I am pleased to make an announcement on behalf of several great authors in the Science Fiction and Fantasy community.That announcement is: fans, we care about you, and we want you to have a good time. We support your coming out to express yourself in fandom.
A couple of weeks ago, an invited headlining guest flaked on a convention, OdysseyCon. No notice was given, no accommodations were asked for, simply bailing two weeks before it happened, leaving the fans without an honored guest. The Con responded professionally and nicely, trying to work things out as much as possible, but that wasn’t enough for this person who took to social media, and got a cabal of angry virtue signallers to start swearing, berating and attacking anyone they could.
The people who are left in the dust are fans, innocent folk who just wanted to spend a weekend hanging out, playing games, talking science fiction, listening to some authors speak and having a good time in fellowship. None of these virtue signallers thought or cared about the fans. It’s frankly shameful and unprofessional. The fans are our sustenance, readers are our life. As such, I felt compelled to help the readers of OdysseyCon, and spoke with several award winning and bestselling authors to help their weekend, as their convention no longer has an author guest.
The convention did get some great guests to attend: Michael Butt, an independent horror film maker and Brent Chumley, an artist known for Dungeons & Dragons, Legend of the Five Rings, and actually worked by my side on Doomtown: Reloaded. These are both stellar individuals, who are high energy, full of life, and amazing artists. What’s missing though is the literary component.
Not being local to Wisconsin, the best I could think of to help was to bring the fans more of what they love. This is a thank you to readers for being so faithful and dedicated, and my hope that this will bring the fun and good times that has made fandom so great. I present you, attending members of OdysseyCon, a group of free ebooks especially compiled for you, the fan and reader. Because there are authors that care and want you to have the most enjoyable experience possible!
The OdysseyCon staff will have fliers with this offer and a link to allow you to redeem these free books, but here’s what you can expect. We’re bringing you great books by:
Nick Cole – Winner of the 2016 Dragon Award for his Dystopian fiction!
Jon Del Arroz – Your humble blogger and Alliance Award nominated author of space opera and steampunk!
Mike Duran – Horror/Sci-Fi writer selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the best indie novels!
Declan Finn – Dragon Award Nominee for his epic vampire fiction!
Marina Fontaine – Dragon Award Nominee for her chilling dystopian fiction!
Daniel Humphreys – Best-selling zombie fiction author.
Sarah Hoyt – Author of the extremely popular science fiction epic Darkship Series by Baen Books!
Robert Kroese – Bestselling author, creator of eight successful kickstarter projects, and highly regarded Science Fiction author oft compared to Douglas Adams!
L. Jagi Lamplighter – An astounding YA Fantasy Author whose Rachel series reviewers say is better than Harry Potter!
Richard Paolinelli – Eclectic author of many genres, his most recent Escaping Infinity is making huge buzz in the sci-fi world!
Henry Vogel – Author of a phenomenal space opera series.
Dawn Witzke – Debut YA dystopian-romance author of the intense, fast paced Path of Angels!
John C. Wright – A true Science Fiction Grand Master, nominated for more Hugo Awards in one year than any person alive, and Dragon Award winner!
Also included is the mega-bestselling Forbidden Thoughts anthology, featuring incredible stories by Baen Books authors Sarah Hoyt, Larry Correia,Brad Torgersen and more!
Holy cow. That’s about the most star-studded line up you could possibly find, and there may even be more to come. Check back for updates. All of the authors want to thank you, the reader and convention attendee, for your support over the years. We really couldn’t do it without you and hope that you have a great OdysseyCon this year!
Happy to contribute both a print and e-book copy of Escaping Infinity to this effort. Hopefully those attending Odessey Con will have an enjoyable time at the con as well as reading these fine books listed above after they get home.
Thanks for including me! Happy reading to all 🙂