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Well the year turns on, and that means, of course, that I have conventions coming up. I mean sure, I have a birthday too, but that’s somehow less important.
Or at least, like, from your point of view.
Anyhow, on Saturday September 12th I’m going to be at Eau Claire Comic Con from 10:00AM to 5:00PM. It’s being held at the Eau Claire Expo Center on the south side of town, and you can find more information on it’s official Facebook page.
It’s a fun little con, and admission is only $5 to attend. If you’re in the area, it’s not a bad way to spend a Saturday. I’ve been doing it for a few years, and I’ve really been looking forward to doing it again.
Then, the weekend after that, I’ll be at Booked Eau Claire on Friday September 18th and Saturday September 19th. The hours are a little odd for this show (the hall I’m in will only be open to most attendees from 10:00AM to 2:00PM both days), so make sure you look at the schedule carefully.
It’s a “bookish” event, and I haven’t done one of these before as I usually stick to geekier conventions. I volunteered there last year for a day though, and I think it’ll be a good fit. At the very least it will be a chance to reach a slightly different audience than I’ve been getting.
That’s at the Lismore in downtown Eau Claire (the same venue we host No Brand Con in), and tickets are a bit more expensive (starting at $50).
If you choose to come to either one, stop by, say hi, and hang out. Or, if you want to feel guilty about not having done anything for my birthday earlier in the month, you can buy some books out of awkward social obligation or something. 😆
I will, of course, have copies of all of my books (including The Perfect Host which just came out), but mostly I just enjoy the excuse to chat with people about stuff.
So come on by and say hi. That unfortunately rhymed.
I think I hit the mark with this one.
I posted the full description when the pre-orders went live, but the gist is basically “how hard it is to outrun the demons from your past when they’re literal demons.” Anyone who’s read the ending to Buried Memories, the fourth book, knows where this is going already though.
You can find the paperback on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Direct Order it from me, or get it through whatever retail chain you want with the ISBN 9798295897726. If you’d rather get it as an eBook, you can of course find it on Kindle, Kobo, or as a DRM-free ePub in my Patreon shop.
While I think with the first four books you could jump in and enjoy them, this book really does benefit from having read the earlier books in the series. So, uh, you should do that? Read my books. That’s what I’m saying. I’m saying you should read my books.
Shocking, I know.
We’ll be at booth 618, and besides print copies of the first volume of Peregrine Lake, Ethan will have a whole bunch of art and I’ll have all of my books. That includes the new novel, The Perfect Host, which doesn’t officially go on sale until Monday August 10th. That’s right, at Big Minneapolis Anime you can get the fifth Mia Graves Saga book a day or two early if you really want to!
I haven’t done a convention since the spring, so I’m really excited to get back out there. With Anime 414 shutting down, this is my only August con this year. Which is, y’know, easier on my mental health probably, but a whole lot less fun.
If you can’t make it, I have a couple of events coming up in the Eau Claire area in September — but this is going to be the only con on Ethan’s schedule for a while. So, if you want to meet the both of us, this is your chance to do it. Hopefully I’ll see you there!
And remember, “The Perfect Host,” Book 5 in the Mia Graves Saga is still available for pre-order on Kindle, Kobo, and Paperback!
This last weekend Crysta and I got in the truck and made the drive down to Milwaukee to see my parents. Several family members on my Dad’s side of the family had flown into town for what is, normaly, a weekend where we go to a ballgame. Unfortunately, with the Brewers playing the Cubs, those tickets were way too expensive, so instead we watched the game on a TV in the garage and just turned it into a fairly nice family party.
It was nice, as I haven’t seen some of these people in years, and it was good to get together.
A lot of my contact with that side of the family used to be through events at my late grandmother’s house, so things have been a bit more loosey goosey over the last few years. Honestly, folks are just pretty spread out, so it’s hard to do a lot now that there isn’t a midwestern home base for people to stay at.
Of course, it wasn’t an exactly pain-free trip.
On Friday night, when we were about an hour away from my folks’ house, I got a text from my mom that the water had been shut off at their house. They’d gotten a notice while they were out for dinner, as something had apparently gone wrong. When we rolled in a little before ten, halfway down the block there were a bunch of workers doing probably their least favorite tihng to do on a Friday night.
So that meant we couldn’t take showers until after midnight, which, y’know, wasn’t great.
And then, of course, we got woken up by construction across the street at six thirty in the morning, which I’m fairly certain is against local ordinances, but what the hell do I know. I kind of get why they were doing the work then — we’ve since been hit by an obnoxious heat wave — it still sucked though.
But, with all the minor frustrations, the party was good, and I was happy to see my family.
Could have done without being woken up on Sunday by the same construction crews too though.
Oh yeah, “The Perfect Host,” Book 5 in the Mia Graves Saga is now available for pre-order on Kindle, Kobo, and Paperback!
Last year, for our anniversary, Crysta and I went down to the Big Sky Drive In in the Wisconsin Dells for our anniversary, and then got Paul Bunyan’s with my brother David and his partner Mary the day after. Because it looked like Stardust was still going to be closed for 2026, we actually did that again at the beginning of June this year as well… even if I accidentally booked a worse hotel this time around.
And while I like the Big Sky Drive In, it’s not as nice as Stardust and (more importantly) too far to just do on a casual weekend.
But the universe decided to finally be kind to us, because for the first time I can remember a closed drive in movie theater reopened. This weekend, under new ownership, the Stardust Drive In in Chetek had its soft opening. They’re running a bit barebones on concessions and just did one movie per screen instead of double features, but the place is genuinely, fully back.
They’re still ironing out all the kinks (as I said, it’s a soft open), but oh my god it was so nice to go back there again.
We’ll probably still do a Big Sky Drive In weekend next year in the Dells, but mostly because it’s nice to have some variety (and hang out with David and Mary). It takes a lot of pressure off of that trip too knowing that we’ll have other drive in experiences throughout the summer. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: if you live near a drive in movie theater, please patronize it. These are all independent operations, and seeing movies out under the stars is the best way to experience them.
Or at least I think it is.
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