This past weekend, Friday, March 25 - Sunday, March 27, 2022, I attended the scifi/fantasy convention HeliosphereNY, temporarily relocated in Piscataway, NJ. It was their first live con in three years.
While I was there, I left a small pile of (x, why?) bookmarks by the freebies table, which were gone except for one by the con's end. Also, I donated 40 bookmarks, 10 of each of the four kinds that I had made over the years, to the eSpec Books Launch Party. Being that it was their first launch party in three years, they had many books to launch, but the most recent was Even in the Grave edited by James Chambers and Carol Gyzander. There were several authors in attendance to read from their stories. Additionally, Danielle Ackley-McPhail read from her latest book, Daire's Devils, an epic military sci-fi story full, and Keith R. A. DeCandido read from All-the-Way House, part of the Systema Paradoxa series of novellas about cryptids.
Bringing the readings portion to a close was yours truly, Christopher J. Burke. As you can see from the self-promotion at the end of almost every post, I have a collection of flash fiction, In A Flash 2020 available, and I have three flash stories in the anthology Devilish & Divine. I read one of the latter, "Bringer of Doom", about an ancient demon accidentally summoned by a preschooler. It got laughs and was found to be touching and heart-warming. Also, I know one young lady who asked me to personalize the copy of the book she'd just bought so she could read the ending.
I read a couple of stories from In A Flash 2020 earlier in the day, along with a couple of stories that I hope will be in another collection in the near, or at least not-too-distant, future. I managed to sell a copy of the anthology to an editor based on the two words "Kindergarten Noir". I warned her it was one of the shortest stories in the book, but she was not to be detered.
I had a good time, and the audiences seem to enjoy the stories.
If you came to this blog for that comics, welcome. I'm aware that the Comic Genesis mirror site is, at the moment, out of date. It's just a matter of time-allotment.
If you came to this blog because you heard me read, please, feel free to leave a comment. And check out my Writer's Page, which was created after those bookmarks were printed. It's at http://www.mrburkemath.net.
Thank you for stopping by.
Hi Chris! I really enjoyed your reading of "Bringer of Doom" at Heliosphere!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't avoid thinking of the short "Summon a Fiend" by Eleanor Cho:
https://omeleto.com/256173/
Guess I'll have to get a copy of Devilish and Divine to read your entire story and see how you treat the theme.
Richard S.
https://pureblather.com/
P.S. Whoa, you wrote stories in the "Car Wars" Universe? I played that game! So there's more books I have to find.....!
Thank you for stopping by the blog! I get so few that leave comments. (Usually when I make a math error ...)
ReplyDeleteYes, I got my start writing Car Wars stories. My friends and I even had a fanzine that ran for a year before all the subscriptions ran out. Some of those stories hold up, and some make me cringe. (The piece I have on Archive of Our Own, "U.S. 1" -- I gave up on the idea of cleaning it up. I left it as is, except for some typos.)
Thanks for the kind words about my reading. Earlier in the day was my first ever live reading, which had five people in attendance (mostly for the other two guys). The size of the evening crowd? Wow, mind-blowing. I'm glad the story was well-received.