May is coming to a close and with it my month of releasing Fuzzy Nation and touring all across the country to support it. You all have been amazing in your enthusiasm and support, and to show my appreciation for you all, and in conjunction with my friends at Subterranean Press, are offering one last Fuzzy Nation giveaway. For this one, I have ten — count them! Ten! — copies of the novel to give away. You could win one! Yes, you!

Here’s how it will go down:

1. You post a comment in the comment thread. One post per person — multiple postings will disqualify you. If your comment does not immediately post, don’t panic; it may be caught in the moderation queue. I will go through and release them.

2. Post it by 12pm Eastern Time, June 1, 2011.

3. After that time, I will select the winners based on a number-based selection criterion that I have already explained to Bill Shafer, the publisher of Subterranean Press, who is sponsoring the contest. Of the selection criterion, Bill said, “Crap. That’s ingenious. I would have given them away for the most creative (but not obscene) uses of the word mutton.” So you know it’s good. In case of a disqualification (enter only once, folks), the comment at the number above the disqualified comment will win.

4. I’ll e-mail the winners and get their mailing addresses. We’ll then send off the copies! Happy reading!

So, really, all you have to do is post a comment. It’s just that easy.

Good luck!

Why it’s nice to be back (in case there was any doubt).

Some quick notes for today:

1. Yay! I’m home! I know, this is a repeat from the note last night, but I think it bears repeating. I’ve been on tour since the 10th, and actively away from home since the 13th, so being in my house with nowhere else I need to be between now and the end of the month just seems like a very excellent luxury. I’m wallowing in it, people. Wallowing.

2. During my tour (i.e., for the last three weeks), I’ve not been going through my e-mail as thoroughly as I usually do and thus have probably missed a number of e-mails. I’ll be going down the list of e-mails today (sort of) and tomorrow (more actively), so if you sent an e-mail to me that you were hoping to get a response for, and you don’t have it by noon, Eastern time, Wednesday, June 1, go ahead and resend it because by that time you can assume I have entirely missed it.

3. Likewise, as regards Whatever, as of now, I am off the “All Tour and Book, All the Time” programming and will actually start writing about stuff that’s not about either of those because, no offense to either the book and tour, but I’m pretty much tired of both at this point and wouldn’t mind about blathering on something else, and since I’m now back at home I can actually start paying attention to what’s going on in the rest of the world. That’s right, the tour bubble is officially popped! Now I can finally find out who won American Idol!

(Note: I don’t actually care who won American Idol. Don’t bother telling me.)

4. That said, let me offer my final appreciation and gratitude to everyone who did come to see me while I was on tour, and who picked up the book and made it as much of a success as it has been to this point. I had a grand time on the tour, going out and about and seeing everyone. Three weeks away from home is a lot of time, but it was also time very well spent in my opinion. I wouldn’t have missed it. So thank you. Really. Thank you.

And now I’m going to go wander the yard with the child. Catch up with you all a bit later.

Just so you know. See you all later.

Not my last interview ever (uh, probably) but the last interview I did whilst out on my book tour, was recorded yesterday and is now up today on the Versus the World “Alpha Geek” podcast, which you may find here. In it I discuss the new book, working on Stargate, why I harp on financial matters for writers, and other such stuff. If you’re coming to this on a day other than the 29th of May, you should probably use this link to find it. In either case, enjoy.

If you will make a sacrifice on my behalf to the Memorial Day Travel Gods, I would be obliged. I had a wonderful time with all y’all the last three weeks. But now I would like to be home.

The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man wishes to remind you that I will be making my final book tour appearance tonight at 5pm at the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, Arizona. Accompanying me will be Sam Sykes! It will be fun! Come or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man might step on a church! And we can’t have that. I may be an agnostic, but even I think that’s rude.

Phoenix Comicon has been delightful so far. My time has been spent hanging about at my signing station and then occasionally going to panels, all of which have been very good so far — and I’m happy to say I remain undefeated in “Just a Minute,” a convention adaptation of a very popular British radio game show. Our version was hosted by the ever-genial Paul Cornell, who was fun to try to flummox in various ways. And while I won the game, it was Robert J. Sawyer who won the audience’s hearts with ability to discourse, encyclopedia-like, on any subject thrown his way. Seriously, the man’s like a Wikipedia with legs, at least on the subjects of science fiction and fantasy.

The highlight of the convention for me (so far, anyway) was watching Wil Wheaton perform a live and deeply amusing dramatic version of his “Clash of the Geeks” story, “The Last Unicorn (Pegasus Kitten).” Dude nailed. It’s almost like he was, you know, an actor or something. It’s also fun to be part of the Wheaton entourage here at the Comicon, since Wil knows a huge amount of really interesting people, so I get to meet them too while I’m here.

Today’s schedule: two panels (one on the Big Idea, one in which I do a reading for the Comicon attendees), one interview and then the reading in the early evening, followed by dinner, sleep and then a flight home, assuming the gods of Memorial Day Weekend Travel in fact let that happen. We shall see. But for the moment: Having fun.

Your weekend so far? Tell me everything. Omit nothing.

I’ve been on tour since May 10, and away from home (meaning, not going back home after an appearance but instead living out of a hotel) for two straight weeks. I will continue to be doing so until Sunday — assuming I’m able to get home without delay by taking a Memorial Day Weekend flight, which to my knowledge I have never once been able to do. When everything wraps up I will have been on tour for three weeks, which for a normal human is a long time to be away from home, and this particular instance if nowhere else, I happen to be a fairly normal human.

While I have been about on tour, folks have asked if I like touring, or if I’m having fun, or if I miss being home — or more generally, what it’s like to be on a book tour for an extended period of time. So to answer these questions, I’ve made a little list of the pluses and minuses of being on a long book tour.

To begin, let’s start with the pluses:

1. An opportunity to promote your book. This is of course the whole point of the tour, and it’s not an insignificant point. Lots of books get released every week, even in just science fiction and fantasy, and you have to work hard to differentiate yours from every other book and get people excited about it. Showing up in physical form in a place your readers can find you is one of the ways to do that.

In my case at least there’s some evidence that touring helped punt the book up and through that ineffable goalpost known as the New York Times Bestseller List — not wholly through the number of people showing up to the events but also through the second-order stuff like media covering the event and people talking about the tour and so on. It’s that second-order awareness raising that makes a difference in the long run and justifies a tour, even if the numbers of readers showing up at any particular spot varies significantly.

2. A chance to meet fans. I’m under the impression that it’s exciting for fans to meet authors, but it works the other way, too — it’s very neat indeed to show up at a bookstore and see dozens of people (or more!) waiting to see you and meet you and being excited about your work. Writing is a process usually done alone and staring into a computer, and most writers are not so well known that they are stopped on the street by the adoring masses. A tour is a nice way to be assured that indeed, all of our hard work and hair-pulling angst in writing a novel does not result in the book falling down a dark hole; people really do read it, and like it, and show up to let us know about it. I assume other writers are grateful about that; I know I am.

3. An opportunity to road-test material. In my case, when I’m on the road, I try not to read from the book I’m touring, since presumably people either have already read it, or will be reading it once I sign their book. Instead, I present material from upcoming works, and that serves two purposes: One, it gives me an idea of how that particular piece is working with people who are core fans of my writing; two, it both rewards people for showing up to my reading (they get an exclusive sneak peak!) and if they like it, at least, gives them something to be excited about for the future.

4. See friends and other places. I live in rural Ohio and most of my friends live a significant distance away, so a book tour gives me a chance to get out of my little hometown for a bit and at most stops to spend some time with friends who I would not otherwise easily see. At nearly every stop on the tour there were at least a couple of friends I had not seen in a while and was happy to be able to spend at least a little time with. Also, occasionally on tour you have an opportunity to meet with people you have always wanted to meet, but managed not to up until that point. That’s fun too.

5. Most everything is paid for by someone else. Hotels, airfare, dinners? Paid for by the publisher or expensible. That’s fairly awesome.

So those are upside happy things. Now here are the disadvantages:

1. Discombobulation. What day is it? Where am I? What’s on my schedule that I have to do this time? There’s an actual rest of the world outside my tour? After a couple of days it really does become a blur, because usually at each stop one is heavily scheduled. It’s not just the event — there’s meeting with booksellers, signing stock, being driven about, doing interviews and other work on the road, and so on… and doing that all while constantly moving.

When I did my first tour for a novel, I was told I’d have a media escort at each stop, and I thought, why on earth would I need one of those? By the second stop I knew: Because you’re doing so much, and usually in a place where you don’t know where anything is, that you really do need someone to guide you around and sometimes do the simple things, like, you know, make sure you eat and make it to the airport for your next flight.

2. Performance mode. This isn’t an actual minus, but it’s taxing, which is why I put it in this category. When I do an event, I am essentially doing a live and generally high-energy performance: I do a significant chunk of reading, which I try to deliver in something other than a pedantic monotone, because that would suck; then I do a fairly extensive Q&A session, which obliges me both to think on my feet and to be entertaining while doing so, and then I do a signing session, which is an hour or more of making sure that everyone who gets a book signed feels they get at least a moment where it’s just them and me talking. When all is said and done it’s two or three hours of being on.

As fun as that is for me — and it is fun, a lot of fun — it’s also very tiring. When I’m done with what I call my “Performing Monkey Mode” at the end of every tour event, I’m usually wiped out. Friends with whom I go to dinner after an event usually notice it — I am quiet(er) and appear a little withdrawn and tired, and slightly dazed. And you do that every day for a couple of weeks.

3. Time pressure. So, the good thing about touring is that you get to see friends. The bad thing about touring is that you often don’t get to see them as much as you like, and the fact is, you’re working, and you have to fit your friends around that work. So often that means that someone you’d really like to spend an hour or two with you end up being able to spend maybe fifteen minutes with, or even just a couple of minutes in the signing line. And while I expect most of those folks know you’re busy and working and don’t hold it against you, it’s still not the best circumstance. And of course sometimes there are people you want to see, but then your schedules just don’t match up. So you’re in a town of one of your friends and what you end up doing is waving at their house as you fly out.

4. Isolation. You see friends, you see fans, you meet people on your tour. But you’re still out of your usual circumstances and you are usually flying solo and you are generally only in any one place for a short period of time, and you travel around a whole lot. So you end up spending a lot of time alone, and not just alone but alone away from familiar places and people. Which leads to being (for me) a little isolated and out of sorts. I tell people that my usual limit for being away from my wife, child and pets is about three days, and after that I start being cranky and moody. So now I’m on day fourteen of that, with a few more days to go. I’m pretty sure I’m not letting my existential yearning for home show much — and to be clear I’m still enjoying myself quite a bit and am looking forward to the last few days on the road — but it’s there. I am very much ready to be home and not having to go anywhere or do anything other than be with my family.

So there are the ups and downs of the life of the touring author, at least when the touring author is named John Scalzi. Other authors may tell slightly different tales. But I think in general we’d all say: these tours are a lot of fun, we have a wonderful time when we’re one them, and when they’re done, it’s nice to be home.

Surely you remember how Paul & Storm wrote me a simply magnificent power ballad for my novel Fuzzy Nation? You do? Excellent. Well, now Paul & Storm are taking it to the next level and asking you — yes, you! — to remix their awesome song for a contest in which fabulous prizes will be given, including but not limited to signed, personalized editions of Fuzzy Nation and other Scalzi books.

You want details. Well, I want to give you details. And you can find all the details here, at the Paul & Storm remix contest page. Download the raw files, work your remix magic, and offer up your own version by 11:59, June 14, 2011. I’ll be looking forward to your beats and bloops and other musical thingies. Good luck, and tell all your friends.

And for those of you who somehow have managed not to hear the glorious awesomeness of the original, feast your ears, baby. Feast your ears:

Attention Citizens of Phoenix and Arizona! As of tomorrow I will be among you in your fair (and I assume at this point rather warm) environs, both to do a tour appearance and to be a guest at Phoenix Comicon. The tour appearance is open to the public, while Comicon memberships at the door will be $40. Come to one, come to both — either way I’ll be happy to see you.

Here’s information on both:

TOUR STOP:

The final tour stop on the Fuzzy Nation book tour will be Saturday, May 28 at 5pm at The Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ. I will be there, as will Sam Sykes, who will also be reading and signing. Then he and I will fight to the death. It will be fun.

(Technical note: In this instance “fight to the death,” means “make a few snarky comments and grin stupidly,” more or less. You still don’t want to miss it.)

(Seriously, come on down — this tour has been great so far and I just know you guys can help end it on a high note.)

(No pressure or anything.)

COMICON APPEARANCE SCHEDULE:

Author Round Up – Come meet several of our author guests in an informal chat session to find out what they’ll be doing during the weekend.
When: Thu, 8:00-9:00PM (Room 122 Sci Fi)

Sci-Fi Authors & Social Media – Authors today spend a lot of time online conversing with fans about their work and everything under the sun. How do they keep social media from taking over their lives, while making their online presence a good experience for them and their fans? Panelists: Cherie Priest, Jack Mangan, John Scalzi, Paul Cornell, Sam Sykes
When: Fri, 10:30-11:30AM (Room 122 Sci Fi)

Sci-Fi and Fantasy on TV – With such shows as FlashForward, Stargate Universe, The Dresden Files, and Star Trek: TNG under their belts, panelists look at their series’ work and discuss how their efforts worked (or didn’t) with the realities of TV production. Panelists: John Scalzi, Morgan Gendel, Robert J Sawyer
When: Fri, 12:00-1:00PM (Room 122 Sci Fi)

Just a Minute With Paul Cornell and Friends – Join Paul Cornell and special guests for a fun round of the British radio game show Just a Minute. Panelists: Paul Cornell
When: Fri, 6:00-7:00PM (Room 121)

The Big Idea – The Big Idea, a regular feature on “Whatever” (John Scalzi’s website), gives authors the chance to talk about the “big idea” that went into their novels. Join John and several of those authors for a look at their big ideas. Panelists: Cherie Priest, James A Owen, John Scalzi, Jordan Summers, Kevin Hearne, Sam Sykes, Janni Lee Simner
When: Sat, 10:30-11:30AM (Room 122 Sci Fi)

John Scalzi Spotlight – Phoenix ComiCon welcomes back Hugo award-winning author John Scalzi! He’ll be reading from something new and answering questions about his work, life, pets and his plans to take over the world. Panelists: John Scalzi
When: Sat, 12:00-1:00PM (Room 122 Sci Fi)

Beyond this I will have an author table I will be at when I am not causing mischief elsewhere.

So come to either or both and I hope to see you soon.

I’ve been traveling a lot in the last couple of weeks, so perhaps it’s only natural that this week’s FilmCritic.com column is about space travel — and which classic science fiction films make it seem easy, and which ones don’t. The one thing we learn: Don’t fall asleep. The column explains why. Check it out and then leave your comments there.

If I’ve done anything useful at all in the history of Hugos, it’s help establish the idea that letting the potential Hugo voters get a packet of the nominated works to read and evaluate is a good thing for the process and for the award. I wasn’t the first person to think of it, mind you, but I helped give it a push in recent years, and the Worldcons have taken my initial efforts in the area and taken them to new and better heights.

So it pleases me to tell all y’all that this year the folks at Renovation, this year’s Worldcon, have once again worked with the authors, artists and publishers of the Hugo-nominated works this year (and the Campbell-nominated works too! Let’s not forget those!) to offer Hugo voters a free look at many of the nominees and in most of the categories. This will help them — you, if you choose to vote — to make an informed decision about how they will rank the works when it comes time to vote.

What’s available? Go here for the content list of the packet, and the formats in which the content is available.

How do you become a Hugo voter? Why, you sign up to be a member of Renovention, this year’s Worldcon, of course! Which you can do right at this link. You can sign up to be an attending member — which means you plan on coming to the actual convention in Reno this year (in which case, see you there) — or you can choose a Supporting Membership, which means you won’t attend the event but that you may vote for the Hugos. A Supporting Membership is $50 — i.e., less than the cost of all the Hugo-nominated novels included in the voter packet (not to mention everything else). If you’re a reader and love science fiction, you can see how voting in the Hugos turns out to be a pretty decent deal for you.

So check it out, get a membership, have fun reading, and vote. The Hugos are better the more people participate.

It was the Nebula Awards Weekend this last weekend, and the first of these that happened with me as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and it was that fact that, as you may understand, made me hope that everything about it ran smoothly and well. Thus I am delighted to say that in my opinion, just about everything seemed to run smoothly and well. I do not personally take credit for this — that credit accrues to Nebula Weekend coordinator (and generally spectacular person) Peggy Rae Sapienza and her hardworking staff of volunteers — but as president I can officially be relieved. And thus, I am.

My own weekend was hella busy, because while most of the folks at the Weekend is there for relaxation, education, and the doling out of the Nebula Awards, I was there for meetings — a couple with the rest of SFWA’s Board of Directors (about whom I cannot say enough good things), one with the membership in general, and a few others generally attending to SFWA business. This followed by, of course, lots of hanging about in the bar and talking up a storm with other members and Nebula Weekend attendees. A result of this was right now my voice sounds like a frog being run through a strainer; since I actually have to speak tomorrow for the NYPL event, I’m going to try to spend most of today not saying a damn thing. I doubt people will recognize me.

The big event of the weekend was the Nebula Awards (note the name), and the ceremony was really excellent, if I do say so myself, thanks in particular to toastmaster Michael Swanwick, who kept the ceremony light and quick, and to our keynote speaker Michael Dirda, whose speech was observations of his own life on the periphery of the science fiction field. As for those big, shiny Nebula Awards, you can see who got to take one home in this list of awardees. As an observer of science fiction, I am very happy with this year’s Nebula crop, which I think very clearly shows the width and breadth of the genre and the variety of people who are writing it. As a person, I was especially delighted to be able to hand a Nebula to Rachel Swirsky, who made her first professional sale to me a few years ago. I told her at some point in our shared history that one day I would be on hand to see her get a Nebula. I liked being right about that.

For all that I was busy with business and being president and just plain being oh so very important, huff puff puff, I don’t think it’s any particular surprise that the best thing for me about the weekend was simply being able to see friends, many of whom were at the Nebs. Just to be able to sink into a bar chair, surrounded by a group of very clever people saying very funny things, is one of the great pleasures of life for me. I got a number of opportunities to do that this weekend, and to spend time with old friends and make some new friends as well, of whom one hopes that in time they will become old friends as well.

Oh, and I did laundry. So all of you in New York and Phoenix, where I will be next, need not be afraid of my emanations. A huge thank you to Storm — yes! Of Paul and Storm! — both for the use of his laundry facilities, and for a few hours of chill time. He is awesome in awesomely awesome ways, which are awesome.

In all, and for many reasons, just a really excellent weekend. I offer my sincere and genuine thanks to everyone who made it possible, from the folks who volunteered their time and efforts to my friends who, although they showed up for reasons other than just to make me happy, made me happy nonetheless. I can’t wait for next year’s Nebula Weekend.

I blew out my voice yesterday after a weekend of near-constant talking, so today I’m trying to be as quiet as possible (I know! Me!). But that doesn’t mean you can’t hear the dulcet tones of my voice — I’m featured on the most recent episode of Writing Excuses, the Hugo-nominated writing podcast hosted by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells. In the episode I’m on, I and Brandon and Howard discuss dialogue, and why it’s important to read outside of the genres of science fiction and fantasy to make your dialogue more interesting. It’s a fifteen minute (or so) podcast, and worth the time investment.

Today was spent doing laundry, which was bound to happen after ten days on the road. There were other parts too, but right now I’m about to collapse from exhaustion, so details will wait until tomorrow, when I’m on the train to New York. See you then.

Been super busy at the Nebulas, which is why I have not been about this weekend. Not that I don’t love you all. But being president of SFWA has priority this weekend. 

But tell me: how are you?

If you are in or around Washington DC today, and you love science fiction and fantasy, you will want to be at the Washington Hilton between the hours of 5:30 and 7pm, at which time dozens of science fiction and fantasy authors, including Connie Willis, Joe Haldeman, Paolo Bacigalupi and yours truly, will be on hand to sign your books and make your day. Need books to sign? There will be books on hand to buy. It’ll be more science fiction and fantasy awesomeness in one place at one time than you’re likely to see in the nation’s capital for a long time. The event is open to the public (that means you). So come on down!

Here are all the details on where, when, how and who. See you there!