Bob Greenberger

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March 31, 2007

The Week that Was

When I was originally hired at Weekly World News, I was told there were plans afoot to bring the entire operation of the paper to New York. At the time I walked into 1 Park Avenue, the design and production of the paper was handled by a team of five in Boca Raton. As Production Manager, based in NY, this proved interesting but I figured it also gave me time to learn the ropes, figure things out and bring a little order to the chaos of the editorial/production process.

All through the summer, then the fall and into the winter, there was a lot of talk about this plan still happening. Over those months, the staff was tightened as one of the Boca team got internally reassigned while another was made redundant.

In February, it began to look like we were finally getting all the ducks in a row to make the changes long-desired. We began interviewing for a new designer and were told things should be to our liking by the end of March.

In March, we were all trained on InDesign, which replaced the long-antiquated Quark4 that the paper was produced with. That was a vast improvement and it gave me something new to learn which I appreciated.

Well, we got permission to hire Kristine Schmidt away from DC Comics’ design department, and she was to begin on the 26th. I asked all along that she be given at least a week to acclimate before Boca was no longer a concern to us. Instead, around the 19th, I was told the three remaining people in Florida were to be let go on the 27th and I should go down there to oversee the transition. Ulp.

So, this week was somewhat chaotic. As you recall, I had I-Con all weekend and then Monday Kristine arrived. We got her acclimated in rapid fashion at which point I headed for home and my monthly RTM meeting. First thing Tuesday, I was en route to Florida and it was while driving to the corporate HQ that I learned my friend David Honigsberg passed away.

By the time I arrived, the bad news had been delivered and the only one remaining was Frank LaSenna, a veteran print man (who did some printing work with Joe Simon so I’m never very far from comics). Frank couldn’t have been nicer and I spent all Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning with him, absorbing as much information as possible. It was also nice to put faces to names of people I had been dealing with from advertising, pre-press, the executive suite and so on.

That night, being a mere 20 minutes away, I had dinner with Mom, an unexpected trip perk.

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, it was back to the airport and the somewhat scary notion that we had two days left to complete this week’s issue. Sure enough, Thursday and Friday flew by as we and the production and pre-press teams in NY figured out where all the pieces were and how they needed to be corrected, proofread, processed, etc. It was tiring and a few of us let the stress get to us here and there but in the end, thanks to a printer’s extension, we got the paper closed. (Sadly, it meant missing David’s funeral – thank goodness for Shiva.)

Before the day was out, we were well into the following issue, already feeling a little more comfortable with the process.

The next few weeks should be interesting. Meantime, to reflect the changes in the staffing in addition to some new responsibilities involving our soon-to-be-upgraded website, my title has changed from Production Manager to Managing Editor.

Whew.

And how was your week?

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 10:36 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

March 29, 2007

David Honigsberg

I’m late with this because I’ve been out of town, but I do want to acknowledge the passing of my friend, Rabbi David Honigsberg.

I can’t exactly recall when I first met David, but I thought it was cool he was hanging out with us science fiction/publishing geeks until I realized he was one of us. David has published short stories and has written for RPGs. But he’s also a musician, formerly of the Don’t Quit Your Day Job Players, a band I’m sorry to have never seen. Additionally, David was a computer tech guy, who did such work to help pay for his religious studies.

David was a rabbi; his wife Alexandra is a priest. They had a marvelous marriage and often performed their duties in tandem. I had the pleasure of only seeing this happen once, at a friend’s wedding, but they were a well-oiled team. They delighted in their faiths but more they delighted in each other. If David performed somewhere, Alex was right by his side. If Alex had a concert, since after all, she was also a musician, he could be counted on to be in the audience.

David did not have a congregation and didn’t seem to desire one. Still, I would see them most Wednesdays as part of a circle of friends and when I heard of his death, I realized our circle was his congregation. Without his friendship, loyalty and guidance, we are all the poorer for it.

While he and I were part of the circle, we weren’t especially close, not as close as some of the other relationships were. Still, when I got the call Tuesday morning that his second heart attack in less than year claimed his life, I was stunned and saddened. David was too good a friend, too loyal a member of his faith for his passing to make any sense at all. (There’s also the pesky fact that we’re the same age and you took one look at him, you’d never peg him as the candidate for heart disease.)

The outpouring of commentary on blogs, websites and in private e-mail lists, shows how his absence has begun to diminish us all.

Work this week, something I originally intended to write about, demands I be at the office tomorrow. His other friends and family will gather for the formal services that will send him off. I just want to thank David for being a friend, for being someone to chat with and someone who performed acoustic music I enjoyed hearing. I’ll miss him and hope he is at rest.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 07:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 26, 2007

A Full Weekend of Fun

A quick note before I do some whirlwind travel.

I-Con 26 was a delightful weekend as I got to spend time with people I normally never spend enough time with elsewhere. What impressed me the most was that the campus was overrun with 6000 fans of all ages, shapes and sizes, and a hefty percentage were in one kind of costume or another.

Want to know where the comics readers of tomorrow are? They were here in impressive numbers, but instead of reading comics they were playing comic book-themed games or watching anime or buying action figures. My comics panels all skewed to the over 30 set which doesn’t add up since we all know the market is there. Tapping it seems to be the Holy Grail for DC, Marvel and everyone else.

On Saturday, I did my Trailer Park presentation to a packed room and it went over quite well. Following, I did The Business of publishing, Part 2. Interestingly, Part 1 focused on the editors’ and agents’ point of view while our hour was about the writers. Terry McGarry, who straddles the fence, moderated both and helped us provide a great deal of hard facts and information to people. Keith DeCandido, Terri Osborne, Aaron Rosenberg and I had some fun while imparting those truths.

After a quick dinner with Deb, I was back for Greenberger and Rozakis Explain it All and Charles Rozakis and I found a fine way to kill an hour and entertain a moderately sized roomful of people.

On Sunday, the first panel was about Exclusivity in Comics with Chuck, Peter David and myself. We tackled the subject pretty well for 30 minutes and then seemed to kill the rest of the time on silly things. Following was a rescheduled panel that few seemingly knew was rescheduled so Chuck, Goats’ Jonathan Rosenberg, and I were supposed to talk about How Web and Print Comics Make Money. We had two people in the room so the conversation went all over the lace until we actually had a really good 20-30 minute conversation on the topic.

I had all of 30 minutes to kill and then repeated Trailer Park. This time, though, the con got the time and place mixed up so it took a little while for people to settle in. Glenn Hauman managed to grab off line the latest trailers to Spider-Man, 3, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Stardust and Daybreak so those in attendance got a treat.

After that, I rushed to the final panel, DC One Year Later One Year Later and found a packed room. We discussed what we liked, didn’t like, what worked and didn’t work in One Year Later and which lessons we thought were learned to make the forthcoming Countdown an even more satisfying event.

I think a good time was had by all.

One other note: Saturday night’s cabaret started off with Dean Haglund, Claudia Christian and Denise Crosby doing improv. When they got to the opera section, they asked for an interesting language. Robbie shouted “Romanian” and the next thing he knew, he was on stage, being asked to participate. He played the father to the two women, all singing in, ahem, Romanian, as Dean translated. The family was in the monkey licking business and it was hysterical to see. Fortunately, it was captured on DVD and we own a copy to embarrass our son at every opportunity.

The rest of the cabaret was an uneven mess that the emcee and tech crews should have streamlined so the headliners, the Brobdignagian Bards, got on before 12:45 a.m. We gave up around 11 p.m. and thus another opportunity to see them was missed.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 04:38 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 22, 2007

Back to the Ordinances

Last night was a great example of democracy in action. Our Special Committee met to review the comments, criticisms and the like that have been received since we made our February presentation to the full RTM.

In addition to FPLAN, we also were visited by CSTOP, a new organization that at first blush seems to exist solely to counter FPLAN. (Later, I was surprised by how much they agreed on specific points.) But, I was heartened to see other citizens, actual homeowners coming of their own volition to come make comments. For most, this was their first time at a public hearing and they were nervous but did just fine.

We got a late start given Standing Committee meetings that night but we got underway just after 8:30 and we allowed the public to speak their mind on each of the three ordinances on the table: a demolition delay, preservation of stone walls, and tree protection. We heard from 10 members of the public, most speaking on more than one of the three ordinances, and they were heart-felt.

It became clear to the committee, though, that people didn’t initially grasp that the demo delay would affect every house in Fairfield. Some also thought there were deep economic issues that would affect the seller while we focused more on the buyer. CSTOP brought tons of paper, which we had fortunately seen an earlier draft of and were prepared. Interestingly, they did bring up some issues we hadn’t considered or ideas that merited discussion but also, they assumed we hadn’t done our due diligence, which I found a little irksome.

Overall, though, it was passionate, well-mannered and informative for all present. After everyone had their say, and we were generous to a fault on that, we moved into executive session to figure out exactly what the next steps needed to be. That debate was also illuminating now that we had a month to consider what had been said.

A lot got said and considered and we are giving ourselves a week or so to get things organized before convening to see new draft language. We may have ended at 11:45 and everyone went home exhausted, but I left feeling very positive about the town I live in.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 12:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 21, 2007

I-Con Revised

Once it became clear that there was a communications snafu, several of the wonderful folk over at I-Con did a little rearranging of the schedule to open up a slot for Trailer Park. This well-attended and eagerly anticipated event will now be squeezed into a full Sunday.

I also need to apologize to Keith DeCandido for somehow leaving his name out of the Saturday at 4 panel.

Here is the revised list:

Saturday

4pm: "The Business of Publishing Part 2: The Authors Perspective"
(SAC 302). With Terry McGarry (moderator), Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, Keith DeCandido, and Terri Osborne.

7pm: “Greenberger and Rozakis Explain it All” (SAC 305). Two generations of Greenbergers (me and Robbie) and Rozakis (Bob and Chuck) find a way to fill an hour and hopefully stay on topic.

Sunday

10am: “Exclusivity: The Growing Trend and What it Means for the Industry” (SAC 305). Marc Andreyko, Chuck Rozakis, Peter David and me. If I have to be up early, at least I get to meet Marc who’s doing a terrific job on Manhunter.

11am: “How Comics Make Money: Web and Print” (SAC 305). Chuck Rozakis, J. Rosenberg, and me. Nice topic, damned if any of us have an answer.

12:30pm: "Trailer Park" (Javits 100) Movie trailers and sneak peeks of films coming out between April and December. Questions, answers and more.

2pm: “What’s New at DC: One Year Later One Year Later” (SAC 308). I seem to be the only one listed when Comics GOH Jimmy Palmiotti and Marc Andreyko are the ones who should really be doing this.

This is a very full schedule and I get to play author, comics historian, and movie shill. Should be fun. My one regret now is that I am scheduled opposite the Brobdignagian Bards on both days.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 04:09 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 20, 2007

I-Con This Weekend

I-Con is always another signal that spring is upon us.

I’ve been attending I-Con since the very first one. While I have missed one here or there, it’s always a highlight for the entire family.

Today, the schedule for I-Con 26 went live and I combed through it carefully and was shocked to see that my popular Trailer Park program was missing. Most years, I had 90 minutes to show movie trailers and do Q&A with the audience. They, and I, looked forward to the experience. It has proven popular enough that it sometimes gets a Sunday repeat performance (and some years when I’m double booked, Glenn Hauman was kind enough to fill in for me).

Appalled, I dropped a note to the committee and received an apology from Prof. Kinema, the guy running this particular track. Jim, the kindly ol’ Prof, replied that he never received my e-mails or that from the Comics Track organizer and my “host.” He said things this year were more chaotic than usual and he didn’t necessarily have the time and space he wanted for his planned schedule of stuff.

So, it appears, barring an Act of God, there won’t be movie previews this weekend.

However, I will be doing the following:

Saturday

4pm: "The Business of Publishing Part 2: The Authors Perspective"
(SAC 302). With Terry McGarry (moderator), Robert Greenberger, Aaron Rosenberg, and Terri Osborne.

7pm: “Greenberger and Rozakis Explain it All” (SAC 305). Two generations of Greenbergers (me and Robbie) and Rozakis (Bob and Chuck) find a way to fill an hour and hopefully stay on topic.

Sunday

10am: “Exclusivity: The Growing Trend and What it Means for the Industry” (SAC 305). Marc Andreyko, Chuck Rozakis, Peter David and me. If I have to be up early, at least I get to meet Marc who’s doing a terrific job on Manhunter.

1pm: “How Comics Make Money: Web and Print” (SAC 305). Chuck Rozakis, J. Rosenberg, and me. Nice topic, damned if any of us have an answer.

2pm: “What’s New at DC: One Year Later One Year Later” (SAC 308). I seem to be the only one listed when Comics GOH Jimmy Palmiotti and Marc Andreyko are the ones who should really be doing this.

Beyond that, I want to recommend one and all catch the Brobdingnagian Bards when they perform on Saturday and Sunday. They’re a delightful duo that deserves more recognition than they currently receive. You won’t be sorry.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 12:22 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

March 18, 2007

Another Lunacon Down

Well, that was fun.

Lunacon celebrated their 50th anniversary in style, with a return to the Rye Hilton and a schedule chock full of stuff for people.

After chipping the ice off the car and driveway, Deb and I headed up yesterday. Some years, I’m there with an agenda – this year my goals were simple, do my panels and socialize with pals in the Green Room.

We got there, got badges and got settled in time for the first of my two Star Trek panels. Both went very well, thank you. In fact, during the second one, later in the day, one attendee suggested we turn these talks into a podcast or take the show on the road because we seem to be amusing.

I did an autographing hour which, as has happened in years past, resulted in signing absolutely nothing, but I got to chat with friends.

My other Saturday panel was on the topic of Pirates. I shared the table with people I had not met and the room was Standing Room Only. It was a lively discussion and a lot of fun.

A pile of us then headed into Port Chester for a barbecue dinner at, where else?, Q’s. The food was amazing and filling and the discussion entertaining.

While Deb hung out in the bar with friends, I attended the Masquerade and showed my movie trailers as the Half Time show. With the audience filled with friends, there was a lot of good-natured cat-calling especially at the more ludicrous movies.

Sunday, we chipped Deb’s car out of the ice, and then I headed up for two more panels. The first, Print the Myth, could have been an interesting discussion. My fellow panelist Andrea Kail and I got to know each other a bit at the Pirate panel, and were ready to tackle the topic. Instead, we had all of one attendee and the three of us instead talked informally about religions and politics and in its own way, was rather stimulating.

Immediately following, I was part of a panel that discussed the personification of death as the Grim Reaper. As a result, I got to meet the con’s Guest of Honor, Christopher Moore, and along with moderator Amy Goldschlager and Phil Brucato, had a rather interesting conversation.

After a little more socializing it was back to home and other stuff. All in all, good panels, good food, and a good time to catch up with old friends and make some new ones. And now attention turns to I-Con, next weekend. No wonder I feel tired.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 03:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 17, 2007

While I'm at Lunacon

While I'm at Lunacon this weekend, with a full slate of panels all day Saturday and two back-to-back on Sunday, let me direct you to some of my current columns over at ComicMix.

Last weekend, I chatted with Moonstone's Joe Gentile about his prose anthologies. As you know, I've contributed to his Phantom book and am working on stories for both The Avenger and Captain Midnight.

Early in the week, I mused on what the success of 300 might mean.

Then, this morning, my column on Direct to DVD animation went live.

It's kinda neat being a columnist, something that sort of happened as my relationship with ComicMix has grown. Hope you find them as entertaining to read as I find writing them.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 10:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 16, 2007

It's Budget Season

There may be nothing more important as a town’s budget. There may be nothing more boring than town budget meetings.

In Fairfield, once the budget is released, the Board of Finance and Board of Selectmen conduct joint hearings throughout the month of March where each and every department comes before the Board to justify their requests.

The Board of Finance usually is filled with dutiful public servants, some with their own agendas. Most have not only read through the budget, but look back on notes from last year’s budget hearings to see if matters discussed have been addressed.

Those of us on the RTM, are encouraged to attend as many of these meetings as possible to hear the back and forth and decide for ourselves what the right number is. When it finally gets to us, the town charter allows us to only cut specific budget lines, not change or add to them.

Wednesday night’s meeting had several departments or line items coming up for discussion that I felt it incumbent upon me, as chair of the Finance Committee, to attend. I was one of 8 RTM members present, about 15% of the Body which is pretty good in my book.

One by one, department chairs sat before the combined boards and gave a two-minute address, more or less parroting what was already in the budget book. Then came the questions. In several cases, frustration was heard as things asked for over the last year, had yet to be provided the Board of Finance. Other times, people seemed shocked and dismayed we somehow signed a million dollar contract and no one on the Board seemed to recall discussing it and couldn’t imagine how the town committed the funds without their approval. Well, that particular discussion went back two years so people were proven wrong just plagued with faulty human memory.

Still, things got dragged out and beaten to death, things mulled over and discussed at a budget hearing that should have been discussed much earlier when these items came up initially. As a result, it was well past the two and half hour mark when I had to give up. They were stuck on the town’s Risk Management fund, which looked just fine on paper but people felt the need to stick it under the microscope and dissect it in detail.

Some of the topics I should have heard about, I missed and will have to play some catch up before this hits my committee in April.

The budget is the map for our town, in many ways. But it also has become a political tool, used by one Board to humiliate or play games with anther. And there will always remain the Town Budget vs. Board of Ed budget. After all, Education takes 57% of the overall budget but our town bodies beyond Board of Ed have very little control over it. In fact, the Board of Ed felt generous this year and exceeded the Superintendent’s request by a few hundred grand; something I would have liked to see better explained.

In review, there has to be a more constructive way to let a proper examination of the budget be done without veering off topic or beating something to death that clearly was sound to begin with.

When someone finds the way, let me know.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 03:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 14, 2007

Geeks Gone Global

Slowly but surely, I’ve been catching up on the prime time television Deb and stored on the good ol’ DVR.

While watching Veronica Mars the other night, I laughed out loud as the geek explained he’d been to Comic-Con to hear Dave Gibbons talk about a graphic novel he had written and drawn before going in to the Battlestar Galactica panel.

Elsewhere on the CW, Lorelei Gilmore has been heard to use the word “frak” on more than one occasion.

And on Heroes, we’ve seen instance after instance where not just Hiro but other characters make references drawn from across pop culture.

Sum it all up, though, it seems geek culture, once a hidden corner of pop culture, has really gone mainstream. These days being a geek is not to be the object of ridicule on television or in real life and those of us growing up geek can now take pride in it.

More than that, it appears that mass media no longer relegates science fiction and comic book references to snickering asides meant to belittle fans of either genre. Sure, every one in a while there’s a report on how comics have grown up (over 20 years ago so it’s no longer current news) and headlines might still drag out the hoary Zap! Bam!s bequeathed us Batman.

Drawing the circle a little wider, the related field of Renaissance Faires have even crept up on some series, notably Gilmore Girls, without looking down on people who make their living on the circuit.

Things have a ways to go before all the snide comments are done with, but we’re come a long way from my days in junior high where being the Star Trek/comic book/science fiction fan was no longer a curiosity or invitation for abuse.

Kate reported that while rehearsing Guys & Dolls she discovered half the cast, largely Egyptian, were deep into World of Warcraft and addicted to Heroes. She indulged her inner geek chatting away with them about stuff for the first time since her pal Taylor returned to the states.

Geekdom, it’s gone global and it’s become okay.

And that may be cooler than any reference to Dave Gibbons on an American TV series.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 03:40 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

March 12, 2007

Crafting the Story Part 2

The worst part for me as a freelancer is the waiting.

I spend plenty of time working on the outline or actual prose, finally hit the send button and then have to display great patience. After all, the editor should be given plenty of time to carefully consider what you yourself have labored over.

But you want to know they love it and they love it now.

Yesterday I sent off the Avenger pitch and this morning, Joe Gentile got back to me, not only acknowledging receipt but also that he read it. The response was mixed. He liked the basic story but already had one turned in with a jazz setting so could I find a new locale for the action?

I’m pleased he liked the story but now it’s time to find a new venue to make it work, which may be tricky only in that two of Richard Benson’s aids are African American and in 1939, there were precious few places where races could freely mingle. Still, I’ll hit the research and see what I can come up with.

Darn it though, I really like the initial thought of setting the story in a jazz club. Such is the writer’s lot.

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March 11, 2007

Crafting the Story

On various forums I visit, people continually wonder about the writing process so I thought I would take you along with me as I construct my story for Moonstone’s Avenger anthology.

Shortly after being invited to join in the fun on February 17, I jumped on line to refresh myself on data regarding the character. Obviously, I started at Wikipedia and from there followed links that led to fan sites about the series. Some had scans from actual pulp magazines; others had story by story descriptions and so on. I cut and pasted much of this data into a word document for easy reference.

Joe Gentile at Moonstone sent out a series of e-mails that contained, no surprise, much the same information and from many of the same sources. However, his notes came with his editorial perspective so we knew which elements he favored or which contradictions should be ignored. He also attached a series of jpegs of the Warner paperback covers from the 1970s plus a schematic of the Avenger’s Manhattan HQ. All of it was valuable information and nice to have the jpegs at hand.

I also went on line and obtained Warner’s release of the first novel from a used book site. My WWN colleague, Paul Kupperberg, was also invited to contribute and had done the same but wound up with the second book. We swapped and read both adventures to get a better feel for the series and characters. (The concepts and characters are good, but these were not among the better written pulp stories of the day.)

During all of this, which spread out over 2-3 weeks, I began thinking of where to set the story. After all, I don’t have the luxury of a novel but instead 5000 words. That meant I needed something compact and as I thought of that and Manhattan in 1939 (when the series debuted) it occurred to me that a Harlem Jazz club might be a fun locale.

Once I had a setting, I began to wonder what would bring the Avenger to a Harlem jazz club and a notion occurred to me that I thought would work. Soon thereafter, a character suggested herself that would allow me to give the larger story some emotional impact. She named herself, or so it seemed.

Having finished my reading on Friday, I spent some of Saturday research Harlem and the jazz clubs of the day. While reading on the major clubs, I selected one which would provide me with ample room for the Avenger to do his thing rather than spend 5000 words with him sitting at a table in the back of the room. Once I learned more about the club’s layout, some of the choreography began to suggest itself.

Before I knew it, all the various notions coalesced enough that I was able to begin outlining the story. I will finish that today, let it marinate for a day or two, and then send it off to Joe for approval.

It has certainly been a nice break from the last few months of pure non-fiction research and writing and I look forward to seeing how this develops.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 08, 2007

This and That

Been a busy week and then we had server issues but now we’re back on track.

So, what’s been going on? Monday and Tuesday was spent locked away, learning InDesign, which seems to be a far better program than Quark for designing publications. We’re a fine little black and white tabloid so there’s plenty InDesign can do that we won’t need, but it was good to take the guided tour. Now, I just need to practice with it a bit and see what we can do and do comfortably.

Beyond that, been working with my editor on the unnamed project and we’re making good progress and his notes have been very good and his line edits excellent.

Meantime, I’ve been busy contributing columns over at ComicMix. On Sunday, I ruminated on reboots and yesterday I had to comment on the Captain America hoopla. There will be more coming, probably once every week to ten days and it’s fun playing columnist on my beloved field.

My other beloved field, fiction writing, has also been active. A while back I mentioned I was serving as a Judge on the IAMTIW’s first annual Scribe Awards. Yesterday, the following was announced:

The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers is pleased to announce the nominees for the first annual Scribe Awards, honoring excellence in licensed tie-in writing for books published in 2006.

Our first annual GRANDMASTER AWARD, honoring career achievement in the field, will go to DONALD BAIN, author of the MURDER SHE WROTE novels and the ghostwriter behind COFFEE, TEA OR ME and other
bestsellers.

The 2007 Scribe awards will be given out at a ceremony in late July at Comic-Con in San Diego. The details on the event, and how to attend, will be announced in the near future. Congratulations to all
our nominees and special thanks to our judges for all their hard work and dedication!

SPECULATIVE FICTION

BEST NOVEL – ADAPTED

SLAINE: THE EXILE by Stephen Seville
SUPERMAN RETURNS by Marv Wolfman
TOXIC AVENGER: THE NOVEL by Lloyd Kaufman & Adam Jahnke
ULTRAVIOLET by Yvonne Navarro
UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION by Greg Cox

BEST NOVEL – ORIGINAL

STAR TREK CRUCIBLE: McCOY – PROVENANCE OF SHADOWS by David R. George
III
STARGATE ATLANTIS: EXOGENESIS by Elizabeth Christensen & Sonny
Whitelaw
THIRTY DAYS OF NIGHT: RUMORS OF THE UNDEAD by Jeff Mariotte & Steve
Niles
WARHAMMER: FAITH AND FIRE by James Swallow
WARHAMMER: ORC SLAYER by Nathan Long

GENERAL FICTION

BEST NOVEL - ADAPTED

SNAKES ON A PLANE by Christa Faust
THE PINK PANTHER by Max Allan Collins

BEST NOVEL – ORIGINAL

CSI NEW YORK: BLOOD ON THE SUN by Stuart Kaminsky
LAS VEGAS: HIGH STAKES by Jeff Mariotte
MR. MONK GOES TO HAWAII by Lee Goldberg
OAKDALE CONFIDENTIAL: SECRETS REVEALED by Alina Adams

YOUNG ADULT – ALL GENRES

BEST NOVEL

ALIAS APO: STRATEGIC RESERVE by Christina York
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: PORTAL THROUGH TIME by Alice Henderson
DRAGONLANCE: WARRIOR'S HEART by Stephen Sullivan
KNIGHTS OF THE SILVER DRAGON: PROPHECY OF THE DRAGONS by Matt Forbeck

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 09:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 04, 2007

My Life: Check

Last week back I hit one of those periods where it felt every single one of my commitments and affiliations was demanding something from me. I ended the week tired and seriously thinking about not attend the NY Comic-Con, which alarmed Deb. I recognize that life does this sometimes, a convergence of things coming together all at once. Philosophically, it seems that the busier you are, the fuller your life is, this will tend to happen. I have to admit, it’s been a while since it felt so crushing and it caught me a little unprepared.

Amazing what happens with a little time. I’m still very busy, but bit by bit, all my tasks are getting done. And I am happy that I find myself saying yes to even more stuff.

As you know, the RTM meet last week so now I know what needs doing. I also managed to do some lobbying on behalf of the Cable Advisory Council. So, government obligations: check.

Worked out a new ending to the ST:TNG eBook and just need to write that up, probably next weekend. Agreed to write a story for an Avenger anthology and have been researching for ideas. Just got invited by Moonstone to write for their Captain Midnight anthology, so that’s new and cool and different. Also, am finally getting some initial feedback from my editor on the big unnamed project even as I forge ahead with more than 40% first-drafted. Freelance career: check.

Worked hard this week on some transitional issues in addition to some extra writing for Weekly World News and tomorrow I begin a two day class on InDesign, so I’m really looking forward to that. Professional career: check.

Chatted with Kate at length yesterday and spent a good chunk of time just doing stuff with Deb. Made some plans for other family stuff and will make a round of family calls today. Me: check.

All in all, I’m feeling busy as ever but calmer about it so that’s good.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 09:25 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 01, 2007

Pleasant Surprises

Last year at this time I was job hunting and working on whatever freelance assignments I had managed to snag. Back then, I was taking most anything offered, and fortunately two of my regular editors at Rosen Books came through with work.

I did the research, wrote the books and collected the checks.

Yesterday, I came home to find a box from Rosen with my author copies of In the News: Suicide Bombers and Cutting Edge Careers: Artificial Intelligence. I flipped through both, marveling all over again how good the Rosen designers are. I’m proud of these books, distilling complicated subjects into things middle and high school students might benefit from reading.

I like these pleasant surprises and the reminders of why I so enjoy the variety of work I’ve done on the last year.

Posted by Bob Greenberger at 10:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack