All posts by Bob Greenberger

News

Crazy 8 Press Will be at NYCC This Week

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New York Comic-Con kicks off Thursday at 3 p.m. and Crazy 8 Press will be there. We’re going to be scattered here and there, but we wanted you to find us. We’re using Peter David’s table at BB1 as a base of operations so one of us should be there at most times.

More specifically, here’s where we will be:

Peter David

Peter will be at BB1, signing autographs, selling books and cracking wise. He will also be on two panels:

Friday

Marvel NOW!: All-New X-Men 12:15PM – 1:15PM         1E07

What’s happening NOW! with Marvel’s mutants? What bold new directions will the Children of the Atom head off in? Find out as Axel Alonso (Editor in Chief), Senior Editor Nick Lowe, Editor Jeanine Schaefer, Rick Remender (Uncanny Avengers), Dennis Hopeless (Cable & The X-Force), Peter David (X-Factor) and Arune Singh (Director of Communications) spill the beans on the future of the X-Men!

Speakers: Arune Singh  Axel Alonso  Dennis Hopeless  Jeanine Schaefer  Nick Lowe  Peter David  Rick Remender

Saturday

Stan Lee’s World of Heroes 3:00PM – 4:00PM         1E13

The legendary Stan Lee talks about World of Heroes, his YouTube channel built around heroes, villains and the fans who love them. In this epic panel, Stan, Peter David (The Hulk) and other special guests showcase new shows launching, debut new episodes, answer questions from fans, and provide a few Stan Lee surprises.

Michael Jan Friedman

Unfortunately, the dreaded deadline doom is keeping Mike from attending the convention, but it does mean the second installment of Aztlan will be out on schedule next month!

Robert Greenberger

He will be signing copies of the newly released Star Trek: The Complete Unauthorized History at the Voyageur Books booth, 929, at these times:

Thursday 6-7 p.m.

Friday 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.; 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Saturday 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 3:00 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Sunday 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.; 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.

Glenn Hauman

Glenn will be wandering, covering events for ComicMix and doing what he does best, walk tall and stand proud.

Aaron Rosenberg

Aaron will be on hand Thursday only, celebrating his birthday with a few thousand of his closest friends.

 

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Pulling Up Stakes Now Available

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Pulling up Stakes is now live…well, un-live…on Amazon Kindle, and in short order will be out on B&N as well.

Sick of vampires?  So is Vince Hammond, a vampire hunter who lives in a garrison of vampire hunters and has to keep his deepest secret from them:  that he himself is a vampire.  If his mom finds out, she’ll kill him, and if she fails, there’s plenty of other volunteers to get the job done.

We’re trying something different here at Crazy 8 HQ.  Pulling up Stakes will be released in two parts, each at the bargain price of .99.  First half is out now; the second will be out in December, same price.  A few months later, we will be pulling both halves from sale and instead release it as a single volume at $4.99 (and in paperback as well.)  We keep being told that fans are eager for bargain prices, especially in this economy.  And so Vince Hammond is going to be the canary in that particular coal mine.  If sales blow through the roof, we’ll see this experiment as a possible business model for the future.  If unit sales are the same as previous books, well…then I just lost a lot of money listening to the fans.  It’s not as if C8 has a massive marketing department buying commercials and ads; we need you guys to help.  We’ve listened to you by pricing Pulling up Stakes at the introductory price of .99.  Now we need you to spread the words so that others will listen.

New Releases

The Gods must be Meshuggenah!

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By Paul Kupperberg

I don’t know how it got done, but it did. Starting with just a couple of stories and a dream, some wise guy opined, “Y’know, if we could just get a few more stories written under an impossibly short deadline, we could have us a real book here.”

Talk about miracles!

Now, I have to point out I’m not a not a big believer in miracles. At all. In fact, I’m not a big believer in religion, organized, disorganized, or otherwise. I believe we should all believe what we want to believe and not try to force it on others. I won’t judge you for your beliefs and, I hope, you’ll do me the favor of vice versa. Even the Bible is with me on this: “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things” (Romans 2:1), not to mention “So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves” (Romans 14:22).

(Isn’t the internet a wonderful thing? Even a heathen like me can sound like a Biblical scholar with a simple Google search!)

What I do believe in is the power of community and friendship. If there are any miracles in this day and age, they are the miracles we create for ourselves, especially when we band together and get it done…whether “it” is Habitat for Humanity rebuilding homes in the flood zones of New Orleans, mass demonstrations leading to the ouster of dictators and tyrants in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, or just a bunch of high school students putting together a festival to celebrate ecological awareness. You can give credit to whatever deity or being you want for any of these and a thousand other events that take place in the world every day, I suppose, but in the end, it’s really just people getting with other people to make it happen.

Please don’t think I’m putting the writing and production of ReDeus: Divine Tales over the course of about a month on the same level with any of the above. But in the spirit of community, I’m hard pressed to think of one that is more willing to give a helping hand to their fellows than the creative community. I won’t bore you with the countless tales of writers reaching out to other writers for assistance when their backs were, for whatever reason, against the deadline wall. I have written stories and essays for anthologies and chapters of novels without credit or pay to help a friend out of a jam. They, I know, would do the same for me.

ReDeus: Divine Tales is just another example of people getting with people. From a simple email inquiry–“Hey, you wanna…?”–eight intrepid scribes agreed to jump on board to play in this world we had dreamed up, each contributing their time, talent, and individual vision to the concept, each working overtime on a handshake and a promise to help make our dream a reality.

I can’t even begin to tell you how an artist makes his or her art, but in the case of ReDeus: Divine Tales, I can tell you that eleven writers (and two very talented artists) were able to make a book, creating something from nothing in far less time than any of us thought possible.

So, in a way, I guess maybe I do believe in miracles, because, really, it’s nothing less than one that ReDeus exists.

“In the beginning was the word” indeed!

Now available for Nook and Kindle.

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Celebrating our First Anniversary

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Hard to believe that Crazy 8 Press is one year old already. Technically, our first anniversary was in July, but since we debuted at Shore Leave 33, we treated this past weekend’s Shore Leave 34 as our first anniversary celebration. To mark the event, we debuted ReDeus: Divine Tales as a print exclusive at the show before making it available for sale as a print edition and the eBook version is forthcoming.

Meantime, the convention organizers gave us a nice table and all our name plates had the C8 logo on them so we were easily identified if lost.

On Saturday, at high noon, we had a nicely attended panel where the founders discussed what we have accomplished, what we have learned, and what will be coming next. The audience was a mix of people familiar with us, and others who knew us as authors but not at C8 so they came to learn, which was gratifying.

We learned a lot this past year such as how long it really takes to assemble a digital file, how to negotiate with Nook and Kindle. The values of Print on Demand printers and where we can distribute our materials. We learned the need for better marketing and promotion but the question came down to where we can do that. One thing we did was ask Chuck Rozakis, a freshly-minted MBA to help us and he composed a simple survey to find out where you readers learn about new releases and where you actually make purchases. Now we’d like your thoughts and would appreciate it if you completed the form and sent it to greenbergerbob@gmail.com. Thanks.

We also talked about our forthcoming schedule and looking into 2013. In addition to the continuation of Latchkeys every six weeks or so, you can look forward to Peter David’s Pulling up Stakes Part 1 later this month, followed by Aaron Rosenberg’s Too Tall for Small in September. Mike Friedman comes back in November with Aztlan: The Courts of Heaven, the second installment in his new alternate reality mystery series. For those who still prefer print, there will be a Latchkleys Omnibus collecting the first six stories as well as an Aztlan Omnibus with the first two installments. In time for your Thanksgiving feast should be Pulling Up Stakes Part II. There are a baker’s dozen worth of books and projects also in the works and unscheduled so our future looks pretty bright.

We talked about making more of an effort to being a collective presence at conventions including several of us appearing at ComiCONN August 18 and then all five of us on hand at New York Comic-Con in October.

We cannot have gotten this far without your interest and support. Let us know what you think, and what you might want to see.

Latchkeys, New Releases

Latchkeys #5, Roscoes in the Night, now on Sale

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Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night is now on sale for Kindle and Nook. It’s the fifth book in the Latchkeys series and also the second part of a two-parter that my fellow scribe Kris Katzen and I informally dubbed “Speakeasy”. Working with Kris on the plot for this story, the first Latchkeys two-parter, was a lot of fun. Her passion and enthusiasm for these characters is unmatched, and she made it easy to stay excited about what we were doing. Thanks, Kris!

Veteran author and editor Paul Kupperberg also contributed to this yarn. Paul is a talented writer and a top professional who stepped in when he was needed, and I really appreciate what he brought to the story. Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, and Steven Savile (affectionately known as the Evil Overlord) guided the entire project to a successful conclusion, and I owe a great deal of thanks to the three of them as well.

Getting more than a dozen writers together to work on anything is like the proverbial herding of cats, but in this case the result is spectacular. Latchkeys is a fine series that has few rivals in the breadth and scope of the stories it can tell. As a writer, I’m happy and honored to be part of it, and as a reader I’m excited to see what everyone else in the group has come up with. If you haven’t tried Latchkeys, go back to the beginning and get caught up, for goodness’ sake! It’s a great ride.

News

Celebrarting our First Anniversary at Shore Leave

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Crazy 8 Press will be celebrating their first anniversary at Shore Leave this coming weekend and you will find one or all of us all over the programming schedule. In addition to manning a Crazy 8 Press table, we’ll have a panel to talk about the first year and our future. Also, at the Meet the Pros party, our latest release, ReDeus: Divine Tales will be debuting.

Here’s where you can find us:

Friday

5:00-6:00 p.m. Mind the Gap:  Surviving a Long Hiatus – Aaron Rosenberg, William Leisner, T. Alan Chafin, Polly Luttrull

6:00-7:00 The Dark Knight Rises – Greg Cox, Glenn Hauman, David Mack

7:00-8:00 p.m. Star Trek:  The Complete Unauthorized History – Bob Greenberger, Scott Pearson, Howie Weinstein, Dave Galanter, Kalliope Dalto

8:00-9:00 Ray Bradbury:  Authors’ Perspective – David Mack, Michael Jan Friedman, Marco Palmieri, Steve Wilson, Scott Pearson

10:00-Midnight Meet the Pros

Saturday

10:00-11:00 Bob Greenberger

10:00-11:00  Alternate Histories:  The Art of Writing Parallel and Alternative Timelines –Peter J. Wacks, Michael Jan Friedman, William Leisner, Terri Osborne, Roberta Rogow, Aaron Rosenberg

11:00-12:00 Farewell Eureka —  Greg Cox, Aaron Rosenberg, Lorraine Anderson, Phil Giunta, T. Alan Chafin

12:00-1:00 Crazy 8 Turns One! – Bob Greenberger, Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, Glenn Hauman, Michael Jan Friedman

1:00-2:00 Superheroes on Film – Peter David, Greg Cox, Bob Greenberger, Kathleen David

2:00-3:00 Young Adult Sci-Fi and Fantasy – Greg Cox, Lorraine Anderson, Steve Wilson, Aaron Rosenberg, Kathleen David, Kieryn Nicolas

3:00-4:00 Leverage:  The Con Goes On —  Greg Cox, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, Bob Greenberger

3:00-4:00 Barsoom Rising:  John Carter – Allyn Gibson, Peter David, Rigel Ailur, Steve Wilson

3:00-4:00 I Believe in Sherlock! – Allyn Gibson, T. Alan Chafin, Glenn Hauman, Keiryn Nicolas, Terri Osborne, Phil Giunta

6:00-7:00 pm Self-Publishing and Small Press Publishing: Terri Osborne, Lorraine Anderson, Susan Olesen, Kelly Meding, Steve Wilson, Aaron Rosenberg, Glenn Hauman.

SUNDAY

10:00-11:00 The Bob & Howie Show

10:00-11:00 Beyond Watchman – Allyn Gibson, Glenn Hauman

10:00-11:00 Media Tie-Ins vs. Original Fiction – David Mack, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Greg Cox, Aaron Rosenberg, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Christopher Bennett

Noon-1:00 Pro Writing:  The Business Side of Writing – Kelly Meding , Peter J. Wacks, Aaron Rosenberg

Noon-1:00 Peter David

1:00-2:00 ReDeus:  Divine Tales – Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Phil Giunta, Allyn Gibson, William Leisner, Steve Wilson, Dave Galanter

2:00-3:00 Latchkeys:  a New Ebook Series – Bob Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Lorraine Anderson, Rigel Ailur

2:00-3:00 Michael Jan Friedman

5:30-7:00 Mystery Trekkie Theater with Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger