I leave tomorrow for a tour of the UK, and in due course the US, for the release of Half a King. Bad news if you’re a devotee of this blog. Great news if you’re a resident of Edinburgh, Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, London, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Bristol, Yeovil, Bath, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, or Santa Fe OR if you’ve got any plans to attend the YA Lit Con/London Film and Comic Con, Edge Lit Derby, San Diego Comic Con, Celsius 232 Festival in Aviles Spain or Worldcon London. Phew. I’m going to be knackered.
Further details on the UK events HERE (with a quick note that the Edinburgh event has moved from the Pleasance Theatre to Blackwells store) and on the US events HERE. Hope to see some of you out there…
16 comments so far
Have a safe journey, Joe. Hope to see you in Yeovil.
One question Joe. Why not come to Wales?
have a great time, Joe. sadly, I’m in Philadelphia so will not make the? New York possibly? I’ve only ever met 2 authors I admire, James Ellroy and George Pelecanos. Both charismatic gentlemen. Ellroy is a blast. but of course neither of them is Lord Grimdark. safe travels.
You’re in Manchester, when and where? I hope it’s comic con.
See you on Friday in Oxford, Joe 🙂
Wow, you will be sick of being told how great you are after that roundabout-ride. =]
Apropos of nothing in particular, I have read a few works by females recently, as one does. Two in particular were quite excellent, inventive and well written etc . . . but I noticed their ( few, and relegated to mere sidekicks for the superduperwomen main characters ) male characters were mainly grotesque puppets for the authors worldview, nothing at all like any male that ever lived . . . so I looked online to see where the storm of protest was, telling them off because their male characters exposed their authorial sexism/ignorance/evil . . .
Did I find one?. No, no storms. Not even one comment in their blogs . . . funny that.
AntMac,
I find being told how great you are never gets old…
On the male/female characters thing, it seems to me that representation of women (especially in film and tv but also to a degree in books) is still much more of a problem than representation of men – that is to say that in general you see far fewer central female characters than male, and they also tend to be of a limited and predictable type (e.g. the Avengers have one woman, and she’s (broadly) the sexy femme fatale).
One could also make the argument that crappy treatment and devaluing of female characters plays into a pattern of crappy treatment and devaluing of women in general. Sexism towards women is, to say the least, a vastly more widespread social problem than sexism towards men (if such a thing even truly exists, it depends on your definitions), therefore poor representation of women in fiction becomes troubling in a way that poor representation of men really isn’t.
For me as a writer, it’s possible to leave the political arguments on one side, though, because aiming towards a varied, diverse, interesting and unpredictable cast is simply good writing. There’s no upside to weak representation of either gender.
Here here Joe, “Tu quoque” doesn’t really hold a great deal of weight as an argument for me.
1 of the fairly simple rules of my life
I don’t judge my actions by other peoples standards
I am really annoyed that i wont be able to see you in Liverpool (im working so i shouldnt even be on the internet atm) but is there any chance of you signing a few books for Waterstones to sell?
sounds like a busy time ahead! looking forward to the Birmingham signing; so disappointed I can’t make world con though! Have a great time.
Hi Joe, just like to say thanks for a splendid gig at Liverpool last night. They (whomever “they” are) say “don’t meet your heroes”, well I did and it was good! So sod “them”! I’ve had a backstage pass with Motorhead too (2003) and they were also great guys. Wish you every success with the new tome. Sorry I kept you talking re the Harald Dracken, the largest replica Viking ship to be built. I’m rowing it and it’s coming from Norway to Wirral. Thought you’d be interested especially re the subject matter of the new series. Giles Kristian rowed it with some of our volunteers in Norway last year (I couldn’t make it).My son who accompanied me to your gig is a convert, he’s started reading “The Blade Itself”. Can’t wait ’til he gets to “The Heroes”, best book EVER written (and I’ve read a few!). Good luck with the rest of the tour and beware boisterous Poles!
Those kind people from amazon across the pond have delivered my First Law graphical adventure (a bargain at £11 quid including shipping), to whit I shall be attending in Brum tomorrow and hoping for your moniker on said parchment, as well as a couple of copies of your new opus for my girls.
Hope the tour is progressing well.
No one ever visits the Midwest! To be fair, that’s probably because we’re a gaping black hole in the middle of two raised land masses. Make of that what you will.
Well, we agree totally about the idea of trying for ” varied, diverse, interesting and unpredictable cast”, is prime. I basically was disappointed that what was in other respects, superior writing by these female writers, was so egregiously* let down by the stereotyped and derogatory male characters.
I have not an ounce of sympathy though, for the oft-used “explanation” of “Sexism towards men isn’t important, because aw, the women’s lot is a hard one”. They are not separate issues, it is the same issue, sexism, and we all think it is wrong. If we are working to equality, no excuses from either side is best.
* Personally I think the female authors know perfectly well their audience, and that stories with “superduper women”, and a cast of contemptible stereotype males are not just acceptable to female readers, they are WELCOME, and that is merely the tip of the iceberg. TV shows are full of the same issue, so are advertisements and so forth. Are we going to end up slaves of the gynocracy any time soon?. No, but these things are all begun by seeds of intent.
Great seeing you today in Bristol. Thank you for the signature and for making it a fantastic memory I will cherish (the photo helps).
I hope we will see each other again in Asturias. I’m looking forward to it.
Enjoy the tour and keep up the good work!
Thank you for your presence today in Bristol (also for the signed books). It will be a memory I will definitely cherish (helped by the photo we took).
Also, I hope we will see each other again in Asturias at the end of the month. I have more books for you to sign 😀
Now enjoy the ego push from the tour and that will sure give you strength to keep up the good work!