A big, big announcement is coming. Stay tuned.

…About being a part of this event in Toronto this weekend, isn’t as much that I’m a fan of my fellow speakers (which I am – Kenneth Oppel! Julia Golding!), but that I’m going to be doing this the day after going to dinner with Stephen King. And Clive Barker. And Margaret Atwood.

And that’s not even taking into account that I spent all of yesterday afternoon with Brian and Lisa Henson.

It’s shaping up to be a very interesting week.

I’ll be appearing, and signing books, and sketching, and speaking, at these upcoming venues:

_______________

Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Jan/Feb 2007 events
James Owen’s
HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS
___

Friday, 1/26-Sunday, 1/28
Phoenix Cactus Comicon convention
Mesa Convention Center
___

Tuesday, 1/30, 7:00PM
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA  91101

Contact: Jennifer Ramos
Phone: 626-449-5320
Signing/reading
___

Wednesday, 1/31, 1:30-2:50PM
The Gooden School (middle school)
Sierra Madre, CA

Contact: Candace Moreno
San Marino Toy & Book
2424 Huntington Dr.
San Marino, CA
Phone: 626-309-0222
Presentation/reading/signing
___

Thursday, 2/1, 11:00AM & 1:00PM
Plaza Vista Junior High 5th, 6th, 7th grades
Irvine, CA

Santiago Hills Junior High 5th, 6th, 7th grades
Irvine, CA

Contact: Alex Uhl
Whale of a Tale
4199 A Campus Dr.
Irvine, CA  92612
Phone: 949-854-8288
Presentation/reading/signing

___

Friday, 2/2, 9:30-12:30PM (school), TK (store)
El Roble Junior High
Claremont, CA

Contact: Andrea Vuleta
Mrs. Nelson’ Book and Toys
1030 Bonita Ave.
La Verne, CA
Phone: 909-599-4558
Presentation/reading/signing
___

Wednesday, 2/14-Friday, 2/16
ALOUD: a Celebration for Young Readers
Toronto, Canada
Reading: Thursday, 2/15, 1:00PM

Contact: Dulcey Antonucci, Senior Publicist, S&S Canada
Phone: 905-943-9942 x274
___

Wednesday, 2/21, 7:00PM
How to Write a Kids’ Book
Changing Hands Bookstore
6428 S. McClintock Dr.
Tempe, AZ 85283

Contact: Cindy Dach
Phone: 480.730.1142
Panel
___

Sunday, 2/25, 10:00AM-4:30PM
Family Festival of Books
Chino, CA

Contact: John Lynde
Citizens for Kids Educational Foundation
Phone: (909) 628-1201, ext. 1590

_______________________

And we’re just getting warmed up…

Please take note:

I have completed an inordinately large amount of work in the last couple of months, and am about to start on an even larger agenda later in September,  and a National Book Tour in October and November.

So.

I am going to go away for around ten days or so, and I am not taking a computer. Or a phone. Or telegraph wires. It may even be difficult to reach me by Post.

I am doing little to no work on this trip, the first actual vacation that meets the definition (as in, not going to LA after Comicon; not an extra sightseeing day after a signing; etc…)

I am going to read for fun. (Books by Terry Brooks, Tom DeHaven, and Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, to be precise).

And then, rested and recharged, I’m coming back, and switching into high gear.

I thought all things considered, a warning was only fair.

…and counting until the release of HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS.

We have a week-plus launch event happening in NYC, followed by the National Tour. I’ll be posting dates and times around the middle of September. Already confirmed for NY are signings at Jim Hanley’s Universe; Books of Wonder; and as of this morning, a Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn.

As part of our promotions for the book, we’re offering a free, oversized, full color, signed (by me) postcard of the cover. All you need to do to get one is email me your address with ‘DRAGONS POSTCARD’ in the subject line. Plus, the return address on the card will be that of a local (to you) independent book or comics store where you can go to buy a copy.

How’s that for a good use of the bookshop locator service? 

(Added to make it easier to email: coppervale@frontiernet.net)

Okay, here’s the shorthand news:

We’ve signed off on the initial film option for HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS. HOWEVER – since that was only done last Friday, there are a lot of things that still need paying a lot of attention to before an announcement is made  – and we don’t expect to be ready for that until AFTER Comicon.

There may be an announcement/press release made just prior to the Con to promote our producers’ formal involvement, but that won’t be as loudly trumpeted as the deal with the studio will be (which we still expect to have closed before month’s end). And at this point, I needed to decide within a day or so if it would be more to my advantage to stay here and finish other work instead of attending Comicon.

Simon & Schuster is already planning on giving out ARC’s to select readers (retailers, reviewers, and other creators, mostly) which CAN be done without me there. And so I’m going to sit it out this year.

There are a LOT of reasons I desperately WANT to be there… but productivity-wise, it’s going to be a less efficient use of my time than finishing other work (such as the DRAGONS sequel, and the second fantasy series I’m discussing with S&S, and the standalone we’re discussing with Atria Books)…

So – I’m thinking of just buckling down to finish the new books (which I may just be delivering to my editor in person), then looking towards the retailer dinners S&S is setting up in CA and the actual film announcement as the preambles to the book launch/signing tour this Fall.

I’m ten days from completing Book Two – which lets us double the announcements to come: the film sale, and the plan that every October, there will be a new sequel published in the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica.

I desperately want to be in San Diego, but this is the best long term plan for what I hope to become the most direct line to my future.

If you’d like to drop me a note, I’ll be here, writing. Which is just as it should be.

The report of James A. Owen’s trip to New Orleans for the ALA, courtesy of our friend and yours, Heidi MacDonald over at THE BEAT:

http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/2006/06/james_owen_at_the_ala.html

It was a remarkable, remarkable experience.

James A. Owen is going to be at the American Library Association Convention in New Orleans beginning tomorrow. Simon & Schuster has put him up at the W Hotel, and he’ll be in the lobby all evening Thursday sketching for any attendees who drop by.

Friday evening, he’ll be doing a reading from HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS at the Simon & Schuster Authors’ Dinner, and has a signing at the S&S booth Saturday from noon to 1.

Writer/Illustrator James A. Owen will be one of the guests attending the 2006 Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The convention will be held June 30 — July 2 at the Charlotte Convention Center.

For more information on the convention and MANY other guests attending this year, please go to: http://www.heroesonline.com/con-update.htm