few others before being invited to come as a writer and sit on the other side of the table.
What I���ve been wondering is whether convention attendance holds value. Are the con-goers getting anything from my contribution? Do they care if I am there? Am I in some way contributing to a sense of community? Is this an expected way for authors to show appreciation for the readers? Am I receiving any value? Does my name recognition flutter up even a trifle? Do my book sales increase after a convention? Does it matter if I am getting anything out of it; is convention attendance simply good form on the part of an author?
Do I want to shell out for airfare to Denver and a hotel room? That���s an August weekend I could spend with my family. I recognize the part conventions play in the lives of many ��� a chance to meet friends seen only at these get togethers, an opportunity to gather with like-minded individuals, etc. The truth is that cons don���t play such a role in my life. In fact, despite the fact that I am both a consumer and producer of the kind of entertainment celebrated at science-fiction conventions, I often feel somewhat of an outsider.
So let me ask you, gentle reader, if you attend science-fiction contentions, what benefit do you derive? What ideally would you get from the experience? Do you think conventions still have a role to play?
Well, I���m still inclined to go. If you see me at either of the cons I mentioned above, please come say hello. I���ll probably be at the bar.
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Published on June 02, 2019 15:55
Memorial Day. Resurrected Post.
The web log is taking Memorial Day weekend off.
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Published on May 26, 2019 18:23
Jack Williamson, Appendix N’s Master of Adventure. Resurrected Post.
Jack Williamson on the shelf.We reach at last Jack Williamson, the penultimate entry in this slapdash consideration of Appendix N. Considering how prolific Jack Williamson was during his lengthy, exemplary career, I���m surprised I���ve read so little of his work. The man nearly reached a century and was producing fiction for most of it, having his first story published at the age of twenty.
His most famous work might be The Legion of Space, a sort of Three Musketeers space adventure serial. I enjoyed the first volume. It doesn���t bear up well under critical scrutiny, but if that���s the sort of reader you are then Jack Williamson adventure stories aren���t for you. Climb aboard, buckle up, and enjoy the ride. Don���t bother observing the vehicle you are riding too closely.
Williamson is primarily known as a science fiction author. But I want to discuss his fantasy, specifically Reign of Wizardry. When I find myself in a used bookstore I���m always on the lookout for vintage sword-and-sorcery, some forgotten classic or stand-out novel that never received its just due. Usually I���m disappointed, finding a subpar or at best mediocre effort. But Reign of Wizardry is that rare, satisfying find. The real goods.
Reign of Wizardry is pseudo-historical S&S, playing with the Theseus myth. It throws in many of the tropes: the sword forged from meteoric iron, magic, bits of science as magic, sea battles, sword fights, dungeon crawls, arena duels, prison escapes, etc. The story opens with action and rolls on from there without slowing. Williamson was a master at keeping the plot going, moving from danger to danger without a pause for breath.
I can���t swear Gary Gygax read this one, but I wouldn���t be surprised. We have illusions, polymorphing, lightning bolts, a sort of bronze golem in the form of Talos, labyrinths, and any number of other standbys that would be at home in any D&D adventure.
I���ll be keeping my eye out for more early Jack Williamson. I suggest you do the same.
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Published on May 19, 2019 14:15
Happy Mother of Dragons Day? Resurrected Post.
Mother���s Day in Westeros must be a depressing affair. Think about it: do any of the mothers in A Song of Ice and Fire fare well? Let���s see, shall we?
Catelyn Stark. Does the phrase ���The Red Wedding��� ring any bells? What is she now, some sort of insane zombie? It���s been a while since I read these, so my memory may well be faulty. At least she has some children remaining alive.
How about that Cersei? Not much luck in the keeping your children alive department. I can���t say she was much of a mother to begin with. Love is fine and all, but there is such a thing as parenting.
Raising a brood of dragons can���t be easy. I doubt there���s a manual for that, at least not outside of the library in Oldtown. Still, Daenerys, try to keep you children from eating people.
I wonder what Mother���s Day is like at Craster���s Keep? Not a lot of ���From your loving son��� cards.
And how about that Lysa? Mother of the year candidate there. I���m sure your son will grow up a productive, well-adjusted citizen.
Yeah. Westeros. Well, there���s always Father���s Day. Oh, wait.
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Published on May 12, 2019 14:52
The Too Late Movie Reviews Onslaught Continues. Resurrected Post.
MBW was out of town on business for the last week and a half. And that means my frequenting the RedBox to rent movies you all saw long ago. Now I shall comment upon them.
Aquaman. Underwhelming. The submarine kingdoms were pretty. Jason Momoa makes for an affable lead, a sort of bearded Dwayne Johnson. The story itself was nonsense. Few of the other characters made much of an impact, there to pick up a paycheck. Though it was nice to see Dolph Lundgren and it seemed like his King Nereus was a bit of a wasted opportunity, both with respect to the plot and character development.
The Predator. I went in armored with low expectations. The film started enjoyably enough, but soon I found something off in the tone and character motivations. Then it hit me: this was a comedy. The only thing missing was Bruce Campbell. Once I���d had that genre epiphany everything fell into place and I settled back to enjoy the flick. Have a couple of beers, turn your brain off, and you���ll have a decent 90 minutes of entertainment. Otherwise, watch at your peril.
The best film of this batch was the only animated flick, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This one I can recommend unreservedly. It was genuinely entertaining, funny, clever, and with something to say about second chances.
Sicario: Day of the Soldado is a perfectly serviceable action flick. It maintains a somber and dour tone throughout its running time. Jeffrey Donovan ��� Michael Weston from Burn Notice ��� provides the only real touch of humor. The movie works for what it is. That it is largely forgettable doesn���t mean it doesn���t occupy your attention while it is on.
Bad Times at the El Royale is an ambitious film. Its debt to Quentin Tarantino is apparent, but it is no slavish imitation. The acting is all top notch. For whom should you root? Who is doing what and for what motivation? Why are they all at this hotel? Even the more admirable characters fit somewhere in the gray zone of the morality spectrum. The film carries its mysteries well, keeping the viewers guessing. Ultimately I don���t think it entirely succeeds, but I���m willing to give it a pass because it is so ambitious, it does try for novelty, misdirection, and unexpected revelations. If you let this one slip by, you might want to give it a chance. I think it is worth your time.
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Published on May 05, 2019 11:23
