VCON done! O. M. G.

What a weekend. It was nuts. I spent most of the con manning my dealer table. I wish I could have also gone to the various panels and such- At any one time, I would have had a hard time deciding which of the events running at the time to go to.

Rob from Let The Games Begin (or NAMBLA) couldnt make it on friday do to scheduling mixups, so I had to do what I feared, and make my table look decent with one product. I laid down a poster (which was for sale, though I didnt mention that to anyone.. so it didn't sell, oddly) across the table over the tablecloth, and spear out my promotional magnets, postcards, bookmarks, and made a good ole book pyramid. (laying FLAT, folks, I'm not nuts) with one hardcover standing proudly on top. I also had a hardcover acting as a stand for the cool plastic sign I had, which was a great investment. Many a random wanderer would start reading it with a bored expression...

"She Lost her brother." Ho hum.
"She learnt to fight a legion of dead." Big whoop.
"She spent two years alone, scavenging to surive." Yawwwwwn...

"Then to make things difficult, she fell in love with a striaght girl."

That's where I got to see the expression change. Heheh, great fun. To qoute one fellow, "AAAAAAWLright, ya got me! How much?"

The second best marketting weapon was the pinup postcards and magnets of Regan:


Yeah, a few people took without buying the book, but that's fine. I brought a pile for anyone. It's also my art gettin out there, and even still, I was there to just be OUT there, not jsut make money. I did make OK money though.

I asked on a writers' forum once, "I've never been to anything like this, how many books do I take?" and the answer I got was "Bring 10. Be darn glad if you sell 4." I'm glad I took more than 10. I for home with 4 to spare. Granted, this was also a 3 day event, so I averaged 6 books a day. This paid for my table, and admission for this year and next, the promotional junk, and of course the books themselves. Then pizza, and a few other bits n bobbles.

All in all, the 2nd edition has already paid for itself (once I collect on my pre-orders) and I still have a handful let to sell at Robs store, and the comic shop.

What a blast. I could make the most obscure reference, and no one looked at me like I'd just landed from mars. People got it. These were nerds, these were my people. Cute girls came wearing RedBull backpacks and gave me life! Darth vader allowed me passage to the mens room, Batou's skinner cousin offered me a brain dive, a hyper gal in chainmail hung out at my table for a while.

Some guys have unbeleivable weekends, and never tell thier wives what happened, because they'd make thier wife mad. I won't tell my wife, cuz I'd put her to sleep. :P

"Hey guys, I thought there'd be nerdier conversations at these things."
"Like what?" Asks the guy in the utili-kilt.
"Like... who would win, Iron Man, or the enterprise?"
"........ which enterprise?"

And it was ON, FUTHAMUKKAZ!! For the record, the startrek fandom was scarce if any.. classic starwars dominated that area, with 2 Vaders, a Boba Fett, 2 jedi, and sevreal imperial officers being the most notable and realistic costumes. There weren't as many cosutumes as I expected, but those that showed, glowed. The renisance side of things made a decent showing as well. It was less of a sci-fi con, and more of a general fandom con, I think.

Anyway... yeah. I'm going next year, I'm already paid up. Gotta get working on Yute NOW. After I get some sleep. I barely ate or slept for 3 days. I dunno why I'm still alive.

The sun rises again.

Go put on 'House of the Rising Sun' or some doors or something. Done? Ok, now you may continue reading.
I sit here, sucking down a NOS, feeling it's taurine payload hit my brain like the Normandy beach, as the music lulls the chaos into a quivering undercurrent, waiting to strike. That can only mean one thing.

Time has come for me to turn my attention back to "Watching Yute". (As soon as I find the USB stick it's saved on.. no worries, I have a pretty current backup on my HD if it doesn't show up...)

Yute has been a little neglected during the re-working of Lifehack for the 2nd edition, and the launch prep. Now, all that lifehack needs form me is for me to actually show up to the Sci-Fi convention. I politely mentioned what I was selling there, and they crew from the con put me in the list of authors launching at the con. Cool beans. Spider Robinson's gonna be at the con. He's pleasantly crazy. I'm not big on autographs, but I might make an exception.

While Yute's been fermanting on the backburner, a few new ideas have risen from the stew. Dark ones. More than ever, Watching Yute will be a VERY different beast from Lifehack. Yute will have a lot less flat out action, and a lot more drama. I'll try to keep it form getting TOO emo all at once though, folks, don't worry. (And yet I hear the old trenchcoat speking to me....)

Yute's gonna focus a lot LESS on the sci-fi-ness than Lifehack, although of course it will be a necessary factor to the stroy. By comparison, the third book I have planned for the Lifehack world (Our world, + about 50 years, and a conitnent I invented) will be a blitzcrieg of sci-fi tech. (And sorry, no lesbians in #3) Drama? Yes. Romance? No. Maniac on the loose? Kinda.

Is it 'dangerous' to have three books in a 'series' vary too much thematically? I don't know, though frankly I don't care. If I were writing to please some big publisher who wants a string of sequelitis, I might, but I think people have figured out I'm not doing this for the money. In the rich canadian tradition of authors, I'm just trying to cover my losses. :)

Last night I put in an order for another payload of Lifehacks. Aside from not being sure if I had enough coming to me for the con, I got a couple more requests for the hardcover version. I really didn't anticipate that.. I figured that only people who knew me and wanted the deluxe collectible would be interested in the hardcover, but lo, I was mistaken! I can't blame folks tho, I'm letting them got for $10 less than the net price, (long story, but it involves shipping costs to Canada from the publisher) and the hardcover... is just so purdy!!!

Alright. The Nos is winning and my playlist has migrated form classic rock to techno. Time to rip the house apart looking for my USB stick.

Officially ON for VCON!- and corrections galore...

Just a note.. my last post had the wrong dates and place. Wheee! I are smart. It's actually the 3rd to 5th in SURREY. Oy. How'd I get it so messed up?

Anyway, a couple people mentioned they might wanna go and say hi, then I scared em off by telling them how much I'm paying to get in. That $50 was for the full 3 days...!

The daily rates go from $13 for a kid on sunday, to the most expensive being $35 for an adult on saturday. http://www.vcon.ca/registration.htm for details.

Lifehack is officially launched! and VCON confirmed!

Although the softcover's been available on the net for a little while already, I held off until I could approve the hardcover before I called it a launch. Well, I got the hardcover, and approved it, it's darn purdy. I'm really glad I did it.

Those of you who know me personally and live nearby can order from me now, before I put in my big batch purchase. Hardcovers through me will cost only $30, as oppose to the 40 I'm kinda forced to sell it for online, AND, I'll be eating those shipping charges for ya.

Those of you who live elsewhere would have to resort to buying it from the publisher. Shipping to Canada costs way too much, IMO, but to the US is very reasonable.


Softcover $19.95: http://www.lulu.com/content/2853707
Hardcover $39.95: http://www.lulu.com/content/3163628


As usual, you can also go to my site, www.ozero.ca to read about it, and check out the related posters. All the links have previews of the book attached to them.

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It IS confirmed that I am going to be at VCON (Vancouver Sci-fi Convention) and be selling there, (Hey, no shipping for people that buy direct form me!) October 3-5, in Surrey. (bonehead errors fixed thanks to jenni from the blo- er, the con.)

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Caitlin news: 15 steps for a freewalking record now. She gets 12s off pretty regularly now and is beginning to see walking as a viable mode of travel, not jsut a stunt that makes grownups happy.

She and I also had a big adventure on monday, downtown to be filmed playing for part of a DVD for other parents who aren't confident with their kids, or just play inappropriately. (Too much roughhousing, or too nervous to interact, etc) Thanks partly to my wife's influence I suppose, I was told I was a natural, and a very good play-buddy for a 1 year old. Also, my being in a wheelchair should show some parents that they cant whine about being tired at the end of a day, or having a bad back! hehehe.

We then popped over to GF strong, where I spent 6 months after my accident, and introduced Caitlin to some of the staffers who still work there. We also got to show off our custom baby-carrier. Then we had lunch at the GF strong cafeteria.. mainly for nostalgic reasons. The food was better in 2001. Darn cutbacks.

Form getting on the bus at 7:30 am, and getting home at 4:30pm, we had a LONG day. She fell asleep in my lap for a bit on the way home, the the skytrain woke her up. She wasn't fond of the skytain's sounds on the way in either. Still, despite that, and coming home tired as heck, I think it's safe to say we both had a pretty good day.

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International Students

Braveheart and FraidyCat have gone home, and all is well there. We have a little bit of quiet for a while. But Lo and behold, yesterday, PING magically appeared! She can drive a person nuts sometimes, but in small doses, she's lots of fun. She brought a china-made barbie ripoff for Caitlin, (with the words SUPERIOR GIRL on the side of the box) and olympic cell-phone dangly charms for me and Michelle. I filled her in on how things were going here, and she told me bits of what's going on in Beijing, and her impressions of the 'creepy' police presence that normally isn't there. She also checked on the stuff she's storing here until she finds an apartment downtown. Right now she's staying with family friends.

On the 27th, our 'usual' Korean student 'Radar' comes back, (doing her grade 12 and graduating here) then on my Bday, the 30th, the new german girl (no nickname so far) will arrive. We've been in correspondence, and she seems quite nice. She only stays for 5 months and then we're to get a new german.

FraidyCat , LionHeart and the 12 step program

The other day two 16-year-old korean students came to stay for 3 weeks. The school board keeps em pretty busy most days, (mostly on touristy type things) and michelle seems intent on doing things with them on the days off... because there isn't much else for them to do.
Yesterday, then both found some toys- my nephew's scooter, a skipping rope, and a hula-hoop... (which is actually Ping and Radar's magnetic 'health hoop'.. wtf...) and then went out into the front area, and played. Yeek. Ladies, we have tv and vid games, and you're outside being randomly active? SICK SICK SICK!

Ah, I have to assign them 'minor-protecting-codenames'. Well, I don't know them that well yet, (and in the course of 3 weeks, I probably won't know them TOO much better, as their english is a bare minimum) so I'll be lazy and categorize them by one defining event.
I let my cat Leela jump up on my lap as she often does, and I wet to go introduce them to her. One of the girls FREAKED RIGHT OUT. I'd seen this kind of thing before, but it was because of a dog. (and it was a GUY, who screamed like a 12 year old girl whenever our dog came into view.) So, for the next 3 weeks, when the girls are awake and home, I'll try to keep Leela outside. In this weather, that's not such a bad thing, but when she comes back in, she demands attention. Lots.
So codenames? FraidyCat and LionHeart. Not that LH was eager to embrace Leela, but compared to FC's reaction... yeah. It's kinda sad.. Leela's the meekest little thing. (At least when humans are concerned)

We're going to attempt a couple Kimchi recipes. We never bothered with Radar, since she had already been in the country for a year and a half, and she was swept up in the kitchen chaos that Ping created.. so we didn't worry. Wish us luck.

Slightly less recent news- Caitlin is walking!! Not much mind you, she still sees crawling as far more efficient, even when carrying something. (her one handed, one-knee, one-foot crawl is hilarious, with an empty energy drink can under her arm like a football...) Her record walking so far is 12 steps. She only stopped because she reached her destination; the toybox. I think it was mainly an exercise in laziness. When I put her down, she was standing. She wanted to go to the toybox, and knew she had to stand to get at the toys. I'm sure she debated in her mind for a while about what was easier- WALKING over there, (what a pain in the ***! Walking! Sheesh!) or getting down to the ground, to crawl over, then having to get back up. Walking won.
Usually when we try to get her to walk, she won't, or takes one step before decided it's dumb and inefficient. He best walking is done for no particular reason, with no prompting, and with no camera around.
Oh yeah, she LOVES FC and LH. They like Caitlin quite a bit too, though I try not to let Caitlin bug them TOO much. FC and LH aren't here to babysit afterall.


AND.... Last moment Lifehack news- I'm still waiting on the first hardcover copy. The other shop in Maple Ridge that I was hoping to put some copies in officially said yes, and I had an unintentionally good day for local promoting yesterday.
As for those 2 shops and I going to the Vancouver Sci-fi convention- that's still up in the air, but I have identified which of the fellows would be leading the charge. He's out camping, so I didn't get to talk to him yesterday, but I did get come productive talk with the comic shop guy. So, the waiting game continues.
Before I ask people if they want copies for my big order, I still have to approve the hardcover copy, and settle the sci-fi con thing.

Local order time is quickly approaching! Hardcover first copy-

-Has just been ordered. 10 days processing, then shipping. Assuming it looks good, I'll then be taking orders for hard and softcover copies of the 2nd edition! Remember, you locals will save big on shipping be ordering through me when I do my big order.. that is, you wont pay ANY shipping.

I'm kinda rushing myself so that I'll have a small stock on hand for the Vancouver Sci-Fi convention. I'm also going to be ordering a couple posters for the con- specifically updated versions of these 2:
Alisia Glow (Text updated from this version to reflect the new shorter title)
Regan's ZombieKiller Illustrated cover (Lower left barcode thing changed a bit)
I'm gonna get em in 20"x30" for display/sale. If anyone else local wants a copy of one of those, or any of my posters available, order though me NOW to make me eat the shipping cost for ya!


Lemmie rant about costs of some of those nonsense...

Gripe#1- shipping to Canada-
Lifehack 2nd edition softcover is $19.95
Shipping that book to canada: almost another $26. And THAT is why I have my stuff shipped to the US and a fraction of the cost, then get my wife to bring them back on her next trip across. Even after gas, it's a big saving.
This is also why I wanna order a bunk batch for anyone local who wants a copy. (That, and then you don't have to deal with paypal, or online shopping, or waiting for the shipment)

Gripe #2-
Retail markup-
For world distro, there's a markup applied for the 'end' retailers, which means the physical store you would order them through, or buy from. (Not that barns and noble or any big store is ordering my stuff- they don't even know I'm out there unless a customer asks for lifehack)
The retail price of the hardcover Lifehack is 39.95. About HALF of that is the retail markup! I had heard 30% was a typical cut for a store, which I can understand... but 50%? Yeek. I WAS hoping to retail the hardcover for 29.95- which I can still do for copies I'm selling locally myself, but yeesh. 39.95... Who's gonna pay that? Well, it's a good thing there's the softcover for $19.95. Much more reasonable and competitive. Thanks to some changes to the guts of the publisher, I can get the price that low, about 7 bucks cheaper than the first edition. The 2nd edition softcover is the version I plan to promote, the hardcover is mainly for a handful of 'collectors'.

EXCITING NUDES!

Er, I mean news.

I may have mentioned before that the 2nd edition of Lifehack will probably be carried in a comic book store, and a games (board games, pen & dice games, etc) store. I was in the games store yesterday, and got yapping.
It turns out that the fellow that runs the games store, and the fellow that runs the comic store, might be sharing a table at the Vancouver Sci-Fi convention. which happens in october. I mentioned that I'd considered going to a convention before to sell the first edition of lifehack, but the cost of setting up, coupled with the lameness of having a table with one product... well, I never could find someone to share a table with..
I was quietly fishing for an invite, and I got it. (Subject to comic book guy's approval, and them actually deciding in concrete that they ARE going.)
... but it sounds good! I might see if I can bring a couple posters along. I only have a couple "in stock", and they're my personal posters... so I might just bring those along to decorate the table.. OR, if the guys go for it, I might have a few printed up just for the occasion.

Ah, by the way, fedex says the first copy of the 2nd edition will arrive (at our PO box south of the border) on the 15th. The cost in shipping is just horrific to Canada, I'm afraid. That's why I like to order a bit of a stockpile, save on bulk shipping, and sell locally from that pile, instead of referring people to the website. - and for the customer, it's instant gratification, instead of waiting for delivery. Anyway, I'm not sure when I'll be able to get it in my hands, but yeah.. on the 15th, the ball's in my court again.

I have no idea how many I want to order.. how many books does one sell at a convention? (especially if you're an unknown... the last name PICARD might catch a few eyes at a sci-fi convention though.. heh.) I don't expect to sell many in Pitt Meadows, since it IS the same story as the first edition, (even if it's more polished, better formatted, and has some new content..) the typical reader isn't going to want the same story again. Maple ridge has been under marketed though, and Coquitlam is next for me to invade....

...but that's kinda off in the future, and doesn't help me decide how many to get now..


In other news, in the livingroom, my nephew, aka fireball (red hair, too much energy) is currently playing mario kart advance on my gameboy, because despite my tidy little collection of games, he refuses to play anything that isn't vehicle based. He's obsessed with cars. I tried to show him contra, figuring the shotting giant monsters and blowing things up (WITH MASSIVE CHEATS, TOO!) would appeal to a 9 year old.

"Is there any vehicles?"
"No, but take a look at.."

And he was off in the corner looking for remnants of his hotwheel collection. What kind of 9 year old boy doesn't want to play games with guns?! What is the world coming to?! That sounds kinda bad, but I've seen this kid drive. We'd all be much safer if he had an obsession with guns instead.