Category: friends.

art. books. friends. travel. wild cards.

new mexico.

I just got back from New Mexico, where I spent three days visiting friends and attending some fun Wild Cards events.

The first was an “in-character” interview done for the audience at the Jean Cocteau Cinema. Due to the fact that I got into Albuquerque a little late, I got to the theater halfway through the event and basically had to do a cold interview–from the car onto the stage (in front of an audience, jumping into a show already in progress), and getting handed a microphone before I had much of a chance to get nervous. It was good fun, though, and I find I’m definitely getting better at public speaking/performing because I’ve done it so much now that my pre-event anxiety is a great deal lower than before.

On Monday, I went to a Wild Cards author party thrown by KayMcCauley at Meow Wolf, an art venue in Santa Fe that is pretty spectacular. I had a chance to meet Wild Cards writers and reconnect with those I’ve met before. I also got to meet Thomas Olde Heuvelt, who was whisked into the event by George R.R. Martin after his own signing in town the same evening. (He’s in the US on a book tour for the English version of HEX, his best-selling debut novel.) It was a fun event, and I had a good time, even though I still feel like the new kid in high school among so many well-known high-caliber writers.

I also had a chance to see a bit of New Mexico–at least the parts around Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque (which I just now managed to type properly without autocorrect assistance for the first time in three days), and sample the local food. Man, folks in NM really take their chile seriously. It’s a very scenic state, and Los Alamos has a ton of interesting history.

It’s still slightly bizarre sometimes to be Regular Me most of the time, but then to fly off to distant locales and big events to be Writer Me, who can selectively switch off his introverted tendencies and do stuff like sign books or speak in front of audiences without breaking into a cold panic sweat. But I’m getting better at it the more I do it, even though I suspect I’ll never fully get rid of the feeling that I’m getting away with a con, and that they’ll find out any minute that I’m just some random dude pretending to be a writer. Maybe I’ll even get used to it when I am sitting at a signing table, and people walk up to me to tell me that a.) they know who I am, and b.) they’ve read all my books.

(By the way, if you’re in Santa Fe or nearby, and you’d like to grab signed Frontlines books, I signed the stock on hand at the Jean Cocteau.)

In closing, allow me to regale you with my amateur photography and share some shots from the trip. Like I said on Twitter–New Mexico is made for the panorama setting on the phone camera, or vice versa.

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digital housekeeping. friends. this monkey house.

facebook, and why i’m tapping out.

I’ve been on Facebook for a long time, but today I’ll be pulling the plug on my account over there.

I’ve known for a while that it had become more distraction than useful or fun tool, but today things kind of tipped over for me when one of my real-world writer acquaintances got pissed off over a comment I left on their post. (It was, of course, about politics, and that always spells trouble on Facebook because most people who post about politics don’t look to argue or debate. This election in particular has cranked up everyone’s sensitivity up to eleventy-twelve, and 95% of political posts are just there to have one’s opinion reaffirmed by The Tribe, not to actually talk about the subject.) It was my mistake, of course, but it was the proverbial straw for me. I deleted the reply that prompted the response, and then I was in a bad mood for a while that required a drive along the lake in a zippy car for improvement. When Facebook becomes a distraction to the point where people who know you in real life get pissed off at you over their perception of your politics, and then that pissed-offness bleeds over into your real-world life, it may be high time to get rid of it. It really bothers me that the negative feelings I get from bad interactions on FB can so easily bleed into my regular life and make me cranky.

I’ve had to curate my posts on Facebook for years. Most of my publishing friends are on the left side the fence, and quite a few of my real-life non-publishing friends are libertarians or (GASP!) conservatives. When you have to make sure you have the right audience button selected before you post a picture or an opinion lest you offend half your friends list inadvertently, it stops being fun and starts becoming work–and hazardous work at that, like tap-dancing through a minefield.  The drawbacks have now outweighed the benefits of the platform, at least for me.

(And to be honest–it’s a massive time-waster designed to make you come click for your dopamine pellet a hundred times a day. If I had written fiction in all the times I’ve wasted time scrolling through Facebook over the last five years, Frontlines would now be a 20-book series.)

Anyway–time to let it go. Anyone who wants to get in touch with me can still do so (at marko.kloos@gmail.com), and I’ll still be on Instagram and Twitter because they are quick and don’t require the amount of attention commanded by Zuckerbook. I’ll just use this as an excuse to update the blog far more often, where people have to come and seek out what I have to say instead of my opinion popping up in their stream unbidden. Lesson learned, moving on.

 

books. friends. movies. shameless self-promotion. travel.

gooder reads.

Hey, look at that! ANGLES OF ATTACK made the semifinals in the science fiction category of the Goodreads Choice Awards. Thanks to all of you who voted for Space Kablooie #3. And feel free to vote for it some more!

I spent the weekend at World Fantasy Con in Saratoga Springs, NY. I didn’t bother with a con membership, and mostly spent time with old friends. I did walk the ballroom floor on Friday night when all the writers had their tables set up for signings, and got to say hello and introduce myself to Joe Haldeman, which was a thrill. (Another awesome thing was realizing just how many of the writers present were friends of mine.) The weekend was basically all drinking, eating, chatting, and watching movies. I brought my PS4 to the hotel suite to stream movies from it, and we got a little zapped and watched three movies in a row on Saturday night–and that was after I took the opportunity to see the new Bond movie at the theater in the afternoon.

Writing is a rather solitary pursuit, so it’s always fun to get out of the house and meet up with friends who do the same thing you’re doing, and who understand what it’s like. I’ve made the best of friends as a genre writer–we enjoy each others’ company, are happy for each others’ successes, and glad to commiserate over the bumpy stuff. Friendship: it truly IS magic!

Now I’m back to work on Frontlines #5 (FIELDS OF FIRE), which will keep me busy for the rest of the year and possibly a bit into the new one. If all goes well, it will be out in 2016 as well, which means you’ll get to spend your shekels on TWO Frontlines novels next year. (And you may want to keep some of your tooth fairy change back for some other Frontlines-related spending opportunities. But more of that later, when I am at liberty to…. divulge.)

 

 

books. friends. travel. writing.

brief nycc 2015 weekend recap.

I spent last weekend at NY Comic Con in the Big Apple. As usual, it was a ton of fun, although the teeming mass of humanity that is the Javits Center at Comic Con is something I have to take in limited doses. I did a signing at the 47North booth, a panel with other writers including the sentient tarantula-filled meatbag known as Chuck Wendig, and some general milling about and saying hi to friends.

My publisher 47North threw a little mill & swill at an artisan cheese shop downtown, and we somehow ended up staying out until, oh, 2:30AM. Luckily, I had nothing on the schedule for Saturday other than touristy stuff. Robin had never been to NYC, so I played tour guide. We spent the day doing the tourist thing, and then went to have dinner and see a Broadway show (Sylvia with Matthew Broderick, at the Cort Theatre). We had a great time, and it was nice to do grown-up things for a few days without the kids in tow.

Here are a few snapshots from the NYCC weekend:

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Next up on the calendar is Honorcon in Raleigh, where I will be a featured author guest. (Honorcon is a military SF con centered on, but not limited to, David Weber’s Honor Harrington series.) After that, I’ll be at World Fantasy in Saratoga Springs in early November to hang out and do some barconning with old friends. After that, the schedule is mostly clear for the rest of the year, which is a good thing as I have another Frontlines novel to finish.

Onward into Friday! <saddles platypus>

books. friends. shameless self-promotion. travel. writing.

my sasquan weekend.

Sasquan was my first Worldcon, and it turned out to be quite the doozy for this first-timer.

When we arrived on Thursday, the place wasn’t on fire, but smelled and looked like it. The nearby wildfires in central Washington were sending up smoke, and the wind conditions blew that smoke right across and into Spokane. It was noticeable on Thursday, and progressed to downright apocalyptic levels on Friday.

This was the sun on Friday morning. I took this right outside the convention center, and there’s no filter on that image:

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By lunchtime on Friday, it smelled like you were standing next to a particularly smoky campfire. By the late afternoon, you couldn’t walk around outside for more than a minute or two without your eyes starting to burn, and deep breaths would make you cough. By dinnertime, it was practically dark, you could see the car headlights cutting through visible smoke at ground level, and you could start smelling the smoke intruding even into air-conditioned buildings. 

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I did hear plenty of “Smokane” jokes, and someone said that this was the first Worldcon to be held in Mordor. People were walking the streets with masks on their faces or scarves wrapped around their noses and mouths. We stayed mostly indoors all day.

This was also Robin’s first Worldcon, and the first time she’s been to an event with me as Author Wife. She hardly ever gets to dress up for anything, so I think she greatly enjoyed that aspect of the trip in particular. Here’s a shot of two goobers in their Friday night finest before heading out to dinner:

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The dinner on Friday was thrown by 47North, my publisher. They had reserved a private room in a nice local restaurant. And check out my dinner neighbor for the evening:

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That would be Mr. George R.R. Martin. We had a lovely chat over some excellent food, and if you had told me that the con was over at that point and we’d have to go back home the next morning, I would have considered it a great success. Great food, lovely people, and a fun evening all around.

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Robin with my editor Adrienne, thanking her profusely for not beating me with a sock full of nickels for turning in the latest Frontlines novel four months past deadline.

On Saturday, I spent my morning signing books and having brunch with the 47North crew while Robin did SpaCon back at the hotel. Then we met up with a friend for lunch, and in the afternoon, we both attended the 47North “Meet the Authors” event back at the con hotel. By the time the Hugo ceremony rolled around, we were both dead tired and not in the mood to change quickly and rush back to the convention center, so we sat out the ceremony and had a nice leisurely dinner with a friend. (I checked my phone for Hugo news near the end of our meal, and learned that THREE-BODY PROBLEM had won for Best Novel, which pleased me immensely.) After dinner, we saddled up the rental and drove to GRRM’s Hugo Losers party, which was held in a super-nice mansion in town. By that time, Robin was definitely running on fumes, and we had a flight out at 9am the next morning. I briefly considered suggesting to her that she skip the party and just hit the hay so she wouldn’t be traveling across the country on three or four hours of sleep the next day, but she wanted to come along. And it’s a good thing she did, because the party turned out pretty epic.

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Robin and I with some friends from Germany, Simon and Damaris. They run the bookstore in Berlin where I did my reading in June, and I was happy to catch up with them at Sasquan and introduce them to Robin.

So we were at the Hugo Losers party, mingling with old and new friends and generally having a good time, when GRRM had a special surprise for us. He brought out a table full of trophies made from 1950s hood ornaments which he called the Alfies, after Alfred Bester, the winner of the inaugural best Novel Hugo in 1953. George started giving them out to various people who would have been on the ballot without the slates, especially in those categories where the nominees all came from the slates. 

And then he awarded one to Annie Bellet, who withdrew her short story from the ballot the same day I withdrew my novel…and I thought to myself, “Self, he may call you up there too.” The room was packed with people, many of them authors and editors of works you’ve probably read, and I basically had two or three minutes to think up something to say that wouldn’t make me look like a giant jackass. At that moment, I was pretty glad that we had decided to take the rental over to the party and I didn’t get hammered before getting to the mansion.

Long story short, I too got called up to the podium by George R.R.Martin a few minutes later, to absolutely deafening applause and cheers. And then he handed me this:

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One of only eight Alfie Awards in existence.

It was a surreal and lovely experience, and we talked about very little else on the trip home and most of the week after. It’s humbling and immensely joyful to be on the receiving end of so much goodwill and kindness from my peers and mentors in the industry. I may be able to add more awards to the shelf in the office in the future, but I doubt that anything can ever top this one.

aminals. art. friends.

uther hendragon, first of his name.

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This painting of Henry was commissioned by my friend Chang for me after Henry died, and he brought it to Castle Frostbite with him when he came to visit not too long ago. 

I still miss my boy terribly, especially right now. The days are sunny and warm, and the remaining dachshunds are having a great time sunning themselves in the backyard or running around on the lawn and barking at passing cars. Henry would have enjoyed this, especially after being cooped up for months during this last, awful winter. But life goes on, as it does.

I’m keeping that painting in my new office for now until I have a suitable place to hang it. I’m very glad to have such good friends. 

books. digital housekeeping. friends. shameless self-promotion.

new digs, yo.

First post at the new domain! WOO!

This is markokloos.com, which is almost exactly like the old munchkinwrangler.com except with a new address and a snazzier header image (which was designed for me by my friend Erica, who is super-talented and an altogether awesome human being.)

Now I just need to have time to add more content to this blog thingy again. Currently wrapping up “Chains of Command”, #4 in the Frontlines series, and if things go as they usually do after finishing a novel, my brain will be tapioca for a few weeks after I turn this thing in. On the plus side, it’s a pretty kick-ass novel, I think. Keep your calendars clear for some more Space Kablooie action later this year!

 

 

friends. travel. writing.

paradise lost.

I just spent a long weekend down in San Antonio, Texas, for the Paradise Lost 5 writing workshop. I was invited to be a guest lecturer at the event, and I took the opportunity to participate in the retreat track. 

San Antonio is a lovely city, and the company was fantastic. I met up with my old friends Claire, Katrina, and Jeff, reconnected with fellow Viable Paradise XII grads Steve and Tim, and made a whole bunch of new friends from other Viable Paradise years and different workshops.

I also got to meet these two goobers for the first time in real life:

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Chuck Wendig and Delilah S. Dawson, both Internet friends I’ve talked to for YEARS. You know how you have this picture of people in your head from talking to them online, and then you fear the possibility that they’re completely different in real life? Well, Chuck and Delilah are precisely like I pictured them from our online talks. They are smart, funny, goofy nerds, and hanging out with them was a lot of fun because I am also most of those things.

My lecture went over very well (I talked about self-publishing and various ancillary things), and people did not fall asleep or throw rotten fruit at me, which I will call a success. I find that the more talking I do in front of larger groups, the more I enjoy it. 

We had fruitful work sessions, and then we all goofed off and socialized. There were group meals on the riverwalk and at various local eateries, Cards Against Humanities sessions, liquor store safaris, rooftop writing sessions, and the consumption of ALL THE BOOZES. And I got to fly First Class for the first time ever, which was a REVELATION. This is how reasonably comfortable and relaxing flying commercial can be? Well, sign me right the hell up.

Paradise Lost: AAAA+++++, 10/10, would goof around with old and new nerd writer friends again.

In closing, have some pictures from lovely San Antonio what I took mostly with my pocket point & shoot Sony. Some of them turned out all right, I think.

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books. capitalism. family. friends. new hampshah. shameless self-promotion. writing.

obligatory 2014 recap.

I really like it when I type up an end-of-year retrospective blog post and find that I really didn’t have a damn thing to complain about in the past twelve months.

2013 was great. 2014 was even better by every measurable metric except for the fact that I didn’t get to see my family in person again this past year. Other than that, things have continued to go swimmingly here at the Castle Frostbite Magic Daycare & Novel Factory. I had a novel published in January (Lines of Departure), and both Frontlines novels have continued to sell exceedingly well all year. Robin quit her job in the spring to stay at home and be my support staff full-time, and we find that we both really enjoy this arrangement, because MY GOD WHO WOULDN’T. I am keenly aware just how damn lucky I am that my writing can support a family of four when most writers I know have day jobs and often spouses with day jobs. THANK YOU, old and new readers, for buying all these books, because it means I don’t have to do anything else to fill the pantry, and I’ll get to crank out more books more often.

I got to do a writing retreat with friends for a week down in North Carolina, which was a booze-soaked week of fun and a nice tribal gathering of sorts. I went to Boskone in February and Readercon in August, both local cons where I get to hang out with friends and recharge the social capacitors. Then I got to do my first ComicCon in October in NYC, which was a lot of fun and also a little overwhelming, but mostly awesome. I signed books, met new fans, and connected with old and new friends.

(Side note: sipping cocktails on your publisher’s dime while chatting with your writer pals at midnight just a few blocks away from Times Square will definitely serve to make you feel like a REEL WRITUR for a little while.)

Also in October, I got to hold a little talk at the Army Chief of Staff’s Strategic Studies Group down in Washington, D.C., and that was certainly a novel experience. It went very well, the SSG fellows seemed to enjoy my stay, and I found that a.) I’m not bad at talking to a room full of people for a few hours, and b.) I want to do this sort of stuff more often. Like a reading or a signing, it’s a public performance of sorts, and even though I am an introvert, I enjoy having to switch on the performing persona for a limited and predictable amount of time. My convention dance card isn’t full yet for 2015, but I am leaving myself room on the schedule for a BEEG EEMPORTANT RESEARCH TREEP sometime in the second half of 2015. I will, however, be at Readercon in Burlington, MA in July just like every year, and I’ll be an adjunct instructor at the Paradise Lost workshop in San Antonio in April.

So, yeah–2014 was all sorts of sweet, especially on the professional front. I hope 2015 continues the trend. I’ll have another novel out on April 21, and there’s enough stuff in the works right now that it’s possible you may see another novel from me in 2015. Let’s see how it goes.

I hope your 2014 was a good one, and if it wasn’t, may 2015 crank the Awesome to 11 for you. Happy New Year to all of you.

art. books. capitalism. friends. writing.

you should totally support this anthology.

I’m a big fan of crowd-funded fiction anthologies. In fact, my second professional fiction sale ever was to a crowd-funded anthology, Alex Shvartsman’s “Unidentified Funny Objects”. (That was the short story “Cake Whores From Mars”, written on a dare from Chuck Wendig, and a crowd favorite at readings.) The UFO sale was a major motivation boost for me at the time, so I’ll always have a warm and fuzzy feeling when it comes to SF/F anthologies.

Allow me therefore to draw your attention to just such a crowd-funded SF/F anthology. This one is called “Athena’s Daughters: Women in Sci-Fi & Fantasy Vol.2”. My good friend and fellow Viable Paradise XII alum Tiffani Angus has a short story in there, and if the anthology has writers of Tiff’s caliber in it, I can assure you that it will be worth the money. Go check it out and see if it’s something you may want to drop some coin on, and support some great up-and-coming writing talent.

Athenas Daughters 2