Appearances

Moshin Vineyards Salon Series Reading!

moshin vineyards salon series

Live in wine country? Come check out the Reading Between the Vines Salon Series at Moshin Vineyards in Healdsburg! On Monday, March 19, 2018 at 6 pm, I’ll be reading in Moshin’s tasting room as part of this unique literary series (Full info here).

Reading Between the Vines celebrates the writers in residence for the Writing Between the Vines fellowship, for which I was a runner up last year. Writing Between the Vines is an organization that offers yearly retreats for writers, sponsoring their lodging at the host wineries. Can you imagine the freedom to write unfettered with a beautiful winery for your scenery? Talk about a dream…I really need to re-apply this year!

I do hope you’ll join me if you live in the area. I’ll be sharing wine-soaked selections from my fantasy and horror fiction. Also appearing will be Rick Bailey, a winner of the fellowship:

Rick Bailey grew up in Freeland, Michigan, on the banks of the Tittabawassee River. In college he studied English language and literature. He then moved to Detroit and taught writing for 38 years at Henry Ford College. Sometime after finishing his doctorate, he wrote textbooks for McGraw-Hill: The Creative Writer’s Craft (2009), On the Go (2011), and Going Places (2011). A Midwesterner long married to an Italian immigrant, he has learned the language and food of Italy. University of Nebraska Press published his memoir in essays, American English, Italian Chocolate. And he is currently preparing a second collection of essays, tentatively titled When the Wine God Speaks. http://rick-bailey.com/

Sounds like Rick’s work will have us salivating! See you at Moshin next Monday.

FogCon Appearances 2018!

Find me at FogCon this coming weekend! I’ll be moderating, sitting on panels, and giving a reading during this jam-packed three days of speculative fiction lovers and writers coming together in Walnut Creek.

fogCon 2018

The Borderlands vendor table will have copies of Wings Unseen for sale, should you be looking to pick up a copy. And I’ll have a pen for signing, of course. Don’t be shy, just come up and ask for that signature!

Here’s my schedule during the con:

  • Friday, 3/9, I’m moderating The Play Within the Play: An Analysis of Going Meta in Speculative Fiction at 3 pm. Description:

Among many other qualities, Shakespeare was a master of using plays within his plays to amplify his themes and plot arcs. This technique of self-reference has been used for dramatic and comedic effect in many works. Orson Scott Card had Ender Wiggin playing through a story game that ultimately tied into and reflected his “real life” story; P.C. Hodgell has traditional stories in her novels that shadow the main action; Stephen King pulled the ultimate coup and wrote himself into his Dark Tower series as a character, incorporating his struggles with substance abuse into the decay of the universe; Michael Ende’s novel The Neverending Story famously loops in on itself. Is this an effective tool for writers to use? What makes it work and when does it fall flat? Let’s analyze the phenomena!

  • At 8 pm on the same day, I’ll be a panelist during the Speculative Fiction, Science and the Sacred session. Description:

As scientists learn more and more about our astonishing universe, from the macro to the micro, does science begin to awe and inspire, as religion can? Does religion fall away, or evolve? How does science affect our mood, our hope, and our outlook on life? What might religion look like in “the future” (very scientifically advanced societies, such as in Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota series)?

  • And immediately after that, I’ll be participating in the Broad Universe: Rapid Fire Reading at 9:30 pm. This is the second year we’ve done a rapid fire reading at FogCon. They are a fun way to liven up a reading, cycling through the authors two times, reading short selections rather than a longer work. The variety never stops! Broad Universe is an organization that supports the work of female speculative fiction writers.
  • Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading FogConOn Saturday, 3/10, my final panel will be Wilderness in SFF at 10:30 am. Description:

Wilderness is an interstitial space, existing between cities, roads and settlements. People have held many different views of wilderness form a place to be tamed, to a place to be preserved. Yet the idea of “untouched” wildlands remands problematic. Recent scholars such as William Cronon have questioned if wilderness even exists. How have works such as Lord of the Rings, Zahrah the Windseeker by Nnedi Okorafor & Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley engaged with these ideas? How will our changing ideas about wilderness effect new and future work?

Interested in attending FogCon? More info here. Let me know if you’re coming! Though I will not be on the agenda after the Wilderness Panel, I will definitely be at FogCon for the rest of Saturday and likely Sunday, too.

Catch me at the first ever Terra Incognita Reading on Thursday!

Join me on Thursday, 1/25/18 at 7 pm at the Octopus Literary Salon for a brand-new Bay Area reading series: Terra Incognita! terra incognita reading seriesSponsored by the Escapery, a Bay Area organization offering adventures for artists and writers of all levels, Terra Incognita is a genre fiction-based reading series that showcases Bay Area authors. Each month, a different genre or hybrid genre will be represented, ideally including a range of authors of varying skills and publication history. And the first month’s theme is Speculative Fiction!

That, of course, is fortunate for me, being a speculative fiction writer. I’ve met Terra Incognita’s host, Haldane King, a few times, and I’m thrilled to be a part of his new reading series, especially as genre fiction is underrepresented on the literary scene at large. Though I must say, I’ve always been warmly welcomed when reading horror, fantasy, or science fiction anywhere I’ve gone in the East Bay and San Francisco. Thus, I’m mostly excited we’ll have one more outlet of creative genre expression for us all.

Nick Mamatas, J Curtis, Jackie Haudek, Samuel Walsh, and myself will be the inaugural Terra Incognita readers. Enticements include a free drawing for Nomadic Press poetry chapbooks, and the great refreshments at the Octopus. Donations are welcome, and I’ll have copies of Wings Unseen for sale.

If you’d like, sign up at the Facebook event. Or just show up! I hope to see you there.

octopus literary salon, book launch, wings unseen, rebecca gomez farrell

Last time I read at the Octopus Literary Salon.

I’m Literally Reading 10/24 at Flywheel Press’s Literally Series!

Woosh! That was my schedule zooming by too fast for me to keep up with it. Thus, I haven’t had time to give my next reading much promotion, but there’s still time! Barely.

literally, flywheel press, san mateo

Tomorrow night, Tuesday 10/24, I’ll be reading at the Literally series at the Shop at Flywheel Press in San Mateo at 7:00 pm along with author Peter Carroll. Flywheel Press is an art and design center in San Mateo that has fostered a unique creative space in many different forms: as a letterpress studio, a co-working space for artists, a First Fridays destination, an art gallery, and a provider of classes for kids and adults.

If you’d like to share your own work, there will be an open mic afterward, too! And of course, I’ll have Wings Unseen available for purchase, should you like a signed copy. 😉

I hope you’ll join me!

Join me Friday, 10/20, for the Speculative Fiction Cantina Livestream and an At the Inkwell Reading!

I’m going to be busy this Friday promoting my fiction, through two different mediums! You, of course, are invited to join in.

First, S. Evan Townsend will interview me at 3 pm PST for the Speculative Fiction Cantina Livestream and Podcast show.

speculative fiction cantina

This show takes place weekly and includes a reading, so I’ll be sharing a selection from Wings Unseen. It’ll be a chance for my “radio voice” to come out, which people have told me I have for most of my life. I’ll be appearing along with author Brian James, and based on past shows, it should be a fun, casual time of speculative fiction appreciation. You can tune in here on Friday at 3 pm PST: LINKY LINK

Second, I’ll be reading for the At the Inkwell Flash Fiction Night, which takes place at Alley Cat Books in San Francisco at 7 pm.

at the inkwell

This is the second time I’ll have read with At the Inkwell, which is a national organization dedicated to helping writers get more exposure through reviews and reading series. The Alley Cat Books space is one of the best I’ve been to for literary readings, and I’m excited for flash fiction to be the chosen topic – it’ll give me a break from reading book excerpts! I’ll likely be sharing “What Scattered in the Wind,” which is published in Little Letters on the Skin, and some Halloween-themed micro-fiction I’ve been working on. If there’s time, perhaps “Hobgoblin” will also make an appearance at the mic. More info on the event is here: LINKY LINK.

I would love to see you at Alley Cat Books or know you’ve tuned in to the Speculative Fiction Cantina this Friday!

Destroy all Cling-Ons with me at Con-Volution 2017!

This coming weekend, I’m attending Con-Volution 2017, a sci-fi and fantasy convention with a strong focus on all things crafty in the genre.

convolution3

While I will not pretend I can crochet a light saber coozy or program a light board for that perfect ET finger glow, I will share insight into my own craft: writing! Sunday, 10/8, at 12 Noon, I am teaching Destroy All Cling-Ons! This writing workshop is designed to help writers polish their work for publication. Attendees will learn the common phrases, words, and sentence constructions that may be the undoing of an otherwise solid story. Bring in a printed excerpt of your own work or work from my sample, and together, we’ll mercilessly cut out stage directions, prepositions, passive writing, and filler words in accordance with current speculative fiction preferred styles.

What makes me qualified to teach Destroy All Cling-Ons? In addition to the publication of nearly a dozen speculative fiction short stories, a contemporary romance novel, and a YA fantasy novel through traditional routes, I have also copyedited academic and fiction writing for eight years. I co-lead the East Bay Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Meetup group, a Women Who Submit Writing – San Francisco chapter, and a few Facebook groups dedicated to helping the careers of female writers grow.

If you’d like to join me for this workshop, you’ll need to purchase a membership to Con-Volution at the registration tables at the San Ramon Marriott when you arrive. You can opt for just a Sunday membership (I believe it’ll be $30), but if you want to join in the fun all weekend, the way to go is the full weekend pass for $70. Con-Volution begins with an opening ceremony at 3 pm on 8/6, and closing ceremonies are at 3 pm on 8/8.

I assure you, there will be lots to see and do at this con! But if you want more time with me, I’ll also be leading a discussion group on 8/6 at 4 pm: The Companion as Hero – From Samwise Gamgee to Bill Potts. Join me in discussing the heroic roles that companions have played in genre fiction. Doctor Who, Samwise Gamgee, Chewbacca, and the Buffy Scooby Gang are just a few possible angles. Who is your most memorably heroic sidekick?

I hope you’ll tell me there!

con-volution, convolution, writer's workshop, san ramon

The NC Leg of the Wings Unseen Book Tour is Taking Flight!

Today, I’ll be travelling from Los Angeles to the Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina for the final leg of my Wings Unseen book tour. Hooray! Here I am getting a little relaxation and cold recovery in at my sister’s before taking off:

I lived in Durham, NC, for eight years, and it’s where my writing career got its start. So I am glad to be able to share such a wonderful career milestone with my NC community of friends and fellow writers. And there is plenty of opportunity to join us and to check out some of the great voices living in this great area of the South.

NC Speculative Fiction Night
Tuesday, 9/19, 7 pm
The Regulator, Durham

james maxey mur lafferty rebecca gomez farrell the regulator

Join me (and Vesperi!) and local NC authors Mur Lafferty (John W. Campbell award winner, author of the Shambling Guides 1&2) and James Maxey (author of the Dragon Apocalypse novels and much more!) in reading from our works. From dragons to invisible flesh-eaters to murder mysteries in space, our trio offers a little bit of everything sci-fi and fantasy. More details: Facebook or the Regulator website.

Becca Gomez Farrell and Friends
Wednesday, 9/20, 7 pm
Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill

natania barron, margaret s mcgraw, rebecca gomez farrell, flyleaf books

At this event, I’ll be reading from Serra’s point-of-view, and fellow authors Margaret S. McGraw and Natania Barron will be sharing stories from their own Weird West and early 1900s paranormal tales of adventure. More details: Facebook event or the Flyleaf Books website.

An Afternoon of YA Fantasy
Saturday, 9/23, 2 pm
Barnes & Noble, Cary

tony daniel, rebecca gomez farrell, barnes & noble

Join  myself (and a reading from Janto’s POV) and Tony Daniel, author of the Wulf’s Saga series from Baen Books for an afternoon of YA fantasy storytelling and book signing. This event is part of the B-Fest celebration of Teen Books at Barnes & Noble nationwide! More details: Facebook event or Cary Barnes & Noble website.

I hope to see you at any one of these events next week, Triangulars! I’m looking forward to celebrating Wings Unseen’s release with the East Coast and all the wonderful folks and friends I met while living there. There will be more events coming up in October for me in the Bay Area – including a workshop and panel discussion at ConVolution! – and I’ll be sharing information on all of those opportunities to meet up soon.

Reading at Shades & Shadows in Los Angeles 9/16!

This coming Saturday evening, I am thrilled (or is it chilled?) to participate in Shades & Shadows, Los Angeles’s only dark fiction reading series:

shades and shadows reading rebecca gomez farrell

Details:

8:30 pm, doors open at 8
$10 entry fee. Tickets here.
THERE WILL BE CAKE
At the Mystic Museum
3204 Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA

Click here if you’d like to RSVP at the Facebook event!

Dark fiction, you ask? But isn’t your fantasy novel YA? Well, as many of the reviews can tell you, Wings Unseen is quite a bit darker than some readers expect for YA! I did pitch it as having elements of horror, for both the creatures contained within it and the horrific power struggle in Medua. Believe me, there is plenty of darkness to draw from in the worlds of Lansera and Medua. Now will I go dark horror, dark magic, or darkened halls for my selection? You’ll have to come to find out! This is my one and only SoCal stop on my book tour, so I do hope you’ll make it. If not, stay tuned for the podcast release of the evening’s festivities….which may take a while — the Shades & Shadows crew is about a year behind in podcast production. So you’re best bet is to show up! I hope to see you there.

Bay Area Readings 9/2 and 9/10!

I have two more Bay Area readings coming up in the next two weeks! Which means two more opportunities for locals to come hear a little more about Wings Unseen and get me to sign your book – it’s a harmless experience, I promise!
rebecca gomez farrell wings unseen signing

A Reading of the East Bay Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Meetup Group

Where: Mad Monk’s Center for Anachronistic Media, Berkeley

When: 9/2 at 1 pm

What: The East Bay Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Meetup Group has been going strong since 2011! This critique group for speculative fiction writers of all adult ages and career stages has provided input for a great number of talented writers over the years. A great collection of talent has come through this group, and we thought it’d be nice to spotlight a few of them finding success as featured readers while also giving current members the chance to read their works in a supportive setting for perhaps the first time in the form of an open mic. We will have three featured readers: Rebecca Gomez Farrell, Andrew Roberts, and Tantra Bensko. Afterward, the reading will transition to an open mic for authors of speculative fiction to share excerpts of their works of up to 600 words, or 5 minutes of reading time.

More Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1384209081676428

SF in SF

Where: American Bookbinders Museum, San Francisco

When: 9/10 at 6:30 pm

What: Join SF in SF as they present authors DARYL GREGORY and REBECCA GOMEZ FARRELL! Each author will read a selection from their work, followed by audience Q & A moderated by Terry Bisson. Booksigning and schmoozing follows – both authors’ books will be available for sale, courtesy of Borderlands Books (feel free to bring books from home as well!). Doors and cash donation bar open at 6PM – and, it’s DEBUT NOVEL DRINK NIGHT! Help us raise even more money for the Bookbinders Museum by imbibing a little bit 🙂 $10 at door – no one turned away for lack of funds
All proceeds benefit the American Bookbinders Museum.

More Information: https://www.facebook.com/events/117232002272576

I hope to see you at either, or both, events! More info coming on LA and NC stops soon….

Wings Unseen is Released!

Wings Unseen, my debut epic fantasy novel, is now available at bookstores and libraries and everywhere online! Here’s a perspective you don’t see of the cover often, the full front and back:

wings unseen rebecca gomez farrell meerkat press book jacket

If you’d like to see it in paperback near you, request to have Wings Unseen ordered at your favorite store. Such requests are much appreciated! And so are online orders. You can get it from any of these retailers in paperback or ebook forms:

Buy from AmazonBuy from GoodReads Buy from Barnes and Noble Buy from Book Depository

I would absolutely love it if you would rate and/or review the book after reading as well – ratings are life for authors! We all know we are swayed by them. 😉 So a big virtual hug from Mazu for those of you able to do so.

mazu cat becca gomez farrell fluffy hug

To celebrate the release of Wings Unseen yesterday, I thought I’d do a reading on Facebook Live…but I have a ton of Wings Unseen readings coming up, so I thought it’d be more fun to share some of my earliest short stories instead. And by early, I meant second to fifth grade. You can watch the video by clicking through to Facebook or click the video to play below:

Ah, elementary school storytelling. I was so precocious. You can also follow the Wings Unseen Blog Tour–full of interviews, guest posts, excerpts, and reviews of Wings Unseen from book blogs–over the next three weeks! Find the full schedule of tour stops here at the Xpresso Books tour page.

Upcoming Readings and Appearances
To promote and celebrate the publication of Wings Unseen, I’ll be reading at or participating in several events over the next few months, and hopefully, one of those will be near you! Here’s the list of where you can find me coming up, including 4 Bay Area appearances in the next two weeks:

Events with more information available online are linked – I’ll be adding links as I get more details ironed out as well! I would love to see you in the crowd, and of course, to sign your book! I think I’ll also be posting some musings about the process of book publication once I get the chance to breath…which may not be until October. 😅

Thank you for your support, dear readers, and I hope to see you in the world of Lansera soon!

wings unseen map terrain meerkat press