Our annual machine gun shoot is coming up really soon.  http://www.fbmg.yuku.com/topic/810/t/Details-of-the-FBMG-Machinegun-shoot.html

Come and check it out.  It will be awesome. 

Also, we will be picking the winning ticket for the Breast Cancer Charity AR that day too. If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, we will still be doing those up until the afternoon of the 4th.

I saw this online today.

I spent the last few days at Mountaincon in Layton.  http://www.mountaincon.org/

I was asked to be a guest panelist. It was a fun experience. This was the first con that I had ever been to, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Mountaincon isn’t a big con, but it is run by a really good bunch of folks.  They put on a fun event.

My first panel was on B-Movies. Go figure. I’ve never done a panel before, but had a great time. My next panel was about how to write good villains. As you guys know, I love my bad guys.

In between I went to a bunch of different panels, events, listened to speakers, and met a bunch of other hard-core geeks.  I brought my 8 year old daughter on Saturday, and she fit right in. Which tells me that I’m raising up another generation of geeks.  I was able to meet many local authors. There are some seriously talented people in Utah right about now, and they’re all really friendly. 

It was kind of odd to meet so many people who had heard about my book, and the weird way that I managed to get it published. Apparently word has spread. I was able to meet and speak with one of Utah’s most famous best-selling authors and he had even heard of me.  Now that was a pretty damn cool moment.

I had a great time and will be doing it again.

Yesterday, September 17th, was my one year anniversary of starting Monster Hunter Nation.

I started this blog as a place to pimp my book.  It has evolved into a place for me to make fun of stupid people, which is very cathartic. 

I haven’t written much during September. I’ve been swamped here. Hopefully I’ll be able to remedy that, (with writing, not with being swamped, as being swamped pays the mortgage).

On the writing front, MHI is coming out from Baen in 10 months.  MHI:2 The Rough Draft is done.  The novelization of the Mr. Nightcrawler web-serial, book I of III is in production. I’ve got another sci-fi project that is just killing me to hurry up and write.  I can’t even really describe the plot here, because it is just that weird, but it will be very cool. 

I’ve written a few more articles for magazines in the last year, and I’m now writing for the United States Concealed Carry Association news letter. I’m writing beside respected authors that I started reading in high school. 

On the professional front, FBMG is growing. The Summer of Endless Despair is finally over, and people are actually buying stuff again. The annual machine gun shoot is coming up in a couple of weeks, and we’re pumped.

This weekend is Mountaincon, in Layton, Utah. I’m on some of the panels. I’ve actually gained the status of “local author” which is pretty damn cool.  A huge step up from “wannabe author”.  This is also gunshow weekend, and will be the first show that I’ve ever missed since we got into the business.  The guys will just have to handle it without me, because I’m going to be arguing about Star Trek vs. Star Wars all weekend. 

Politically, when I started this blog, I was fixated on the suckiness of the Republican candidates we had to choose from to run against Hillary. We wound up with my 2nd least favorite running against a Democrat who I had dismissed as the Boy Band of the election. Luckily we recently added an actual Republican to the ticket, which is nice.

Teaching wise, I’m still the busiest CCW instructor in the state, as far as I know. I’m teaching a lot more pistol, and having a really good time doing it.  I recently had somebody come through my class who had been to Ayoob’s LFI and Gunsite. I was a little nervous, because here was a person who has seen first rate instruction, and I was a little worried how I would stack up.  He had a great time and said that he learned a bunch of new things.  As an instructor, it doesn’t get much cooler than that.

On the personal front, my family has had a great year. We’ve had lots of good experiences, the kids are growing, and life is good. We had one beloved relative pass away, who will be missed greatly. Some close friends have gone through some serious challenges, but such is life.  

So I’m just going to keep on blogging. It has been fun.  The fact that I’m coming up on a quarter of a million hits is a little disturbing, but kind of cool.

MHI will be out in July 2009 from Baen. I spoke with Toni Weiskopf today. It will be dated as an August release, which means that it will actually start hitting stores in July.