It's August and It's Time to Party

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This post is less an article and more about this weekend’s exciting events in Calgary that I'll be attending.

When Words Collide (“WWC”) is upon us. If you’re a writer and you live close to Calgary (or even if you don’t – there are a lot of guests coming from far away), you owe it to yourself to attend this incredible convention and hobnob with other writers, publishers, agents and some amazing guests. It’s sold out this year, but tickets for 2016 will start selling before 2015 is over.

If you’re going, be sure to say hi. You can catch me at the Enigma Front release party (my story, “The Trials of Li-Wen” is in it) or at one of three panels I will be on over the course of the weekend, including “Apps That Improve a Writer’s Life” where myself and two other panelists will talk about our favorite apps we use for writing. I think there is a blog post in there somewhere.

I’ll also be tweeting and posting on Facebook, so watch for those as well.

But, the WWC will not be the only place I’ll be this weekend. If you’re in Calgary and you are not attending the WWC, come out to the 5^th Annual Calgary Japanese Festival Omatsuri on Saturday, August 15, 2015. Follow the link to find out what is going on. The highlight for me will be watching a traditional blacksmith demonstrate an old fashion way of making Japanese knives.  

Finally, not really an event, but this was sent to me by a friend. It is an article about the world's first multi-coloured printed book from 17th Century China. It looks incredible.

This week’s reason to read: The Grace of Kings (Book 1 of the Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu. One day, I might just tell you all about my Ken Liu story, but not right now. Let’s just say he is a poetic writer (he won both the Hugo and Nebula for his short story, “The Paper Menagerie”), who has been compared to George R.R. Martin and Guy Gavriel Kay. This came out a few months ago and I am only now getting to it. I’ll let you know what I think.