This weekend is my first convention of the year.  I’m looking forward to going back to FogCon in Walnut Creek, California. My schedule is light this year, but high quality.

Friday night at 8 pm, E. M. Markoff and I will represent the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Horror Writers Association for an event called The Spectrum of Horror.  Here’s my description of it:

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein combined horror with science fiction. Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde blended social commentary with the horrors of addiction. Members of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Horror Writers Association will read from their own works to illustrate all the genres included under the mantle of horror.

My plan is to read the opening of The Dangerous Type, one or two of the ghost stories from 199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die, and parts of “Valentine,” from the new Alondra’s Experiences chapbook.

Directly following that will be the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading. Broad Universe is an international non-profit organization dedicated to promoting, encouraging, honoring, and celebrating women writers and editors in science fiction, fantasy, horror, and other speculative genres. Members will read selections from their works.

I expect to read a snippet of “Catalyst” from the new Alondra’s Experiments chapbook and a scene or two from Lost Angels, the first succubus novel.

Finally, at 1:30 on Saturday afternoon, I’ll join some of the contributors to the Strange California anthology to discuss…well, let me quote the description: “Strange California, released Aug 2017, is filled with fresh and imaginative stories that go beyond the expected collection of an anthology—these stories explore, reflect, and reveal the state, its history, its secret history, its legends, and its many mythologies. California inspires and invites the imaginative, both weird and wonderful. This anthology celebrates that inspirational quality—the state and its people as muse—through 26 distinct stories. This panel will explore the genesis of those tales and reflect on a cultural consciousness inclined to the speculative–a physical and geographical region fueled by the commerce of story. From the point of conception through the Kickstarter process, this panel will explore the unique creation of Strange California and the State it highlights.”

The other panelists are Laura Blackwell, Marion Deeds, Karen Rochnik, and Juliette Wade.

I hope to read a little taste of “Guardian of the Golden Gate.” It will be the first time I read that story in public.

Borderlands will have my books in the Dealers Room.

I’ll be wandering around, so please say hi.