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My new Award
I love winning awards. Who doesn’t? Two weeks ago, it happened again. I gave a reading at BuCon (Book Fair Convention on Frankfurt Book Fair Saturday) and was sitting at my book table, striving to sell as many books as possible. That’s not easy. The hall is packed with writers’ stands and publishers’ booths. We all have very much in common, not least that we endeavour to reduce the number of books we brought to the event by offering them for sale to an interested readership. And there were a great many interested readers at the event, who pushed their way through the aisles and filled their bags with printed matter, while both dealers and authors alike were keen to fill their pockets with money. My new novel ‘Sturmkrallen’ (=Stormclaws) was extremely popular and I soon ran out of copies. But my wonderful spouse valiantly mounted his bike and travelled…
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Science Fiction WorldCon Glasgow
Every year, the Science Fiction WorldCon takes place somewhere in the world. This year, it was held in Glasgow. I don’t go to WorldCon, as it’s called for short, every year. It’s usually too far and too expensive – last year the event was held in China. But when it is held in Europe, you can find me there. So I’ve been twice in Glasgow, once in London , once in Helsinki and once in Dublin . Of course, it’s not just about science fiction, but about all fantasy genres: SF, fantasy, horror etc. in all kinds of media: books, comics, films, music, art and games etc. There is a regular academic program track in addition to the general and very wide-ranging topics. From Thursday to Monday there were events: Readings by the better-known authors, discussion rounds and “talk show”-like panels on specific topics, ranging from literature, reception, criticism, futurism…
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Cons and Festivals
In fantasy and science fiction, many books are sold at conventions or festivals. One reason for this is that the majority of fantasy and science fiction novels are published by small publishers who are looking for direct access to the reading public – since they are often enough ignored by the big booksellers and wholesalers of the business. Fantasy and science fiction conventions and festivals offer a good opportunity to present books to exactly those people who do love fantasy and science fiction. It’s a very targeted way of addressing the right customers. Self-publishers are no different. Those of us writers who market our works also cart our books from one event to the next, hoping to find enthusiasts who like to read and as a result like to buy books. This is not always easy because, of course, there are more books “assembled in one place” than even the …
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The Paracryptozoological Annual Conference
Last weekend saw me busy at an extraordinary event. The Annual Paracryptozoological Conference took place at the “Bakerstreet“ in Saarbrücken. I was a speaker there. If you don’t know right away what is hidden behind the word paracryptozoology, don’t be embarrassed: It is a field of research that basically does not exist. Paracryptozoology deals with “creatures that are so extinct that they probably never lived”. To sum it up: the little creatures we are researching have sprung from our eccentric brains. And what an impressive number of eccentric brains they were! I am proud of us. A glance at the programme reveals the infinitely important and sometimes very dangerous creatures we deal with. I, for example, or rather my scientific alter ego, Dr. Rosa-Eleonore Meyer-Hübschlieb, am concerned with the Diantus Glandularis Sugens = the carnation sucker, a worm-like parasite with a carnation head, which in its most dangerous form finds…
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2023 – readings and other events
The new year has started and I am in the process of organising readings for this year. There are a few events that I’d like to go to. At some of them I have read many times before. Some are new. Some would interest me, but are rather too far away and difficult to organise. Most readings at fantasy events (festivals or conventions) tend to be unpaid. Some organisers offer accommodation or even a travel allowance. But that has become rare. So you have to think very carefully about whether or where you want to go. As always with advertising measures, you have to weigh up the positive effects against the possible costs. When I still had a day job, I was more relaxed about that. Then you also have to decide whether you want to “just” read somewhere or perhaps also offer a book table. Of course, the latter…
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About cons and witches
Part of an author’s life is spent at conventions: weekend gatherings of like-minded people. These wonderful folks can then belong to the book industry, the fantasy and SF fandom or – in this case – filk (singer-songwriter ballads on themes of fantasy, science fiction, horror and whatever a filker can think of). Yes. I confess it freely. I am a filker. Last weekend’s con was dedicated to filk and I met up with a group of friends and hobby musicians) in Wernigerode for music and lots of cosy chatting. After the long pandemic with nothing but online meetings, it was nice to actually see and cuddle “real people” in person again. We were all vaccinated, of course, and did a covid test every morning. The hygiene rules were good. So was the general mood. Since I tore a tendon in my hand some time ago, I unfortunately couldn’t play this…
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Saar Online Book Fair
The Saar Online Book Fair is over. What has remained is a reading from the book “Elgar Eisbär und die Zivilisation” with a short interview afterwards. The book fair was well organised, even though I probably didn’t use or even find all the options for interaction. My little avatar bravely trudged through the rooms, but only found some people for a conversation once. The events and readings were interesting. As I am a big Ben Aaronovitch fan, I was particularly pleased to watch his contribution. It was also nice to see Tad Williams again, whom I had met once at a living room reading at Friedberg. If you want to listen to my reading, please follow the links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/102874055328774/videos/254215736475802 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkSnRC1pdWM Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1060985923
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The World Science Fiction Convention in Dublin
This year’s World Science Fiction Convention will be held in Dublin. I shall be there. My own program currently includes a concert with my songs, a discussion panel on “Humorous Fantasy” and one on “Satire and the Fantastic”. I’m especially happy about this last topic, because when I had finished my exam at the university, I was offered the option of adding a phd. Topic: Satire and fantasy. Great topic, which at that time I would have tackled mainly by discussing Flann O’Brien / Miles na Gopaleen. Nobody knew him back then, he had disappeared into the cracks of literary history, but then his oeuvre was translated, and today, when you talk about Irish literature, it’s hard to imagine life without him. In a nutshell: I didn’t do a doctorate. If I lived in Austria, you might call me Mrs. Magister, but that’s all there is. I didn’t “get it…
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At FeenCon in Bad Godesberg
The day before yesterday I read at FeenCon. I go there every year if I can. FeenCon in Bad Godesberg was the first bigger event that gave me a reading slot when my first book had just come out and nobody knew me yet. Once again, it was very nice and I thank the organizers and helpers. What I was especially happy about was that some people actually came to my reading, although the Orga had scheduled big-names Bernhard Hennen and Wolfgang Hohlbein for the same date and hour. My first reaction to this rather unfortunate concentration of readings had been a loud “Aaaarrrrghhhhhh! And no, that was not meant to be piratical. To compete against Hennen and Hohlbein is not easy for a midlist author. On Cons you find the fandom and the core readership together. They know each other. People greet you of whom you – embarrassingly enough…
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(Deutsch) (keine) Feencon
FeenCon is on this weekend. Also this weekend: WetzCon. FeenCon is the annual roleplaying convention in Bad Godesberg, with a renaissance fair in the park, where I always had readings in recent years. It’s a great con. Wetzcon is the official con of the SFCD /, the German Science Fiction Club. I will not manage to visit either of the Cons this year. On the one hand I feel very, very sorry about this because I always enjoyed going to FeenCon every year. And the WetzCon would certainly be great, too. I like Science Fiction just as much as I like fantasy and actually perceive the entire speculative fiction genre rather as one unity with ever-increasing interstitial subgenres. But I know that at least some of the older gentlemen of the SFCD tend not to agree with me there. Why do I know that? Well, some of the lads are…