Category Archives: Appearances

A Day Late, Several Dollars Short

Here we go. A short update since I’ve been so bad about them regarding Party‘s release and the Convention of Heroes.

RSVP for the Party

Party will be released on August 6, 2021. It’s at the editor now. Newsletter folks will get an advance copy of the first two chapters in July.

Convention of Heroes

So, the convention’s already started so I’m late in posting this, but I’m participating in the Superhero-fiction.com 2021 Convention of Heroes. They’ve greatly expanded the convention from last year with a wider variety and greater number of events. They have their own Discord server where they’re doing watching parties and live commentary. I hang out there off and on most days. To go there, it’s https://discord.gg/vY7UbdqF.

Apparently, they wanted to outdo the folks at QuaranCon, so they asked me to be on two panels, and moderate one of them. I “moderated” the panel on Crafting a Superhero and will be participating in the Captivating Worldbuilding one.

The Crafting panel surprisingly went very well with far fewer people tied to rockets or railroad tracks than I expected, despite one panelist being in an undisclosed offshore location with no electricity and three others in the middle of lightning storms. No one got superpowers in it either, sadly. I blame Amazon for refusing to deliver a volcanic lair with prebuilt death traps (I’m lazy) and the required sharks with lasers in time for the panel and for less than ten dollars. The Superhero-fiction.com folks were also crafty enough to fill the panel with just amazing authors who write in multiple superhero subgenres and had really fascinating stuff to say. They’ve probably stuffed all the other panels the same way.

For the first time, I’m doing a reading, as well. I read the first chapter of Party. So. Surprise! The first chapter will appear on this site probably in July.

Check out the con at: http://www.superhero-fiction.com/convention.

These links are available on my About page as well with previous con appearances.

Update: Decidedly Not Dead Yet

No, I’m not dead. I’m just terrible at remembering to update my website.

Like many people, I spent almost all of 2020 and 2021 thus far at home. While the introvert in me was happy to not have to deal with people too much, it brought its own issues. Under the load of extra work brought about by not being the only one at home, not being able to go out when I needed something, and random shortages, I forgot to update my website, thus this clearinghouse of a news article. So, for those of you who were wondering, I’m not dead. I’m not maimed. I’m just behind on my to-do list. Sorry!

So, what’s up? Quite a bit, actually.

Reschedule the Party, We’re Out of Pizza

Book 6 in my Arca superhero urban fantasy series, Party, is running late. I’m hoping to release it summer of 2021 instead of its original May 5 release date. No date is currently posted because I won’t be releasing an exact date until I have a finished draft and at least one pass through my editor done. The Books page will be updated when I have that date.

Works Set Free (Or Priced Fairly) In The Wild

As part of the Beneath The Mask superhero romance anthology, I released an Arca World short story, Tough Love. It’s a little bit of a change from my usual work, as it is a clean and sweet romance, albeit with superheroes and lots of punching. It occurs after Toga, and before Breaking The Ice. The short description is: Tokio might be doomed, but is Andy’s secret relationship?

NOTE: Everything in the anthology before my story is nookie-free. Everything after it contains superheroes making some extremely steamy whoopee.

You can find it here, both for sale and in Kindle Unlimited: https://amzn.to/39Hgfx9

Even if they can’t get Tough Love for free for at least a year (the contract says so), my newsletter folks did get a new exclusive Arca World story, Breaking The Ice. It occurs after Tough Love and before Party. Here’s the short description: Andy’s been living a secret life as a superpowered vigilante for over a year now. The first day at a new job should be a piece of cake in comparison. Shouldn’t it?

Giving It All Away

My book Super is currently in a virtual book fair with over 100 other awesome science fiction or fantasy novels. People at the fair have a chance to sign up for a giveaway! You could win stuff.

Here’s the important part though: All the books $2.99 (USD) or less! Some of the books are Kindle Unlimited, some aren’t (like mine). It’s definitely worth a look. I’ve picked up a couple books myself.

Check out: https://clcannon.net/bookfair

(Virtual) Public Appearances

Last year, I participated in a panel for QuaranCon 2020, a virtual writer’s convention.

Or at least my avatar did.

They apparently didn’t learn anything from last year, so I’ll be on a panel again, this time talking about writing short stories. It was a fun and educational conference last year, and the panels this year seem pretty dang awesome too! My panel will stream live on YouTube on April 8 at 4.30pm EST. You can find a link to it on the QuaranCon page (and a translation to your time zone) at: https://www.quarancon2020.com/schedule-1/Writing-Short-Stories

Once the conference is over, I will update the About page to include a link to the actual panel.

Keep Your Toga On!

Toga! Toga! Toga!

Toga - Arca Book 5 - By Karen Diem As of May 5, 2020, Toga is loose and running free, throwing laurel wreaths and available for purchase at every major retailer. Don’t myth this one! The ebook is $3.99 USD or the equivalent, and most major ebook retailers should be more than happy to sell it to you.

Paperback versions will follow in a few weeks, but the 6×9″ books will be bursting with historical inaccuracies, lame jokes, and all the Arca you expect and then some. I’ll comment below when that happens. In the meantime, you can get a quick glimpse of the first chapter here.

And yes, this notice is late. It’s one of many things running sideways right now. Hope your Cinco de Mayo was a happy one!

For Your Free Viewing Pleasure

Bored? Stuck at home obsessing over that thing you meant to do that didn’t turn out quite right or perhaps never got started?

Let me help you procrastinate.

I’ve started attending and serving on panels at (virtual) cons. It’s great. I get to show off my invisibility superpower and be that mysterious voice that comes in from offscreen with the awesome jokes and everyone else gets to practice making faces at said comments.

Anyway, on April 28, 2020, I was on the Superheroes panel of QuaranCon 2020. We talked about superheroes we’ve known and loved (from afar, well outside of restraining order boundaries, I swear!), as well as small bits here and there about our own writing. The other panels at the convention were also entertaining; I particularly enjoyed the one on fight scenes.

This week, I’ll be attending the Superhero-Fiction Con and speaking on TWO panels, despite the con organizers having been with me on the QuaranCon 2020 panel. That con will have one panel every weekday from May 18 to May 22 at 6PM EST. I’ll be speaking on the Tuesday (May 19) panel on creating the powers behind the heroes, and on the Friday (May 22) panel on superhero origins.

After that, I’ve got no more virtual conventions planned for the moment. That’s subject to change if and when I get asked to do a sufficiently interesting one again. If they’d like to PAY me, that’d be even better. Cash dollars, Paypal, or homemade chocolate chip cookies only.