I cannot believe it has been a year.
I guess it is true, the old adage: Time flies when having fun!
It has been an interesting year, one filled with magic, wonder and learning. Suvudu launched right before the 2008 San Diego Comic Con on July 18, 2008 and covered that convention with a few hearty souls who fought through the masses of fellow geeks and nerds to bring great video content of the event to the internet(s). We had hopes but we really didn’t know what to expect with the website. Like any newborn, it could grow in many different ways, shapes and spurts. We were confident, however, that we had something to offer connoisseurs of fantasy and science fiction in books, movies and comic books—and we weren’t wrong.
Thankfully, Suvudu was well received and then took off into the stratosphere.
Looking back, Suvudu has grown considerably. I contributed the initial launching post HERE, and since then we’ve had numerous editors, publicists and writers blog about an array of topics.
Like Ali Kokmen, Del Rey employee and Manga Expert!
Oh. Wait. We’ve done far more than standing Against the Darkness!
Continue on to read a year in mini-review as well as what we have planned for the future!
The Professionals
Betsy Mitchell has contributed great content from the point of view of an editor in chief of one of the largest imprints in the business. If you haven't already, read her posts. They are insightful. Other editors like Chris Schluep, Anne Groell and Kaitlin Heller added content of their own while haranguing some of their authors to partake in Suvudu. Pretty neat how much power an editor exercises over their flock!
Thoughtful Posts
Some of my favorite posts have been written by visiting authors. Richard Morgan wrote a great post about J.R.R. Tolkien titled The Real Fantastic Stuff that riled up a few people. China Mieville discussed his new book, The City & the City and we got an inside look at what he is trying to accomplish as a writer. The post In Defense of George R. R. Martin that I wrote induced discussion for weeks afterward. David Williams has been contributing weekly posts, asking poignant questions about the genre and where it is going. More are coming. It is the nature of writers to stir the pot a bit...
What We've Done?
We began Suvudu as a blog, with nary any bells and whistles. That was never the plan though. We wanted to build a community and slowly but surely that is what we are doing. Since its inception, Suvudu has had a Forum added to its main body to allow like-minded fans a central hub to discuss whatever they choose. We added the Free Library, a very successful venture that has brought some great eBooks to new readers—all for free! And recently we have started Author Chats! We evolve!
Author Chats
A few months ago the Chat function went live. We invited great writer China Mieville in to discuss his newest book, The City & the City, as well as chat with the fans. It went great! HERE is the transcript from that first chat! A month later we invited debut and very talented writers Peter V. Brett and Robert V.S. Redick to discuss their new books The Warded Man and The Red Wolf Conspiracy respectively. HERE is their chat transcript! The second year will see chats from some of the best authors and professionals in the business. On Monday we will have the creative team behind the Ice Age movies in to chat! David Anthony Durham will be in September, discussing Acacia and its forthcoming sequel The Other Lands. Terry Brooks will be in October to discuss A Princess of Landover as well as the forthcoming Genesis of Shannara novel. And we'll be having many others to announce in the weeks to come! Fun, fun, fun!
Interviews & Videos
The most fun I've had working on Suvudu has been the interviews and videos I've been able to conduct. Five Questions asked many writers the same questions to gauge different points of view. I will be continuing that after Comic Con, so stay tuned! And the videos have been great fun too. Since I live in Seattle, one of the leading book cities in the world, I have had the opportunity to meet dozens of authors as they come through on tour. All like to be video taped so their fans around the world can see what happens at a signing, listen to them reading, as well as hear the Q&As. Fan favorites were Steven Erikson reading from Dust of Dreams, Jacqueline Carey reading from Naamah's Curse, Terry Brooks reading from A Princess of Landover, and Dan Simmons talking about Drood! There will be many more coming in the next year, including videos more than likely of Brandon Sanderson supporting The Gathering Storm, Joe Schreiber talking about Star Wars: Death Troopers, Terry Brooks reading from Genesis of Shannara Book #4, Patrick Rothfuss supporting The Wise Man's Fear, Robin Hobb reading from The Dragon Keeper and many, many more! Stay tuned!
Comic Cons
Another fun aspect of Suvudu has been attending both the 2008 San Diego Comic Con and the 2009 New York Comic Con. A few days we will be traveling to the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, so definitely be watching for posts about that next week—and into the next year! After all, Suvudu is comic con all year round!
The Craft of Writing
I was asked to catalogue my efforts completing my contemporary fantasy novel, The Dark Thorn, and while I have no idea how many people read my "diary entries" or even care to do so, writing my thoughts down periodically was extremely therapeutic. I hoped I showed a side of the business many do not see. And as always, I invite questions from new writers trying to break into the business. The industry is a complicated beast at times with no certain manual teaching how to navigate it. Since I've been fortunate to see most of it, I try to give back as much as possible. So take advantage!
So. What's next?
The next edition/version of Suvudu is coming soon! There are so many great books, movies and comic books to read, watch and cover and we want to keep evolving this website to suit the needs of our readers. There are so many writers who are willing to talk about their craft and what they are working on, and we want that information to flow easily into a computer terminal near you. There are so many fun things to report on and share, it's hard to keep the giddiness from overwhelming all of us at Suvudu!
After all, busy is how we like it! We wouldn't have it any other way!
So Happy Birthday, Suvudu! It's been one helluva year!
But the best, as they say, is yet to come!
Congrats Suvudu!
Dude, that's the video you use to commemorate the fun that was San Diego 2008?
Not this one?
I don't understand you at all, man...