Goodreads is giving away 3 paperback copies of THRUSTS OF JUSTICE, so if you haven’t grabbed yours from Amazon yet (although you might want to jump on that while they’ve still got it 33% off, since who knows how long that will last), you can enter to win a copy here! (and also TOTALLY enter to win “We Bought a Zoo” while you’re over there)

The second Chooseomatic Book, Thrusts of Justice, is available from Amazon now. We’re asking everyone who wants a copy to buy the book on the same day.

Why does it matter if everyone buys on the same day?
Three words: Amazon sales rank. Amazon has the most relentless automated marketing machine on the planet, and the higher my sales rank spikes, the more likely Thrusts of Justice will show up in custom recommendations. Which generates more sales, which generates more visibility… it’s the self-perpetuating circle of capitalism, and we’re trying to make it work for the little guy.

How can I help?
Buy the book from Amazon, either in trade paperback or for Kindle, today! And spread the word about the Amazon Bomb through your social networks, blog, etc. Help an independent author become a bestseller!

GET IT NOW FROM AMAZON

US:
Trade Paperback
Kindle

CANADA:
Trade Paperback
Kindle

UK:
Trade Paperback
Kindle

DO IT FOR JUSTICE.

I’ve finally recovered enough from the 4-day geekstravaganza that was Norwescon 35 to post about it. Any of you who saw me there can vouch for how much fun I had, since I pretty much walked around the whole time with a big, stupid grin on my face. Norwescon is nominally a science fiction convention, but one of the things I love about it is how wide-open it is in terms of programming and community.

First, a couple of giant thank-yous: To the nerdtastic Ashley Cook, who was kind enough to put me on a bunch of comics panels again this year. Read her stuff over at Giant Fire Breathing Robot, everyone. And thanks also to the other programming leads who gave me a shot — I found myself on a zombie panel and two publishing panels without even knowing who to bribe.

Muffy! Also, this is apparently the only picture I took at the entire convention.

On Friday afternoon I got the chance to moderate a panel on the recent DC Comics reboot and, despite some confusion about wether I was planning to present a slideshow on the topic (for the record, I WAS NOT), I thought it wend really well. My fellow panelists consisted of writer and comics critic Spencer Ellsworth (who was so funny on my X-men panel last year that I tried to weasel myself onto as much of his stuff as possible this year), Cobalt City creator and Timid Pirate publisher Nathan Crowder (a good friend and my personal DC Comics guru) and Kate Merriwether Lynch, co-owner of comics and game shop The Dreaming.

Saturday brought the first live reading I’ve ever done of my own work, and it was a blast. Thanks mostly to the tireless efforts of my friends Geoff and Jason, the room was nicely full, and I read from the about-to-be-published Thrusts of Justice, with choices made by audience vote. I will tell you this: When you’re writing humor, there’s nothing quite as gratifying as a room breaking out in laughter at your jokes. The crowd was extremely kind — after the first chuckle line my stomach butterflies pretty much settled, and it was smooth sailing from there. (For the record, we had a decent run, but they went a bit too ambitious on their first supervillain encounter and wound up being punched to death by the world’s mightiest douchebag).

Later that evening, after maybe a little too much time at AN AMAZING SCOTCH-TASTING ROOM PARTY, I did a 10pm panel about supervillains that I wasn’t sure what to expect from. The room turned out to be packed solid, and it was probably the most fun I had all weekend. Ashley moderated, and I was joined once again by Spencer (my devious plan was clearly working) and Clinton Boomer, who writes for Paizo and has produced something like one million D&D Public Service Announcements. We rhapsodized about the unrecognized genius of Calendar Man, and Clinton kept offering $100,000 to anyone who could successfully make Aquaman or Moon Knight cool. He also treated us to his Invisible Christopher Walken impression later in the bar upstairs.

I know I’m forgetting a bunch of people, but I got to meet folks like Nox creator Shon C. Bury, and author Leah Cutter, and say hi to people I met at NWC last year, like KISW’s Reverend En Fuego and author Dave Page, who is at least partly responsible for the self-legendary R.L. McSterlingthong. I also spent some quality time with my ZomBcon boothmates, author Katie Cord and her husband Tony. And we managed to snatch up what I think was the only copy of Honeyed Words that J.A. Pitts (who technically I think I met a Orycon one year) had on hand.

Of course, Dawn Marie and I tried our damnedest to monopolize the waking ours of our delightful Canadian friends Kelly and Alyx (that’s A.M. Dellamonica if you’re nasty) — you should know that Alyx’s second book Blue Magic comes out this very day from Tor. Seriously, the only excuse you could possibly have for not abandoning this post and immediately rushing out to buy Blue Magic RIGHT NOW is if you have yet to read Indigo Springs, to which it is a sequel.

In other news, I AM THE WORST at remembering to take pictures, but you can see all sorts of good Norwescon pics via their Flickr feed (internet to the rescue, woo).

Okay, the length of this post is already giving me con-exhaustion flashbacks (seriously, the 4-day party business is a young person’s game) so I’m going to end this here (and doubtlessly rush back to add at least some of the wonderful and charming people I’ve left out as soon as I hit the “post” button). At the NWC35 closing ceremonies, the various guests of honor onstage kept returning to a similar theme: Norwescon really is a rare and unique beast, and I’m happy to have it right here in my own back yard.

You can bet your ass I’ll be back for NWC36.

Here it is, Thursday, and as far as I can tell the books have still not shipped. I’m doing my best to have them ship directly to the hotel so I can start selling them on Saturday, but from the level of communication I’ve received from the printer so far, I’m not holding my breath.

Maybe this means that everyone who hoped to get a copy will show up for my reading? But not with torches? Come find out!

This is my third year doing the con, and so far I’ve had an absolute blast. If you’re interested in Sci-Fi at all (loosely defined — there’s an enormous variety of panels on everything from games to comics to hard science to geek culture), you should absolutely come check it out. (Preregistration is closed but you can still get passes at the door –all 4 days for $70 or a day pass for $30-$50, depending on the day).

Also, they’re working me like a dog. Here’s my schedule for this year:

Thursday, 6pm
Comic Adaptations
The last decade has seen an explosion of comics being made into movies, T.V., and video games. Do these live up to the comics they are inspired by? Have we really reached the saturation point, like Spiderman, where comics directors are also using the old story reboot? What are some of the best and worst of these?
Matt Youngmmark, Duane Wilkins, Shon C. Bury, The Reverend En Fuego

Friday, 5pm
DC Comics: The New 52
There was a little confusion over this one, and the panel description on the guidebook may still say that it’s me giving a slideshow about the New 52. I’m sorry to say that there will be no A/V component — instead we have a tremendous group of panelists (Nathan is a good friend, and Spencer was freaking hilarious on the panels we had together last year) to give you he scoop on DC’s recent comprehensive reboot.
Matt Youngmark, Spencer Ellsworth, Kate Merriwether Lynch, Nathan Crowder

Friday, 6pm
Zombies in Folklore, Science, & Popular Culture
If vampires are the aristocrats, are zombies the lower class among the undead? How does the popular brain-eating movie zombie differ from the original Haitian folklore zombie? What other types of zombies are out there? What roles do they fill in a horror story? Can zombies be reconciled with science? Why are they still so popular?
The Reverend En Fuego, Chris Saint, Matt Youngmark, Sir R.L. McSterlingthong

Friday, 8pm
Deconstructing the Superhero
How has comics’ oldest genre matured? No longer mainly read by 12 year-olds, mainstream comics have had to change with their aging fans. And indie comics are being affected by the age old stereotypes they encompass. How do newer comics treat the idea of a superhero? How have superheros saturated other media? Are they becoming diluted due to overuse?
Chris Nilsson, Janine Young, Julie McGalliard, Shon C. Bury, Matt Youngmark

Saturday, 3pm

Autograph Session 2
Giant room full of half the con’s panelists, signing autographs. If you pick up a copy of JUSTICE at the Three Ravens Books table and I’m not on hand to sign it, this is a good time to hit me up.

Saturday, 7:30pm

Matt Youngmark reads Thrusts of Justice
We’ll be choosing the paths based on audience vote. Should be fun!

Saturday, 10pm
From Magneto to Lex Luthor
What makes a great villain? Whom do you love to hate? What are some obvious weaknesses of famous villains that heroes never seem to take advantage of? Who are the worst villains in comics history?
Ashley “nerdtastic” Cook, Clinton J. Boomer, Morgue Anne, Spencer Ellsworth, Matt Youngmark

Sunday, 10am
Should You Publish an E-Book First?
The publishing landscape is changing rapidly. Now anybody can e-publish a manuscript and even sell it on Amazon. But just because you can, should you?
Leah Cutter, Mike Shepherd Moscoe, Matt Youngmark, Ken McConnell

Sunday, 2pm
Is Electronic Publishing the Future?
With the advent of electronic readers like the Kindle and even iPhones, will all books eventually turn into ebooks? Books are being published on electronic readers along with your music and movies – is it all merging into one multimedia future?
Leslie Howle, Kurt Cagle, Marti McKenna, Matt Youngmark

The trade paperback and Kindle editions of Thrusts of Justice will go on sale at Amazon on April 11! There’s no pre-order page up yet, and probably won’t be until about a week before the release date — I’ll keep you posted (if you follow me on twitter, facebook or g+ you’ll be the first to know).

Also, I’m going to organize an Amazon bomb for release day — if everyone who wants a copy buys it on the same day, my sales rank skyrockets and amazon’s internal sales machine kicks in, recommending the book to people who like that sort of thing, etc. Again, stay posted!

For those who prefer their ebooks Apple or Barnes & Noble flavored, the iBooks and Nook editions will be out in July. It sucks, I know, but amazon offers entrance to their lending program for prime members with exclusivity, so I’m giving them a 3 month exclusive as a test. (The truth is, my Kindle sales outnumber Nook and iBooks sales like 50 or 100 to one, so for now I have to go where the money is). And for those who prefer their ebooks untainted by any corporate overlord, I’ll start selling digital downloads in July here as well.

Working on the illustrations for Thrusts of Justice, so I thought I’d give you a little taste. This is the Nightwatchman, one of three boilerplate heroes that you’ll get the chance to play as. (click image for larger version that isn’t cropped all goofy)