Today is publication day for Fantastic Books‘s newest anthology, Three Time Travelers Walk Into… You can grab a hardcover, trade paperback, or ebook copy at your favorite retailer. And thanks to our wonderful Kickstarter backers, without whom this book wouldn’t exist. Special thanks, also, to cover artist Lynne Hansen, editor Michael A. Ventrella, and all our incredible authors who wrote the kick-ass stories that make this a great anthology.
Once again, convention weekend is upon us! This time, it’s Balticon, in the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore, Maryland, at the Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel. For more information on the convention, see http://www.balticon.org/wp56/
As usual, I’ll be spending most of the weekend at the Fantastic Books table in the dealers’ room (come see me, even though the dealers’ room is frequently hidden behind something they call Artist Alley, which looks suspiciously like a dealers’ room, in the atrium). UPS-willing, I may have a few advance copies of our new anthology, Three Time Travelers Walk Into… with me (and at least three authors in the book are scheduled to be at the convention: David Gerrold, Gail Z. Martin, and Hildy Silverman). The dealers’ room is scheduled to be open Friday, from 2 to 7pm; Saturday and Sunday, from 10am to 7pm; and Monday, from 10am to 2pm.
I’ll also be on four panels during the convention:
Saturday at 2:30pm, room 7029: “Writing Characters with Agency (In-person)” with Stephanie “Flash” Burke, Gail Z. Martin, and Mark L. Van Name.
Saturday at 4:00pm in the Homeland Room: “What Do Editors Want?” with Rigel Ailur, Scott H. Andrews, Joshua Bilmes, and Nancy Springer.
Sunday at 1:00pm in Room 7029: “Don’t Show Me the Money: Cashless Societies” with Elektra Hammond, Shahid Mahmud, and Christie Meierz.
Sunday at 4:00pm in Room 7029: “Fix that Episode!” with Stephanie “Flash” Burke, Andy Love, Ryan O’Nan, and Hildy Silverman.
I hope to see a lot of you there!
And if you can’t make it to Balticon, the next appearance on my schedule is Freaky Mutant Weirdo 2022: The Steampunk Variant, on June 4, outdoors in Vasa Park in Hackettstown, New Jersey. For more information, see https://www.freakymutantweirdo.com/.
No cutesy time-traveling trio teaser today, just an announcement that the Kickstarter campaign for Three Time Travelers Walk Into… has hit its funding goal! That means the book will exist (and the writers are warming up their writing hands right now). Very exciting! And thank you, all, for being a part of it.
The campaign runs another 45 hours, if you want to get involved, get your name in the book as an early backer/supporter, or if you want to push us to add even more stories (that’s the first stretch goal, at $7,000).
The editor, Michael A. Ventrella, will be announcing the writers’ guidelines in the next day or two, for those of you who want to get involved as a writer. For now, start thinking about which trio of time travelers you’d write about, in which situation.
And again, thank you!
I know, I know: I seem to be a one-note song of late. But I promise, it’s almost over. At the moment, the Kickstarter campaign is a scant 70 hours away from concluding, and it’s $404 short of being funded and bringing into existence what promises to be an awesome anthology. Please, tell a friend about it; tell a writer about it (it’ll be a new market for them… if it’s funded). Once we hit that $6,000 goal (really, we’re so close), I won’t be asking you to help spread this word again.
Oh, and the time-traveling trio? Well, how about you and me and Bobby McGee, at the launch party for Three Time Travelers Walk Into…? It might seem a little self-serving, but it would totally be great! Hope you can check it out with us.
In totally unrelated news, I was at a small gathering of friends in New Jersey this weekend, and managed to catch the attached photo of the sun near sunset. It was gorgeous, and spending the day mostly outside with friends was pretty good, too!
Albert Einstein, Jack the Ripper, and Robin Williams at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation: that’s gotta be one heck of a party! Want to write the story? Three Time Travelers Walk Into… is in the final stages of its Kickstarter campaign (only five days to go), and almost fully funded! Check it out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/667435382/three-time-travelers-walk-into
How would the Miracle on Ice 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team been different if it included Billie Jean King, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Rosalind Franklin? If you think you’ve got an interesting idea, it might fit in Three Time Travelers Walk Into…, a nifty time travel anthology Fantastic Books will be publishing if the Kickstarter campaign is successful. And we’re into the home stretch: we’ve got six days left, and a scant $1,400 to go. Check it out! Tell your friends! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/667435382/three-time-travelers-walk-into
And in other news, today is publication day for On Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren, a collection that Publishers Weekly called “immersive and comprehensive.” The book is the #1 New Release in Amazon’s 20th Century Literary Criticism category, and we’re thrilled.
Con-Tinual, the never-ending electronic science fiction convention, recently hosted a panel discussion with part of the crew behind the forthcoming anthology (and current Kickstarter project) Three Time Travelers Walk Into…. Listen in as we discuss time travel, where authors get our ideas, the difference between short and long fiction, and much more. Participants include panel host and author Gail Z. Martin, editor Michael A. Ventrella, authors David Gerrold, Jonathan Maberry, Jody Lynn Nye, and Leslye Penelope, and me. The video is on YouTube, the campaign is on Kickstarter.
Grace Hopper, Sally Ride, and Amelia Earhart as the crew of Apollo 11. Next step: the stars! Think that’s a story you can write? Check out Three Time Travelers Walk Into… on Kickstarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/667435382/three-time-travelers-walk-into
All the punch lines are ruined!
Check out Three Time Travelers Walk Into… on Kickstarter. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/667435382/three-time-travelers-walk-into
What’s the worst thing about time travel jokes?
50.7% funded! And David Gerrold! As of today, Three Time Travelers Walk Into… is half-way to being funded and existing! And as of today, David Gerrold—creator of tribbles, Sleestaks, and the Martian Child—is a part of the project, planning to write a story. Twelve days down, eighteen to go; please tell your friends! And check it all out at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/667435382/three-time-travelers-walk-into
Ian Randal Strock 