by john | Nov 22, 2010 | Real Life, Travel, Vegas, Writing
It’s going to be a busy few weeks around the old Casa de Hartness (since the last few months haven’t been chock-full AT ALL). This week is obviously Thanksgiving, which we’ll be spending in South Carolina with mi familia. It’s either a note on how frugal I’ve become or what a cheap bastard I am that I’d really like to take a Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake with us for dessert, but I’m balking at dropping the $50 on it. It’s not that $50 is a huge sum, but it’s a lot of money for one 10″ cheesecake, and I’ve gotten cheap about things like dessert recently.
Then Sunday I have a book signing at Park Road Books, which is one of only a couple of independent bookstores left in the Charlotte area. I’ll be signing anything anyone wants to buy, hopefully my restock order will be in by then (and hopefully I’ll need it!).
Next week I’ll be in Atlanta the first part of the week for work and then when I come back to Charlotte Suzy and I will be getting on a plane to go to New York for our 15th wedding anniversary. Sometimes it feels like just a few months ago that we were in college down at Winthrop together, and now we’re going off to the Big Apple to see the big tree at Rockefeller Center, check out America Idiot on Broadway, and go shopping at Mood fabrics in the Garment District (I’ll take a book, hopefully they have chairs for husbands). Suzy and my sister Bonnie are HUGE Project Runway fans, so this trip to Mood is a real highlight for her. Me, I could meh about the whole thing because I don’t know anything about fabric, but if it makes her happy it’s worth the trip.
And then I’m home for a couple days and then I turn around and head off to Las Vegas for the annual WPBT debauchery-thon. I’ve got a room at the MGM and would like to do a small book signing there for some folks if people let me know that they want copies of books. That will take some logistical figuring out between now and then.
And then there’s Christmas. We’re probably not doing much in the way of gift exchange, because there’s not much we want, and because we’re going to NYC a few weeks before Christmas. I think the whole family is pitching in together to get my parents a new TV (which I can blog about here because my parents are blissfully internet-free), so that will be a nice upgrade over their 20-year old Zenith console TV. We’ll have to get a stand, too, because despite my sister’s protestations, having a TV sitting on top of the old, busted TV is never acceptable.
Oh yeah, speaking of sister – she’ll be staying with us for the week after I get back from Vegas because of her second hip replacement. Yeah, her second hip replacement this year. Sucks to be her. Except that she came through the first one with flying colors and now is in a lot less pain, so I guess it sucks less to be her. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there, since Suzy is the one with the caretaker gene and my contribution to having her in my house for a week is mostly whining about sleeping in the guest bedroom.
So that’s life here lately. As you can see, I’m trying to make a more concerted effort to revive the blog. At least this week. I’ve started on the sequel to Hard Day’s Knight, so hopefully it will be ready to go sometime in the spring. And I got word from Rob that the ebook conversion for HDK should be finished this month, so it will come out on Kindle in time for Christmas, which is exciting. I have about enough story for five books with those characters right now, and I’m working on a couple of other things intermittently. I don’t see me becoming Hocking-level prolific anytime soon, but maybe in a few years I’ll generate some real revenue from this little side gig and be able to focus on it more full-time.
by john | Nov 19, 2010 | Comics, Travel
Last weekend I went to Raleigh to participate in the NC ComiCon. I had a great time, despite feeling kinda crappy all weekend with the crud that eventually levelled me and kept me out of of work for the first half of this week. But I got to meet some great folks, including Jim Valentino and Richard Case, and my booth neighbor Rob Anderson, creator/writer/publisher of Animal Control: Special Creatures Unit, a futuristic comic featuring funky hybrid animals like gatorsnakes, pandadogs and pocket dragons. Rob was very friendly and in good humor through the weekend and his upbeat patter kept me from turning into a bag of phlegm-filled sulk like I can easily do when I don’t feel well. I just hope I didn’t infect him with the crud as a thank you gift! Also had dinner with Rob and Chris Flick, who writes the hilarious webcomic Capes n’ Babes, which I’ve been a subscriber to for a couple years now, so that was a blast. I sold about enough books to make the whole thing financially worthwhile, so I’ll be on the lookout for other cons to exhibit at in the future.
And of course there was cosplay. The costume contest was Sunday, so anyone who wandered by my table with a decent costumed got corralled into having a photo with one or more of my books. Here are some of my faves.
by john | Nov 18, 2010 | Gambling, Poker
The following is a sponsored post.
The World Poker Tour is one of the most famous poker tournaments in the world, second only to the World Series of Poker.
The World Poker Tour, as its name suggests, tours the world, with tournament legs taking place in several different countries each year.
Highlights of the tour include the WPT Grand Prix de Paris, the WPT Spanish Championship, the London Poker Classic, the Bellagio Cup, the Borgata Poker Open, the L.A.Poker Classic, and the WPT Celebrity Invitational.
As with most major poker tournaments, players have the option to either buy-in to the tournament, or attempt to qualify online.
There are satellites for the World Poker Tour running on several different online poker sites.
The World Poker Tour attracts a lot of media attention, and many of their main events, including the Bellagio Cup, are televised.
The online casino sites that are affiliated with the World Poker Tour include PartyCasino, Casino Las Vegas, Swiss Casino, Noble Casino, and Titan Casino.
Some of the best professional poker players in the world take part in the World Poke Tour. The list of players includes big names such as Gus Hansen, Hoyt Corkins, Phil Ivey, JC Tran Daniel Negreanu, Joe Hachem, and Barry Greenstein.
The World Poker Tour has many poker tournaments with big money prizes. Titles in the tour are very prestigious, and the World Poker Tour Player of the Year award is considered to be a huge honour. The top players who compete in the tour have amassed career earnings of more than $5 million in the tournament, and there are several players with WPT career earnings in excess of $3 million.
The WPT was started in the United Sates, by attourney Steve Lipscomb in 2002, and was acquired by PartyGaming in November 2009. The tournament focuses on Texas Holdem poker.
The WPT TV show is hosted by Mike Sexton and Vince Van Patten. The show gives the viewers that the commentary is live, however some commentary is added after the tournament, because gaming regulations prevent the commentators from observing hole cards while the games are in play.
by john | Oct 28, 2010 | Uncategorized
by john | Oct 27, 2010 | Poker, Real Life, Vegas, Writing
But this is what you get. And you’ll like it, too! Or not, but you probably won’t be pissed enough to tell me about it if you hate it.
So most of October has been spent getting Hard Day’s Knight ready to go, and yesterday I got home to find a box full of books waiting on me! So the book is available from Amazon and via CreateSpace, with ebook coming in November. Place your orders now by clicking here. I’ve booked a table selling books at a local Halloween carnival for Friday night, a NC Writer’s Network meeting next weekend, and a comic book convention in Raleigh on 11/12-14. So feel free to stop by any of those events and see me, too! I’ll have copies at each event to sign for folks, so either bring your copy or buy one at the event.
Speaking of buying, the lease was running out on the Element after almost four years, so I traded it in a couple weeks ago. 
The dealership bought me out of the lease, which was great since I was 10,000 miles over the lease (with 6 months driving left), and I picked up this beauty. She’s a 2008 Chevy Silverado with all the electronical type gadgets, and only 55,000 miles on her. She rides like a dream, and has a ton of room in the back seat. It’s a shortbed, but that’s all I need for the errands I run around the house. So far I’m loving it.
Last week saw me in Las Vegas for a conference, and wouldn’t you know it, I had a little time to play the Venetian noon tournament while I was there. Some of you may recall my epic 20-way even chop performance in that same tournament last December. I followed that up with a 7th-place finish, good for $500 (and $30 in prop bets!). I got really lucky once whe I cracked Kings with my Jacks after all the money went in preflop, then got really unlucky later when my Aces got cracked by Kings. I was crippled, but quintupled up on the next hand when I flopped a boat in a 6-way limped pot. So I made it all the way to 7th before I ran pocket fives into pocket tens and headed off to dinner. I played a little more over the week, ending up about $350-400 for the trip.
I of course used my winnings to book my flight to Vegas for December, and I’m looking forward to seeing all my degenerate friends again! I get in on Thursday and fly out on Monday, and I’ll be staying at the MGM. I also have a trip to NYC the weekend before to celebrate Suzy and my 15th wedding anniversary. We’re using Marriott points to stay at the Marriott Marquis in Time Square, and we’ll see American Idiot and something else while we’re there.
So that’s what’s going on here – now go buy a book!
