REASONS YOU SHOULD WANT TO ATTEND THE C3 CONVENTION

This blog is submitted by: Sandra Bowman (marketing director of Intrigue Publishing)

In the coming weeks you will see a list of 20 reasons on why you should attend the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Convention.

Well for the fans of mystery, Sci-Fi, paranormal, horror, thrillers, fantasy and suspense; you want to attend because you will get to hang out with some very cool people.

Sadly there will be no costumes but there will be plenty of laughs to go around and the atmosphere will be friendly, inviting and most of all informative.

If you want to be an author, you need to be at this convention. It is geared so that you will share all of your meals with NY Times best selling authors. You will share your breaks listening to the process that some writers go through when they have deadlines. You will get the skinny on what is going on in social media today and you will also get first hand knowledge on how a publishing company works.

So if you check out @intrigupub on +Twitter you will find all 20 reasons on why you should attend the convention. Not to mention you will also see +BradParks  +CJEllison +RebeccaYork and +JohnGilstrap

But the main reason you should attend is reason number 21!

You get to see the +Fabulous shoes +BSwanginWebster will be wearing! That alone is worth it!

We hope to see you there.

WORKING HARD ON NEXT YEAR

The Board members of the C3 conference have already started working on next year.

They added a new member and they have their duties. Larry Matthews has been a friend for a while and after attending the C3 conference, he asked if he could be a part of this small group of zany, crazy people. I personally think it was because +Austin Camacho was the lone man on the group and after the passionate speech that Austin gave at the opening ceremony, Larry felt sorry for him. We like to think it was because the women on the board are so irresistible or maybe he just wanted to be the first to see what shoes one board member would have for next year.

C3 Conference Board Members (left-right)
Sandra, Juli, Denise, Cyndi, Deliah
Austin, Ann

Either way, we are glad to have him on the team and the work has begun. Marketing never stops and Sandra has been working hard; well we don't think she ever stopped and except for interchanging a just signed author with an author that she has been trying to forget. Austin has been contacting potential guests and finding out that not everyone reads email every day. Denise has been trying to keep the website updated but with the many changes that occur; it's almost a full time job in itself. Cyndi is out of state so she doesn't have to worry about the long meetings but she has the task of keeping all emails/registrations and payments (which have already started rolling in)Ann, Juli and Deliah have all waited so patiently for their new duties that they may run and hide when they find out what it is that they will be doing. (Deliah...don't worry, your job duties are exactly the same) That leaves Larry; poor, unsuspecting, Larry. Well he will find out soon enough why we meet at an eatery that serves plenty of coffee!

The laughs that will be shared, the coffee that will be drank and the ideas, suggestions that will be shared will be the best memories that we all will make
.

Welcome aboard and welcome back. The work has just begun!

WHY I ATTENDED THE C3 CONFERENCE

Today this blog will feature two submissions. The first by Anne Alexander and the second by Juli Monroe.

Submitted by: Anne Alexander

I thoroughly enjoyed the C3 Conference because everyone was friendly, and down to earth.



Austin Camacho interviewing author John Gilstrap at the Saturday breakfast

The panels were informative, and the food was delicious.  I liked the way the book store was set up. It was easy to find the books by the author's names.

I loved the way the big name authors were treated the same as the first time authors in every respect, from the panel selections, to the book signings, to the seating arrangements at dinner. 

I think this is one of the best conferences I have ever attended. I look forward to being there again next year. I brought two guests with me to the conference and they had so much fun they want to come again next year.

Annie Rose Alexander

Author of Evil In High Places

Submitted by: Juli Monroe



Jeffery Deaver keynote

You may have noticed that I haven’t been around much for the last few days. I was getting ready for and then attending the Creatures, Crime and Creativity Conference that was held last weekend in Baltimore.

While I’ve attended numerous conferences, this was my first writer’s conference, and I admit I’m...

To read the rest of this article, please visit--> Tele Read






 

What is genre?

I’ll soon see the release of the fourth book in my Stark & O’Brien series . 

When I wrote the first book I knew it was action/adventure.  That’s what they were calling other similar novels at the time.  Then at some point I was told that what I write are really international thrillers.  Okay, people seemed to understand that meant lots of action and suspense, although before that I had thought thrillers were scary.

Then the other day I was describing my novels to someone who doesn’t read thrillers.  When I mentioned that my two protagonists happen to have a psychic link that warns one when the other is in danger her eyes lit up.  “Oh!  So you really write UF or PNR!”

I nodded and smiled but when I got home I had to Google it.  UF turns out to be short for Urban Fantasy.  These books aren’t urban in the sense of books about drug lords and hookers.  In this case urban is NOT a euphemism for African American or gangbanger style.  UF literally means fantasy fiction – ghosts, goblins and demons – set in a city.  Jim Butcher seems to be the leader of this pack, although C3 conference keynote speaker Christopher Golden is also a leading figure.  A lot of this material is what I would have called horror.  Much of what Bram Stoker and Stephen King have written would qualify as Urban Fantasy.

Then there’s PNR – ParaNormal Romance.  This label seems to separate the vampires and werewolves (and other shape shifters) from the UF books.  Of course, as the name implies there has to be a romance element, but vampires and werewolves still sound like horror to me.  Except that a lot of these books (like Laurell K. Hamilton’s  work) are about vampire hunters or demon hunters, and they read like action/adventure to me… or maybe I mean thrillers.

When we set up the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity conference we tried to take in all the fictional genres that seemed to fit together: mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, fantasy and even the newcomer steampunk (a sci-fi/fantasy hybrid that would have described Jules Verne’s and HG Wells’ work.)  But we didn’t account for the rush of new sub-genres.  So it’s startling when someone writes, “I see you don’t take romance, and that’s what I write but my books have shape-shifters and elves.  Will I fit in at your conference?”  To me that’s fantasy, or horror, or SOMEWHERE in that space.

My point, (and I do have one)  is that if you think the books you love to read might edge their way into one of the categories we’re touting for the C3 Conference, then you can be sure you’ll meet others who read them, and maybe someone who writes them.  So bring your love of genre fiction in almost all its forms to the C3 Conference in September.

And let me know what other sub-genre we should call out to.

What's all the fuss about?

I'm sure you are asking yourself that very question, right about now.

No...you're not. Well why aren't you?

The noise that you hear are the gears grinding together of the collective minds of Denise Camacho, Austin Camacho and Sandra Bowman.

We have been hard at work planning the C3Conference next year.
The Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Conference; get it, C3; is coming up in September 13-15, 2012.

We have secured four great guests. Jeffery Deaver, John Gilstrap, Chris Golden and Trice Hickman.

We have nailed down a venue. The Hunt Valley Inn near Baltimore.

We have pinned down a team of dedicated volunteers. Ok, well we didn't have to pin them down, but we did have to chase them for a little while, but Ann Arbaugh, Deliah Lawrence, Juli Monroe and Cyndi Lauth graciously agreed to help us.

They have even secured a couple of sponsors, Frugal Bliss organic bath products and Acorn Book Services. Don't fret, it's not to late if you would like to sponsor something or donate something to the hospitality suite.

Yes, that noise that you hear is us hard at work putting together the best conference that $275 can buy.

Where else will you find Steam punk, Thrillers, Mysteries, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror and Suspense in one place?

We have planned a few surprises, like...wait, if I told you then you wouldn't attend, now would you?

So what's all the fuss about?
Why not click this link, www.creaturescrimesandcreativity.com and find out.

You are in for a surprise!

Welcome to the first entry on the official blog for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity conference.This con will be the annual gathering place for writers and fans of genre fiction in the Mid-Atlantic area, something that we think has been missing for a long time.

Well, maybe not all genre fiction.We don’t expect a lot of romance writers to show up, but if you love to read or write stories of mystery or suspense, if you love a good thriller or horror tale, if science fiction or fantasy is your bag, or if you’re getting into the steampunk style, this will be the con for you.

We have a website – www.creaturescrimesandcreativity.com – we have a contact email - dbcamacho@hotmail.com – and, 346 days out, we have a spectacular slate of key note speakers and special guests.So why do we need a blog?

Well, I can think of three reasons.First, there will be too much going on at this conference for us to put all the details on our web site.We plan a scavenger hunt for attendees.There will be a beer tasting and a wine tasting.A video crew will be on hand to shoot author interviews.And the registration packet will include an original anthology featuring some of the attending authors.You’ll want the details of these and other specials planned and in the blog we’ll have the space to give you those details.

And that’s just what we know now.We expect things to grow and change over the next eleven months and we can keep you up to date here.It’s also the ideal place to call your attention to deadlines for things like early bird pricing, anthology submissions and author bios for the program.

Finally, this blog will be a chance for attending authors and con sponsors to talk directly to you about what they’re up to and what they plan to do at the C3 Con.This will help you know who you want to find and get to know better when you arrive in Baltimore next year.

Our greatest objective at the C3 Con is to provide a venue for readers to get up close and personal with writers, and for authors to be able to communicate directly with their fans.This blog is just an extension of that goal.

So check back here every week for the latest on the C3 conference.