For those who want something other than shopping at the mall on the weekend. I have a list of book related events that all of us can go to and have a great time that are not very far away.
The first is Authors & Book Lovers Showcase, February 19 at the Lake Miona Recreation Center, 9am to 2:30 pm. Free Admission and there will be door prizes. The biggest reason to go is there will be over 40 authors participating in workshops and panels. Readers and aspiring writers can come and learn about the publishing industry and hobnob with lots of authors of many different genres. Here are some of the titles of the events:
“Murder Mystery & Mayhem.” Four authors of mystery delve into the subject which begins at 9:15 am, concluding 10:30am
At the same time there is a workshop about marketing
From 11:00am to12:15 pm there are two discussions “The Man Cave: Men’s Fiction & Non-Fiction” and “Books for Children and All Who Love Them.”
12:45 pm- 2:00 pm there are two more: “From the Heart: Women’s Fiction & Non Fiction” and “Open Forum: Publishing vs Self Publishing.”
There will be lots of authors and many surprising things to do for every age at this Sixth Annual Celebration of Books. For more information, contact 352 430 2950 or 352 753 3290.
February 25-27, 2011 are the days to come out to Vulcan Science Fiction Con, Tampa at the Double Tree Hotel 4500 West Cypress Street. This event has actors J G Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly from “Star Trek the Next Generation” and “Deep Space Nine” who played Klingons Martok, and Gowrn, Casper Van Dien from Starship Troopers . From “Jag,” “Desperate Housewives,” and other shows actor Steven Culp, and authors Peter David, Glenda Finkelstein, KL Nappier, and William Mize are just a few so far.
There will be autograph sessions, panel discussions, writer workshops, makeup exposes, auctions, and a dealers room filled with lots of great stuff to purchase. This second convention should be better than the first one.
Go to the website www.vulcanevents.com/events/ for more details.
March 25th – 27th, 2011 Mega Con is the awesome yearly convention that takes place at the Orange County Convention Center, Hall D, 9800 International Drive, Orlando. This is the amazing event that brings together comic book artists, comic book dealers, old TV show actors, movie stars and authors under one banner. This year some of the biggest names are William Shatne(Capt James Kirk Star Trek Denny Crane Boston Legal), SATURDAY ONLY. Stan Lee the creator of Marvel comics, Bruce Boxleitner (Capt. John Sheridan Babylon 5, Alan Bradley/ Tron), Gil Gerard (Capt. Buck Rogers, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Erin Gray ((Col. Wilma Deering, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century),Anne Lockhart (Sheba, Battlestar Galactica) Kevin Sorbo (Hercules, Hercules: The Legendary Journey), Herbert Jefferson Jr.
(Colonel Boomer, Battlestar Galactica), Mira Furlan (Delenn Babylon 5 , Danielle Lost), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker, Star Trek, David Xanatos, Gargoyles), Lou Ferrigno “The Incredible Hulk” (Hulk), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf, Star Trek, Kalibak in Justice League) these are just some of the guests of the convention. Others to be announced. There are talks by many of the stars, panels on comic related subjects, tables galore of merchandise to purchase, and lots of comic book artists to meet up close. For more information on this one go to http://www.megaconvention.com/
A few weeks after Megacon is the UCF book fest April 16th at UCF Arena. All events are free. There will be over 50 authors of all genres. Some of the writers are Maxine Paetro, Tim Dorsey, Susan Hubbard, Jeff Zaslow, Les Standiford, Loreen Leedy, Pat Duggins, Col. Joe Kittinger. There will be talks by the authors, discussions, signings, and lots of tables with lots of books for sale. This is only the second one of this event but it promises to be great fun. For a more complete list, author bios and more information on the event go to the website http://education.ucf.edu/bookfest/authors.cfm
And the last event on this list is Oasis 24, the science fiction convention Memorial Day Weekend. May-27 29 2011. The writing guest of honor is David Drake, Artist guest of honor Tommy Castillo and Filk guest of honor is Carla Ulbrich. This is a full convention that has a little of everything. There are the gamers, costume contest, art room, and panel discussions on art of sf, poetry of sf, and many helpful talks by authors and artists on how to break into the industry. There was not too much information available at the time of this writing. For more info on this one go to http://www.oasfis.org/oasis/ May 27 – 29, 2011
