Worldcon 2015 photos

August 30, 2015

Coming up for air to report that I attended this year’s Worldcon, happily managed to mostly keep out of the controversies surrounding it, and had a great time hanging out with old friends and making new ones. I’m not very good at remembering to take pictures but, fortunately, I ended up in several taken by friends, enough to gather and post them here, mostly for my own records and ability to find them later.

 

With Bob Silverberg

With Bob Silverberg while at the Galaxy’s Edge/Phoenix Pick booth.

 

With Guest of Honor David Gerrold.

With Guest of Honor David Gerrold.

 

With Eric Flint

Watching Eric Flint sign books at the Phoenix Pick table.

 

Hanging out with Mike Resnick.

Hanging out with Mike Resnick.

 

Mike Resnick teaching me some of the finer points of novel plotting.

Mike Resnick teaching me some of the finer points of novel plotting.

 

With Toni Weisskopf, David Hartwell and Shahid Mahmoud.

With Toni Weisskopf, David Hartwell and Shahid Mahmoud.

 

And here are a few photos I managed to take (mostly during the Hugo ceremony):

Filled auditorium, view from the second row (aka the good seats!)

Filled auditorium, view from the second row (aka the good seats!)

 

Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.

Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta.

 

Hugos opening bit. Tananarive Due's fearlessly sports the redshirt Star Trek uniform.

Hugos opening bit. Tananarive Due’s fearlessly sports the redshirt Star Trek uniform.

 

David Gerrold and a dalek. Best line of the Hugos: "David, my eye is up here!"

David Gerrold and a dalek. Best line of the Hugos: “David, my eye is up here!”

 

Ken Liu delivering Liu Cixin's acceptance speech for "The Three-Body Problem."

Ken Liu delivering Liu Cixin’s acceptance speech for “The Three-Body Problem.”

 

Ken Liu and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Ken Liu and Alvaro-Zinos Amaro.

 

Ron Friedman and Bob Silverberg.

Ron Friedman and Bob Silverberg.

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Reading in West Hempstead, Long Island – Wed July 29

July 28, 2015

I will be participating in a multi-author reading on Long Island tomorrow. The details are here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/860479077341308/

If Facebook isn’t your thing, the event will take place at the Creative Corner in West Hempstead, 482 Hempstead Avenue, starting at 7pm on Wednesday, July 29. I will have copies of H. G. Wells on hand (from which I will be reading) as well as my other books.

Other authors participating in this event include Anatoly Belilovsky, Bill Freedman, Michele Lang, and Chris DePhilippis.

#SFWAPro

 

 

 

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

My Readercon 2015 Schedule

July 8, 2015

readercon#SFWAPro

I will be at Readercon over the course of the next four days. If you see me, don’t hesitate to say hello! Here’s my schedule:

Thursday July 09

8:00 PM    CR    The Games We Play. Erik Amundsen, Yoon Ha Lee, Alex Shvartsman, Romie Stott (leader), Gregory Wilson. Video games and tabletop games are an influential part of our imaginative lives. Are there times when you’re reading a book and feel the game mechanics too clearly beneath the prose? Or do you enjoy imagining what a character’s stats might look like? We’ll look at tie-in books (like R.A. Salvatore’s Chronicles of Drizzt and David Gaider’s Dragon Age prequels), book-based games (like The Black Cauldron, Lord of the Rings, and the Mists of Avalon–influenced Conquests of Camelot), and the pleasure of reading gaming sourcebooks.

Friday July 10

3:00 PM    E    Autographs. Alex Shvartsman, Allen Steele.
4:30 PM    ENV    Reading. Alex Shvartsman. Alex Shvartsman reads an excerpt from “H. G. Wells, Secret Agent”.

Saturday July 11

1:00 PM    F    Making SF/F Careers Viable. Sandra Kasturi, Matt Kressel, Bart Leib, A. J. Odasso, Alex Shvartsman (leader). Writing, editing anthologies or magazines, running small presses, creating artwork… these pursuits demand a great deal of investment, and returns are unreliable. Few people can spend weeks writing a story on spec, wait months for a contract and longer for a check, or absorb financial losses for years while trying to make a business profitable. Let’s talk frankly about how low pay rates on all fronts affect the demographics of professional SF/F, and what we can do to make SF/F careers more accessible to people with limited tangible and intangible resources.

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

UFO Publishing at BookCon 2015

May 29, 2015

UFO Publishing will have a booth at BookCon in NYC this weekend. I’ll be on hand to sign (and, of course, sell) books. And if you ask nicely, I might even show you the draft/preview of my next book’s cover.

So stop on by. We’ll be in booth # 3175.

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

My 2015 Balticon Schedule

May 21, 2015

I’ll be attending Balticon for the next four days, as I do every year. Here’s where you can find me:

FRIDAY

4:00 PM Retelling Fairy-Tales Across Media Garden
Alex Shvartsman (M), Sunny Moraine, Ruth Sanderson, Jo Walton, Melissa L Hayden (50 minutes)
9:00 PM Dangerous Voices Variety Hour Salon B
Sarah Pinsker (M), Michael Underwood (M), Alex Shvartsman (50 minutes)
Baltimore Science Fiction Society’s own readings series comes to Balticon once more! The Dangerous Voices Variety Hour takes its cues from such diverse inspirations as the popular 510 reading series, NPR’s quiz show: Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!, and Orson Welles’s original War of the Worlds broadcast. The hour long, free event features readings, irreverent author interviews, trivia, prizes, and more.

SATURDAY

3:00 PM Autograph – Saturday – 15:00 Autograph Table
Larry Hodges, Alex Shvartsman, Grig Larson (50 minutes)

SUNDAY

10:00 AM Exploring Publishing Platforms Salon D
Mike Allen, Neal Levin, Mike Luoma, Alex Shvartsman (50 minutes)
Desktop publishing has come a long way. Learn the ins and outs of the various publishing platforms.
11:00 AM How to Start Writing Derby
Michael Black (M), Paula S Jordan, Hugh J O’Donnell, Don Sakers, Alex Shvartsman (50 minutes)
Workshops, writing circles, and NaNoWriMo. How do you start writing, and how do you make sure you keep at it? Younger and beginning writers are encouraged to attend.
12:00 PM Putting a Pretty Face on Small Press Parlor 1041
Scott E Pond (M), Andrew Fox, Gail Z. Martin, Alex Shvartsman, Patrick Thomas (50 minutes)
Covers, often the bane of small press publishers. How do you put out a nice looking book without breaking the bank? What do you need to know when designing those covers and selecting cover art? What pitfalls should you watch out for that could mean the difference between looking pro and not.
1:00 PM Readings: Russ Colchamiro, Adam Ruben, Alex Shvartsman Chesapeake
Russ Colchamiro, Alex Shvartsman, Adam Ruben (50 minutes)
2:00 PM Starting your own Small Press Pimlico
Dave Robison (M), Andrew Fox, Gary L Lester, Alex Shvartsman (50 minutes)
Taxes, registration, a company name… there are so many things to consider before you even start. Learn some of the things you should be aware of before you take that plunge into the publishing mogul pool.

MONDAY

12:00 PM What Do Short Fiction Editors Want? Salon D
Mike McPhail, Bernie Mojzes, Alex Shvartsman, Joshua Palmatier (50 minutes)
What is the behind-the-scenes process of what happens at a magazine? From Slush to Sale panel

#SFWAPro

 

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

My Albacon 2015 Schedule

May 7, 2015

This weekend I’ll be attending Albacon 2015 (well, technically it’s called Albacon 2014 1/2 because this year’s official Albacon is hosting the World Fantasy Convention later this year. But for all indents and porpoises….)

Anyhow, here’s my event schedule for the next three days:

Friday

2pm in Troy: Getting the Word Out

8pm in Latham: Ice Cream Social

Saturday

11am in Latham: Humor in SF

12:30 in lobby: Signing

1:30pm Reading (30 min)

2pm in Troy: Anthology Editing 101

4pm in Troy: Social Media

Sunday

No events scheduled for me — I shall roam the halls, and engage in wacky shenanigans.

#SFWAPro

 

 

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Kickstarter Creator Basics Videos

May 7, 2015

Kickstarter posted a series of brief Creator Basics videos on their YouTube channel, where Lisa Lucas, Daniel Jose Older, Farai Chideya and yours truly get to dispense some wisdom about preparing to launch a Kickstarter project in publishing and journalism fields.

This is pretty basic information (as advertised in the series’ title!) but if you are relatively new to Kickstarter and are thinking of creating a campaign, it’s a good start-off point.

Watch the videos here.

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

How to Pay Your Writers panel at Kickstarter HQ

April 2, 2015

I recently participated on the live panel at Kickstarter HQ about paying writers for their work.

You can now watch the panel in its entirety, posted at the Kickstarter blog:

https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/talking-shop-how-to-pay-your-writers?ref=email

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

Reddit AMA

March 25, 2015
Harvard Campus

Harvard campus

 

I’m back after my trip to Boston, which was awesome. Vericon was held on Harvard campus and most attendees were students. They were a pleasure to talk to, bright, driven and inquisitive. It’s as if Harvard strives to select the best and the brightest, or something! I got to hang out with old friends, meet new ones, participate in panels, read from my work, and listen to some very intelligent ideas presented by other panelists.

Ken Liu was the guest of honor at this event and he delivered a brilliant lecture on fiction translation. The caption on the screen behind Ken reads “Traduttore traditore,” an Italian pun meaning “To translate is to betray.” I really hope Ken writes the lecture down because I think the community would benefit greatly from his wisdom. He made me reevaluate some of my memories of living in the former USSR and our perception of Western culture and literature.

Ken Translation Speech

Ken Liu delivers the Guest of Honor speech at Vericon

I’m getting back into the swing of things now, and today I will be spending a chunk of my day answering questions on Reddit. This is my first time doing an AMA, so if you’re a Redditor (or even if you aren’t) come hang out in that thread and ask a question or two. I could use some friendly faces! 🙂

Click here to visit the AMA thread.

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

My 2015 Vericon Schedule

March 19, 2015

vericonThis weekend I’ll be attending Vericon — Harvard University’s annual science fiction convention.  This is a small affair with only a dozen or so guests and a handful of panels, but their other guests are top notch: this year’s roster includes Patrick and Teresa Nielsen-Hayden, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jo Walton, Will McIntosh and a plethora of other fine authors and editors. Ken Liu is the guest of honor (and also happens to be an alum).

I’m very excited to re-visit Boston, to visit Harvard for the first time, and to get to speak, participate on panels, and even do a reading there. I will stick around all weekend long, but these are the panels/functions I’m currently scheduled for, so come by and hear me (and people much smarter than me) speak, should you be so inclined:

Friday

7pm – Editing and Translating Genre Fiction (KL, AL, AS, PNH)  – Sever Hall 113

8pm – Diversity, Intersectionality, and Variety (DJO, KL, MRK, AS, JW) – Sever Hall 113

Saturday

7pm – Alex Shvartsman Reading – Sever Hall 102

8pm – Milk & Cookies – Story Reading & Snacks – Lowell Lecture Hall Basement

Sunday

11am – The Joys and Perils of Writing Short (MRK, KL, WM, GG, PNH, AS) – Sever Hall 111

#SFWAPro

 

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Posted by Alex Shvartsman

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