Boskone and Corflu and fanac and fantasy

Heading off to Boskone this morning for a daytrip. In addition to dropping off some goodies at the freebie table, I'll be visiting some dealers with copies of Merry Blacksmith Press books and some flyers promoting our titles. It's been too long since I've visited a con, even for a day, so I'm very glad I was able to shoehorn this daytrip in.

I'm already making plans for more cons this year.

In other news, I'm happy to report that Earl Kemp's Who Killed Science Fiction? has been getting some great responses. The book debuted at this year's fanzine fan convention, Corflu, in Sunnyvale, California. Apparently most of the copies were sold within half an hour after opening the box on Friday night, and the rest were gone by morning, and orders taking advantage of the February free or reduced shipping have been nicely brisk. I donated a copy of WKSF and Anthopology 101 to the fan auction. The video feed cut before I could find out how much they went for, alas. Still, if they brought in their cover price, I'm more than satisfied. Every little bit helps to promote healthy fanac.

And speaking of fanac, stay tuned for new on a special fan anthology project coming soon.

And speaking of staying tuned...by the end of the month, Bradley H. Sinor's excellent fantasy short story collection, Where the Shadows Began, will become available. As usual, there will be special deals available when it's released into the wild.

Cheers!

Who Killed Science Fiction?

Who indeed? Well one way to find out who done did it (if it was in fact did done) is to read the book.

I'm very happy to announce that copies of Earl Kemp's Hugo award-winning work WHO KILLED SCIENCE FICTION? is now available for order. This edition is "Compleat & Unexpurgated" and contains updates from 1980 and 2002. Among its nearly a hundred contributors are such folks as Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, John W. Campbell, Hugo Gernsback, Horace Gold, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Hannes Bok, Howard DeVore, Robert Silverberg, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson, and many more. This is one of the most significant and legendary works in the history of science fiction. Reading it, you feel like you're sitting in on a conversation among friends and family. There's serious discussion, and some not as serious.

As a fan and as someone with a strong interest in the history science fiction and fandom, this has always been one of the top books in my list of must-reads. I'm incredibly grateful to Earl for allowing me to come out with a print edition through the Merry Blacksmith Press. It's nice to be a small part of something as big as this.

In celebration of this release, I'm offering free domestic shipping and reduced international shipping from now through the end of February.

Also, a copy of this, along with Bud Webster's ANTHOPOLOGY 101, is being donated to the Corflu auction being held at Corflu 28 (February 11th through the 13th).

I won't be attending Corflu--this year, at least--although you might see me loitering around the Virtual ConSuite if they have it up this year. I will be hanging around Boskone on Saturday--mostly bothering dealers, but also checking out some of the programming. I'll probably have a copy in my hands, so feel free to ask to take a look.

I'll be the guy in the red fez.

Cheers!

--John