My schedule for this weekend’s Storming the ConFusion 2019
Saturday, January 19th
10:00AM – 11:00AM Improv Flash Fiction Panelists: Jackie Morgan(M), Mur Lafferty, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, and Suzanne Church [Southfield]
Sunday, January 20th
2:00PM – 3:00PM Women Over Fifty as Leaders, Mentors, and Heroes in SFF Panelists: Diana Rowland (M), Suzanne Church, Jeannie Szarama, Sarah E. Gibbons, and Teresa Nielsen Hayden [Dearborn]
Click here for the full ConFusion 2019 Schedule
It’s been a while since my last post! But I’m back, just in time for the beginning of the 2017 convention season.
ConFusion takes place at the Sheraton in Novi, Michigan from January 19-22, 2017.
Friday, January 20
5:00PM – 6:00PM Haven’t We Been Here Before? Why is New England such an attractive setting for the horrific? Panelists: Michael Cieslak, Suzanne Church, Lesley Conner, Joe Hill, and Mallory O’Meara [Keweenaw]
8:00PM – 9:00PM All Things Onder and the Ed Greenwood Group (TEGG) Panelists: Suzanne Church (M), Gregory A. Wilson, Elizabeth Shack, Deanna Laver, and Brandon Draga [Petoskey].
Saturday, January 21
4:00PM – 5:00PM Autograph Session Come and get your books signed! [St. Clair]
6:00PM – 7:00PM Readings Suzanne will be reading from her Hellmaw fiction. Panelists: Suzanne Church, Sarah Gailey, and Gregory A. Wilson. [Keweenaw]
Sunday, January 22
12:00PM – 1:00PM Here’s What They Did to My Baby! Authors tell the tale of the publishing process from their perspective. Panelists: Patrick S. Tomlinson (M), Cameron McClure, Suzanne Church, Jim C. Hines [St. Clair]
1:00PM – 2:00PM Romantic Leads What makes a good romantic lead? Panelists: Courtney Schafer (M), Sara Dobie Bauer, Suzanne Church, Seleste deLaney / Julie Particka, Amal El-Mohtar, Gail Carriger [Leelanau]
I hope to see you at the con!
On July 23rd and 24th, I visited the beautiful city of Kingston, Ontario for Limestone Genre Expo. (@limestonegenre on Twitter)
The first iteration happened last year, as a one-day event. This year, the organizers doubled down, making it a two-day event.
I hunkered down in the Dealers’ Room for most of the event, so I can’t say that I caught all the panel action, but here’s what the schedule had to offer:
Packed rooms of enthusiastic attendees listened and participated in topics from “Queering the Fantastic” to the Evolution of the Young Adult Market to “The Feminist Journey in Genre Fiction”.
Robert Runte from Five Rivers Publishing generously offered an hour for authors to pitch their works — a highlight of the event for many.
Readings were scheduled on both days, featuring Guests of Honour David Nickle and Vicki Delany, as well as authors Nancy Baker, Rob Brunet, Alyssa Cooper, Kit Daven, Janet Kellough, Tara Wyatt, and Marie Bilodeau.
The following workshops offered varied seminars on the craft of writing:
Guest of Honour Nina Munteanu taught The Ecology of World Building
Derek Newman-Stille taught Writing the Senses
Rob Brunet taught Setting as Character
Mary Sullivan and Ann Lethbridge taught How to Write Romance Novels and Find Your Market
I intend to keep this convention on my radar from now on, especially considering my newly-formed Kingston connection.
For the first time in almost a decade, I didn’t attend DragonCon this year. Mostly because I couldn’t book a room at the Hyatt. Partly because of my knee injury/surgery/recovery.
Instead I attended Fan Expo in Toronto. This was the first time I embraced FanExpo in its entirety, renting a hotel, working at the HWA booth, speaking on multiple panels, the whole nine yards. In the past, the most I’ve done is drop by for a day to do a little shopping.
And shopping happened, believe me. 
Check out my new jacket and skirt shown at right.
Many people behind the scenes with my local (Ontario) HWA Chapter pulled out all the stops to make the experience memorable.
Special shout-outs, firstly to Lou Rera who booked the booth for us, decorated it, and organized the schedule, all from another country (yep, Lou lives across the border in the USA).
Secondly to our dedicated chapter leader Séphera Girón who pitched three excellent panel topics for us to show our talents: So You Want to Write Horror?, What Scares You?, and The Next Big Thing in Horror.
The panels were well moderated by Richard S. Todd and well attended. I enjoyed spending those 50 minutes with my fellow panelists: Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Brian F.H. Clement, Séphera Girón, Nancy Kilpatrick, Brad Middleton, Lou Rera, Bill “Zombie Zak” Snider, and Julianne Snow. (Fingers crossed that I remembered every panelist!). We shared our thoughts, experiences, and horror knowledge.
Séphera also planned our Saturday evening get-together, giving us all a chance to talk shop.
My many shifts at the booth gave me a chance to meet readers and writers, talk about all things horror (and speculative fiction in general), and promote not only HWA, but also my 52 writing tips and NaNoWriMo to name only a few writing resources.
One of the best highlights came on Sunday when I met horror ICON George A. Romero.
Overall, FanExpo lived up to its expectations as Canada’s coolest, geekiest, shopping experience. Even though I enjoyed getting to know my fellow HWA chapter members, who I now consider my pals, I missed my DragonCon peeps, especially my fellow reporters for The Daily Dragon.
Next year, my convention dollars will probably go towards GenCon. I had to cancel my appearance at 2015 GenCon due to knee surgery recovery. I’ll probably miss DragonCon again in 2016, and that thought makes me melancholy. But new experiences help fill the writing well.
Onwards and upwards.
PenguiCon is April 24th to 26th.
Suzanne will be promoting her current book ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
Her schedule for the con:
Saturday, April 25th
3:00-4:00 PM Rad Women in Music; Patty Templeton, Suzanne Church (Board of Governors)
6:00-7:00PM Plotting Vs Pantsing – An Author’s Dilemma; Rachael Acks, Matt Betts, Suzanne Church, Michael Elliott, Jen Haeger, Jim Leach, Clarence Young (Hamlin)
7:00-8:00PM Story Structure: What is it, and Can it Make Your Writing Zoom?; Charlie Jane Anders, Suzanne Church, Ericka Kahler, Paul Kemner, Clarence Young (Charlevoix B)
Why not drop by and say hello!
Ad Astra Convention is April 10th to 12th.
Suzanne will be reading from ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
Her schedule for the con:
Saturday, April 11th
11:00AM-12:00 PM After Acceptance: The Fun Begins Kelley Armstrong, Suzanne Church, Charles de Lint, Arlene F. Marks, Monica Pacheco (Richmond A)
2:00-4:00PM Signing Sessions Various authors (Richmond A + B)
6:00-7:00PM Writing in the ‘Loo Reading Suzanne Church, Marcy Italiano, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Sarah Tolmie (Markham B)
7:00-8:00PM The Tip of the Tongue, The Teeth, The Lips: How To Read Your Writing To An Audience Anne Bishop, Suzanne Church, Lesley Donaldson-Reid, Catherine Fitzsimmons (Markham A)
8:00-9:00PM Believable Characters and Dialogue Kelley Armstrong, Suzanne Church, Nina Munteanu, Douglas Smith (Markham B)
Why not drop by and say hello!
Suzanne will be appearing as an “Attending Professional” at DragonCon from August 29-31.
Click through to the DragonCon site for all of the DragonCon details.
Suzanne’s schedule:
Saturday August 30
1:00-2:00PM Folklore and Mythology in Urban Fantasy with Suzanne Church, Leanna Renee Hieber, Faith Hunter, Alethea Kontis, Samantha Sommersby, and Jeanne C. Stein (Westin – Chastain ED)
2:30-3:30PM Reading Suzanne will be reading from ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction (Hyatt – University)
Come for the candy, stay for the stories!
Sunday, August 31
5:30-6:30PM Protecting the Pack: Bitten Suzanne and audience memebers will discuss the hit Canadian TV show based on Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld series of books (Westin – Chastain C)
Ad Astra Convention is THIS WEEKEND!!
…so my blogging and posting might be a little on the light side. I’ll be tweeting as long as my phone battery holds out.
I learned (from a reliable source at the convention hotel last night) that the ELEMENTS/MILKMAN launch will not be in room 1086. But it will be somewhere on the 10th floor. Follow the signs and the noise. I’m sure you’ll find us since we’ll be the ones with CAKE!!
I will be co-hosting a book launch party on Saturday night with Michael J. Martineck on Saturday night from 9PM to midnight. Please join us in celebrating the launch of…
ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
and
The Milkman
We’d love it if you would RSVP via the Facebook Events page. Come for the cake, stay for the fun!
My other panels at the con are:
Saturday, Apr 5 10:00-11:00 AM The Writing Life, Ada Hoffman, Julie Czerneda, Karina Sumner-Smith, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Suzanne Church (Newmarket)
Saturday, Apr 5 12:00-1:00 PM READING – Writing in the ‘Loo, Marcy Italiano, Sarah Tolmie, Suzanne Church (Markham A)
Saturday, Apr 5 2:00-4:00 PM GoH + Many Other Authors Signing A mass autograph session. Bring your copies of ELEMENTS (available at the Bakka Phoenix Books table in the Dealers’ Room) to be signed (Richmond A)
Saturday, Apr 5 4:00-5:00 PM READING – Stop-Watch Gang, Ian Donald Keeling, Mike Rimar, Pippa Wysong, Stephen Kotowych, Suzanne Church (Oakridges)
I hope to see you at the party and around the convention.
Ad Astra Convention is April 4th to 6th.
I will be co-hosting a book launch party on Saturday night with Michael J. Martineck on Saturday night from 9PM to midnight. Please join us in celebrating the launch of…
ELEMENTS: A Collection of Speculative Fiction
and
The Milkman
We’d love it if you would RSVP via the Facebook Events page. Come for the cake, stay for the fun!
My other panels at the con are:
Saturday, Apr 5 10:00-11:00 AM The Writing Life, Ada Hoffman, Julie Czerneda, Karina Sumner-Smith, Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Suzanne Church (Newmarket)
Saturday, Apr 5 12:00-1:00 PM READING – Writing in the ‘Loo, Marcy Italiano, Sarah Tolmie, Suzanne Church (Markham A)
Saturday, Apr 5 2:00-4:00 PM GoH + Many Other Authors Signing A mass autograph session. Bring your copies of ELEMENTS (available at the Bakka Phoenix Books table in the Dealers’ Room) to be signed (Richmond A)
Saturday, Apr 5 4:00-5:00 PM READING – Stop-Watch Gang, Ian Donald Keeling, Mike Rimar, Pippa Wysong, Stephen Kotowych, Suzanne Church (Oakridges)
I hope to see you at the party and around the convention.
Ongoing appearances for Suzanne Church and her book Elements:
What Scares You? Book Discussion on Stephen King and Other Scary Authors with speakers Lou Rera and Suzanne Church Thursday, October 29, Noon to 1:00pm
Central Branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, Ring of Knowledge, main floor, 1 Lafayette Square, Buffalo, New York
Horror Writers’ Association Reading and Q&A Thursday, October 29, 7:00pm
Whitchurch-Stouffville Public Library, 2 Park Drive, Stouffville, Ontario
SFContario 2015, Aurora Awards ceremony on 22, 2015
The Ramada Plaza Hotel, Toronto, Ontario
37th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts 2016, March 16 to 20, 2016
Marriott Orlando Airport Hotel, Orlando, Florida
Ad Astra 2016, April 15-17, 2016
Sheraton Parkway North, Richmond Hill, Ontario
