I'm blogging at The Popculturedivas today

Join me at The Popculturedivas for Heroines and Vixens Panel at Hal-Con Sci-Fi Convention, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A to Z Blog Challenge -- I'm blogging at Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada

Join me at Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada for Day 8 -- H is for Hal-Con.

I'm blogging at The Popculturedivas

Join me at The Popculturedivas for 13 of My Favorite Costumes From Hal-Con 2013.

My next Thursday Thirteen will be my 300th listing of thirteen things. A big milestone for A Piece of My Mind!

Because I won't be able to get ready for that by next week--I'll need to recover somewhat from NaNoWriMo and my choir concert this Friday--my retrospective of Thursday Thirteens from 200 to 300 will be posted sometime in January. See you then! 

5 on Friday -- Set 197

For a final week, Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

After today, Travis is retiring his four-year-old musical meme which immediately became the highlight of my week and remained so since February of 2010. Putting together my sets each week gives me joy, retaining the sense of play I need in my creative life.

Travis invited the regular 5-on-Friday-ers to carry on without him if we wished, and it appears that Jamie, Mike and I will continue to spin the tunes that we love.

But I just want to let Travis know that in coming up with his Friday musical feature, he has given me hours and hours and hours of happiness. Sending you love and ((hugs)) today as we bid farewell to an amazing run.

Well, we did it. Last Saturday, Shawna Romkey and I gave our first convention panel on Heroes and Villains during Hal-Con 2013.

Thanks to everyone who attended our panel. You asked great questions!

Last week I spun four superhero tunes plus one super villain tune. This week -- since I was giving the villains part of the panel -- here are five tunes that come to us from the villain's point of view.

1 - Devil in Disguise -- Elvis Presley

This song illustrates the sort of villain I mentioned at the panel last Saturday, the sort of character who seems like a 'suitable catch' on the surface -- until you get to know him a little better, and if you're an historical female character, it may very well be too late by then. You may have been married off to what seemed like a strong alpha male character, only to discover he is actually a villain, making all the wrong choices based on fear, self-preservation and self-interest.

This sort of tragic villain character -- someone who sees himself as a thwarted hero -- is shown in the video as Guy of Gisborne from BBC's Robin Hood (played by my fave, Richard Armitage.)

2 - The Sinner in Me -- Depeche Mode

This song perfectly captures the allure of The Gray Character, my favorite. This accounts for the attraction we often feel towards a character who we sense is still redeemable. This sort of villain holds a lot more tension within the story, because we aren't sure whether he'll choose the high road or the low road. A traditional villain will always take the dark choice.

3 - A Criminal Mind -- Lawrence Gowan

I've always loved this song, by Glasgow Scotland-born, Toronto-raised Lawrence Gowan. I love the bald admission given by the narrator: "Ask one who's known me / If I'm really so bad / I am."

This is the sort of internal monologue that would take place inside the traditional villain character. He has no ambitions to change, no desire to reform. He delights in his own horrible rampages.

Strangely, the tone of the song implies a degree of regret -- however, it's clear that the narrator will never make the choices of a heroic character. The greater good, self-sacrifice -- these ambitions won't tempt this villain in the least. 

4 - Animal I Have Become -- Three Days Grace

Rumpelstiltskin from Once Upon a Time is a massive fave of mine (played by another of my long-time inspirations for a fictional character in one of my works-in-progress, Robert Carlyle.)

What a tour de force of villainy! As the original village spinner character, his descent into darkness through fearful choice-making is something we can relate to. We even hope that this character is still reachable and redeemable.

As the Dark One / Rumpelstiltskin, he is a cool deal-maker, preying on those who will do anything in a moment of need. He is not without emotion, however -- he has a streak of playful mischief-making, and delights in the sword he holds over people's heads.

As Mr. Gold, the contemporary Storybrooke pawn shop owner, he holds the most tension for the viewer, as we never know how this version of the character will react. Mr. Gold shows the most vulnerability, the most rage and the greatest desire to reach for happiness. 

5 - Bad to the Bone -- George Thorogood and The Destroyers

The supervillain tune from my set list last week belonged to the Joker (played by dearly-missed Heath Ledger) -- and here he is again, in all his traditional villain glory.

Thursday Thirteen -- 297 -- 13 Things About My Hal-Con 2013 Weekend

My second Hal-Con is wrapped and in the can. A fantastic weekend! Thanks to all of the organizers who put on the event, especially since -- as you'll see -- things went a little off-script on Saturday...

1 -  This is my husband Brad and me at our booth on the main retail floor, Day 1. We had an awesome spot, and I did the best ever at this show. Thanks to everyone who dropped by my booth, with very special thanks to all who bought my books. That's a thrill that never gets old.

2 - Upstairs on the second floor, in the official author area, my friend Shawna Romkey, a fellow member of our writers' group Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada, had her booth ready for Hal-Con pass holders. Shawna had an especially great con. Go, Shawna!

3 - Across from Shawna was bestselling fantasy author Terry Brooks, who came with his own legions of devoted fans. Witness the Terry Brooks lineup.

4 - When there was a moment between signings, Terry Brooks made his way along the other author tables, chatting with fellow writers.

Here's what happened immediately following the convention, in Shawna's words:

"Ummm...Terry Brooks just contacted me. He read my book on the flight home. He asked for my email to send longer comments than my website form would allow. YIKES!!!!!!!!!"

Then --

"Terry Brooks emailed me!!! He had some really positive things to say and also gave me some great feedback! *faints* "

5 - What book is that, you say?

Speak of the Devil

6 - One of the good news / bad news things about taking part in events like Hal-Con as an author is not being able to see everything that's going on. I did manage to stop for a few minutes on one of my trips upstairs to see Shawna, and watched these historical warrior reenactors demonstrating sword fighting.

7 - Sometimes the best place to see the headliner guests is just by staying put at your booth. That's Robert Maillet at right, from 300, Sherlock Holmes, Immortals and Pacific Rim checking out a jewelry vendor across from my table.

8 - Day 2 started out with a very large line-up stretching around the Metro Centre, with the interior crowds noticeably bigger. This shot of the corridor immediately outside of the room where Shawna and I did a Heroes and Villains panel on Saturday at 12:45 is a good indicator of the Day 1 crowd. Busy but still lots of space to move around.

Halifax is a little city, and Hal-Con is still a young event -- only a few years old. By about 10:30 on Day 2, having been a former Toronto's Fan Expo participant, as well as an eight-year veteran of working front of house for what is now the Sony Centre, I could sense that the building had reached maximum capacity and that people were no doubt being turned away.

I attempted to head upstairs to meet with Shawna before our panel, only to be faced with an unmoving wall of people being held back on the first floor. Using my Toronto Big City skirting-around-the-mob technique, I managed to get to the escalator where I thought I would have to plead my case as to why I had to get to the second floor.

However, the staff waved me along when they saw my vendor pass -- thank God!

9 - Somehow our panel started on time, with a packed audience and even standing-room-only at one point. Shawna talked Heroes and I talked Villains, and we had great questions from the audience.

This was the first-ever panel at an event like this for both of us. Thanks to everyone who attended and took part in the discussion.

10 - Meanwhile, unbeknownst to us at that time, Hal-Con was enduring some rather extreme growing pains. Here's a link to a news report on Hal-Con's Day 2 fiasco:

Long lines at Hal-Con lead to frustrations, refunds and an apology

11 - I salute the 5th Dr. Who, Peter Davison, who waded outside into the cold where all of the incredibly disappointed turned-away convention pass holders were lining up for refunds.

Peter Davison walked up and down the line to chat with those who couldn't get in, showing wonderful generosity and kindness.

Here's a clip from Dr. Who, with the 5th doctor in action.

12 - Shawna got to hang out with him at the Stargazer Soiree later that night. A jolly good fellow, what?

13 - The best part of taking part in cons like Fan Expo and Hal-Con is the incredible costumes that go by my author table. Here's a small taste of some great ones. Join me next week when I turn Thursday Thirteen over to the costumes of Hal-Con 2013.

5 on Friday -- Set 196

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

It's Hal-Con time again!

Starting today and running through Sunday, I'll be at my booth on the main floor at the Halifax World Trade and Convention Centre, 1800 Argyle Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia. If you're looking for print copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel Saint Sanguinus or my dark fantasy novel Bound by Dragonsfyre, I'll be signing copies.

Also appearing at Hal-Con this year: my friend and fellow Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada member Shawna Romkey, who will be signing copies of her angels-and-demons novel Speak of the Devil.

Together, we'll be giving a workshop on Heroes and Villains on Saturday, Nov. 9th at 12:45 until 1:30.

In the meantime, the great NaNoWriMo writing marathon of 2013 continues. If you're doing the marathon and you want to find me, I'm NaNo-ing as vamprom.

Let's celebrate all things superheroic. This week's set features songs written about superhero characters, a super villain and one classic hero of old.

1 - Flash -- Queen

2 - Surfing With the Alien -- Joe Satriani

3 - Joker's Wild -- The Ventures

4 - Superman Song -- Crash Test Dummies

5 - Achilles Last Stand -- Led Zeppelin

5 on Friday -- Set 191

Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.

Only nine more 5 on Friday's to go before I hit the magical 200th set here at A Piece of My Mind. Much rejoicing will take place throughout the land.

A few heads' up notices first --

Coming up in one month's time, Blog4Peace is an international peace event held online on Nov. 4th. Join me and hundreds of other peace-spreading bloggers by typing the words 'Dona Nobis Pacem' on:

Your blog

Your Facebook page

Your Twitter account

Your Pinterest page

Anywhere you like to hang out online, please join our day of peace by saying 'Grant us peace' with one voice. Sign up at Mimi Lenox's linky on the big day so you can find the other peace bloggers and they can find you. Travel the world from your computer screen and feel the love.

Coming up a few days after Blog4Peace -- I'll be appearing at Hal-Con from Fri Nov 8th to Sun Nov 10th at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax. I'll be hosting a panel with angels-and-demons author Shawna Romkey on Heroes and Villains. More details on time and location as soon as I have them.

Warp Speed Passes are already sold out. Weekend Passes, Day Passes and Family Passes are still available.

In celebration of all things spooky during October, I'll be featuring interviews with paranormal authors for my Thursday Thirteen series. The first one launched yesterday with Spooky Screenwriter Stephen MacLean. This is my second year for the Spooky Author series which is turning into an annual event. Coming up next week: Jane Slayer and Grave Expectations author Sherri Browning Erwin.

And now, onwards to this week's musical set. The beginning of this spooktacular month brings preparations for haunting trick or treaters and Halloween party-goers. These videos feature costumes as their central focus. Will you be dressing up this year? 

1 - No Rain - Blind Melon  

2 - Paradise - Coldplay

3 - The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?) - Ylvis

4 - Truth Faith - New Order

5 - Mr. Roboto - Styx

CLICK HERE to watch the video

Thursday Thirteen - 260 - 13 Highlights From My Amazing Year

1 – Having been born in the Year of the Dragon, 2012 turned out to be pretty freakin' fantastic for me, starting with the arrival of the hard copies of my debut release, SAINT SANGUINUS.

2 – My friend and fellow author Shawna Romkey gave me this first-ever moment: my first book signing during the Valentine's Hearts on Fire event for my writers' group at The Halifax Club. 

3 – In March, I attended the Women in Film and Television conference with my producer and friend Tara MacDonald, and our friend YA author Renee Pace.  

4 – Later in the spring, I attended a women's retreat at the Oak Island Inn with Tara and Shawna. A much-needed rest before a crazybusy summer.

 5 – WAY, way up at the tippy top of my joy this year: directing the book trailers for my Scorpius series. Produced by Tara MacDonald and shot by Caroline Ruyle. Best time I ever had on set.

 6 – This May I participated in Free Comic Book Day. Thanks to three local comic shops, I gave away free downloads of the e-book version of SAINT SANGUINUS, since it's a Dark Ages vampire superhero origin story. Many thanks to Giant Robot Comics, Quantum Frontier and Monster Comic Lounge.

 7 – The thrill of seeing your very own book for the first time never gets old! My second release BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE arrived in the mail in early summer.

 8 – The book trailer for SAINT SANGUINUS won two awards!

9 – In August I signed copies of my Dark Ages vampire novel and my dark fantasy novel in the Indie Artist Alley at Fan Expo in Toronto. Many, many thanks to my friend Tara for helping me navigate this venue, and to my husband Brad who worked alongside me.

10 - Easily, the most amazing moment of this year came when I finally made contact with a friend whom my sister and I met almost 30 years ago. We met Rashid Kamalov during the 1984 Tall Ships event in Halifax, while the Iron Curtain was still firmly in place. After writing about him here on my blog many times, his email showed up in my spam folder in September, which I only looked at because of the Fan Expo contest I held.

Rashid is now my Facebook friend!

Here's what he wrote after reading the tale of our summer together which I told to readers here at A Piece of My Mind:

"Dear Juliа, thank you for the wonderful story about our meetings and for good memory about me. I carried in my heart warm feelings to Michelle and to you through all life. I am glad to know that you are well, we can email each other. It is so well you are here!" - Oct. 2, 2012 

11 – In October I attended my 10th writers' retreat with my writers' group. Already counting down the days until the next one.

12 – A few weeks later, I shared a table at Hal-Con with paranormal/sci-fi erotica author Lilly Cain. Signed more copies of my books and had a ball.

13 – To cap off the Dream Come True year, I went on my second trip to New York City, sat in the red booth at the Russian Tea Room and walked into the lobby of Radio City Music Hall to watch The Rockettes Christmas Spectacular.

That's my sister with me in the red booth, and my BFF at Radio City.

SO amazing.

I can't believe it sometimes!

Thank you to all my readers who have become friends over the years. You've made the world a much, much smaller place.

Here's to 2013! Hope you're off to a fantastic start.