I’m delighted that I’ve been asked to join McMenamins and the SFWA as the host for the first in a cool new series of talks, helping foster the SFF community in the Portland area. On April 19 at 7:00pm,  I will be hosting great Northwest authors Jay Lake and Kay Kenyon at the McMenamins Kennedy School. Jay Lake is the author, most recently, of Green, and a host of other novels and short stories. Kay Kenyon is currently working on science fiction epic series The Entire and the Rose, the first book of which,Bright of the Sky is free on Kindle!

The way the night will work is what makes me really excited about this event. For those who may not be familiar with the iconic brew pubs, the McMenamin brothers operate a series of pubs, all housed in historic buildings throughout the Northwest. You can check them out here. They host all sorts of cool events from a UFO Festival to the Annual J.R.R. Tolkien Birthday Bash to History Mondays.

McMenamins’ take on the author reading is similarly off-beat and fun. Rather than duplicating the experience of a reading at a bookstore, the McMenamins’ event will be much more focused on meeting and talking with authors. We’ll have one author read (I get to go first), and then break for the attendees and authors to mingle, drink beer, and talk about fantasy. Then the next author will speak, we’ll have a break, and so on.

For more details and to RSVP (not required, but nice), go here — details on the entire SFWA event series are here.  To check out where we’ll be hosting the event, go to the McMenamins page here. For those of you who just want the address:

See you there!

*UPDATE*

This event is not only free — it’s open to all ages. So if you’re under 21 and eager to participate, please join us!