A signed book is a treasure. I buy a lot of books from my fellows SF writers!
(This blunder really happened: I’m known for my absent-mindedness, but no book was harmed nor thrown on the floor in the telling of this event.)
FYI: Yves Meynard is also a Tor Books published author.
Posted in Art, Comics, Event, humor, Science-fiction, Society
Tagged art, Blunder, Book fairs, Comics, humor, Tor books, Writing, Yves Meynard
At any event, signing tables are at a premium… It’s the only time we can meet face to face and, may be, win over new readers. Ugly fights might erupt, especially with schedule errors getting more common! Fortunately, the friendly stand manager is present!
PS: and, yes, I changed the title in English for this series.
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This comic is very close to my heart because it concerns my favorite literary flavor ice cream, SF.
To write science-fiction, you have to be not only passionate, but you must also know how to explain the genre to your beloved audience! Most readers associate these words with all other things like (badly written) big movie blockbusters.
There has been intellectual snobbery of genre literature by the “white” litterature, an attitude which fortunately is beginning to fade.
At the end of this article, I put a sketch drawn in 2012 to capture the sense of wonder that came over me during my early discovery of science fiction. I would read late in my father’s library.
If you speak French, I recommend that you visit the blog of Jeanne-A. Debats, a writer who does not shy away from daring ideas! She propvided a few lines from the Paris Book fair which has just ended. When I was on site in 2008, I heard some, among those: “Oh, I do not read fiction because it is unreal! »
The “talking squids” allusion is a recent catchphrase in Canadian SF literature, born of a joke by Margaret Atwood, who wrote good SF anticipation and post-apocalyptic, but did not want at one time be associated with the genre. She finally came around and admit the writing, as she explores many genres.
A website had been put up by Vonda McIntyre, featuring a short-story by Stephen Baxter, Sheena 5, about, of course, squids in space.
Posted in Comics, humor, Science-fiction, Society
Tagged art, Book fairs, Comics, Jeanne-A Debats, Science-fiction, Webcomics
The “OK” fan is the one who seems to agree to everything you say about your book… but is s-he really listening, or simply polite?
Posted in Art, Comics, Event, Science-fiction
Tagged Book fairs, Comics, humor, SF, Webcomics
Here is the photographic adaptation of the comics in the previous post, by an enthusiastic fan.
Réalisation by Christ Oliver, with Jean-Louis Trudel, a fellow science fiction author.
Now we are hoping for the movie adaptation. It would not be a big-budget feature, but it would certainly echo with the many writers almost drowning in a sea of publications traveled by big corporate ships chasing the elusive best-sellers…
A tribute to all of you, artists able to create without the pressure of success!
Posted in humor
Tagged artist, Book fairs, budding writers, Comics, humor, humour, Science-fiction, Signing, Signing table
Another bookfair is coming at Montreal! And, if you are a lesser-known author, you might experiment this:
One hour at the signing table.
I drew this page after some signing sessions for my novel Piège pour le Jules-Verne, my table close to the Harry Potter stand.
Jean-Louis Trudel, my fellow SF writer, had accepted to figure in the comic, and even contributed to the scenario.
This page was originally published in a fanzine, (MensuHell) and found an echo with many friends and comic creators, among them, Christ Oliver , who did a piece on it (coming on my next post).
My profound sympathies to the all writers who will experiment that desertic bookfair at the Salon du livre de Montréal , very well frequented. When there are more than 800 writers vying for the public’s attention, it is bound to happen…
Posted in Comics, Event, humor
Tagged Book fairs, Comics, humor, humour, Jean-Louis Trudel, MensuHell, Michele Laframboise, Montréal, novel, Science-fiction, Signing table, writer
Another close encounter at a bookfair…
It really happened to another science fiction writer. I took some liberties towards the obvious flying saucer conspiracy theory…
It is more difficult to manage than the Zombie fan, or the angry fan (to come) because you want to stay polite, but the obvious awkwardness of the paranoid fan pushes other visitors away from your signing table!
And yes, there is a direct X-Files influence on that one! I loved the series despite the dark angle, for reasons too numerous to cite here. The humor, among them.
Posted in Comics, Event, humor, Science-fiction
Tagged Book fairs, conspiracy theory, Montréal, Paranoid fan, Science-fiction, Signing sessions, X-Files
Over solicited fans walk kilometers in the big book fairs, checking more than 700 stands, waiting in line for their favorite author, etc. No wonder they pass your table, laden with heavy bags, their eyes blank…
This page comes from my ongoing collection Meet my Fans!
(French version here)
Yes, I am usually nicer to my faithful public!
I have “guesstimated” the average number of kilometers the public walk in an average book fair like the Salon du livre de Montréal: quite a lot! Around 6 kilometers (excluding the walk inside the Congress Center to get there! )
So, yes, reading is good for your health!
Tagged Book fairs, Comics, fans, Halloween, humor, reading, Signing table, Webcomics, zombie
Echoes of a Sunday artist 