First Review of Awesome Lavratt

Read the first review of Awesome Lavratt at NewMyths.com.

Visit my website and sign up for my email list. I'll keep you up to date quarterly-ish on Lavratt news, appearances and other published works.

Last weekend was Orthodox Easter. I'm BEAT. Four and a half hours sleep two nights in a row. The services were beautiful and joyful as always. Christos Anesti! Christ is Risen!

I need a nap...

Wine Pairing

Jeff VanderMeer ran a book and beer pairing on his blog. Being a non-conformist, not to mention that I hate beer and love wine, I snuck in a book and wine pairing. Check it out here to see Awesome Lavratt paired with Klingon Blood Wine.

What I'm Reading

Since Tim Powers is the Author guest of honor at BayCon in Santa Clara, CA, I thought I'd read some of his stuff. I have several titles on hold at the library and picked up a SFBC edition of The Anubis Gates at the library's used book store. It's got time travel, werewolves, Romany and evil clowns. Woohoo! And 100 pages in, I'm hooked.

Here's the preliminary BayCon guest list including yours truly.

I just finished reading Blackjack by Lee Singer. For the last third, I couldn't put it down. It's a post-apocalyptic tale of a torch singer/mercenary investigating a powerful family out to reunite some of the mini countries that are what's left of the US. Find out more and read the first chapter here.

Science Fiction is for Grown-ups, too!

If I only had a nickel...well, maybe a fiver...for every time someone said to me, "Oh, I used to read science fiction when I was a kid." Or "Yeah, I used to read a lot of it [SF]." I thought it was time I came up with a stock answer for these people. I asked my new friends at Chronicles Network (a SF/F forum) for help. I posted this on a message board on Friday and the discussion is still going on. There are some great ideas. And some of them aren't sarcastic...well, maybe one or two.

How about this one: "Well, maybe you should brave it as an adult. It's been growing up while you weren't looking."

That's mine. It's by no means my favorite. You'll have to hike over to the forum to read the really good ones.

I dance at a Greek taverna whenever I can. I've been asked tons of times (almost every time I'm there, it seems) if I'm Greek. I hate to disappoint, so I came up with a stock answer for that one long ago. "I'm from the Greek Azores." I get some laughs, but also, sadly, some completely blank looks.



So, have you been wondering what to do with that SF hardcover when you're done with it? Well, I keep them forever. But maybe YOU don't. My mother's voice in my head would never let me so much as make a single underline in a book, let alone pull out its pages. But that's me. If I could quiet my mother's voice, perhaps I'd have the nerve to do this. If you click on the link below to Curbly.com, you'll find a how-to video. But what to do for matching shoes??

How to Make a Handbag from a Recycled Book

Speaking Engagement & Missed Opportunity

Well, the article in my home town paper already happened and, alas, is not online. How did I know? Not because the paper gave me a heads up. Must have slipped their mind. No, I got an email inviting me to a writing cooperative in my home town. The reader just skimmed and thought I was local. Anyhow, my plan, which I came up with too late, was to run my story that is set there (Chelan, WA) to coincide with the article. If someone from Chelan places a comment here, and asks nice, I still will. ;)

Just got four books delivered from SFBC. I suppose I better catch up on the ones I haven't read yet. >sigh< So, added to my every growing TBR shelf are: Orson Scott Card's Empire, Jasper Fforde's The Fourth Bear (Which means I have to get The Big Over Easy), Terry Pratchett's Going Postal (I read Making Money first- darn!) and Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys. Last week, I picked up these used: Humans and Hominids, both by Robert J. Sawyer and Starswarm by Jerry Pournelle, since I haven't read any of his solo novels. My husband has already devoured Humans and moved on to Hominids. Meantime, I'm reading Blackjack by Lee Singer. I'm also wedging in my Christmas present from one of my sons, the complete Kent Chronicles series by John Jakes. That's not SF, but well written and enjoyable. It starts with the American Revolution. And if that's not enough, I just ordered Rolling Thunder by John Varley, The Taken Trilogy by Alan Dean Foster and The Space Opera Renaissance, an anthology edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

My next speaking engagement is on April 13th. I'll be the guest speaker for a SF group in Santa Rosa. Here's the specifics. If you're local, come join us.

Press Release

SANTA ROSA SCI-FI AND FANTASY MEETUP April 13, 2008 2-4 PM
Ann Wilkes talks about her new book, Awesome Lavratt, and about writing SF

Mysterious Future Bookstore
531 Fifth Street
(between Mendocino and B St.) Santa Rosa, CA 707/545-5828

Cost: None

Ann Wilkes, author of Awesome Lavratt has been published in several online magazines and two anthologies. Her latest book, Awesome Lavratt, is a tongue-in-cheek space opera filled with mind control, passion and adventure. Called “a fun romp” by Jack Skillingstead, whose stories have frequented the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction.

Ann will also have books available for purchase and signing.

If you’d like to read her book before you come, you can find it online here: http://www.unlimitedpublishing.com/wilkes or pick it up at Mysterious Future Bookstore. Or email her from her website, and you can purchase a signed copy directly from her.

Where to Find SF Reviews

I just threw the Reviewers list up. I'm hoping it will grow--along with the number of reviews I get for Awesome Lavratt, as I learn of more sites. If you know of more sites, please let me know.
Here's the site in its maiden form.