Tag Archives: DragonCon

August 29, 2019 · 12:15 pm

I’m heading to DragonCon! Here’s where I’ll be this year.

Of all the conventions I’ve attended as an author, DragonCon in Atlanta holds a place near and dear to my heart. The organizers are fantastic, especially on the Alternate History track, and I never suffer from a lack of things to do. They always keep me busy on panels and whatnot, and that gives me multiple wonderful opportunities to meet with fans and geek out over all our mutual interests.

Plus, a lot of my author friends head out there each year, which gives me the chance to hang out with lovely, lovely people who really understand what it takes to get all these books out there into the wild. There is revelry and merriment galore. It’s no wonder this will be my fifth DragonCon in the past six years!

So without further ado, here’s my schedule for this year’s DragonCon, starting tomorrow. If you’re there, I would absolutely love to see you. Here’s where to find me!

  • Friday, 4 p.m. — Reading. (Hyatt, Marietta room) — Let’s kick this off right with a reading! This year, I’ll likely read a story from Stories and Spilled Tea, my new collection (which is out now and which you can buy here). I’ll also have some copies of MJ-12: Endgame and perhaps a few other things as well for those who stop by. Let’s hang out!
  • Saturday, 5 p.m. — Bookstore signing at The Missing Volume. (AmericasMart vendor hall, booths #1201, 1203, 1300,1302) — It’s always a huge pleasure to spend time with the good people at The Missing Volume. As per usual, I expect they’ll have all my books on hand, so stop by and get one signed.
  • Saturday, 7 p.m. — Panel: “Ahoy, Mateys! Pirates in History & Pop Culture.” (Sheraton, Augusta room) — This is always a great panel, full of great historical and fantastical discussions about pirates and piracy in literature. Talking like a pirate is almost inevitable.
  • Sunday, 4 p.m. — Panel: “Gentleman Jack: A Fan Panel on the Facts & Fiction of Anne Lister.” (Sheraton, Macon room) — And now for something a little different. I’ve always worked hard to be inclusive in my work, and I’ve really enjoyed the HBO series Gentleman Jack. So what a great opportunity to talk about this amazing 19th century LGBTQ+ pioneer.
  • Sunday, 7 p.m. — Panel: “The Secret History of Spies.” (Sheraton, Macon room) — Obviously, I have things to say at this one. So let’s go talk about spycraft and espionage through the ages! This is also another mainstay, and we have a lot of fun.

So those are the biggies. I’ll likely be poking my head into other panels, taking photos and generally enjoying the heck out of everything. If I have books left over after the reading, I’ll likely be using Twitter to do periodic giveaways throughout the convention. So be sure to follow me (@mikemartinez72) and keep a look out.

See you in Atlanta!

#SFWApro

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January 12, 2019 · 7:33 pm

A belated welcome to 2019

I would love to sit here and say that I’ll be a better blogger in 2019, offering up far more interesting posts than last year. But I think we both know, reader, that this may not be the case. Regardless,  I do intend to at least try, and I’ll start with a bit of a roundup of what happened in 2018, and where things are presently.

Last year was pretty eventful, which is one reason I didn’t blog as much. As regular blog followers may remember, I took on a new role at work (yes, there’s a day job!). I’m now the marketing creative lead for my company’s biggest client segment, with annual sales measured in billions. In perfect honesty, I was rather content being a mere writer, but I can say that, after nine months in the job, I’m actually pretty good at it. Who knew? (My boss knew, of course. Or at least had an inkling.)

And in connection with that, we picked up and moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles. Just as the job has gone better than expected, I’ve found L.A. to be more amenable than I had thought it might be. It’s January and I’m typing this outside on a cool but lovely day, parked at one of my two go-to coffee shops in the area. My daughter is doing well at her new school, ninth-grade dramas notwithstanding, and Kate is absolutely loving it.

OK, so what about the writing? I mean, I figure that’s probably why y’all read this blog, what with the books and all. MJ-12: Endgame came out in September, thus wrapping up the MAJESTIC-12 trilogy. It received some great reviews and sold as well as trilogy third books can reasonably expect. I’m proud of the book and the series, and I hope folks enjoyed how things wrapped up.

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August 30, 2018 · 10:00 am

I’m heading to DragonCon! Here’s where I’ll be this weekend.

I skipped DragonCon last year, but I’m really happy to be heading back to Atlanta this week to bask in the assembled geekery. This’ll be my fourth DragonCon in five years, and it remains one of my all-time favorites.

I’ll be flying in tomorrow, and have the following events on my schedule:

  • Friday, 5 p.m. – signing at The Missing Volume. Booth 1201, Americasmart building 2. Still not sure if they’ll have MJ-12: Endgame on hand since it technically doesn’t come out until Tuesday, but they’ll have the rest of my work on hand, and I can get my hands on some copies beforehand, I’ll bring Endgame as well.
  • Friday, 8:30 p.m. – Panel: Ahoy, Mateys! Pirates in Popular Culture. Sheraton, Athens room. Just like it says on the tin. We’ll be talking about all kinds of scurrilous scalawags, from Treasure Island to Treasure Planet. 
  • Saturday, 5:30 p.m. – Panel: Practical Time Travel for the Storyteller. Sheraton, Athens room. Is time travel theoretically possible? Depends who you ask. Does it make for great stories? Absolutely. We’ll be talking about all kinds of wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff and how stories make good — and occasionally bad — use of it.
  • Sunday, 4 p.m. – Panel: Oops, I Sold My Novel. Now What? Hyatt, Embassy CD room. Getting your first book deal is absolutely amazing. But it’s just the beginning. We’ll be talking about how to make that debut as successful as possible, and what could happen after that.
  • Sunday, 7 p.m. – Panel: The Secret History of Spies. Sheraton, Athens room. Gee, who could’ve thought of this panel? Yes, we’re talking spies throughout history, from Sun Tzu to modern day, and how they’ve affected spy fiction — and vice versa!
  • Monday, 11:30 a.m. – Panel: Winding Down the Clock: A Time Travel Story Hour. Sheraton, Athens room. Now, this is gonna be intriguing. Your panel of authors — tired, drained, possibly hung over — will be spinning a few steampunk yarns, and then we’ll wind down the convention altogether by swapping war stories.

That’s a nice full weekend, and I’m super grateful to Doctor Q and the Alternate History Track for continuing to embrace authors the way they do — and the Writing Track as well for thinking of me.

I’m sure I’ll be out and about doing other things during the weekend, and if I show up somewhere, I’ll probably post to Twitter, so be sure to follow me there. (Twitter also feeds to my author page on Facebook, so that’s just as good if you don’t tweet.) And I may be bringing some books to give away, so keep your eyes peeled on social media.

See you in Atlanta!

#SFWApro

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June 30, 2018 · 4:16 pm

Oh, hey. I’m moving to Los Angeles.

Yep, that’s a real thing right there. And you wonder why I’ve been slacking on the blog front this year. That’s a big reason why.

In about three weeks, I will be setting up house in Los Angeles, home of the Rams, movie stars, beach hipsters and some of the best and most creative cuisine around. (Yeah, that’s a real thing, too. Eating in L.A. is an absolute delight. Hugely underrated as a restaurant city.) I’m trading New Jersey for California, and it’s pretty exciting.

Why the move? Well, as some of you know, I do indeed have a day job, and the company is actually based in downtown Los Angeles. This year, they saw fit to promote me from senior writer to creative lead. That means I manage the creative aspects of our marketing efforts for a segment of our business. That segment is worth…well, a lot. I mean, it’s measured in billions of dollars in annual sales. And I’m leading a creative team tasked with figuring out what’s going to really work with that segment.

No pressure. None at all. 

Actually, I like the gig a lot. I’ve been in the role since March (another reason for the lack of blogging lately) and I’m rather pleased at how it’s going. We’ve had some wins. The team is coming together nicely. And when I’m finally out there with the rest of them — being just one of two people working out of our New York office presently — I think it’ll help even more.

The move is something we’ve been considering for years now, and between the new role and our daughter heading to high school in the fall, the timing was right. I’m proud to say that the kid got accepted to an exceptional high school arts program that’s going to give her opportunities I could only dream of growing up in Vermont. Plus, winter will become something that we now simply visit, rather than endure. I have friends and colleagues who will go skiing in the morning up in the mountains, and then end up on the beach in Santa Monica for dinner. This seems rather delightful and civilized.

What does this all mean for the writing career? In terms of my current work — nothing. MJ-12: Endgame is still coming out in September, and I’m still heading to DragonCon in Atlanta over Labor Day weekend to celebrate. Believe me, spending several days geeking out, meeting fans and reconnecting with my fellow scribes is gonna be heavenly after this move is over and done with.

As for the future? I have an anthology project out on submission right now with another author, someone for whom I have a deep and abiding respect and who’s just a lovely person all around. If that sells, then that’s the big next thing and I’ll be sure to tell you about it. I also have two different novel projects now in advanced stages of development and drafting, but I readily admit to not having worked much on either in recent weeks. At the moment, I feel it’s likely that, for the first time since my debut in 2013, next year will not see a novel from me.

And that’s OK! I’ve had more success as a novelist than I expected thus far, and I will continue to tilt at that windmill for the foreseeable future; I’m half Spanish, after all. The various projects I have going are all very different from both the Daedalus and MAJESTIC-12 books, and that’s a very good thing. Taking some time to get the next thing right is perfectly acceptable. And even without a book out in 2019, I do plan to try to hit a few more conventions next year. The Nebulas, for example, are right in Los Angeles next year, which is terribly convenient. I’d be remiss if I didn’t go.

In terms of the city itself, I know what I’m getting into. I’ve been at my company since late 2007, and I’ve visited L.A. at least thirty times over the past decade. I’ve explored the city and I know the neighborhoods pretty well at this point. And because I’ve worked there for as long as I have, I’m fortunate enough to have a network of friends already in place, which makes things a lot easier. I wouldn’t be moving if I didn’t have a generally high opinion of the place, heat and earthquakes notwithstanding.

I’ll miss the Northeast. Not Jersey, in particular, though I will miss my Jersey friends. But I’m a Vermont boy at heart, and I have family and friends in upstate New York and Vermont whom I’ll miss, though there will undoubtedly be visits. This really isn’t good-bye to the Northeast, but more of a see-you-later thing.

So there you go. By the end of July, I’ll be firmly entrenched in Los Angeles and probably writing poolside. (Our new apartment complex does indeed have a pool — three, in fact. I mean, why live in L.A. and not have ready access to a swimming pool? Seems barbaric not to.) I’ll do my best to blog more once I’m there, but over the next three weeks, things may get slightly crazed as we head west. If you’d like to keep track, I’d suggest Twitter or my author page on Facebook, as I’ll likely update those a bit more regularly.

See you in L.A.!

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May 18, 2018 · 10:55 am

MJ-12: Endgame spotted in the wild

Reviewer Michael Cook Jr. tweeted this last night.

Oh, yeah. This book just got real.

Nice to see MJ-12: Endgame out there, and I suppose this doubles as the cover reveal, so there you go. Obviously, the cover is of a piece with the series, but with some changes that I’ll leave to the reader as an exercise in spoiler-hunting.

Michael went on to write some lovely things about the MAJESTIC-12 series in his thread, which I deeply appreciate. And for other reviewers, it’s officially open season for your copies up on Edelweiss, Net Galley, etc. I’ll also be working to send out advance reader copies as well, so if you need one, ping me. (Reviewers only. There will be giveaways and such down the road for other folks, never fear.)

As of right now, and with the expectation of an extremely busy summer (more later on that), I don’t have a lot of stuff set up yet for the launch, other than a visit to DragonCon over Labor Day weekend. But as I get my act together, I’ll certainly keep everyone posted here.

MJ-12: Endgame hits shelves Sept. 4, and if you’re so inclined, you can pre-order it at the following: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | iTunes

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March 4, 2018 · 3:46 pm

Oh, right. I have a blog!

Apologies for not blogging sooner, but February turned out to be much busier than I expected going in — and I expected a lot. So let’s recap.

I spent a good chunk of the month out in Los Angeles for my day job, which was pretty great. I had the family with me, and after the week was up, I took my daughter to Disneyland for a full day — and I mean a FULL day — of fun and excitement. Say what you will about the Disney industrial complex, but they sure know how to create a fantastic experience. It really was a memory she and I will keep forever.

I also received and turned around my edits for MJ-12: Endgame, which is on track for its early September launch. My editor, the esteemed Cory Allyn, complimented how I handled the end, and I admit, I got some feels on reading how all the characters came out of it (or not, in a few cases). I’m really looking forward to seeing this one out there.

And I’ll be celebrating the end of the MAJESTIC-12 series at DragonCon over Labor Day weekend! Got the official confirmation a few weeks ago — I’ll be there and paneling, largely on the Alternate History track as usual. I had to miss last year, so I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone there again. It’s a great con. And of course, I’ll have books and goodies with me, so come find me if you’re there.

There’s also a few other projects in the works that I really want to talk about but shouldn’t. Suffice it to say, I’m not done writing novels just because I’ve wrapped up MAJESTIC-12. Nothing is sold yet — heck, nothing is fully drafted yet! But I’m working on it. I’m also doing another thing with an absolutely mind-blowing, fantastic bunch of people that I can’t tell you about, but it’s gonna be so good, you guys.

March will continue to be busy, including trips back to Los Angeles and a few other things. I’ll try to be better about blogging, but I make no promises. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter or my “official” Facebook page for more regular updates.

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December 30, 2017 · 11:11 am

A less-than-fond farewell to 2017

I know I’m not the first one to say this, of course — 2017 was not fun, and for many people, that’s a monumental understatement. Personally, professionally, culturally, politically…this year was a godforsaken mess. I’m far less inclined to toast the year that was, but I’m quite ready to embrace the one coming down the pike, and I hope you are too.

So let’s start with the elephant in the room, which would be Trump and his coterie of destructive buffoons. I’m not going to go into his policies, or the rapacious GOP’s attempts to create a permanent, uneducated American underclass to serve the top 1%. But I know full well that the very presence of this looming threat to American values and democracy, and the utter barrage of weaponized fake outrage and falsehoods, has taken its toll on so many of us, myself included.

Now, let’s be quite clear in that I’m a straight, married, white male, so when I say “taken its toll,” the bill for me is extremely light compared to women, people of color, folks with chronic physical and/or mental conditions, our LBGTQ+ friends, etc. In fact, it feels slightly disingenuous to be bitching about things when my family and I are doing well, and may even see a tax cut next year.

But while my toll is far less, it’s there. 2017 has messed with my head. In so many areas of my life, I found myself waiting for something, waiting for change. Yes, I ramped up my contributions and I joined a protest at Trump Tower and I spoke out and all that good stuff. But the rest of it was kind of living in a defensive crouch in the corner, trying to go about my business and waiting, hoping, praying for the support to help all of us turn a corner.

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September 4, 2016 · 1:13 pm

Learn the secrets of my BBQ sauce recipe

Yeah, there’s a headline I’ve never written before! But it’s true.

I’ve been playing with BBQ sauce recipes for years now, starting off with a basic recipe — equal parts ketchup, mustard, molasses and apple cider vinegar —  refining and playing with it ever since. And today on Fran Wilde’s Book Bites, you get to enjoy the results of all that experimentation.

This sauce isn’t as thick as the stuff you buy in the stores, but store-bought uses thickeners and chemicals and corn syrup and all kinds of awful. If you’re a BBQ purist, you can use this sauce as a mop during smoking, then set it on top of the firebox to simmer and thicken throughout the day. (And if the words “mop” and “firebox” aren’t in your BBQ lexicon, well…that’s OK.)

My thanks to the luminous and crazy-talented Fran Wilde for having me on her Book Bites blog. She’s totally aces and you need to be reading her award-winning books, y’all. Plus, she’s a great human to hang out with at a con.

Speaking of cons, this is my last full day at DragonCon, which has been the usual excellent experience. There’s only a handful of copies of MJ-12: Inception left at the booksellers in the vendor hall, so get thee hence or wait until Tuesday when it hits bookstores. Of course, if you wait, those copies won’t be signed. Just saying.

Finally, here’s your regular reminder about Tuesday’s launch-day reading/signing at Borderlands Books in San Francisco at 6 p.m. If you’re in the area, come on by and say hello!

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September 2, 2016 · 4:05 pm

Back at DragonCon, plus all kinds of news

The-New-Dragon-Con-LogoThere are Jedi roaming the streets and wizards in line at Starbucks. Must be DragonCon!

The city of Atlanta seems to treat con-goers with good humor and patience. It’s a very friendly city to begin with — strangers strike up conversations with one another on the subway, customers are greeted more than a “NEXT!” and there’s a slightly languid pace about things, especially when compared to New York. If it weren’t for the heat and humidity…!

And there’s a bunch of stuff I want to share today, as it’s getting close to the launch of MJ-12: Inception on Tuesday and, after a slow summer, the news piles up:

  • Win my books on Tor.com! The lovely people over at Tor.com are doing a sweepstakes! First prize is a copy of MJ-12: Inception as well as all three books in the Daedalus trilogy. Four second place winners get MJ-12: Inception. All you gotta do is comment on this post to enter. You have until 12 p.m. on Sept. 6 to enter.
  • MJ-12: Inception made a couple fresh lists of September must-have books, which is delightful. Tor.com lists it in its monthly “genre blenders” roundup, and io9 has it in a post called “Add All 19 of These New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Your September Reading List.”
  • I was interviewed by fellow writer Amanda Faith for today’s edition of The Daily Dragon, DragonCon’s official news outlet. We talk about the con, the books, all kinds of things. Check it out!
  • I donated a signed copy of MJ-12: Inception to DragonCon’s annual charity auction, to benefit the Atlanta Center for Self-Sufficiency, so I hope folks go and bid! Details are here.
  • The Missing Volume as a ton of my books on hand for tomorrow’s signing at DragonCon’s vendor hall. I’ll be there at 1 p.m., so if you’re at the con, come say hi!

Phew. Lots of fun stuff here. Hope you enjoy, and have a great Labor Day weekend!

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September 1, 2016 · 9:09 am

MJ-12: Inception in The Big Thrill, and a signing at DragonCon

Good morning! I’m about to swoop off to Atlanta for DragonCon! But first, I’m quite happy to report that I have an article in this month’s edition of The Big Thrill, the monthly magazine of the International Thriller Writers.

Readers may not that I don’t often opine on political matters, but when you write about government conspiracies, well, the topic is pretty relevant. So I talk about some of the political thinking behind MJ-12: Inception — the use of force, the importance of oversight, when boundaries may be overstepped. I mean, heck, I had a double major in English and government. Check out the article here.

(A big shout-out to J.H. Bogran and everyone at ITW that works hard on The Big Thrill and other efforts. Thank you!)

On another note of particular interest to DragonCon attendees, I’ll be doing a signing on Saturday at 1 p.m. at The Missing Volume, one of the vendors on the first floor of AmericasMart Building 2. As far as I know, The Missing Volume is the only place you can buy MJ-12: Inception in person prior to launch on Sept. 6. And of course, I’ll sign the heck out of it. Given that the book isn’t officially out yet, supplies are limited, so if you want a copy, better come early!

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