Seattle Worldcon Post Mortem
Two goals, one success. Plus a friend gets an award nomination, and free stuff (at the end)
World Science Fiction Convention
When I decided to go to Worldcon, I set myself two main goals: one a longshot, and an easy one so at least I wouldn’t fail at everything. 😊
Longshot goal – find an agent
I’ve been ‘on query’ with my novel Mind Share for an embarrassingly long time. I’ve made some edits to the novel itself, and many revisions to the query… and no luck. I feel strongly that Mind Share is commercial enough to sell to a major publisher. But the query process is long and brutal… It feels like running a marathon with hecklers yelling at you that you’re never going to make it.
Aside: To be fair, none of the agents who’ve rejected my queries have been mean about it, and many have been nice… but it feels like I’m being knocked down every time I get a rejection.
So, I thought that maybe, just maybe, if I met a few agents in person, it would give me a slight advantage. I knew it was a longshot that I’d land an agent at the con, but maybe meeting one or two at a party would lay the groundwork for a more favorable reading of a future query.
And I did! Sort of. I met and chatted with a couple of agents at a party. They were very nice too. I did not pitch my book; it wasn’t the venue for it, and … I’m not that guy – you know the one who never stops talking about themselves and their books. But it turned out that (upon checking), I’d already queried – and been rejected! – by both of them. LOLSOB!
Ah well, I guess I can query them with my next novel. They might still remember me when that’s ready in a year or so. I’m not particularly slow, but novels are long and take time to write and revise and edit and… and…
Anyway, I failed at finding an agent at Worldcon … and I’m okay with it (mostly) because it was an unrealistic goal. And because my other main goal was a wild success!
Easy goal – reconnect with old friends
Before moving to Mexico, I lived in Seattle for nearly 15 years, raised kids there, and made a lot of friends in the SFF writing community there. There are a lot of writers and editors who live in the Pacific Northwest and many of them were at Worldcon. Reconnecting (and hanging out) with old friends was also a major reason for going to the convention.
I caught up with folks I hadn’t seen in years, some in decades. I also met a few new friends. Living in Mexico, far away from my old writing community, can be lonely, and – if I’m honest – I’m not great at maintaining connections long distance.
Unexpected nongoal – learn new things
Despite being in the writing and publishing business since the mid-90s, there’s still a lot I don’t know. The industry is constantly changing. Just in the last 30 years, a variety of technologies have caused massive shifts: blogging, social media, print on demand, ebooks, self-publishing (indie), and most recently: “AI” (in scare quotes since there’s no intelligence involved).
Anyway, I decided to take advantage of the huge number of panels and readings and events. Some highlights:
Panel on indie versus trad publishing (verdict: hybrid)
Readings by Martha Wells, Erin M. Evans, and Shannon Page
Discussions about newsletter marketing and how to write a pitch
From intern to award finalist
One of the friends I got to see at the convention was author Erin M. Evans. Way back in the aughts, about a year after we launched Per Aspera Press, we hired a couple interns, one of whom was Erin. She worked for us for a couple of years, then went on to Wizards of the Coast as an editor and wrote a bunch of Forgotten Realms novels. Now she has a series set in her own fantasy universe.
The series is fantastic and you should go read it. It starts with Empire of Exiles. The second book, Relics of Ruin, is a finalist for The Endeavour Award. Erin read an excerpt from the book at the con.
Quick reads & freebies
Burns Twice as Bright
It’s past midnight, and the rain is coming down in sheets when the first flash burns the sky with jagged threads of purple fire. At the edge of a small parking lot, I crouch in the shadows of a drooping chicozapote tree, its boughs heavily laden with water and underripe fruit. The smell of petrichor mingles with the tang of blood and burnt hair.
Directly ahead of me, through the open side door of the black step van, I see her—cabled to the back wall, slumped and unconscious like a discarded doll. Vivid, purpling bruises and gummy, red cuts distort her swollen face.
The looming tempest sweeps me up in its fury. I’ve found her, my best friend, barely alive.
Set in the Shadowrun RPG universe, Burns Twice as Bright is a prequel of sorts to Ryan Mercury’s adventures in my Shadowrun trilogy – The Dragon Heart Saga. One of several good stories in the Through the Decades anthology, edited by Jennifer Brozek and John Helfers.
Free story - Morphosis
Rated M - Mature (Content Warning - Sex, Violence)
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:"
Like Coleridge, I dreamed this story in its entirety. And I don't mean that I dreamed the idea of it; the actual words came to me in a dream. This is the first and only time such a thing has happened to me, but the results were inspiring.
Morphosis is also my only story to be published in three markets. It’s that awesome. :)
Until next our storylines cross, thanks for reading.
— Jak