On the 19th of April, three fantasy authors read excerpts from their novels or stories at the Kennedy School.  That’s in Northeast Portland, Oregon – though not in the Lloyd District.  Of the three, I’d only heard of one author, but I assure you that’s perfectly normal.  I have an unusually bad memory and I don’t usually read fantasy.

One writer I hadn’t heard of is a best-selling author.  Brent Weeks.  I identified with the story he read most because it seems, at least to me, that he writes adventure stories set in a fantastic world.    He mentioned that he writes fantasy because “Swords are cool!”  How can you argue with that?

Another writer I hadn’t heard of was Jay Lake.   He seemed to be more of a word-smith than the other two and I appreciate his ability in the way that I respect Kurt Vonnegut or Douglas Adams.  He wore shorts.  I like shorts.  He wore a loud shirt.  I like loud shirts.

The third author was Kay Kenyon.  I’ve heard of her, though I don’t know exactly why just yet.  Perhaps it is shelf space at the local Barnes & Noble, although she was born the same year I was.  That doesn’t say much for me, does it?  She’s published eight novels.  I think they are considered fantasies, but I’m not certain.  I also think they are considered romances.  She was the most down-to-earth of the group, in my humble opinion.

The three were introduced by Mary Robinette Kowal.  All three of the authors were interesting speakers, but Mary is an author, too (though I don’t know what she writes yet) – and she seemed to stand out.  She is also the one that said members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) often shortcut the organization’s abbreviation into, “Sefwa.”  Then Brent said he always pronounced it, “Sifwa.”  That’s when Mary admitted to the controversy.

I admire all four of the authors and anyone that has been published, whether they are great writers, networked through friends, or stuck it out long enough to write what they want.  By the way, did you know there was something called the Pacific Northwest Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association?

Neither did I.  Because, they don’t.  I was confused.  They have a Pacific Northwest reading program for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Association.

It took five years for Brent to get published and eleven years for Jay.  Kay worked in commercials first, so she was already being paid for writing.  A good question for Kay would have been – “How long before you got paid for writing what you wanted to write?”

Another question I should have asked was, “During the time were you unpublished, was it because no one noticed you or because you needed to improve your skill?”

That would be a good question.

I thought of another good question just a moment ago, but forgot what it was.

Damn.