Another Orycon is just a week away, and with it another Sci-Fi Authorfest at Powell’s Books.  From the Powell’s events calendar:

Sci-Fi Authorfest V

A starfleet of science-fiction and fantasy authors descends for one galactic booksigning event. Attending authors include: Camille Alexa, Brent Weeks, David Levine, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Dean Wesley Smith, Peter Orullian, Mark Ferrari, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Kevin James Breaux, Meljean Brooks, Devon Monk, Lilith Saintcrow, J. A. Pitts, Timothy Zahn, Irene Radford, Ru Emerson, Adrian Phoenix, Andrew Mayer, Mary Robinette Kowal, Shannon Page, Claude Lalumiere, M. K. Hobson, Brenda Cooper, Vonda McIntyre, Louise Marley, and Ursula K. Le Guin. And in attendance will be the Cloud City Garrison of the 501st Imperial Legion. . . .”

Come say hi!  Bring a book for your favorite regional authors to sign — or not; just saying “hi” is fine too.

WHEN & WHERE: Sunday, November 13th @ 4:30PM at Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd. (800) 878-7323

Machine of Death, which opens with my story “Flaming Marshmallow and Other Deaths,” will be kickin’ it Canada style this weekend at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo.  Editors Ryan North & David Malki ! will be on hand to sign books and crack jokes.

You can still read “Flaming Marshmallow” online, or listen to it in audio at Escape Pod or the MoD audio feed.

In the latest news from Machine Of Death, “Flaming Marshmallow,” a story which first appeared in PUSH OF THE SKY and in audio at Escape Pod, is in audio . . . again!

From the MoD site:

I’m so freaking excited I can hardly stand it.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow is my birthday, the birthday. The birthday everybody waits and waits for and until you get there you just hate that all your old friends already got theirs and you’re the only one without it yet, and sometimes you think holy-freaking-eff, I’m never going to turn sixteen, but then you do.

This is what I’ve been waiting for all these months. All these years, I guess, though before my friends started getting theirs, it didn’t seem like such a big deal. We were all No-Knows then.

Tomorrow, I’m finally going to feel like I belong.

Tomorrow, I’m going to find out how I die.

 Download the MP3 • Subscribe on iTunes
Direct podcast feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/machineofpodcast

Reader Colleen AF Venable is a designer, author, and girl who laughs till things come out of her nose. During the day, she designs graphic novels for First Second Books and at night, she writes graphic novels about a not-so-imaginary-anymore hyperactive hamster named Hamisher. The world is a very lovely place.

In the book, “FLAMING MARSHMALLOW” is illustrated by Shannon Wheeler of Too Much Coffee Man!

My short story “Over a Narrow Sea” has gone live at Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine:

This is how I choose to remember it….

 The night was a rousing success. I swept down the main staircase just before the twelfth hour’s first strike on the great hall clock as my uncle proposed his toast to the infamous Warlord of Mekk and twelve hundred other guests. I’d dressed as my uncle ordered—in my best gown with its torturous collar digging into my neck, the tight-laced boots which hid my deformity, and that inane sash dangling from my left shoulder announcing my agecoming and my position as heir to the House of Toth. If I wore also a sharp knife strapped to my thigh and the glitter of rebellion in my eyes, well…there were no such orders for those. Those were all mine. . . .

My very short piece “A Proposal for Perspective” kicks off the December 2010 issue of Semaphore Magazine, which is gorgeous and free and from New Zealand, so it could hardly be more awesome.  A teaser:

“ waxers wax lyrical of slipping into sleep,
of dipping into dreams
as though to be unconscious
for no certain duration and
with no certainty of waking
is somehow a welcome thing

how like death!
breathing, yes, but senseless . . . “

Full issue includes “A Proposal for Perspective,” by Camille Alexa; “My Dad, the Tuatara,” by A. J. Fitzwater; “Dot Come,” by Alexandra Seidel; “Passport Revoked,” by Campbell Taylor; “Prometheus (revisited),” by Alexandra Seidel; “The Minotaur’s Wife,” by Megan Arkenberg; “Ms Brellin,” by Therese Arkenberg; and “Sounds After We Were Gone,” by H. Edgar Hix.

I’m up in a short interview over at The Red Penny Papers, recent host to my serialized novella, “Particular Friends.”  Go check out our discussion of dream analysis, non-human characters, the slippery slope of inspiration, and the frailties of the weaker sex.

Those so inclined might also seize the opportunity to win a free copy of PUSH OF THE SKY via RPP‘s Serial Fiction Contest.

Lifted from RPP‘s site:

Particular Friends Contest

The Booty:
A personalized bookplate-signed copy of Camille Alexa’s Endeavor Award finalist collection, Push of the Sky.
To enter:
1. Read Particular Friends by Camille Alexa.
2. Comment before December 31 ends! Leave a comment on one–or all–of the PF episodes. Each comment counts as an entry, so up your chances of winning by commenting on all five episodes. Only one comment per episode per reader counts.

I’ll be on the road for the next few weeks, so connectedness may be spotty at best.  I’ll view it as a welcome opportunity to Write More.

Thought I’d best mention that my serialized novella “Particular Friends” will continue with its penultimate installment this weekend. A sneak peek at Episode 4 below:

Could it be so late? I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled on my boots, hastily fumbling at their buckles. A washbasin stood in one corner with a small mirror mounted on the wall above, and though the water was like ice I splashed a little upon my face and ran my fingers through my hair, hoping I looked presentable. Grabbing the only coat I owned, I raced downstairs, arriving breathless at the front desk. The porter there, a small, straight-backed, good-looking woman with three braids looped across her head, put down her book at my approach and raised one shapely brow.  

“Good Madam,” I panted, placing a hand across my chest to still my beating heart and catch my breath. “Forgive me, but what is the hour?” 

She didn’t have time to answer before a flurry of ice flakes and a blast of cold gusted into the room. I spun to see a massive shrouded figure, all motley fur and ivory claws like raking daggers, lumbering through the front door. My chest seized up and my knees turned liquid.

 . . . Read Episode 4 of “Particular Friends“ up at The Red Penny Papers this weekend. If you haven’t read the first installments,  Episode 1 here   / Episode 2 here /Episode 3 here .