Fall is Almost Upon Us and I have No Idea Where August Went...

Greeting and Salutations good people... 'tis Ro again bringing you more updates from the land of Gini.

I hope the latter half of August continued to treat you kindly as we rocket (seriously I need maybe a month back) toward the official first day of Fall. And for those of you returning small humans -- or not so small humans, yay college -- to educational establishments...congratulations! Hat tip to you for making it through summer (hopefully) relatively unscathed... 

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Moving on to the comings and goings in the Giniverse:

Gini's Coming to a Venue/Event Near(ish) You! 

Gini is an author in demand (as fans we know and applaud this -- unless there's a deadline looming then we -- ok, I -- tend to get an urge to deploy duct-tape-to-chair measures). Which means there are some great opportunities coming up for you to come spend some time, ask a question or seven, get a signature or two, and *cough cough* buy some books from the lady herself this Fall: 

October

Saturday, October 1, 10:00am - 4:00pm: Gini will be a Main Tent Speaker at the inaugural High Desert Book Festival in Victorville, CA. She's presenting "Worldbuilding" at 1:30pm, followed by a Main Tent book-signing. Gini will also be at the book fair all day signing the bookie wookies and giving out hugs as is her wont.

She'll be doing book signings in the area as well, so SoCal, West AZ, and Vegas peeps keep your eyeballs peeled, we'll be updating shortly!

If you live on the east coast, your only opportunities in 2016 to see Gini in 3D will be at these next two events.

Friday-Sunday, October 14-16:  the 14th Annual James River Writers Conference in Richmond, VA, where she's a Featured Faculty Member. Gini will be teaching workshops on Friday the 14th and doing panels and signings on the 15th & 16th. Be sure to check the site and register for the Conference if you want the opportunity to talk writing with Gini and other authors in the quest to hone your own craft!

Sunday, October 16, 3pm: Book signing at Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA. This is open to the public, you do NOT need to attend the JRW Conference to attend.

November 
Friday-Sunday, November 4-6, 2015: Tucson Comic-Con
Gini will have a table in the exhibit hall selling and signing all the bookie wookies. Museum of Robots will be there with her, selling all the cool swag. Panel details to come.

DECEMBER
Book Tour for Alien Nation!

Saturday, December 10th: Mysterious Galaxy Holiday Party, San Diego, CA
Saturday, December 17th: Amazing Wyked Writers Mass Holiday Signing, Barnes & Noble, Henderson NV  

More stores and dates (and urls and all that jazz) to come. 

NEXT YEAR
 
July 1-4, 2017: Gini will be the Local Author Guest of Honor at ConAlope/Westercon 70 in Tempe, AZ. The con is focused on all things alien, so you know why they tapped our girl to do the LGoH gig!

Have no fear there will more places for me to loop you into with prime opportunities for Gini-sightings in the wild.

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The  Zombie Needs Brains Kickstarter launches at 12 pm EST August 31st, as in TODAY! 

Three new anthologies -- SUBMERGED (SF and F stories set underwater), ALL HAIL OUR ROBOT CONQUERORS! (SF stories with robots harkening back to the 50's/60's), and THE DEATH OF ALL THINGS (SF and F stories with Death as a character). Tons of special reward levels (tuckerizations, signed copies of books, etc.) and Early Backer and High Backer Incentives (free ebooks, bookmarks, postcards, etc), including many things being given by Gini. 

Gini is writing stories for two of these anthologies -- Submerged and All Hail. She's got tuckers available (Team Tuckerization, start your engines) and will be doing a horror short for Submerged, writing as J.C. Koch, and an Alien series short for All Hail. Don't miss out on your chance to get two new stories by Gini into your library!

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Help Member of the Collective, Lori, journey to the Last Thing She'll Ever See: This gofundme supports Lori on her way to making a beautiful memory before her eyesight fails completely. Sometimes, the best thing to do when faced with the inevitable is make it an adventure. 

Animal kids need love too!

If you know Gini at all (which of course you do), then you know she's all about saving the nanimals; as are many of members of the Collective. If you're looking for a place to show your support, in remembrance of our fallen member of the Alien Collective, please consider making a donation to one of Beth Vrabel's favorites: Odd Cat Out Sanctuary.

 

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Reviews and Raves From Around the Interwebs:

We know what we like about the works of Gini. I'm sure, you like me, have your favorites from amongst the clan.  

Once you've picked up your Z’porrah Power Cube Pendant from Museum of Robots (yes, I'm still fangirling over the swag) you should see what reviewers and publications have to say about some of Gini's books. 

Leave me a comment, let me know if you agree or disagree and what your favorite story is: 

Barnes and Noble included Camp Alien in their May New Book Roundup: "Koch is a master of the fine balance between the tense action and a hilarious one-liner."

Touched by an Alien makes Book Riot's June list of "10 Excellent Paranormal and Science Fiction Romance - "I didn’t know I wanted a Men in Black-inspired romance, and then I read this."

Musings and Ramblings: "I stayed up way past my bedtime reading this book. And no shame in my game, I enjoyed every minute of it" about Camp Alien.

Jean from Xtreme Delusions says: "I already know that I’m prone to fall into her books and get totally lost in the world of her characters. Camp Alien was no exception." 

Becky B from bibliognome says of Camp Alien: "Humor + Serious Situations + Aliens aplenty + Blasts from the Past = a tremendous read with more than enough momentum to keep dashing forward into the foreseeable future."

The People's Daily Morning Star declares: "Perhaps some purists will blanch at the liberties taken [in alt.sherlock.holmes] but I think most Holmes fans will enjoy seeing the essentials of the Baker Street legend illuminated anew by being shown from such different perspectives."

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Thinking of picking up a new show or catching a movie? Let Gini be your guide! Head over to Slice of SciFi and Pop Culture Geeks and check out her latest reviews:

• Killjoys (Season 2) 
• Ben-Hur  

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And last but certainly not least -- I feel I just have say BECAUSE SCIENCE!: 

How many of you good folk saw the ScienceAlert report about an Earth-like planet found in our closest system?

Image: ESO./L. Calçada/Nick Resigner 

I don't know about you, but I now dearly want to visit Proxima b (yes I know it's 4.2 light years away) as it may support life. I hereby volunteer as tribute for the cryo-chamber! That is, of course, AFTER the James Webb Space Telescope confirms the planet isn't dead and airless...

In other news of "matter is neither created nor destroyed:" Research recently published in The Astrophysical Journal indicates that the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way is an active hungry exploding thing. Seems the missing Milky Way mass was either consumed by the black hole or blown away leaving only a gaseous substance behind...here's hoping she doesn't feel the need to be that active or hungry again any time soon.

Ever since Jodie Foster sat in a field and listened to the silence from the stars only to have it one day talk back (yes, I did indeed make a Contact reference soooo *blink blink*) I've been WAITING for an announcement that some station SOMEWHERE in the real world picked up a signal. Well, it seems over a year ago a Russian radio did pick up an unexplained signal. Now that the information's been shared around (we'll just look past that whole waiting a year part) two SETI research groups turned the scopes to observe the star in question. Am I the only one hoping they conclude it was terrestrial interference?  *looks around* ok, so maybe it's just me, *skips away singing you are not alone, I am here with yoooou..."

*This moment in geekiness brought to you by too much surfing the interwebs in the predawn hours...while awaiting explanations in Alien Nation.

Cheers,

Ro