Results tagged “jackie kessler”

Introduction by Jackie Kessler:

I used to watch The Electric Company when I was a kid, and there was a terrific segment on it called “Spidey.” Spider-Man would appear on the scene to help people — but he “spoke” only in dialogue balloons, so the other people had to pause and read the content of those balloons aloud to have a conversation with him. Cool idea, one that helped kids like me want to read. (But I wound up thinking for the longest time that Spider-Man was mute. Oops.) After “Spidey” came actual comic books, which I read with my dad every week, from the time I was 8 until I went to college. (Yes, swapping an issue of The New Teen Titans for, say, an Avengers West Coast was a family tradition.)

Even though I stopped reading comics religiously, my love for all things superhero never went away. When I met Caitlin Kittredge, I was psyched to discover that she and I were both fangirls at heart. And so we decided to write our own superhero novel, one that focused on two women: Jet, the superheroine who worked with shadow, and Iridium, the supervillainess who worked with light. To best use our voices, Caitlin wrote all the Iridium-POV chapters and I wrote all the Jet POV chapters. The result? BLACK AND WHITE, the first book of The Icarus Project.

There are a few other Icarus project stories that Caitlin and I wrote. And now, for the first time, you can find them here at Suvudu.com.

“Canary Code” after the jump!

I grew up reading comic books.

The New Teen Titans was probably my favorite (I got positively giddy when I was recently watching TT with my sons and saw a Wolfman-scripted episode), with X-Men a close second. (My bat mitzvah present? X-Men #94 - 100 in mint condition. Best. Present. Ever!) But I loved pretty much all superhero comics: the Avengers (remember the West Coast title?) and the Incredible Hulk (when he was green — no, gray. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!) and Batman and Wonder Woman… The list goes on. When I got older, I branched out into Vertigo titles, with some Image and Dark Horse thrown in there. (Best villain ever? Hunter Rose.) But in my heart of hearts, for me, superheroes are about sitting down with my dad every Saturday and swapping the latest comic book titles.

Yep, I grew up reading comic books. So it was probably inevitable that I’d write about superheroes one day. With BLACK AND WHITE (written by me and Caitlin Kittredge) now on the shelves, I thought I’d visit my local comic book shop and reminisce, and possibly buy something for my own children. They’re sort of young to get started on the family tradition—the Precious Little Tax Deductions are seven and five—but hey, it couldn’t hurt to do some reconnaissance. And maybe buy some things.

Imagine my shock and horror when I stood in the comic book store and felt totally lost.

Those responsible for the NY Comic Con asked several of us here at Suvudu if we’d be interested in moderating a panel or two. The one thrown my way was the Author Round Table: Sci-fi / Supernatural / Fantasy Authors Gather To Talk Influences. I knew half of the writers already and the other half I had been wanting to meet for some time. It made sense to accept—despite having never moderated before and being scared to death of it.

I did say “yes” though. After all, Frank Herbert said it best:

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear.”

So I went. And had a great time!

The authors of the Round Table who helped make it work were: John Birmingham, Peter V. Brett, Alex Irvine, Jeff Somers, Kim Harrison, S.C. Butler, Tamora Pierce, Vicki Pettersson, Carrie Vaughn and Jackie Kessler.

“Wow!” you say exasperated. “That’s a huge panel!”

“Yes,” I say with a sigh. “Huge.”

This was easily one of the harder things I’ve had to do—and I’ve survived cancer so that gives you some idea! The participants were great and if not for them it wouldn’t have gone as well as it did, but the amount of people on the panel really made this a difficult one to navigate through. Most panels are between 3-5 people usually. I had double that with 10. My instincts kept wanting me to start a real discussion, throw some gasoline on the fire and see what happens, but a discussion like that we simply didn’t have the time to do properly.

In the end, however, this panel worked and was a huge success. The seats were full, people were standing around the walls, and the authors all mostly behaved themselves. Afterward numerous people from the audience came up to say thank you. The panel was more amusing than I thought it would be and I learned some things about those authors I probably wish I could forget! Ha!

And as Tammy Pierce wrote me a few days after the event:

“You did a great job, wrangling a panel with so many authors and still managing to get questions in at the end! I had a great time, and wanted to say so in person.”

She made my day. Watch the 2009 NY Comic Con Author Round Table!

Part I of VII:

For the rest of the hour long panel with these fine authors, continue onward and watch the other six parts!

I’m not exactly sure what I mean by that, but I think that’s because my brain is functioning on a slightly lower register than it normally does. 

I think that’s what happens after 18 hours of Comic-Conny goodness.

Surprisingly, my spirit has yet to be dampened.  Not only did we have four very successful in-booth events with the talented Felix Gilman, David J. Williams, Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge, and Ellen Kushner, but the word is out: Random House publishes science fiction!

By my count (and I can only speak for myself personally, as my ventriloquist lessons have not been going as well as I’d of hoped), I’ve been asked 77 times when the next George R.R. Martin book, A Dance With Dragons, is going to be coming out.  So far, my favorite response to that is: “Hey, we’re in the fantasy business.  If we tell you Fall 2009, then we’re doing our jobs!”  It gets a chuckle, then a few hard looks, and then that slumping resignation realizing that, at the end of the day, this guy in a booth isn’t going to take off his mask, reveal himself to be George, and deliver a finished copy into their hands.  For this, I apologize.

I also think I might have lost some weight, as with all the excitement, I didn’t really eat anything between 8 in the morning and 6:30 at night, when I happily munched on a handful of Nilla Wafers.  And, let me tell you: as exciting as the events with our authors were, eating those cookies became a special time for me.

So, I’m willing to call this thing a success.  However, unlike a certain person who will remain nameless, I will not count this Comic Con a victory until I have truly completed the mission given to me.

Tomorrow:  You’ve been warned.