The Sixteen Forty-Nine Premiere

If you’re anywhere near Beloit this weekend, come out to the Beloit Film Festival for the premiere of Sixteen Forty-Nine. This documentary by Ruben Burgos highlights the issue of homeless teens in Rock County, and my wife Ann – who’s the homeless student liaison for the School District of Janesville – is interviewed about the situation in the film. It will show twice during the festival:

  • February 18 at 7:30 PM, at the Eclipse Center in Beloit
  • February 20 at 2:00 PM, at the Pontiac Convention Center in Janesville

Tickets for both shows are on sale now. Here’s the trailer for the film here to give you a sample of what it’s all about.

Officially a Geek Dad

As of today, I’m officially a member of the Geek Dad team. Geek Dad is a fantastic blog that’s part of Wired.com, and it concentrates on “Raising Geek Generation 2.0.” If you know me – and my kids – you know that fits me to a T. I’ll be chipping in posts there as time allows, and you can go read my first one right now. “Valentine Games” covers three different games/apps with a Valentine’s Day theme.

More Amortals Raves

Over at Amazon UK, their Amazon Vine program has produced another two excellent reviews for Amortals. Dinky writes:

This is a blast of fresh air… This book not only throws together all the elements of a good modern thriller – shoot-outs, chases, explosions, gadgets, intrigues, a sparky agent of the opposite sex, politics, hints of exotic foreign travel (as in Mars, this being sci-fi after all) – it is also written deftly… You can enjoy this as a straightforward thriller set in a theoretical, not-so-shiny future with technologically advanced guns and transport. Or you can stop every so often, just as I did, to think: yeah, what if? … Read this, please.

Samuel Taylor writes:

Amortals is a slice of light science fiction that wraps complex ideas around an action packed thriller. The book has as many explosions, chases, and gun fights as it does science fiction concepts… It has as much in common with the likes of Lee Child as it does Iain M. Banks.

That’s fine company to be in any day.

Vegas Knights in SFX Magazine

The latest SFX Magazine features a review of Vegas Knights. It’s only available in the print edition, but I’m told it says many good things about the book, including:

What’s clever about the way Matt Forbeck has structured this novel is that the magic-heist stuff is a good enough hook to get you reading, but as it develops beyond that initial hook you don’t have much idea what’s going to come next. It builds on the smart concept intelligently, and the plot is well-constructed and compelling, goading you to keep reading.

Vegas Knights hits UK shelves and e-readers worldwide on March 3, three weeks from today. Print copies arrive in the US on March 29.

See Sixteen Forty-Nine

My wife Ann is one of the leaders of Project 16:49, an effort to set up a shelter for homeless teens here in Rock County, Wisconsin. One of their biggest tools for drawing the public’s attention to this problem has been a documentary about three such teens, filmed right here in Beloit by Ruben Burgos. Ann and the other members of Project 16:49 have been showing the film privately to various people and groups in the area, but soon you’ll be able to see it too.

The public premiere of SIXTEEN FORTY-NINE is slated for the Beloit International Film Festival, coming up the weekend of February 18—20. It will show twice during the festival:

  • February 18 at 7:30 PM, at the Eclipse Center in Beloit
  • February 20 at 2:00 PM, at the Pontiac Convention Center in Janesville

Tickets for both shows are on sale now. Please come out, witness this inspirational film, and show your support. I hope to see you there!

More Praise for Amortals

Over at SF Signal, John DeNardo (who I met at the World Fantasy Convention) has a number of kind things to say about Amortals. He calls the book:

[T]hought-provoking rather than preachy as it deals with topics of privacy, civil liberties and caring about what happens to the world around you.

Also, the Amazon Vine program produced another great review at Amazon UK, this one from Paul Tapner. He writes:

It manages to transcend what may feel too familiar to do something new and a little different, and for that it’s worth a look.

The Eloquent Page Raves for Vegas Knights

Over at the Eloquent Page, Pablo Cheesecake gives Vegas Knights a rave review. He remarks on a couple fun, spoilery details but adroitly avoids any of the big reveals. (To be absolutely fair, the back of the book likely reveals more.) He writes:

If Hollywood is listening, someone needs to snap up the rights to the movie version of this sharpish. It’s a sure fire winner.

My favorite of his notes about the book, though, comes from his Twitter stream the day before he posted the review:

The book I have just finished reading was fucking epic.

Can’t tell you how much that made me smile. Thanks, Pablo!

More Amortals Reviews

A pair of kind Amortals reviews cropped up recently. Over at SFSite.com, Michael M. Jones says many great things, including:

The end result is a much deeper, more complex story than I was expecting, with a thought-provoking ending. What you get, thusly, is an action-filled, tense piece with plenty of cinematic moments and a heck of a payoff. Some of the story beats are reminiscent of Philip K. Dick… [A]ll I can say is that it’s a pretty intense read all on its own. Amortals is an SF action-thriller that satisfies on all levels.

On Amazon.co.uk, David Burton received a copy of Amortals through the Amazon Vine reviews program. He gives the book five stars and a short review that caps off with:

One of the more impressive sci-fi books I’ve read, and one that reminded me of the better work by William Gibson.

As a huge fan of the books of both Dick and Gibson, I’m thrilled to see such comparisons made. Thanks!