Ken Lizzi's Blog, page 57

Rose City Comic Con 2019

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.

Publicity, Ugh.

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.

Fair Enough

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.

Florence. No, Not That One.

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?

Kicking Back

I enjoyed a quiet, uneventful weekend. I really can’t complain. After a morning’s work on the sequel to Karl Thorson and the Jade Dagger (look for it in mid-November from Twilight Times) I took MBW and the HA up to a friend’s cabin on the river, near Mt. Hood. And there was much relaxing.

Some sort of celebration occurred at a cabin across the river and we were treated to a live band. The HA enjoyed dancing. She also had a ball playing with newborn kittens at the cabin next door. I managed to extricate us without taking one of the furballs home, for which feat I am awarding myself Dad Points.

A bit of an update on the writing front: I’ve written before about the impending publication of a trilogy, commencing with the novel Boss. Well, the publisher recently returned the rights to me. So, the publication no longer impends. In fact, I may be sticking a toe into the unknown waters of indy publishing with this series. We’ll see; things are astir.

Post-Con Musings

I finished my last panel for MALCon 2019. Here it is noon, Mountain Time, and I have ten hours until my flight home. So, I suppose I’ll sit here in the lobby, write up this week’s web log, and watch the usual colorful con suspects go by.

The panels I sat on seemed well-received. My network of connections expanded, both here at the con and off-site. (Hello, new connections.) I got in a couple of workouts at the under-equipped hotel gym, as well as a swim. The group author signing was, at the least, entertaining. My thanks to Rose Beteem for taking the photo with my phone.

So, no regrets about attending. But I do have to ask if traveling to future conventions makes financial sense. Money has to factor into the calculations. Flights and hotel stays add up.

Though, you do meet some interesting people. This hotel is hosting a weeklong training session for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Or so I jst found out from the fellow who just spent the last hour talking my ear off. The prison guards mingling with the costumed con-goers is amusing me to no end.

Another half-hour conversation. Man, this post will be disjointed. But, it appears I’ve been invited to be a guest on a podcast. I pity the future listeners. More, I suppose, on that anon.

Right. That’s about it. Hunger is my overriding concern and I’ve been putting off lunch for way too long.

Run, It’s an Advertisement.

Only a brief  note this web log, I’m afraid. MBW, the HA, and I were in Washington State this weekend, visiting a couple places we’ve not been to before. A late arrival home, added to necessary chores, squeezed out the time required to scribble my usual nonsense.

So, instead, let me suggest that you purchase one of my books. They are good. You will enjoy them. They are most likely available from your preferred on-line retailer. Here, I’ll make it easier. Links.

If you prefer sources other than Amazon, let me know. I’ll find the Barnes & Noble (or whatever) link for you. It’s that level of customer service I’m known for.

Okay, shameless shilling done. I feel dirty.

Oregon Brewers Festival 2019

Beauty and the Beer Beast

Last year’s beer jamboree was the festival of guava and mango. That wave has receded. The new hotness (to employ an antiquated Smith-ism and indicate how old and out of touch I am) is sours. This year was heavy on sours, goses, and beers featuring citrus notes.

Given the summery day, I succumbed to the prevailing zymurgical zeitgeist, leaning into the low ABV, refreshing citrus coolers.

I did, however, occasionally step aside from the sour path to follow the siren call of my personal beer muse: the IPA. Note, I graded the IPAs more harshly since I have higher expectations for them.

And I tasted a few novelty beers. Because, why not.

With that out of the way, here are my notes. The first number is the ABV (alcohol by volume.) The second is my ranking on a scale of 1-10.

Speedy Goseales, from Boneyard Beer. German Gose. 4.5% ABV. 

Mike’s Hard Beer. Less salinity than I expect from a gose and more pucker. Refreshing. 6.

Fancy Umbrella Drink, from Baerlic Brewing. Pink Guava Gose. 5.5% ABV.

Skunky gose, points for effort I suppose. 3.75.

Jamacito, from Pelican Brewing. Hibiscus Mojito Lager. 4.8% ABV.

Soda/Cerveza plus lime combo. LIght, sweet without being cloying. 7.

Marionberry Lavender Sour, from Deschutes Brewery. Kettle Sour. 4.3% ABV.

Someone dipped a berry tea into the wort. Complex, aromatic, less sour than most of the style. 6.5.

Tarty to the Party, from Wild Ride Brewing. Cherry Lemon Sour Ale. 5.5% ABV.

Sour candy. I can’t decide if it is a stunt beer and one is enough, or if this is the tricky umbrella drink of beers: keep ‘em coming then watch out!. 6.5.

Mango Unchained, from Old Town Brewing. Mango IPA. 6% ABV.

Nose of rotting fruit. Slight tropical hint growing to unpleasantness atop a malt-forward, mediocre IPA. 4.

Color Me Kust, from Coalition Brewing. Terpene Infused IPA. 6% ABV.

Tone down the fuggles (presumably that is the overused, dank hop in this brew) and you might have something. 4.5.

Coyote Sunset IPA, from Double Mountain Brewery. West Coast IPA. 6.7% ABV.

Okay, now we’re entering the Ken Beer Zone. Solid IPA, but nothing extraordinary. 5.

Fruity Pebbles Milkshake IPA, from Elk Horn Brewery. Milkshake IPA with Fruity Pebbles & Mixed Fruit. 6.3% ABV.

First Taste: agghhh — kill it with plasma! Second through fourth tastes: well, it is not that bad. The cereal starts to come through favorably. 3.5.

Belgian IPA, from Ferment Brewing. Belgian IPA (just like advertised.) 7% ABV.

A hoppy, Belgian ale. Why not? Well, there is a certain clash, a sort of  Widmer Hefeweisen meets Arrogant Bastard brawl. But with a bit of palate adjustment, it works. 5.5

For the Sake of Appearances

Despite my turtlelike preferences, I do appear in public from time-to-time, in the hopes of shilling my wares. This year, it seems, I’ll be poking my head out at three conventions.

The most recent, tentative invitation, is for the Rose City Comic Con. I’ve been asked to sit on a panel discussing entertainment law, as I have at least some notional experience on both sides of the issue. I’m awaiting details. But at this point it looks like I’ll be there Friday, the 13th (ooh, spooky) of September. I suppose I’ll drive directly over to the convention center from my office, still in lawyer mode.

Later this year I’ll be at Orycon. I don’t know what my panel schedule will be, since the schedule hasn’t yet been established. Or, if it has, it hasn’t been distributed yet. I was somewhat disappointed with the options this year, so I volunteered for only a few panels. It looked to me as if at least half of the offerings concerned socio-political issues. I don’t attend sci-fi conventions to air my views on politics. I’ll keep the web-log updated once I receive the schedule.

In just a few weeks I’ll be at MALCon, in the Denver area. If the web log has any Colorado readers, drop by the con and say hello. Here’s my schedule for that show:

Ken Lizzi (5 panels):

Fri, 5:30 PM-6:20 PM, Planning and Structure – They’re Important(Parker)

Sat, 2:00 PM-2:50 PM, Character Focused Storytelling (Parker)

Sat, 3:00 PM-3:50 PM, Author Autograph Mega-Session (Arapahoe Room)

Sun, 10:00 AM-10:50 AM, Author Readings – Harrison, Litore, Lizzi(Mt Evans)Sun, 11:00 AM-11:50 AM, Building the Perfect Plot (Golden)

Fore!

It is a commonplace that golf serves in multiple ways as a metaphor for life. Let me mention some of these metaphors and lessons of the links.

Life is a trudge through a series of frustrations and disappointments that ultimately must end in weariness.

Each shot may be likened to a plot point in a novel, and you must travel from one to the next. If the journey between shots is picturesque and pleasant — whether walking or tooling along the cart path — it makes the game or the novel that much more enjoyable, no matter how tragic or triumphant each individual shot might be.

Success if fleeting. A well-struck shot that goes where intended does not ensure the next one will. Each address of the ball is sui generis with its own complications and difficulties. Every day of life is like that.

How you deal with failure is as important as how you deal with success. That’s true whether you’ve sliced you drive into the next fairway or have been passed over for promotion.

Money (equipment) is a factor. But practice and skill matter more.

You will never be perfect, but trying to improve remains worthwhile.

In case you were wondering, yes I did golf yesterday.