Robin Hobb's Blog, page 9

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Comic Con International, the San Diego Comic Con, is just around the corner now. With all of the amazing panels and guests vying for your attention there, I hope you’ll make time to come by and see me!

Here is my schedule as I know it now:

Friday, July 19th, 2013 2:30PM/ 3:30PM Epic Fantasy Panel

AUTHORS:

Robin Hobb, BLOOD OF DRAGONS (HarperCollins, Harper Voyager)

Raymond Feist, MAGICIAN’S END (HarperCollins, Harper Voyager)

AREA: Room 24 ABC

4:00PM/5:00PM Post Panel Signing: Epic Fantasy

AUTHORS:

Robin Hobb, BLOOD OF DRAGONS (HarperCollins, Harper Voyager)

Raymond Feist, MAGICIAN’S END (HarperCollins, Harper Voyager)

AREA: AA09

Saturday, July 20th, 2013 11:00 AM/ 11:30AM In-Booth Promotional Signing: DRAGON KEEPER mass markets

AREA: HarperCollins Booth 1029

I will be arriving at Comic Con on Thursday July 25th and roaming about until Sunday July 28th. So if you see me wandering about, don’t hesitate to stop me to chat, and if you find OfficeKat meandering about and accost her politely, she will give you Robin Hobb swag. More on that as we approach the date, including how to recognize the OfficeKat.

I’ve also added BOOKMARKS in North Carolina to my schedule. That doesn’t happen until September, so I’ll give more information on that as we get closer.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Doesn’t that sound good? A park named for a Tacoma born author who helped raise environmental awareness? Frank Herbert, author of Dune and many other fine books, gave us the desert planet Arrakis, the spice trade and what was, for many of us, a glimpse of what terra-forming could be.

At one time, Frank Herbert lived in Tacoma, on the Tideflats, with a lovely view of the Asarco smelter and the accompanying, breath-defying odor. For years, the huge stack of the smelter spewed stink laced with arsenic and lead out in a plume that polluted public lands and private yards in Tacoma.

Those days are gone, thank goodness. What remains is a slag heap that is going to be reclaimed by the city and rehabilitated into a park. The park might be called Penninsula Park. Or, if supporters get behind it, we might have Frank Herbert Park in Tacoma.

For more information, please read the excellent article by Peter Callaghan in todays Tacoma News Tribune. Here is the LINK to that.

You can help make this happen. Visit www.ipetitions.com/petition/frank-her... Or click on this link (which, I know, is hard to see.) LINK

The petition had a goal of 50 signatures. When I just signed, it was at 79. Can we please boom this across the internet, to show Tacoma how much support there would be for naming a park after this wonderful writer?

Thank you!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

It’s supposed to happen on Friday the 13th. Not Thursday the 13th!

I arose at 3:30, flung myself together and the shuttle arrived at 4 AM. Flawless. The driver told me we had only two other stops before the airport. Great.

We were actually on I=5, near the Port of Tacoma exit when she got the call. Another driver had a flat. We had to race back to South Tacoma and pick up another rider. Okay. I was cool with that. We could make that. And we did! and all went well checking in. This time, they did not swab my fingers or keyboard for explosive residue. (Raise your hand if this has ‘randomly’ happened to you 3 or more times. That’s what I thought. Avoid sending international email messages with the word “assassin” in it, and maybe it never will. That’s my NSA tip of the day for you. Oh, silly me, I’m sure I’m just being paranoid and there is no connection at all!

Then to the waiting area. I just had time for a cup of coffee. We boarded the plane. Then we all got off. Something was wrong with the landing gear and they were going to have to jack up the airplane to get at it. So they gave us each $6 to get a bite to eat (at the airport?) and rebooked us. I ended up with a Salt Lake City flight that would not leave for several hours, not until 10 AM. I thanked the very harried man who was certainly doing his best. When I boarded, I found myself alone in an exit row. Not bad at all, and I finished reading the Joe Lansdale book that I’d started that morning. Mucho Mojo can make you forget you are on an airplane. Great tale.

So we got to Salt Lake City. It would be another long layover of several hours. I was to fly out at about 4:30. SLC airport is actually lovely, for an airport, with lots of windows and views of the surrounding mountains. I bought another book, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, and settled infor the wait.

But at boarding time, there was no airplane that worked. So they sent for another one for us. From Calgary, Canada. Okay.

Except that Calgary was snowed in. So that airplane was still on the runway, waiting to depart.

Well. Enough of this tale. I did reach Nashville, at 1 AM instead of the 4 PM on Thursday that I had expected, and Stephania, Amanda and Fred met me and transported me to the hotel.

And 11 hours later, I’m up and ready for Hypericon! Hope to see some of you here!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I will be standing outside my house with a suitcase, waiting for the shuttle for the airport.

I should wear my Archie Goodwin T-Shirt, the one that says, “The trouble with mornings is that they always happen before I’m awake.”

But no. I will dress for the airport (no belt, no earrings, pocketknfe left on the dresser, no coins in pocket, slip on shoes) and off I will go.

I’m headed for Nashville, Tennessee and Hypericon of course. It’s shaping up to be a fun convention. The schedule is posted at http://www.hypericon.us And I get to be on a panel with Glen Cook!

Hope to see some of you there!

Robin

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

We are one week away. If you act before June 10, you can still get the pre-registration price. As convention prices go, this one is a bargain, at $35 for pre-registration. And despite rumors to the contrary, discounted hotel rooms in the convention block are still available.

Hypericon (http://www.hypericon.us) is a Speculative Fiction and gaming convention held in Nashville, Tennessee. It goes from June 14 to June 16 this year. I will be a guest there this year, and other writing guests include:

Glenn Cook – known for The Black Company, Garrett P.I. Dread Empire,Instrumentalities of the Night, Starfishers and Darkwar.

H. David Blalock – known for The Angel Killer and Co-Founder of Imagicopter

Herika Raymer – Editor of Clockwork Spells and Magical Bells, Writer, Co-Founder of Imagicopter

Stephen Zimmer – known for Rising Dawn, and Fire of Eden , Founder of Seventh Star Press

Toni Weiskopf – science fiction editor and the publisher of Baen Books

This should be a very fun convention! I hope to see some readers there.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

This Saturday, June 1, I’ll be reading and signing from 2 to 3 at the Timberland Regional library at 7023 New Market Street, Tumwater, Washington. I’ll hope to meet some readers there!

Timberland Regional libraries hold a special place in my heart. For years, I lived just outside McKenna, Washington and the closest library was in Yelm. That’s a different county from McKenna…. But Timberland libraries span Pierce and Thurston counties. As a result, my kids and I could have library cards there. In addition to checking out books from the library, the staff there was always ready to request books on interlibrary loans for me. That’s a big deal when you are a writer trying to do research!

In addition, they had wonderful summer reading programs for my kids. Walking in the Prairie Days parade as part of the summer reading club along with the costumed Book Worm was a highlight of summer vacation.

Thanks, Timberland. I’m honored to be invited to read and sign.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

And I need say no more than provide this link: http://www.jackiemorris.co.uk/blog/the-willful-princess-and-the-piebald-prince/

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

I am very pleased to say that in July, the first volume of The Farseer Trilogy, Assassin’s Apprentice, will be published in Brazil by Leya Brazil. The title will be Aprendiz de Assassino. (There’s a link hidden there! You just have to mouse over it to see it. Must fix that!)

This will be Fitz’s first venture into South America!

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

The Boston Public Library gave me a wonderful welcome this evening. Thank you to all the readers who came tonight, and thank you to Pandemonium Books and Games who supplied books for sale at the library. Afterwards, I made a visit to Pandemonium and found it a wonderful place. They have tables and space for gamers as well as a large selection of SF/fantasy books and all sorts of games and gaming gear.

I signed a lot of stock for the store, so if you live in the Boston/Cambridge area and you want a signed book but were not able to attend tonight, you should definitely drop by 4 Pleasant Street in Cambridge. In addition to my books, I saw autographed book from George RR Martin, Richard Kadrey, John Scalzi and many others.

Originally published at Robin Hobb. You can comment here or there.

Those are my stops this week!

Tomorrow I fly to Boston, but my actual event is on Tuesday at 5:30 at the Boston Public Library on Boylston Street.

Then, on Friday, I’ll be back in the Pacific Northwest, cruising down to Beaverton, Oregon, to see old friends at Powell’s Books and do a reading and signing at 7 PM. Coffee with whoever hangs around afterwards if we can find someplace that’s still open!

I’d make the same offer for Boston, but I don’t know if there are any nearby coffee shops that wouldn’t mind an invasion. If anyone knows a good one, please do buttonhole me after the event. Late coffee and chat with readers is one of the pleasures of a book tour.

See you there, I hope!

P.S. Is it hard to see the links in the post above? Please let me know. You should be able to click on the Boston Public Library or Powell’s for more information.