Dayton's Blog: A pimple on the ass of the Internet.

Tomorrow, officers and crew of the U.S.S. Las Vegas, a Star Trek fan club based in...you guessed it...Las Vegas, are teaming up with a local Barnes & Noble bookseller to promote the release of the new Star Trek film on DVD and Blu-Ray. There will be a "Star Trek" book fair from 11am to 4pm. As the event name suggests, Star Trek books as well as DVDs and other Trek-related merchandise will be there. In addition to the crew from the Las Vegas, former performers and other staff members from the late and lamented Star Trek: The Experience will also be on hand to join in on the fun.

Also participating will be members of Trekcast, the weekly Star Trek Podcast, and they'll be holding a live edition of their show from the store. The show will stream via Ustream, and Kevin and I have been invited to join in a live interview/Q&A session during the show. For those of you who might be interested in listening to the shenanigans and perhaps throwing a question our way, you can send the Trekcast gang messages via the Ustream setup. All the details can be found on the Trekcast site by clicking right here.

For those of you in Las Vegas who might want to check this out in person, the event is being held at the Barnes & Noble at 3860 Maryland Parkway.

Here's hoping we hear from folks!

Earlier this week, Kevin and I, along with Mary Czerwinski (aka Televixen, co-host of the weekly DVDGeeks online TV/radio show/podcast), were guests on the SciFi Diner Podcast to talk a bit about Star Trek. The emphasis of the show was on the forthcoming DVD release of the new Trek flick, which you may have heard did some decent business at the box office this past summer. I'd already been a guest on the show once before, so I was totally jazzed that hosts Scott and Miles invited me back to the Diner for a second helping.

Mary's already had a chance to check out the DVD, so she dishes dirt on the various special features to be found on the different editions as well as the accompanying Blu-ray release. We also spend a good bit of time talking about the film itself, usually branching out of discussions about this or that pertaining to the DVD. We enjoyed ourselves, so hopefully it makes for interesting listening.

You can listen to the episode by clicking right here.

Speaking of DVDGeeks, their next show will be all about the Trek as they do their own coverage of the new DVD. Be on the lookout for guest, Trek expert and friend Larry Nemecek as well as a "very special guest star."

Be sure to check out both shows, whydontcha!

Earlier this week, I was interviewed by Scott Hertzog and Miles McLoughlin of the SciFi Diner Podcast, a weekly show that covers all the latest happenings in the SF and Fantasy genres. Film, TV, books and comics, games and toys, you name it, chances are they've got something to say.

The guys spent about a half hour or so catching up on their sleep as they asked a series of open-ended questions and let me blabber on at length. Somewhere in all of that mess -- we think -- lay the answers to said questions. You can hear the interview as well as a healthy dose of genre news, trivia (I knew the answer to the contest question, without using IMDB!), and other nerdy goodness.

Check out Episode #37 ("37???") at the podcast's homepage: Click Me!

Thanks very much to Scott and Miles for having me on! We're already talking about a follow-up visit to the show for me, this time bringing along Kevin for the ride. Stay tuned for details as they firm up. It should be fun!

On Wednesday, October 21st, I'll be chatting it up with Scott Hertzog and Miles McLoughlin of the SciFi Diner Podcast. Theirs is a weekly show covering all aspects of science fiction - books, film, TV, comics, conventions, you name it.

I know Miles thanks to our mutual friendships with the guys who produce the weekly TrekCast Star Trek podcast. I met him and Scott for the first time at this past summer's Shore Leave convention, and they're both clearly huge fans of the genre having way more fun than the law should allow. We discussed the possibility of my coming on their show back then, so I'm jazzed that a slot's opened up in their schedule.

From the sound of things, we'll talk about my writing and what projects I've got in the pipeline, and hopefully just jabber for a bit about SF in general. The show will be recorded on the 21st for release later that same week. Should be a fun time!

Hmmm...this podcast stuff's getting to be a regular thing, ain't it?

Earlier in the week, Chronic Rift host John Drew (drewshi) contacted me, asking if I was available to "redo" an interview he originally conducted with me back in July at the Shore Leave convention.

While we didn't simply replicate the original interview, I think we covered most of the same topics/questions. John let me blabber about the recent Space Grunts anthology I edited, the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds contests and anthologies, and a few other choice tidbits. My interview is also married up with a second discussion between John and friend, writer and fellow SNW veteran Kevin Lauderale. Kevin also touches on the SNW contests, as well as his other fiction writing as well as his work with AuthorMagazine.org. The two interviews comprise a special episode of The Chronic Rift which John as titled "Spotlight: Shore Leave 2009, Part One."

You can listen to the episode by clicking on this linky-type thing right here.

Hope ya dig it.

Just got done talking with drewshi, recording a "short" segment for his podcast, The Chronic Rift. He let me ramble and blabber about various topics, including the late, lamented Star Trek: Strange New Worlds contest, the Space Grunts anthology I edited earlier this year, my forthcoming sequel to The Last World War, and so on. I'm sure John will work his Edit-Fu Jedi Magic on the whole thing and make me sound good.

Well, good...you know...for me.

John says it should be up and available at the TCR site in a couple of days. Woo to the hoo!

Just a reminder that I'll be participating in a "Sci Fi Chat" on Twitter with Flying Pen Press publisher David Rozansky. It goes from 2-4pm Eastern.

If you're on Twitter and want to follow, just search on the "#scifichat" hash tag, and/or follow me (@daytonward) and Dave (@davidrozansky).

The (proposed) agenda:

The breakdown of the chat is:

• First hour: "Gene Roddenberry and his influence on Sci-Fi."
  
• 30 minutes: Me and my writing
  
• 30 minutes: Open Q&A
  

Maybe we'll see you there!

This coming Friday, August 28th, I'll be a guest for Flying Pen Press publisher David Rozansky's weekly "Sci-Fi Chat" on Twitter. As you may recall, David is the guy responsible for helping bring Space Grunts to fruition.

The chat is basically a real-time back-n-forth on Twitter, with David answering questions he receives during a 2-hour period (in this case, 2-4pm Eastern Time). This time, I'll be getting fed questions sent to him by participants.

The breakdown of the chat is:

• First hour: "Gene Roddenberry and his influence on Sci-Fi."
  
• 30 minutes: Me and my writing
  
• 30 minutes: Open Q&A
  

If you're on Twitter and want to participate, just start following me (@daytonward) and David (@DavidRozansky) around 2pm Eastern on Friday, and follow the #scifichat hashtag.

Beats me how this is gonna go. I'm a TwitChat virgin, myself.

Maybe I'll see you there!

Earlier in the week, I spent some time chatting with Shannon and Matt of Seattle Geekly, a weekly podcast celebrating All Things Geek. We talk briefly about my love for Star Trek and how that turned to me writing Trek fiction for Pocket, other things I geek out on, how I'm indoctrinating my kids into the fine art of geekishness, and so on.

(I forgot to tell the story of how Addy is running around, giving fist bumps to people, and saying "Wonder twin powers...activate! Shape of...an eagle!" Oh, well....maybe next time.)

The interview is but one small part of their latest episode, "Being a Geek," which is now available for your listening pleasure at their website.

Nootch.

Tonight, after the kids are put to bed, I'll be chatting with Shannon Flowers and Matt Hammond of the Seattle Geekly podcast. We crossed paths via Twitter, thanks to having several mutual friends. We'll be yabbering about various geeky topics, which likely will include but not be limited to my Star Trek fetish and how I somehow managed to channel that unhealthy obsession toward making money, what I'm doing to pass on my geekish quirks to my offspring, and so on. It's also quite possible that we'll discuss some of the truly odd search phrases which bring Internet weirdos to the Seattle Geekly website. Should be fun!

The segment is being recorded for their weekly show, which posts new episodes every Thursday. Beware, though, that the show features full frontal nerdity. As for me, I plan to record the session wearing nothing but a giant foam hand making the Vulcan salute.

Okay, and sunglasses.

Boo-yah.

David Ivy and Darren Benjamin, hosts of Trekcast, the twice-weekly Star Trek podcast, called me over the weekend to pick my so-called brain about conventions I've recently attended (namely, Trek Expo and Shore Leave), as well as do a bit of pre-game warm-up for Comic-Con. We also manage to talk a bit (just a quick overview, really) of Pocket Books' 2010 schedule for the Trek books.

Check it out here: Trekcast Episode #36: The Wrath of Con-vention

Thanks as always to David and Darren for having me on. It's always fun talking to the Trekcast gang!

Well, not really.

After our weekly breakfast with Michi's father, who then dotes on his grandkids while Michi kicks my ass at pool, I sat down to complete my outline revisions for what will be Paths of Disharmony, my entry in the forthcoming 4-book Star Trek: The Typhon Pact mini-series. The notes offered up by Madame Editor weren't really all that much, but it did require rethinking a couple of threads running throughout the story. Said revisions are going to let me bring in a few fun bits of Trek lore, so that's a plus.

(Mwuahahahaha....)

Since mine will be the last book of the mini-series and will likely "redirect" certain ongoing plot points with respect to the post-Destiny goings-on, it does have a few requisite "Holy Shit!" moments. Looks good in the outline; I guess we'll see what happens when I actually write the thing.

Anyway, it's on its way through the aether to the editor's e-Mail inbox, and I expect I'll hear from her in short order if we're good to go.

What's next? Finishing another chapter of Counterstrike, which continues to chug merrily along....


Edit to Add: Almost forgot! I'll be talking to the guys at Trekcast again this evening, providing a postgame wrapup of the Trek Expo and Shore Leave conventions, as well as a pregame warmup for Comic-con. It's being recorded for what I think will be the podcast's next weekly "regular" episode, which should go live some time tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Last Thursday marked the official publication date of Space Grunts, the iddy-biddy anthology I edited for Flying Pen Press. As well as distributing marketing info to various booksellers and whatnot, they also conducted a brief interview with me. Read all about how Space Grunts came to be.

Last Friday night, I once again spent some time with the gang from Trekcast, the weekly Star Trek podcast. David Ivy and Darren Benjamin were joined by Jerad Formby, current author of Trekcast's "Hey, Star Trek!" blog as well as one-time performer at Star Trek: The Experience (he was the Ferengi "Quan"). The topic of our discussion? The new Star Trek movie, of course, as well as how we as Star Trek fans carry way too much trivia and other minutiae around in our heads. Our chit-chat was but one part of the episode, which also features an interview with Andy Gore, CEO of Quantum Mechanix, the super-cool outfit that makes high-quality prop replicas and other collectibles from various SF and Fantasy properties. Check out Episode 28: "You Know Too Much". Then subscribe to the podcast and listen to it every week. These guys are a lot of fun to hang out with.

What an atypical, yet oh-so totally fun week it's been.

It started on Sunday night, and an interview with the folks at NDB Radio. Two hours of talking about Trek, my writing, and so on, including a good chunk of that chatting with infinitydog.

Monday, I responded to a journalist's request for some thoughts/quotes/etc. about Trek canon, for this piece which ran in the National Post on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Kevin and I, along with Michi and Kevin's daughter, attended the second of three screenings for the new Star Trek film, courtesy of the PR firm who contacted us a couple of weeks ago. This screening was in IMAX, and the film was just as much fun the second time around.

On Thursday, I did a quick interview with David K. Ewen, host of Today's Author. For those interested, the interview (only about 6 minutes and change in length), is available for listening on demand, either via streaming or downloadable mp3.

On Friday morning, Kevin and I hit the theater one more time, again courtesy of the aforementioned PR firm, for a breakfast screening of the new flick. This time, the theater was one of those new AMC "Fork & Screen" jobs, and we enjoyed a full breakfast while we watched the movie. I could get used to that kind of thing. After the movie, we hung out in the lobby, gave away some books our editor at Pocket had provided us for the occasion, and chatted with fans as well as the reps from the PR firm. Then, we got a tour of the TOTALLY FRIKKIN' AWESOME "Cine-suite" auditorium at the theater, courtesy of AMC's marketing director who was also on hand for the screening. Home theater-style recliner seating, total service from the restaurant and the bar (real food, not just the concession stuff), the works. The next movie I go to see will be in one of these babies.

Friday night, it was out and about again, this time to the brand-spankin' new AMC Studio 30 theater in KC's "Power & Light District." The PR firm was hosting a "Trek Virgin Party" at the bar/restaurant co-located with the theater. We didn't go to see the movie again, but instead spent a couple of hours hanging with fans who were waiting for their movie to start, or who had just come out of a screening. We did Trek trivia, handed out an ass-load of Trek-related prizes donated from a couple of local merchants as well as all sorts of movie swag, had pictures taken with Orion Slave Women, the whole nine yards. I brought Michi along and she had a blast, too.

So, that was my Trek week. I've got my Trek fix for a couple of weeks at least, I think. Lots of fun, and the ladies from the PR firm responsible for putting into motion all of these events treated us way, way better than we probably deserved.

Just a reminder that I'll be a guest tonight on the live Internet radio program Today's Author, with host David K. Ewen, for a segment called "Star Trek: The Interview." It's still scheduled to around 15 minutes or so, beginning tonight at 8:30pm Eastern time. If you decide to blow me off in favor of tonight's Survivor episode, the show will be available for listening on demand via streaming or mp3 download.

Otherwise, I hope you'll tune in!

Well, the fun tying into the new Trek flick continues unabated.

Tonight, Kevin and I, along with Michi and Kevin's daughter, will be attending a screening of the film at a local theater (in IMAX, baby!), courtesy of the PR firm who hooked us up last Saturday. As before, we'll do a little song and dance before the show starts, handing out books and other Trek-related prizes, before we all settle in and Get Our Nerd On.

Tomorrow, I'll be a guest on the Internet radio program Today's Author, with host David K. Ewen, for a segment called "Star Trek: The Interview." It's scheduled to run about 15 minutes, and you can listen live beginning at 8:30pm Eastern time on Thursday. Otherwise, the show will be available for listening on demand via streaming or mp3 download. My understanding is that the radio segment will also be incorporated into a TV spot which will be available soon after at WVTA.tv.

Friday is when it gets totally crazy. First, Kevin and I, once again guests of the aforementioned PR firm, will be attending a breakfast/screening, hosted by local radio station Mix 93.3 and held at a brand-spankin' new AMC theater in KC's popular "Power & Light District." Apparently, the hosts of the show's morning program are serious Trekkies, and have been talking about the movie for weeks. The theater is one of those "Fork & Screen" jobs, which I've never seen, so this should be cool.

After doing that and trying to fit in at least something approaching a productive day at our respective dayjobs, we'll be back in the P&L Friday night, for a "Trek Virgin Party" hosted by our local Fox station's film critic, Shawn Edwards. There will be prizes, models dressed up as Orion slave girls for photo ops, giveaways, and assorted other chaos. T-shirts will handed out, featuring a hand rendering the Vulcan salute and the caption on the front that reads "Turn in your V-card." On the back, it'll say "I held out for the right one." How we fit into that scene has yet to be explained to us, but Michi seems interested in checking it out. Since it will be in proximity to the theater, we may end up seeing the movie again.

This stuff is insane. :)

The interview I had with Roger Noriega and his merry band at NDB Radio went pretty well. We talked about my writing, the new Trek movie, Trek in general, and various other topics. infinitydog, who was interviewed by this same gang a couple of weeks ago, was listening to the show and called in, after which we entertained the crew with a few stories, such as how the forthcoming roast of kradical at Shore Leave came to be, and the April Fools Day prank a bunch of us Trek writers pulled on former Trek editor Marco Palmieri. All in all, it was a fun couple of hours.

A replay of the show is available on demand from the show's page on BlogTalkRadio.com:

Listen via streaming

Download mp3 file

For those with nothing better to do, I'll be interviewed by the folks at NDB Radio beginning around 10pm Eastern Time tonight. Not sure how long the interview will go. If we're having a good time, we'll keep rolling; if I'm boring as hell, I'm sure the host will suddenly experience technical difficulties, after which I can start slogging through by TiVo backlog of Breaking Bad.

The primary focus of the chat will be my writing, with a likely emphasis on Trek. During our brief "pre-interview" phone conversation, the topic of the new film came up, so we might end up jawing about that, as well. Who knows?

Got some clarification today about my forthcoming interview with NDB Radio. The show is slated to start at 10pm Eastern time on Sunday, with them bringing me on 10-15 minutes after that. If you've got better things to do at that time (and who doesn't?), the show will be available to listen via streaming or mp3 download after it's all said and done.

We'll be talking about my writing in general, with an emphasis on Trek, particularly since Open Secrets is starting to hit shelves. C'mon. Just TiVo The Unit, and join me, whydontcha?

The first review of Open Secrets is up, courtesy of Robert Lyons over at TrekMovie.com: Read all about it!



By all accounts, Father Rob seems to have dug it.

In related news, Doug Drexler continues to make with the Fanboy Goodness over on his site, his latest entry focusing on several samples of cover art he's created for various Star Trek projects for Pocket Books (such as all of the covers for the Star Trek: Vanguard series. See above.). Lots of nicely-sized, text free cover art for the gawking. Check it out, whydontcha?

Meanwhile, the 25th episode of Trekcast is now live and available for listening and download. In addition to the usual news, nerdity, and other shenanigans for which the podcast has become known, the guys also called me last Friday to provide an infodump about the recent Starfest convention I attended in Denver. That 10 minute back-n-forth is included as part of the episode, as well. Listen up, to'ba!