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Category: signings

Fall Deathmarch (a.k.a. tour)

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on August 29, 2023

Excuse me, meme. We prefer the term “geeks.”

Semantics aside (and I’m always up for semantics!) I’m off to sunny Atlanta for Dragoncon! It’s great to be returning after many years away – I think my last DC was 2015? 

My reading is at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Hyatt Marietta, and I hope you’ll come. I’ll be giving out a free chapbook to all attendees and will have books for sale. Likewise at my signing, which is at 2:30 p.m. Friday (with Timothy Zahn!) in Westin Overlook and I will sign (almost) anything you put in front of me.

Travelogue will post on Patreon as usual, along with any fun costume pics I get. I’m really looking forward to the annual crazy, and hope my poor bod is up to the abuse. 

Beyond that, the Fall Deathmarch is batshit this year. 

The weekend following Dragoncon, I’m signing at the Martin (Tenn.) Public Library before my 30th (!!) high school reunion.

Sept. 11 I’m speaking to the Plethora of Pens group at the Glen Carbon Library. Topic, er, to be determined.

On Sept. 23 it’s the Spine Book Fair in St. Louis! Note to self: we need a new festival tent…

Then it’s off to Las Vegas for the SPJ National Conference Sept. 28-Oct. 1, where I am a presenter (on freelance journalism) and doing a book signing. No, none of my books have jack to do with journalism unless you count the Dana Franks character in Nocturne Infernum, but they said that doesn’t matter…

Yes, that conflicts with Archon, so I will not be there (sadface) but Jim, Sela Carsen, Nikki Lanahan and Mary Koppenhofer will run the Literary Underworld in my absence. This is the first Archon I will miss since 2007, and I only missed that one because my dad was getting married. (Technically, a family unity ceremony.) While LitUnd will be there in force, we won’t be holding the Traveling Bar. So expect us back with both barrels in 2024!

After that:

• The Melting Pot in Granite City, Ill. on Oct. 7

• Writers of the Riverbend in Alton, Ill. on Oct. 14

• RWA/St. Louis Writers Guild conference at the St. Louis Central Library on Oct. 21 (speaking and signing)

• ContraKC in Kansas City on Nov. 10-12 (full LitUnd booth and traveling bar.)

THEN I UNPACK AND SLEEP. 

Every fall I say, “Why do I do this to myself?” But seeing all of you makes up for the exhaustion and nonsense. If you’re in the vicinity of any of these events, I hope you’ll stop by and say hello. It’ll be good to see you again. 

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Signing added in Martin, Tenn.!

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on August 21, 2023

I’m honored to be hosted by the public library officially known as C.E. Weldon Public Library in Martin, Tennessee, where I am returning next month for my 30th (!!!) high school reunion.

I refuse to believe it’s been 30 years. I reject your reality and replace it with my own.

In the past three decades, the town where I graduated has built a beautiful new modern library, and I have been delighted to watch it grow via social media. I’m honored to be hosted for a book signing and casual Q&A during the Soybean Festival before attending my high school reunion. Come by and say hello! I’ll be there about 2:30 p.m. 

Speaking of high school, I’m the one on the left with all the hair. 

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Once more unto Second Life, dear friends

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on April 30, 2023

I was honored and pleased to join the good folks at the Fantasy Faire LitFest on Second Life this afternoon, giving a brief craft talk and reading a short story. Since all but one attendee had never heard of me before, I defaulted to “Sisyphus,” which reads well and people seem to enjoy it. 

I really enjoy these Second Life readings. I can do them from home in comfort, and my avatar has this whole Sophia Loren thing going that looks pretty awesome. I found her a dress spattered with blood – it’s on point for my work, at least. 

Photo courtesy of Nicole Rodovsky

It is a little disconcerting not to have the visual cues for feedback – did they laugh at the joke, did they seem enthralled by the story… In live readings, I’ve had an audience member literally throw herself out of a chair (ah, Abaddon, such a fun opening number) and people who literally gasped at the twist in “The Train.” 

But longtime SL people use the local chat to indicate when they’re surprised or amused, and that kind of makes up for the lack of eye contact. It’s a really interesting experience, and one I hope to repeat in the future.

Fantasy Faire is going on through May 8 with a variety of experiences, and the entire program is to benefit the American Cancer Society. As you all know, I’ve been a Relay for Life team captain for going on two decades now to raise money for ACS, and I always seem to have new names to add to my lists of reasons why I do this.

Unfortunately, another name was added to that list yesterday: my friend Wez Nicholson, whose wife Mitzi was a bridesmaid in my wedding and has been a dear friend for many years. We are all heartbroken to lose Wez, and angry that we must add another verse to the chorus of Fuck Cancer. I have been looking for two days to find a picture of me and Wez, and I know there are a dozen, but they are stubbornly hiding and it is bothering me to a disproportionate amount. Please keep Wez’s family and especially Mitzi in your thoughts.

If you aren’t on Second Life and thus can’t wander past the giant mushrooms and sleeping dragons to click the donation kiosks, you can donate to the American Cancer Society here, with my thanks.

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RBR reading Tuesday

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on April 15, 2023

I’m delighted to announce that I’ll be joining the other authors in this year’s edition of the River Bluff Review for a group reading on Tuesday.

I was honored beyond words (uncharacteristically) that the staff of the River Bluff Review chose to include a short story, two poems and a photograph from my submissions in this year’s edition. I’m looking forward to hearing all the other writers share their work, and have been instructed to read both prose and poetry at the event.

That means the short story, “Tiny Monsters,” and one of the poems, which will probably be “Seasons.” You can find them in the online publication of the magazine here.

The reading will take place at 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 at the Cougar Bookstore in the Morris University Center at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The public is welcome to attend.

The photo they chose to include is seen at the top of this post, titled “Edgar.” It was shot in 2018 at the grave of Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore. Prints are available on my webstore.

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SL reading set for April 29

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on April 13, 2023

I’m delighted to announced that I have been selected to join the Second Life Fantasy Faire as a guest author, and will be reading an excerpt of my work on Second Life at 4 p.m. SLT (that’s 6 p.m. CST, if I calculated correctly).

Fantasy Faire is a weeks-long celebration of all things fantasy in Second Life, and it is a benefit for Relay for Life. Those of you who have read me for a while know that I am a Relay for Life team captain, and my team has raised more than $50,000 for the American Cancer Society over the past 15 years or so.

My own Relay for Life just got postponed from this weekend to sometime in June, but my team has already met its goal for fundraising (not that we’re stopping). It’s bittersweet as always, because there are far too many good, close friends who are no longer here because cancer took them too soon. Most recently I lost my Uncle Brian to cancer in October , and earlier this week honored my dear friend Andy, who was a year younger than me and lost his fight in 2020. 

It’s a delight and an honor to be selected to join the authors reading for this important cause, in the hopes that someday we can stop adding names to the list of those cancer has taken from us. 

Fantasy Faire opens up on April 20, and when I have more specific information and landmarks for you, I’ll be sure to share them. In the meantime, my team’s progress is being charted here. 

Now to pick something to read…

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River Bluff Review

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on February 4, 2023

They didn’t tell me! The annual release of River Bluff Review is live, and I didn’t know. I was honored to see one short story, two poems and a photograph accepted for publication in my final year, and you can see them all here. 

“Tiny Monsters” has extra weight for me, as it is not only one of very few stories I’ve seen published with no speculative-fiction or supernatural content, but also draws a great deal from my life in the past. I found that the more I delved into literary fiction, the more I was exploring parts of my life and self, some of it deeply uncomfortable. Fiction shouldn’t be therapy – or at least it shouldn’t be only therapy, or you get bad fiction. But I was surprised by how much of myself and things I buried deep came to the surface as I experimented with this kind of writing.

Likewise, I hadn’t written any poetry since I was seventeen, because everyone writes poetry when they’re seventeen. My youthful poetry is buried at sea where it can’t get loose and hurt anyone. But then I took an advanced poetry workshop a few semesters ago, and two of those poems appear in River Bluff Review. That makes them the very first poetry I’ve ever had published. 

Finally, if you click “visual art” in the header, you’ll see my photographic depiction of “Edgar” among the other art accepted for the issue. It’s interesting that it goes live now, because I’m finishing my presentation on Edgar Allan Poe and “The Raven” I’ll be giving next week, and I’ve got Edgar on the brain.

Well, now I’ve got something to put in this month’s newsletter…

In other news, I’m signing at Writers of the Riverbend on Saturday, so if you’re local to Maeva’s Coffee in Alton, Ill., come by and see us 11:30 to 4 p.m.! 

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Independent Bookseller Day!

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on April 6, 2022

Just a quick update that April 30 is Independent Bookseller Day, and we will be joining the celebration at our local indie, Afterwords Books! Look to the lawn surrounding this lovely little store in Edwardsville, Ill. for authors in tents, selling and signing. We have a long-standing relationship with Afterwords and are happy to celebrate their part in the literary community of our town.

The local paper did a write-up, along with a list of the authors participating. 

If you’re not local, celebrate the day at the local shop of your choice! 

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On the road again…

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on March 23, 2022

This weekend I’m returning to Midsouthcon, one of the first cons I attended and where I was a GoH a few years ago. I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones, and to picking up some good Memphis barbecue while we’re in town. We always leap at an excuse to go to Memphis, my husband’s hometown and site of my college years. 

I’ll be simultaneously dialing in* to the national conference for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. Next year it doesn’t seem that AWP will conflict with Midsouthcon, which will be an enormous relief for me. Fortunately we have at least four LitUnd authors and a henchman to help us work the booth this weekend.

My schedule is roughly as follows:

FRIDAY
• Booth Babe, followed by the Literary Underworld Traveling Bar!
SATURDAY
• Signing on Pro Row, noon, prefunction area.
• Reading, 2 p.m., Conf. Room 11
• Ghosts and Vampires and Ghouls, Oh My! 7 p.m., Conf. Room 6
• Literary Underworld Traveling Bar, Part Two!
SUNDAY
• The Importance of the Subgenre, noon, Conf. Room 6
• Epic Women in Epic Stories, 2 p.m., Conf. Room 7

I’m also happy to announce that I’ll be at the Smithton (Ill.) Public Library on May 7 for a signing; and celebrating Independent Bookstore Day on April 30 at Afterwords Bookstore in Edwardsville, Ill. I already had Wichita on the schedule for the SPJ Regional Conference on April 8-9, and I hope you will catch up with us at one of these events. 

I’m so delighted that the cons are back, and we are learning to travel and meet people safely. I’ve missed you all.

 

Dialing in = Zoom, of course. Isn’t it funny how phrases like “dialing” or “taping” things stick around long after the technology has surpassed them?

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Nifty review and upcoming event at Millstadt Library

Published by elizabethdonald_7o83t2 on January 5, 2022

I’m looking forward to the first event of 2022, which is the Millstadt Library Author Fair. Millstadt is in the process of expanding and will be running a referendum to build a new library soon, and I’m happy to be one of more than 20 authors who will be signing and speaking at the author fair on Jan. 15.

In advance of the event, Millstadt’s library blog wrote this lovely introduction to me and my work. I’d seen a previous write-up on their blog and saw they were still circulating the original Nocturne, which was from the first publisher and did not include the third novel of the Nocturnal Urges series, Abaddon. I donated a copy of Nocturne Infernum so that they’d have the most updated version, and they said this: “Unique, modern, intelligent, and feisty, Donald’s stories are more than entertainment – they are political statements about civil and sexual rights, independence, privilege, agency, and STILL MADE ME BAWL at the sad romance of it all.”

Well, that’s the kind of comment that makes a writer’s day.

If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll consider joining us in Millstadt on Jan. 15!

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