Odyssey Con Tidbits - Killer Books

Just returned from Odyssey Con in Madison. First time I attended. Small, but fun. Really enjoyed it. Nice to meet new people and a few old friends.

 The bonus, was meeting, and being on a few panels with NYT Bestselling Authors Jonathan Maberry (Rot and Ruin series)  (and one with) Heather Brewer. (Her latest is The Cemetery Boys. Be sure to click and read the description!)

 (Don't you just love her pretty reddish-pink hair??) 

Bonus 2: signed copies!!!!! 

  

 

(I had Maberry sign my copy of Dead of Night  since I couldn't get a copy of the sequel, Fall of Night: A Zombie Novel   there, at Barnes & Noble or at Half Price Books. Grrr. I also want to get his V-Wars: Blood and Fire anthology  (current/last one is book 2, Dec. 2014. A new one is supposed to be coming out also. Oh, and a few others. The list is growing!!)

Also enjoyed talking with fellow author Lance Ford (Ace Kincaid: In Search of Heroes), who also signed a copy for me. (And I picked up a copy of Stephen King's Doctor Sleep at the bookstore. No not signed. ha!) Woo-hoo! Lots of new reading! 

  

It was also fun meeting up again and having lunch with WD Gagliani, Dave Benton,  Alex Bledsoe  and John Everson. 

Everyone was nice and informative. I'm not as panel experienced, I'll admit, but got a few comments in here and there. Maberry and Brewer are the nicest, but I'd have to be a zombie to say it's not a little intimidating being sandwiched between the two of them on a panel!  ha! They had plenty to say and I was glad for the chance to drink it in.


A Few Od(yssey) Con Comments: 

For fun, I jotted down some of the more interesting comments made by various authors on some of the panels. They're not in context (which may make some sound odd or rather funny!)


 Jonathan Maberry: "It takes nine truths to tell one lie. (The reader) then is more likely to believe the 'fantastical.' When you get to the things not real, most readers can't tell."

"I'm more a monster-of-the-week guy." - Maberry

"I think that would be a great place to start since you have a werewolf background." - Dave Benton to WD Gagliani.

"We like misdirection." - WD Gagliani

"Kolchak  (The Nightstalker) was my touchstone. It probably got me interested in horror fiction early on." - John Everson

"Once in a while you look at one of your fellow writers and ask, 'what's wrong with that boy?'" - Maberry

"You have a story open at the same time and you're at different places? That would freak me out." - Everson to Gagliani and Benton on their online collaborating.

"You never watched X Files? I don't know you anymore. You're dead to me." - Maberry to Everson.

"In Mount Horeb, no one looks down at me because I write horror stuff." - Alex Bledsoe

"I feel like I'm in an incredible revolution now. It' s not only OK to be a geek, but it's incredibly cool to be a geek." - Heather Brewer

"I grew up in the South. It's not the greatest place to announce yourself as some kind of artist." - Alex Bledsoe

Stay tuned: I'll be doing an upcoming post on some of Maberry's writing advice.