Return From Balticon!!!

So, Balticon was a blast, of course. I went mostly for a release party for The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity with contributor Jean Marie Ward, and that happened Saturday night. Except for the craziness of setting up in the 5 minutes allotted, then doing the release in just 1 hour, and then cleaning up (which the people before us did NOT do) and getting packed up and out, the party was a huge success and great fun. The best surprise of all was that people actually showed up to buy the book, rather than just popping in for the free food and then leaving. We were swamped signing books for 45 minutes. I haven't done the official count, but we sold at least 15 books there, plus copies of our other books as well.

In any case, the other reason this con was special was because both of my brothers were there. Jason and Jacob (yes, we're all J's) came up or down from where they live and we shared a room and everything. It's the first time we've ever done anything with just us 3 (without parents, without other relatives, without significant others or kids, etc). Jason was there to network, since he writes science fiction. We thought Jacob had come in order to disappear into the game room for the weekend, but he actually never went to the game room (as far as I know) and hung out with either me or Jason, or went off to panels on his own. The brotherly bonding was good.

And of course, there was the JABberwocky agency bonding going on as well. I spent a good portion of the time (when not going to panels and such) hanging with Myke Cole (a guest blog will appear shortly), Jon Sprunk (a guest post from him as well), John Hemry/Jack Campbell (I haven't asked him yet for a guest blog), Peter V. Brett (same), and, of course, my agent Joshua Bilmes. We're all part of JABberwocky and had a spectacular dinner at Barrett's one night.

So, a great con. I don't feel like I ever stopped moving while I was there and it all happened rather fast, but it was great seeing old friends (although some only for a moment). The "Fantasy Title Chain" panel was a blast; I'll report back on some of the titles we ended up with later. I never got to participate in the "Liar's Panel" which was a disappointment. I had some pretty good lies made up for that. But overall, a great con.

Guest Post: "You Put Science-Fiction In My Fantasy!" by Myke Cole

Myke Cole is another author represented by my agent Joshua Bilmes. I met him first a couple of cons ago, just before his debut novel Shadow Ops: Control Point hit the shelves. I invited him to guest post and he agreed! So, first, an author bio and the cover of Shadow Ops: Control Point, followed by him talking a little about mixing SF with Fantasy and the genres and subgenres out there. So welcome Myke Cole and feel free to ask questions in the comments!

Author Bio: As a secu­rity con­tractor, gov­ern­ment civilian and mil­i­tary officer, Myke Cole’s career has run the gamut from Coun­tert­er­rorism to Cyber War­fare to Fed­eral Law Enforce­ment. He’s done three tours in Iraq and was recalled to serve during the Deep­water Horizon oil spill. All that con­flict can wear a guy out. Thank good­ness for fan­tasy novels, comic books, late night games of Dun­geons and Dragons and lots of angst fueled writing.

Book Description: Army Officer. Fugi­tive. Sorcerer.

Across the country and in every nation, people are waking up with mag­ical tal­ents. Untrained and pan­icked, they summon storms, raise the dead, and set every­thing they touch ablaze.

Army officer Oscar Britton sees the worst of it. A lieu­tenant attached to the military’s Supernat­ural Oper­a­tions Corps, his mis­sion is to bring order to a world gone mad. Then he abruptly man­i­fests a rare and pro­hib­ited mag­ical power, trans­forming him overnight from government agent to public enemy number one.

The SOC knows how to handle this kind of sit­u­a­tion: hunt him down-–and take him out. Driven into an under­ground shadow world, Britton is about to learn that magic has changed all the rules he’s ever known, and that his life isn’t the only thing he’s fighting for.





You Put Science-Fiction in my Fantasy!

Myke Cole

I’ve done at least two posts in my career trying to sketch out the boundaries of what constitutes “Military Science Fiction” or “Military Fantasy.” I hem and haw and sweat and curse, and in the end am always forced to come to the conclusion that the real thing those sub-genres are useful for (and, frankly, the real thing that all sub-genres are useful for) is to help sales reps pitch books to buyers, help bookselling websites develop recommendation algorithms, and help bookstore staff know where to shelve the damn things.

But surely the bigger categories of SCIENCE FICTION and FANTASY are important, right? I mean, they’re GENRES. There’s nothing SUB about them. If anything, they’re SUPER genres, rescuing defenseless speculative fiction manuscripts from the clutches of wicked (and snooty) literary villains.

And they have hard parameters. Both science fiction and fantasy are types of speculative fiction. The difference is in what they speculate about. Science fiction speculates about technology (the possible: think spaceships, robots, lasers, cold-fusion). Fantasy speculates about magic (the impossible: think dragons, vampires, magic spells). That’s clear, right?

Well, it was, I guess.

Enter “Urban Fantasy,” a sub-genre that most folks take to mean literary porn written about vampires and werewolves (a la Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books). The covers themselves have become a trope: A fetching woman suggestively posed, always with a gun or a sword in one hand, magic crackling in the other, always with a tramp stamp rising just above the belt-line.

But calling urban fantasy “Vampire Porn” (and I’m guilty of this myself) is to do it an enormous disservice. Much of the sub-genre is excellent, with an audience response that bears that out (Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels; Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files). And much of it contains absolutely no vampires at all, sparkly, or otherwise. This is because, at its heart, urban fantasy is trying to do something incredibly simple: Take the magic we know from classic fantasy tales from the likes of J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Brooks or Fred Saberhagen, (which we’re used to seeing in a medieval setting) and layer it over the complications and idiosyncrasies of the modern world. How does a private detective pursue an evil wizard? What’s it like to fall in love with a vampire?

These are interesting questions, the kind of cool what-ifs that genre fans have a hunger for.

I know I do. That’s why I wrote the SHADOW OPS series. The what-if there is: How would the modern military deal with magic? It was fun to explore, and it still is (I’m writing the 3rd installment in the series as we speak). I hope readers agree.

But people like labels. A lot of folks see a guy with a gun on the cover and jump right to calling it military science fiction. Seeing how the whole premise of the series is a unit of military sorcerers, that’s false on its face.

Fine, military fantasy then. But that’s not quite right either, is it?

Because SHADOW OPS takes place in the future. Technology has evolved too, partly to keep pace with the arcane developments blossoming around it. Helicopters have silent running modes that muffle their rotors. Infantry body armor is kitted out with rubber insulation and grounding wires to protect against lightning bolts.

And when you consider the fact that science fiction is social as well, you realize that the entire modern social order has changed to keep pace with what magic has wrought in the world. Science fiction doesn’t always have to deal with massive leaps to huge spaceships or teleportation. A couple of the more recent, notable works in the genre are based on the effects of genetic engineering and global warming. It can be subtle.

I like to think that SHADOW OPS does the same thing as well. Who knows? That’s for you to decide. Urban fantasy uses magic, to be sure, but because it takes place in a progressing modern world, the evolution of technology begins to push the genre towards the middle of the Venn diagram. China Mieveille’s Embassytown is an alien first contact story utterly pregnant with magic. Heck, anybody seen Star Wars lately? (The 3 most recent films don’t count) Those are just a couple of examples.

I can’t tell you with certitude that SHADOW OPS is science fiction or fantasy, but I will say this: When Ace sent me the cover image for the book, I insisted on seeing the spine. I think that all authors should do this. The spine is the part of the book that most folks will see when they’re browsing shelves at stores (the few that remain), and you should know what it looks like. But I also wanted to see how Ace categorized it for store placement (and to entice readers). Would they market it as a fantasy novel? A military thriller?

To my great delight, the spine read: ACE: FANTASY/SCIENCE FICTION.

That made me smile.

Because, honestly? I’m not sure we need the distinction anymore.