Tag Archives: denver

Conventions

Kal’s Starfest 2019 Schedule

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I’ll be at Starfest this weekend, so if you’re in the area, I’d love to see you there!  I’m on two panels:

Combat in SF and Fantasy (Friday 9 PM)

A discussion of the good, the bad, and the ugly scenes of combat and action in Science Fiction and Fantasy. To include the differences between games, movies, and literature and examples of each.  Also a discussion of the morality and emotional impact both upon the audience and the characters involved

These Aren’t The Drones You’re Looking For  (Saturday 8:30 PM)

A look at modern cyber and drone warfare and delving into the future of where things are headed.  Killer Robots aren’t just in the future, they’re here and now.  We’ll talk about how to use them in writing as well as where it’s going in the future.

Conventions, Entertainment

Helloween Masquerade

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Hey everyone.  I celebrated my birthday this weekend by visiting the Helloween Masquerade here in Denver.  The big draw of it for me was Cruxshadows, one of my favorite bands, and since they rarely (if ever) tour in the US and it happened to fall on my birthday weekend, everything worked out perfectly.

If you’re a fan of their music, I shouldn’ t have to tell you how awesome it is to see them live.  They have a ton of energy, their songs resonate with me, and overall, it was a great experience.  If you’re not a fan of their music, I’ll link some of their stuff and feel free to watch.  It’s not for everyone, but I find it’s great writing music for me.

Oh, and to top things off, they started playing this song right around midnight (and the start of my birthday).

All in all, it was a great weekend, the perfect way to get me charged up to tackle all these books I need to write.

Here’s a couple of their songs that I enjoy:

Conventions

Kal’s Whimsy Con Schedule

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Hey everyone, sorry for the delayed post, this was supposed to go up yesterday.  Here is my schedule for Denver’s new Steampunk convention!

 

Merging Steampunk and Fantasy
Mesa Verde A
Fri Mar 2 7:00:pm – 7:50:pm
A discussion on laying the ground work for creating a believable world using the elements of both Steampunk and fantasy.
A.M. Burns, J.A. Campbell, Kal Spriggs, Lou J Berger
Writing Steampunk
Mesa Verde B
Sat Mar 3 9:00:am – 9:50:am
The Steampunk genre doesn’t have well defined edges or boundaries. How do you write a Steampunk aka sci-fi, fantasy, punk, futuristic, Victorian story?
Kal Spriggs, Terry Kroenung, Tonya L. De Marco
Discussing Combat in Fiction
Wind Star A
Sat Mar 3 10:00:am – 10:50:am
The good, the bad, and the ugly scenes of combat and action including the differences between games, movies, and literature. Also a discussion of the morality and emotional impact both upon the audience and the characters involved.
Kal Spriggs, Melissa Koons, Sam Knight, Traci Cartwright
Ow, My Spleen!
Wind Star B
Sat Mar 3 2:00:pm – 2:50:pm
All too often in a book or movie, the characters undergo severe physical trauma, only for them to undertake heroic acts in the following scenes. How do you write realistic fiction where your characters are injured and face the consequences yet still manage to allow them to do what you need?
Jessica Lauren Gabarron, Kal Spriggs
Conventions, Fantasy, Science Fiction

MALCon 2016 In Review

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I enjoy all of the Colorado SF & Fantasy conventions very much, but Myths and Legends Con is by far my favorite.  I think it’s the fact that there’s no drama, everyone is there to have fun, things are extremely well organized, and it’s just all around a good time.

Jim Butcher was the guest of honor this year.  I really enjoy the Dresden Files series (in many ways I think he has redefined the urban fantasy genre).  It was fantastic to listen to him talk about what he has coming next and being on a panel with him was fantastic (standing room only, too, I wish they’d put us in a bigger room).  I know that panel in particular was recorded, I’ll have to see if I can find the link.

In all, I was on eight panels, so it was a very busy schedule for me.  The nice thing was that the venue for MALCon means there’s no fighting through long corridors to get to your panel room, everything is centrally located around the hotel lobby.  So I never had any problems getting from one panel to the next, and trust me, removing that bit of stress is something that can’t be overrated.

I enjoyed every panel and even the ones without official moderators went smoothly enough, all the panelists were professional enough to talk through the subject.

MALCon is also family friendly and they had plenty of kids activities to keep children interested and having fun.  I highly recommend it for just about anyone who is a fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Better yet, they’re hosting Westercon next year, so it should be a blast.

Conventions

Kal’s Convention Schedule Update

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A quick update to my convention schedule.

I’ll still be attending MALCon here in Denver from 12-14 August.  It’s right around the corner so if you’re in Colorado, I highly recommend attending!

Unfortunately I won’t be able to attend Dragon Con this year.  The expense of travel and hotels is too much.

I’ll now be attending Honor Con in Raleigh, NC from 28-30 October.  I’m really looking forward to that one and I’m excited to attend.  It’s a military science fiction convention, so if you’re in the area you should check it out.

Because Honor Con is the same weekend as Mile Hi Con, I won’t be able to be at both places at once.  I will no longer be attending Mile Hi Con.

That’s all for now, I’ll keep you posted on further changes to my schedule.

 

Conventions, Fantasy, Science Fiction

Starfest 2016 in Review

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Eshka Jedi at Starfest
Eshka Jedi at Starfest

Starfest is come and gone, gee that was quick!

They held it at the Crown Plaza Hotel near DIA this year, which was a new venue.  The new location was sort of a mixed bag, while I felt there was plenty more room for vendors, artists, and media, there was a bit less room for panels (which is a big part of why I attend!)

That said, it was a fun convention.  I was supposed to have three panels: Ow! My Spleen, Where Did This Chocolate Come From?,  and Combat in SF and Fantasy.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to the panel on Chocolate, though I heard it went well.

The Ow! My Spleen panel discussed injuries of characters, always a fun topic.   While I didn’t get everyone’s name from the panel, I was moderating, also participating was Sam Knight and  Chaz Kemp.  Both of them had some great contributions about what horrible things to inflict upon characters (all in the name of plot, story, and character growth, of course).

The Combat in SF and Fantasy panel went excellent as well.  We had Johnny Woodard, Betsy Dornbush, Chaz Kemp, and Courtney Farrel and one other author whose name I couldn’t remember (I think I have his business card, he had great things to say).  We had a very full room, with great discussions and I really want to thank Johnny Woodard and Courtney Farrel for their excellent expertise that they brought to the subject and it was awesome to have Chaz Kemp with an artist’s perspective.

All in all, I really enjoyed Starfest and I hope to be back next year!

Costumes at Starfest
Costumes at Starfest
Conventions, Science Fiction

Starfest 2016

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I’ll be at Starfest 2016 here in Denver this coming weekend (11-13 March).

While I’m there, I’ll be moderating two panels: Combat in SF and Fantasy and Ow! My Spleen!  I’m also trying to get an author table, but I haven’t heard anything about that so far.

Here’s my schedule:

Saturday 12 March @ 1 PM Ow! My Spleen!

All too often in a book or movie, the characters undergo severe physical trauma, only for them to undertake heroic acts in the following scenes. How do you write realistic fiction where your characters are injured and face the consequences yet still manage to allow them to do what you need?

Sunday 13 March @ 11 AM Where Did This Chocolate Come From?

Every time our character turns a corner in a secondary world, it seems there is a decision to make. Even something as simple as a drink (and brawl!) in a tavern can lead to a thousand questions about commerce, culture, and connections. Our panelists will talk about these decisions, pitfalls and rabbit holes, and when to say when.

Sunday 13 March @ 3 PM Combat in SF and Fantasy

A lively discussion about what works (and doesn’t) in books and media as far as fighting and conflict. A friendly discussion about violence, bloodshed, and what effect it has upon characters. We’ll discuss what goes on in crafting a scene, what makes a fight scene realistic without being over the top, and we’ll dive into examples of combat done right versus where authors/directors have gone wrong.

If you are here in Colorado, I hope to see you there!

Conventions

Kal’s 2015 Mile Hi Con Schedule

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Here’s my schedule for Mile Hi Con this year:

Friday, 23 October: 6 PM: Fantasy Primer: From Alexander to Zelazny

Saturday: 24 October: 8 PM: Violence in Fantasy

Sunday: 25 October: 10 AM: Pow! Bam! Writing Good Fight Scenes

Mile Hi Con is at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center in Denver.  It’s one of Denver’s bigger conventions and this will be my first year attending.  I’m really excited to be there and if you’re in the area, I encourage you to come.

Conventions, Entertainment

Myths and Legends Con 2014 Experience

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From the Game of Thrones Murder Mystery Dinner (The real mystery is who survives)
From the Game of Thrones Murder Mystery Dinner (The real mystery is who survives)

Myths and Legends Con, also known as Malcon, is a Denver, Colorado convention.  This was my first year both attending and being a guest.  All in all, it was a fun experience.  I met a lot of folks, both writers, fans, and that interesting group of people who just sort of show up, not really knowing what a convention is all about.

Malcon was not a large convention, but it had the feeling of a group of friends hanging out and talking that you don’t get at some of the other conventions I’ve seen.  Everyone was friendly and was there to have a good time.  There weren’t any arguments (well, okay, some rabid discussion about plot twists, character arcs, stories, etc. of some big name authors, but that was all in good fun and no one drew blood… mostly), and there was a very relaxed attitude for the whole weekend, with little of the stress of racing to the next event or panel.

Part of that was due to the excellent organization by the staff.  They managed the entire event very professionally and with few of the issues I’ve seen at other conventions as far as double scheduling panels or guests and that sort of thing.  They managed this despite having to shift venues at the last minute due to a conflict with the former location.  They also had to deal with a major highway (I-25) being shut down in the middle of town, which obviously threw a lot of people’s schedules into a bit of turmoil.

Victorian Steampunk
Victorian Steampunk

All in all, Malcon was a lot of fun and I’d love to attend next year, as well.

Conventions, Entertainment, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Kal’s August Updates

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August is here!  As far as my updates, I’m still finishing up The Shattered Empire and I’ll be getting it out to my alpha readers in the next couple weeks.  Echo of the High Kings is now available on Amazon as an ebook and paperback.

In addition, Look to the Stars is now available on Amazon.  The short story takes place just before the events of The Fallen Race.  Look to the Stars is from the perspective of the smuggler, Mason McGann.  As an introductory offer, I’ll have it available for free this weekend, 10-11 August.  You can get it here.

Lastly, I’ll be at Myths and Legends Con this weekend in Denver, Colorado.  You can find their website here.  I’ll have paperback copies of my books with me if anyone wants to get a signed copy.

That’s all for now, stay tuned for other updates and snippets/samples.