If you’re a huge fan of science fiction and fantasy, like myself, then you realize a trip to Atlanta this weekend for Dragon*Con is like a pilgrim’s journey to Mecca: it’s the Be-All and the End-All of sf/fantasy fandom. It’s an amazing event that features everything you could ask for: authors, celebrities, a fully-stocked dealers’ room, and even a film festival jam-packed with genre films of all lengths and sizes, an amazing conglomeration that must be seen to be believed.

A film I worked on this past year, THE DELIVERY, written and directed by Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle DeCuir, will be screening twice during the film festival. One of the screenings will also feature a Q&A afterward, the subject being how to bring the world of science fiction alive through audiobooks. I was supposed to be there this weekend to attend the screenings, take part in the panel discussion, and be on hand to help promote my new audiobook line’s debut series, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson (which you can read about right here for LORD FOUL’S BANE and then over here for FATAL REVENANT). I was so looking forward to sharing memories and stories with other longtime fans out there, so looking forward to getting lightheaded gazing at the vast array of memorabilia for sale in the dealers’ room, so looking forward to the intoxication of full immersion into my favorite genres, but alas, it is not to be. Schedule commitments have kept me grounded this weekend, but my loss might just be your gain.

My business partner, Richard Parsons, and I were planning on handing out postcards at the convention, with a special $5 off coupon applicable to any of the books in the Thomas Covenant series for attendees of Dragon*Con. Well, just because I can’t make the con doesn’t mean this coupon should go to waste. So, in honor of the great event, I’m offering anyone who wants it a coupon for $5 off the purchase price of each volume in the Thomas Covenant saga thus far from my website, said coupon code valid for a week after the close of the event. When you click through to the purchase page from scottbrickpresents.com, plug in the code “dragoncon2008,” all one word and lowercase, and you’ll see your purchase price discounted. Just my way of saying thank you for the constant support I’ve received from my brethren in science fiction/fantasy fandom. Hope you all enjoy it.

(Mr. Admin says: The coupon will go live on Thursday, August 28; if it doesn’t work when you try it, please try again a few hours later. Thanks!)

And if you’re attending Dragon*Con or will be in the Atlanta area, I’d also like to encourage you to attend either of the screenings during the film festival. THE DELIVERY was a terrific project to work on, and features a number of great actors and authors: Harlan Ellison, Orson Scott Card, Michael York, John Rubinstein, Efram Zimbalist, Jr. and Stephanie Zimbalist, just to name a few. All in all, there are nearly twenty people who’ve narrated audiobooks who make appearances in the film, myself included. (Actually, I play one of the instigators, a real fun role named “Scotty.” You’d think they wrote it for me.) My dear friends Stefan Rudnicki and Gabrielle DeCuir, the people who gave me my first job in the audiobook business as well as the amazing talents behind Orson Scott Card’s “Ender” series on audio, created this film from scratch and did a lovely job of it.

Check out the DELIVERY trailer here on YouTube, then stop by Dragon*Con for the two screenings, the first at 11:30am and then again at 7:00PM, on Sunday, August 30^th. You can get more information about the entire film festival here on Dragon*Con’s website.

And I hope you’ll check back here in the next few weeks. I’ve got two blogs coming up that have been a long time in the making. First up will be a bit of advice on how to break into the business of audiobook narration, a question I’m asked about constantly and would love to help people with. Basically you’ll have to make a demo, and my upcoming blog will help you do that. I’ve also got a very important announcement, a list of upcoming titles that will soon be available for download here at scottbrickpresents.com.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll excuse me. I’ve got two titles to finish up for Tantor Media, both science fiction titles by the giant of the medium, Frank Herbert. The first one is DRAGON IN THE SEA, and the next one will be WHITE PLAGUE, terrific examples of just how amazing a writer this man was, even when he wasn’t playing in the DUNE sandbox. (Like what I did with that? Huh? See what I did? Dune… SANDbox? Wink-wink, nudge-nudge. No joke too old, no bit too cheap.)

Thanks for listening,

Scott Brick

(The answer to that last one is usually “No,” but maybe if enough people ask… well, hope springs eternal…)

Hey guys and gals, Scott is slammed with prepping for the annual geek migration known as the San Diego Comic-Con — amazing what you can write off as a business expense if you have the right accountant — but he asked me to post this note about a cool panel that he is moderating this Saturday afternoon.

Here are the details:

“Comics: Across Every Medium”

Saturday, July 26

2:00 – 3:00 PM

Room 6A

So who’s on this panel? Only a bunch of people who have shaped pop culture as we know it:

* Brad Meltzer, author, The Book of Lies

* David Goyer, screenwriter, Batman Begins

* Paul Feig, creator, Freaks & Geeks

* Whitney Matheson, columnist, USA Today’s “Pop Candy” blog

* Chip Kidd, author, The Learners

These superheroes of novels, film, television, journalism, and the graphic arts have a great love of comics, and they’ll be up on the dais talking with Scott about how funny books have shaped their lives and talents, and how those lives and talents brought them to the heights they now enjoy.

As Mr. Meltzer quipped, “It’ll be like a 21st-century Breakfast Club — but with better references.”

And since Scott’s not here to type it, let me say thanks for listening, and have a great week (and con)!

Den