Progress Report, in which I entertain company

Another 5100 words on Petra Released last week.  Cue Magic Meter:


Struggled mightily with chapter 21.  Seemed like it took me forever to finish.  This is a pattern I’ve noticed over the course of this novel and the last:  things start to drag right when the action should be picking up.  Of course, that’s coming from the point of view of the person writing the thing, not the reader, so take it for what it’s worth.

I leave for WorldCon tomorrow.  I’ll be taking my laptop along (thanks again,

!) in hopes of getting some work done while I’m on the road.  I’d had the same hopes during OSFest, though, and that didn’t quite work out.  No choice but to try again.

Complicating the picture is a small project that just popped up on my radar.  Not wishful of jinxing it, I don’t want to talk about the details just yet.  Anyway, it shouldn’t take too long–a day or two at most, I should think–and then I can get back to finishing Petra Released.

Now that the WorldCon program schedule is up at the website, I can post a few more details about my panels, so here you go:

Wednesday, August 6th, 1:00 pm

14: Has there ever been a good movie adaptation of an SF book?

CCC – Room 507

From War of the Worlds to the adventures of Harry Potter, some people love the movie adaptations and some hate them. What makes the movement from page to screen worth watching? What literary devices have to be cut or changed for the transition to the silver screen? Are there any really good movie adaptations out there?

Chris Roberson, Craig Miller, (m) Matthew Rotundo


Saturday, August 9th, 11:30 am

476: The most underrated SF movies of all time

CCC – Room 505

Some movies never get any respect. A discussion of the best SF and Fantasy movies you’ve never seen.

Christopher Becker, m) Daniel Kimmel, David Williams, Mark Leeper, Matthew Rotundo


Saturday, August 9th, 2:30 pm

527: Getting to the Top: Mountains in Fact and Fiction

CCC – Room 604

In science fiction mountains can represent barriers, challenges, refuge, or even devices for catapulting ships into space. Our panel of writers and climbers discuss the realities as well as the myths.

Butch Honeck, (m) Matthew Rotundo, Suanne Warr


Gonna be a very busy time, but it should also be a lot of fun.  Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Oh, and one more thing:  Tracy and I had a nice lunch today with visiting Odfellow Cherie Wein, who’s in Lincoln for the Roller Figure Skating National Championships.  That makes three Odfellows in two years who have come to Omaha.  The other two were Carrie Vaughn and Eric James Stone–who stopped by on his way to Odyssey last year, so he technically wasn’t an Odfellow at that time, but what the hell, I’m counting it.

Right.  Must run.  Got some packing to do.

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