Memorial Day weekend brought with it the annual ConQuesT convention, put on each year by the Kansas City Science Fiction and Fantasy Society. I've been invited to attend the con for the past several years now, and each year the staffers make me feel right at home and I manage to make a few new friends. I only sat on one panel this time around, and in doing so got to meet writers Mary K. Wilson, Ray Roberts, and Lazette Gifford. Fun all around!

We can now officially report that we've been invited to be guests for this year's Trek Expo in Tulsa, Oklahoma, hosted by the good folks at Starbase 21. This year's con features a first-rate guest list (not counting us two schmucks), including fellow writer Keith R.A. DeCandido. We checked out last year's show and were very impressed with the whole affair, so we're very much looking forward to attending this year's con. Maybe we'll see you there!

Kevin and I had a terrific time as guests at the 2005 Region 12 Summit this past weekend. Everyone there went out of their way to make us feel welcome and treated us like we were part of the family. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and hope we were able to do our part as guests.

Speaking of Kevin, the ol' boy has himself yet another writing gig. Check out his contributions to the brand-spankin' new FLIcK Magazine, published by Decipher, Inc. and available at movie theaters belonging to major chains across the country. Alternatively, you can visit the magazine's website and download the complete first issue as a free PDF file, which offers a slew of coverage honoring the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

In what I good-naturedly call a cruel twist of irony, I recently learned that Pocket Books is sending The Last World War back for a fourth printing, while at the same time electing to take a pass on contracting me to to write a follow-up. As I said in another entry, Pocket has moved away from publishing original SF and fantasy novels, at least for the time being. I'm one of several writers who find themselves in this situation.

Now, before you get too excited, I need to be honest and say what while "fourth printing" sounds cool at first, one has to understand that when talking about the total number of copies that have been printed to date, we're nowhere near the league of, say, The Da Vinci Code, okay? My book had a modest first print run, and has since been followed up by appropriately-sized reprint runs.

Somebody likes this book. I mean, my mom can't be buying all of the copies.

Anyway, it's still good news, and I take it as such. If nothing else, it might convince another publisher that taking a chance on the follow-up book isn't such a boneheaded idea after all. As for updates on that front, I'm happy to say that one publisher is at least interested in taking a look at the project before making a decision. More on that as appropriate.

Man, somebody really likes us!

That, or else the people they really would rather have show up at their events are busy, and the people who were the fallback plan weren't home, and the backups for those people have been abducted by aliens.

Whatever. It's a gig, baby!

KS Writers, Inc. has invited Kevin and me to join them for an author Q&A during their regular monthly meeting. It's scheduled for 1pm on August 20th at the Topeka-Shawnee County Public Library in picturesque Topeka, Kansas.

Come on out and see us, if you're so inclined. We promise fun and merriment...for Kevin and me if nobody else.

This has to be an old joke, but it's the first time I've seen it:

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named 'Governmentium'.

Governmentium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Governmentium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each re-organisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a certain concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as 'Critical Morass'.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element which radiates just as much energy, since it has 1/2 as many peons but twice as many morons.

Sweet!

As part of the celebration for this annual event, Kevin and I will be hanging out with Kansas City-area comics creators at Pop Culture Comix in Overland Park, Kansas starting around noon or so. We'll have copies of Breakdowns for sale/signing, so come out and see us!

After talking to folks at Pocket, it appears that they're going to pass on their option to publish any sequel to The Last World War. As I understand it, it has nothing to do with their interest in the book, but rather the fact that they've pretty much ended their original SF/Fantasy lines, at least for the time being. Still, the first book did reasonably well, so I'm confident I can find another publisher who might express interest in a followup. Stay tuned!

Listen up, those of you in the KC/Overland Park, area: Kevin and I have been invited to a book signing to be held at the Barnes & Noble in Town Center Plaza on Saturday, June 18th, from 3pm - 4pm. The store will have copies of Breakdowns on hand as well as a few of our other books. It's the day before Father's Day, so why not buy Dad something...well...with our names on it?

Kevin and I have returned home from our third consecutive Starfest convention, and once again we can report that we had a hell of a great time. We -- along with our respective spouses, of course -- spent the weekend hanging out with fellow writer Christie Golden and her husband, Michael, hosting panels on the Strange New Worlds writing contest as well as talking about what's coming down the road with Pocket Books' Star Trek fiction line.

We got to catch up with friends we've made the past couple of shows (Hi Jani! Hi Annette! Hi Rex and the crew of I-Sci-Fi.com!), as well as meet a whole bunch of new folks. (Hey Jennifer! Hi Ben!)

As usual, Stephen Walker and his crew put on a fantastic show, and really treated us much better than we deserve. They made sure we had a prime table in the dealer's area -- which included having nice "neighbors" at all of the tables surrounding us -- and that our panels didn't take place against other, more interesting activities (i.e., Dean Haglund's Friday night show, the lovely Grace Park's Q&A or autograph session, to say nothing of The Man Himself, the Shat), so we didn't miss out on anything fun while we were working.

Therefore, we tip our hats and offer our thanks to Stephen, KathE, Steve, Mike, Susan, Phil, Carol, Judy, Kelley (Hi Becky!), Joseph, and everyone whose name I am certainly forgetting for once again making us feel like part of the family, and we most definitely are coming back next year.

So for those of you reading this, if you're looking for a con that brings in top shelf guests (as well as pezheads like us) and offers up an entire weekend of non-stop SF/Fantasy happenings, Starfest is something you should absolutely check out.