Hot off the Press Panel

Tuesday, February 23, I participated in a Hot Off the Press Author panel for Falstaff Books. I talked about the origins of Copper Road, and a little bit about writing process. It was a super relaxed author panel, like one from a con, only in my home.

The panel will air on Youtube on March 10, on Con-Tinual’s Youtube Channel.

My library lighting is not updated for evening Zoom calls if I want my bookshelves to show. I looked like an old camp counsellor, holding a flashlight under my chin while I told the campers a scary story. Live and learn.

Jason Tongiers was our moderator and Jim Nettles from Con-Tinual produced the segment.

I shared the panel with some great people. Theresa Glover has an omnibus edition of her New Templars series, Blood Moon Over Bourbon Street, as monster hunter Caitlin Kelly takes a vacation to New Orleans and finds it… the opposite of restful.

I’m curious to see how Sarah Madsen’s elf character Aylssa, MC of Weaver’s Folly, survives and thrives in a futuristic cyberpunky Atlanta. I ordered this one. She had me at cyberpunk elves.

John Hartness, who is an author as well as the publisher of Falstaff, talked about Houses of the Holy, which includes a crossover of two of his monster-hunter characters.

Before Jim started recording, John, Jim and Theresa took a few minutes to introduce everyone and break the ice. In the warm up phase, I learned about the F-Bomb wheel. The show is “family oriented,” so language is moderated, but Hot off the Press allows for one F-bomb per panel, awarded to a panelist at random. Some Restrictions Apply. For instance, you cannot use the word in the first ten minutes of the panel, and your win is good only for the duration of the the respective event. I did not win, which was fine since I probably would have returned the gift. But yes, Jim has actually created a Wheel of Fortune-style graphic that spins.

Remember when “weather” was offered up as the stereotypical example of boring conversation content? Sadly, weather has become damned interesting, and comparing notes on who had tornados and who had been snowed in, etc, was a great way to get to know people.

The panel itself ran just about an hour. We discussed our books, we talked about writing processes, and how they might have been different in 2020 (and now) than they used to be.

It was my first genuine Zoom panel and I enjoyed it. I hope there are more in my future!