Ramblings of Jeff Somers, author
All right, the final NYCC post. With things this huge, you end up with a lot to say about them. I took all the video we filmed while running around NYCC and edited together this short video to give my 2 days at NYCC in 5-6 minutes. Enjoy!
Whew! I’m exhausted.
On the Panel I was part of at NYCC, the subject of research and Wikipedia came up. One author scorned Wikipedia, stating that if you want your research to hold up, you need to go to a better source, like Brittanica or something. Another author sneered a little at this, but more or less I think we all basically agreed: Wikipedia is fun and all, but I wouldn’t construct my legal defense from facts glimpsed on that site.
Today, glorious Slashdot gifts us with False Fact On Wikipedia Proves Itself.
This, friends, is why the future is going to be pretty damned confusing. Can you imagine if we ever do develop time travel? The end of civilization. We’d simply never be able to keep track of anything any more.
SFSignal recently invited me to take part in another Mind Meld with them, this time considering the question of what the hardest part of being a writer is. You can read my response as well as everyone else’s here:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2009/02/mind-meld-the-most-difficult-part-of-being-a-writer-is/
Personally, I think the hardest part really is having to wear pants all the time. So binding when you’re sitting at a desk all day. But court orders are court orders.
There’s a short bit over at Tor.com concerning panels at NYCC here.
I’ve only been involved with 1 panel at NYCC in my life, so my experience is quite limited. In general, I agree with the sentiment in the piece – the panel was too big. If your purpose is to let fans interact and question authors in a satisfying way, I think a panel half that size would have been ideal.
On the other hand, we had a big crowd that I got to prance around like a jackass in front of (my favorite promotional technique), and if we cut 5 of those authors would we have done so well? Probably not.
Next time I do a Con, friends, let’s organize our own unofficial Jeff Somers Panel: You guys, me, a tavern. You buy the drinks, I answer the questions, someone volunteers to a) carry me to my hotel room and b) call my wife and explain it’s not my fault.
Hola, everyone. Still recovering from NYCC. I’ll probably be saying that for months to come, because I am not a young man any more, and The Drink has taken its toll. I have the body of a much older person.
Our Twitter Fiction Experiment was a success, and we got some great feedback. AJ over at Spontaneous Derivation even collected the Tweets, organized them in order and filtered out everyone else, and have offered it up to the world, for which I thank them. So, if you wish, The Black Boxes, in order:
http://tweets.spontaneousderivation.com/Somers/Black-Boxes.html
Since it was such a grand success, what the hell, I’ll do it again. Just as before, let’s vote on which title gets Tweeted. All you get is the title; no other indication of what the story’s about. Though I can say they’re all SF/Fnal in nature, to some degree. Herewith your choices:
1. The Music Makers
2. Dreamers of Dreams
3. The Awards Dinner
Note: Complete coincidence that 2 of those titles are ripped from the same poem.
Go on and email/comment/twitter you vote to me. Story starts on 2/16, and votes will be counted up until 2/15. The same Twitter account: http://twitter.com/somers_story.
See ya there!
Whew. I am exhausted.
New York Comic Con was great fun, but the sheer crush of people is wearying. Although out of those tens of thousands, I met a few new folks that were very cool, and a few old friends. Plus we had: ADVENTURES.
Here’s a quick video recap of Day 2 of NYCC:
First off, Jeff’s incompetence rears its ugly head as I arrived at 1:25pm for my 1:30pm panel, then went to the exact wrong location and stood there for a while, confused. After sprinting my way for half a mile of sweaty, costumed people, I arrived at the panel room 5 minutes late with sweat streaming down my face. When you do this, you end up sitting behind a monitor so no one can see you. Here’s my view from the panel table:
Afterwards, I found a complete, total stranger who is not my brother to give me an endorsement:
Then it was off to the Autograph area to sign books, and people actually showed up!
And a few people even brought my mysterious, largely-forgotten first novel, Lifers, which almost made me weep in joy:
We realized we were right next to Lou Ferrigno in the autograph area. Lou was not particularly friendly.
Erik who comments here all the time showed up! He had Lifers too, which made us love him. Then I stalked him for the rest of the day, until he called security and had us ejected.
When The Duchess invaded Lou Ferrigno’s space a little, he growled at her, and I had to remind her that I am a small, weak man.
Obligatory Princess Leia babe getting books signed by me:
Doug Finch of The Whirligig was there and stopped by despite the danger of my reputation being attached to him:
All in all, a fabulous experience. While I wouldn’t recommend showing up late for your panels and having to run the length of the Javits Center in a flopsweat, it all worked out, and we signed just about every book Orbit had sent along.
The Orbit crew deserves a special mention: They not only do a fantastic job of organizing things, they also make it fun. They also absorb my incompetence and somehow alchemize it into success, a mysterious process I don’t claim to understand. They rock!
I have lots more vids, but what I’m planning to do is edit them together into a coherent mini-documentary about my days at NYCC, which might take a few days to accomplish, especially with possible re-shoots and the special effects processing. Look for it!
So, the vids were posted late late last night. Comic Con is exhausting. I’ve heard that it’s become more and more commercialized over the years, and I believe it – in some ways this felt more like a trade show than a fan gathering. Everyone is trying to sell you things. Wonderful things, yes, but still. I felt pretty good that Orbit and I were just giving away books and meeting people – that part was ridiculously fun.
Seeing Lou “The Incredible Hulk” Ferrigno sitting lonely behind 150 feet of empty rope-line, waiting for someone to pay for his autograph? Not so much. I heard he was there for 8 hours. Obviously, that’s part of his job, what he does, but couldn’t they make it look friendlier? No harm in paying for autographs, but why did they have to set everything up like visiting hours at prison? I’m not famous, of course, but it seemed much more fun to have people crowded around the Orbit booth, shaking hands and cracking jokes.
My publisher, Orbit, and its duly appointed representatives, Alex and Dongwon, are AWESOME, despite the fact that Alex’s first question to me was “Did you really bring a flask?” and when I told him I’d forgotten it he sneered “You’re all talk!” I forgive him. I’m bringing the damn flask today, dammit, and will thus be drunk by the time my panel begins. I’m thinking something along the lines of My Favorite Year:
THEM: So, Mr. Somers, what about your influences as a writer?
ME: I’m not a writer, I’m a GENRE NOVELIST!
Or, er, something.
All I can say is, Alex and company make you feel good about being a cog in the industrial entertainment machine.
The folks in costume were fun, and not as prevalent as I would have imagined. Someday folks will be dressed as Monks, even if I have to pay them. Though I kept my eye out for the Death Note kid. If I see him, I’m high-tailing it out of there.
Anyway, we’re off to Day 2 in a bit. I will once again be twittering as I wander, and filming, and more vids will be posted tonight. Eventually I’m going to edit all the vids into a modest 5 minute little film, complete with some music and subtitles etc. Gonna be fun. As before: If you’re attending, find me. I’ll try to twitter my movements, though it’s hard because we actually don’t stay anywhere too long (unless The Duchess has found a deep vein of merch to mine) but I’ll try. And of course I’m doing the panel at 1:30 and a signing/book giveaway at the autograph area afterward, so if nothing else that is definitely where I’ll be. Probably sitting lonely and dejected while people crowd around others, so take pity on me.
Herewith videos from 2009 NYCC, featuring Jeff Somers and his Manager The Duchess:
WE ARRIVE, AND THE DUCHESS MUST ACQUIRE GOODS:
JEFF SIGNS BOOKS FOR FANS IN FRONT OF DISBELIEVING WIFE
JEFF SIGNS BOOKS
SEND BOOZE IMMEDIATELY
JEFF CONTEMPLATES PROPER ATTIRE FOR COMIC CON
JEFF THINKS PEOPLE ARE PRETENDING TO NOT KNOW WHO HE IS
More to come!
The videos I’ve taken are too large to post right now, so I’ll have to shrink ’em tonight and post them later. Forn now, know this: I just signed like 50 books for folks and my hand hurts, and we’re now going to wander around looking for coolness. Vids to follow later!
J
Okay, so I’m getting everything together to begin my NYCC odyssey. This ought to be interesting; I’ve never been to a con like this before. I’m a total noob. Naturally, whenever I am entering a potentially humiliating moment in my life, I’ll be updating y’all constantly. So if no one shows up for my signings – you’ll see it in live video!If I’m bumrushed out by security – live on video! Check here for updates.
I’ll also be tweeting – my location in the hall, if you’re looking for me, and what I’m doing from time to time, so follow me on Twitter if you want to keep up with my adventures.
And if you’re attending – see you there!