Reading ghost stories at the Literary Speakeasy.

Never Enough doesn’t really describe this year’s live events, because I’m pleased with how many times I got to speak or read in public. I’m not sure I could have managed anything more.

Readings:

FogCon
Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading
Friday, March 10, 2017 at 4:30 pm
Members of Broad Universe — Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Sarah Grey, LS Johnson, and I — read a spectrum of work.  I read the prison attack from No More Heroes.

Rebound Bookstore
Something Weird Just Landed!
Wednesday, March 29, 2017 at 7:00 pm
S. G. Browne and I led off an Open Mic at San Rafael’s Rebound Bookstore. I read from No More Heroes, the third of the Templars novels.

StokerCon
Friday, April 28 at 1 pm
I read with Sumiko Saulson on the fabled Queen Mary. I read a bloody bit from Kill By Numbers, the second Templar novels.

BayCon
Friday, May 26 at 2:30 pm
I was in the mood to read something more from No More Heroes.

Octopus Literary Salon
Wings Unbound release party
Saturday, August 26, 2017 at 4 pm
Rebecca Gomez Farrell invited me and Daniel Potter to help celebrate the release of her novel Wings Unbound. I read from No More Heroes again.

Green Apple on the Park
Tuesday, October 3 at 7:30 pm
This was the debut of 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die. It was also my first opportunity to read at the lovely Green Apple sister store.

Borderlands Cafe
Saturday, October 7 at 3 pm
My homecoming at Borderlands was amazing. My friends turned out in force to help me celebrate 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die.

Lit Crawl
Hippos, Heroines, and Spaceships
Borderlands Bookstore
Saturday, October 14 at 6:30
I read as part of Phase 2 of the Lit Crawl with Sarah Gailey (River of Teeth), Sarah Kuhn (Heroine Complex), and Carter Scholz (a huge number of short stories). I read a not-yet- published story called “The Assassin’s Mirror,” which combines space opera and cemeteries.

Stories Bookstore and Cafe
October 17 at 8 pm
I returned to Stories in LA’s Echo Park for the first time since the release of Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues. I read a little of 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die and talked about the cemeteries I’ve visited.  It was great to see Megan Rosenbloom, director of the Death Salon, and meet Karie Bible, a tour guide at Hollywood Forever. Also in the audience was Agatha French, who interviewed us for the LA Times.

Mysterious Galaxy
October 20 at 7:30 pm
This was my first visit to the legendary Mysterious Galaxy bookstore in San Diego. Thanks to a feature in the San Diego Union Tribune, I had a great crowd as I raved about 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die.

SFinSF
Women in Horror
Sunday, October 29th at 6:30 pm
I joined Erika Mailman (Murderer’s Maid, a novel about Lizzie Borden) and Dana Fredsti (Spawn of Lilith and the Plague World trilogy) in a reading and interview moderated by Bay Area author, editor, and raconteur Terry Bisson at the American Bookbinders Museum.

Literary Speakeasy – the Martini Bar of Horrors 
Monday, October 30, 2017 at 7 pm
Martuni’s, San Francisco, California
Emceed by James Siegel, with Carson Beker, Meg Elison, Richard Kadrey, and Sumiko Saulson, I read some ghost stories from 199 Cemeteries To See Before You Die.

2017 Miscellaneous Live Events:

Borderlands Cafe
Sunday, February 5 at 3 pm
Borderlands celebrated Women in Horror Month by hosting a panel discussion between me, Horror Writers Association president Lisa Morton, and Bram Stoker Award-winner Rena Mason.

Stokercon
Saturday, April 29 at 11 am
I debuted a brand-new lecture called “Whistling Past the Graveyard” on the Queen Mary. I talked about ghosts, graveyards, and things that go bump in the night. The room was packed and people asked great questions.

Bay Area Book Festival
Saturday, June 3, from 10 – 6
It’s become an annual tradition for me to spend a day hanging out with the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Horror Writers Association at the Book Festival in Berkeley. I sold a ton of books this year.

At Barnes & Noble in Flint, Michigan

Barnes & Noble
Saturday, July 29 from 1 pm to 4
The Barnes & Noble at Genessee Valley Mall in Flint, Michigan let me sign the updated edition of Wish You Were Here.

Death Salon
Saturday, September 9, 2017
I was honored to facilitate a lunchtime discussion at the Seattle Death Salon. We talked about cemeteries, of course.

Ipso Facto
October 18 at 5:30 pm
It was great to sign 199 Cemeteries at the legendary Goth shop Ipso Facto. I’ve known Terri, the owner, since way back in the Morbid Curiosity magazine days, when she was a frequent advertiser, but I’d never gotten the chance to visit her before.

Dark Delicacies
October 21 at 4 pm
The first professional book signing I ever did — for the Sins of the Sirens anthology — was at Dark Delicacies in Burbank, California. It was wonderful to be invited back to sign 199 Cemeteries.

At the SF Elks Lodge, talking about cemeteries to a Taco. Photo by Jill Tracy.

San Francisco Elks Lodge #3
Sunday, October 29th, 12:30 pm
Now I am a party clown. I was invited to the Elks Halloween party to show some slides and get kids interested in cemeteries.

Borderlands Cafe
In November, I once again hosted Nanowrimo Write-ins at the Borderlands Cafe.  It’s inspirational to join so many writers banging out their books.  Although the first night was packed, I was all alone the night before Thanksgiving. Still, I look forward to doing it again next year.

Convention Panels:

I was on two panels at this year’s FogCon:

Social Media for Writers and Authors
Friday, March 10 at 3 pm
I moderated a well-attended panel about the variety of social media available to help writers connect with readers.  Joining me were Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Valerie Frankel, Phyllis Holliday, and Heather Rose Jones.

Pitches, Presentations and Proposals: making your point without resorting to kidnapping your boss
Saturday, March 11 at 4:30 pm
I participated in a panel moderated by Karen Brenchley, with Marie Metivier-DeMasters and Alfred Nash. We each brought different skills to the topic, from pitching panel topics to selling books, articles, and columns. The highlight was when we threw open the second half of the panel and let the audience pitch their books to us. Not only was it fascinating, it felt like we were being extremely useful.

At BayCon I pitched three panels and ended up moderating them all. I even got to participate in other people’s writing-oriented panels.

Girls Will Be Girls
Saturday, May 27 at 4 pm
Why are so many YA dystopias centered on young women? What about this particular genre is so appealing to (or inclusive of) young women and what does it say about our society? I moderated, with Teresea Edgerton, Margaret McGaffey Fisk, Linden Tarr, and Carrie Sessarego participating as panelists.

Women Of Horror
Sunday, May 28 at 11:30 am
Emerian Rich of HorrorAddicts.net led a discussion between me and Pat MacEwen about the stereotypes, expectations, and discrimination involved with writing in this mostly man-dominated genre.

Dystopian Space Opera from Ancillary Justice to Rogue One
Sunday, May 28 at 1 pm
I moderated again, with Juliette Wade, Douglas Berry, Andrew Clark, and Chuck Serface as panelists. What is it about galactic empires that turns the future into a dystopia? We’ll discussed fiction, television, and film and tried to figure out what form of galactic government would make everyone happy.

Harry Potter and Dystopian Fantasy
Sunday, May 28 at 4 pm
The final panel I moderated, with Jean Batt, Colin Fisk, and Linden Tarr participating, looked at dystopia in fantasy. What’s a main character to do when the government (whether the Ministry of Magic or the Empire of Melnibone, the Head of the White Council or rightful King of Westeros) will use magic and lies to keep the populace in line?

The Dreaded Outline
Monday, May 29 at 10 am
Technique discussion about outlining and other pre-work that helps keep writers motivated to the finish line. Tip-focused rather than memoir, it really highlighted all the different ways writers do the advance work (or in my case, outline once I get stuck in the middle). Moderated by Margaret McGaffey Fisk, with me, Jay Hartlove, Maya Kathryn Bohnhoff, and J. L. Doty.