Book Review: Cold as Hell (Black Badge): The Definitive Edition by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

Cover Image courtesy Aethon Books

Title: Cold as Hell: The Definitive Edition (Black Badge Volumes 1  & 0.5)

Authors: Rhett C. Bruno & Jaime Castle

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Length: 440 Pages (Hardcover)

Publication Date/Year: 2022 (Original) / 2025 (Definitive Edition) 

Genre: Weird Western

One of the things I enjoy most every year at New York Comic Con is the last day of the convention when publishers will often mark down their books significantly. This is a great way to find authors who are new to me, maybe snag a book I've had my eye on for a while. In the case with Cold as Hell by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle, published by Blackstone Publishing I'd never read either author (independently or collectively), but I've been impressed with Blackstone’s output the last couple of years so I figured, it is a beautiful book and the premise seems cool, so why not?

This isn’t just an “ordinary” book, it is the “Definitive Edition.” What does that mean? A pressed board hardcover adorned with an eye-catching foil-embossed lettering on the cover. I felt compelled to take a few pictures, with my meager skills and phone camera, of the book which do not enough justice to just how lovely this physical book is. It certainly caught my attention! In addition, the book includes a prequel novella previously only available as an audiobook as I’ve noted below.

So, what is this book about? Cold as Hell is the first installment of the Black Badge weird western series centered on James Crowley. Crowley is a Black Badge, tasked by the White Throne (Heaven?) to vanquish evil spirits and creatures. When James Crowley was killed (by the thieving gang he was part of), he was supposed to go to Hell. The Throne offered him a deal: return to the world of the living and become a Black Badge and vanquish evil at the behest of the White Throne. Crowley is fully formed (if not quite ALIVE) when we meet him. He’s been hunting evil via his angelic “sponsor(?)”/“liaison(?)”  Shar for a while when we meet him on his latest assignment - investigate a bank robbery in Lonely Hill. 

What makes this particular assignment strange is upon Crowley's arrival, snow is falling annd ice is present in a region where temperatures below freezing just don’t happen.

Shiny foil embossment and little details in the physical book.

It turns out something evil beyond simple thievery has taken root in Lonely Hill. We wouldn’t have this story if that wasn’t the case, but I digress. Upon his arrival in Lonely Hill, Crowley is not exactly trusted, some of the townspeople think he’s a marshal because of how he’s dressed, others simply don’t trust a stranger to their town. He essentially walks into the remnants of a good ol’ Wild West shoot-out and a young deputy is one of the only survivors who he acts as something of a sidekick to Crowley in this story.

As if that weren't enough, an old friend and ally of Crowley finds herself in Lonely Hill. A woman with connections to Crowley’s past… before he was a Black Badge, but isn’t quite sure of his true nature. Crowley also finds himself once again aligned against Ace, the leader of his old gang.

This leaves Crowley with quite a lot to unpack. 

I had a blast with this whole book and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to like it. Granted I wouldn't have purchased the book if I didn't expect to enjoy it, but it far exceeded my expectations. 

The promo material says this is something along the lines of a Dresden Files in the old West or Dresden Files meets the Witcher or Dresden Files meets Tombstone and that all seems pretty appropriate. I’m sure that’s why Chris McGrath is the cover artist and the rendition of James Crowley bears more than a passing resemblance to Harry Dresden. Be that as it may, the similarities are there, but Bruno and Castle do more than enough to set their protagonist, this world (and all the supernatural elements) and tone apart from the only wizard in Chicago’s Yellow Pages. 

(pssst kids… before the internet, there was this thing called a PHONE BOOK with Yellow Pages which is what was used to find local businesses and such)

Painted edges! Look at that fearsome monster from the cover on the edges!

Crowley is the first-person narrator for the novel and he’s engaging, sarcastic, and not exactly the hero you’d expect to represent the biblical God and angels. But as Crowley points out, sometimes the good side needs to employ somebody who is willing to get dirty in the fight against evil. … Or something like that. He’s vulnerable and unhappy in his job. I’m sure a lot of people can identify with that, right? At least he expresses his frustration with his “upline manager” as it were in Shar, which makes for some tense but enjoyable banter.

As I mentioned above, this edition also includes the Dead Acre, a novella originally published exclusively as an audiobook. Set before the events of Cold as Hell, the storyline is somewhat similar in that Crowley is dispatched by the White Throne via his angelic liaison Shar to investigate some strange happenings that might involve werewolves. This was a fun, effective story that showed some of the characters introduced in Cold as Hell a little earlier in their life and their early encounters with Crowley. I liked the spin Bruno and Castle have on werewolves for this story and milieu, among other supernatural creatures and lore of Native Americans.

One of about a half-dozen full-color paintings in this edition, used to separate "Cold as Hell" from "Dark Acre".

After reading one novel (and novella), I’m definitely fascinated enough to continue with the series. I find it intriguing that no definitive time or location is given for this setting other than the a rather generic “Old West.” Some inferences can be made, for example, the Gatling Gun (a feature in the story) was invented in 1861 so the timeline can’t really go much further back than that. On the other hand, the back cover copy for the book uses the word “purgatory” so maybe this is indeed a world separate from our own where souls whose final destination is in question can have their final fate determined? I like the ambiguity Bruno and Castle give the story at this stage, which make for breadcrumbs I want to follow in future volumes. Especially that large breadcrumb of stinger at the end of Cold as Hell. 

Counting this book, I've read about a baker's dozen worth of books/novels that can be considered Weird Western. It is a setting / sub genre that has a lot to offer and with Black Badge Bruno and Castle have used that as a cool starting point. There's a really fun blend of horror, fantasy, suspense, mystery/crime thriller, and western in this story. That's a lot to throw in the proverbial story blender, but it works!

Let’s put it this way, Bruno and Castle have created something extremely fun highlighted by an engaging character with a great  balance of the familiar and their own unique spin. I felt comfortable with some of the recognizable elements of the story/world, but I also kept thinking, damn, this is a little different and really cool. 

I'm going to wind down this review/appreciation post because I need to place an order for Vein Pursuits, the second installment.

Recommended!

Review and photos © 2026 Rob H. Bedford

Watch this Space!

Yes, this blog is still alive!

However, I seem to have gone on something of a hiatus at the o' Stuff again. Work life has been extremely busy since the summer. Most people who read me here know I review over at SFFWorld and it has been quite busy over there, too.  October is always busy with New York Comic Con (Interviews with Jim Butcher, Delilah Dawson, and Christina Henry plus a Horror Panel recap) as well our annual Countdown to Halloween focusing on horror. Five book reviews in October for me! 101 Horror Books to Read Before You're Murdered by Sadie Hartmann,  The September House by Carissa Orlando, The Handyman Method by Nick Cutter and Andrew F. Sullivan, Starling House by Alix E. Harrow, and Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward. 

Acquisitions from NY Comic Con 2023

Anyway, I'll be posting a new review here this week (there's a hint in the picture above). I'll be posting a reading year in review, too.

October 2022 Reading Round Up

October, shockingly, was all about horror. Well, the books I read, at least. The first weekend in October was New York Comic Con and it was the fist time since 2019 I was able to attend. They limited the press passes in 2021 and it wasn’t held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. One of the books I’ve already read, but you can click over to these three posts at SFFWorld to read my recaps of my time during the convention:

• New York Comic Con 2022 Panel Recap: Authors on the Best Advice They Ever Got 
• New York Comic Con 2022 Panel Recap: Spooks, Shivers, and Shrieks: Horror 
• New York Comic Con 2022: Wrap Up!

As I said above, every book I read in the month of October either had some horror flavors or was flat out horror. Three of those books were review books part of the annual “Countdown to Hallowe’en” series we do at SFFWorld

Little Eve by Catriona Ward 

Little Eve touches many topics in its slim, but potent length. There’s the concept of “grooming,” psychological manipulation, cults, animal cruelty, and of course child abuse (both mental and physical). Although this is a fictional tale set nearly a century prior to today, the games Uncle plays with his family are frighteningly real and are very much cultish in nature.

Leech by Hiron Ennes 

Hines manages to generate a wonderful atmosphere in the novel, there are hints of things familiar in the genre, but mixed up in a way that feels quite refreshing. With a creepy mine, there’s some definite horror vibes of the dark dwellers flavor of the genre and even something of an old west feel…In addition to The Thing, I also felt a sense of resonance with some of Jeff VanderMeer’s weird horror fiction and in the way the Institute “helps” humanity, I couldn’t help thinking of Octavia Butler’s Dawn and Lilith’s Brood/Xenogenesis books. Like I said, some familiar echoes that when fully projected are a story of its own.

Lute by Jennifer Marie Thorn 

What I found as unnerving as the black cloud over “The Day” was the affect it had on Nina’s relationship with her husband Lord Hugh. He initially seems quite stable, but as Nina begins to stray from the home as the “Day” draws ever closer, he seems to unravel. As it turns out, Nina is a quick learner and the true impact and import of “The Day” begins to settle into her mind, she understand what it means to be a resident of Lute and somehow begins to find herself more resolute.

A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson

Compulsive…that’s the word that comes to mind when I think of this novel. Gibson has lovely prose and the tale is told with both auras of relaxed prose as well as elements of urgency, but through it all, the narrative of Constanta’s confessional is powerfully compulsive, which is why I read this book in only a couple of days. Her tale is gripping and you want to see her overcome her abuser.

Of the non-SFFWorld review books, let’s start with Ronald Malfi’s Black Mouth, which is the first novel I’ve read by the author. I’ve been seeing good things about his work for the past couple of years (Come with Me in particular), but this one’s description grabbed me for its very superficial similarity to books like King’s IT and Dan Simmons’s Summer of Night - friends reunite in their hometown to take down a monster they thought was gone. Those similarities, as I noted, are just superficial. Malfi’s tale is a little more confined, in that there are fewer characters and much more despair surrounds the characters; protagonist Jamie Warren is an alcoholic struggling with his addiction; his mother is a junkie who killed herself, thus brining Jamie back to Sutton’s Quay, VA. His disabled brother was found wandering. Dennis’s other friends Mia and Clay have their own demons, but they were very close friends when they were kids, but haven’t seen each other in years, since an eerie man known only as the Magician touched their lives. Malfi excels with his characters and building a sense of creepiness, between the Magician and the haunted region of Black Mouth itself.

He tells the tale in intertwining chapters that focus on the present and past when Jamie and his crew initially encounter the Magician. Malfi has a very deliberate pace and that pace works perfectly in Black Mouth to build up empathy for all the characters, the horrific nature of the Magician, the unsettling nature of Black Mouth itself, and how the tension builds towards the conclusion.

Black Mouth is one of my favorite novels of the year and I’m looking forward to reading more from Malfi in the future.

One of the books I picked up at New York Comic Con was Clay McLeod Chapman’s Ghost Eaters, which he then signed. I’ve read two of his books so far (The Remaking and Whisper Down the Lane) and enjoyed both and shared both with my wife to read. This one focuses on a drug called Ghost that allows the people who consume it to see dead people, or ghosts. Thinking about seeing dead loved ones might bring a swell of positive emotion to your heart…Clay goes the opposite direction. 

I won’t spoil what that means, but damn. The story focus on Erin and her toxic ex-boyfriend Silas. She keeps trying to get away from him and his addictions, but she finds it difficult. He eventually turns up dead of an overdose. Erin can’t hold on, she always feared he may wind up dead, but it actually happened and she has difficulty dealing with it. Then she learns about the aforementioned drug called Ghost. There’s an escalating creep factor that sets it apart. Chapman’s characters seem genuine and are empathetic and not since Jeff VanderMeer have mushrooms been so very creepy. 

The other non-SFFWorld review book I read was Nick Cutter’s Little Heaven, which I was looking forward to reading after The Troop earlier in the year because I enjoyed it so much. I can’t say I felt the same way about Little Heaven. The book started off fine, I was into it. But it just turned into a slog as it felt everything was happening at a glacial pace.

The audiobook I read (and have yet to finish) took up all of October, but it was a re-read, Chuck Wendig’s Wanderers, which I reviewed back in 2019 for SFFWorld when it published. The book was released before the COVID-19 Pandemic, but damn if Wendig’s story wasn’t prescient for what we’ve experienced the last few years. Seems more horrific in hindsight than it did at the time. Here’s some of what I said back in 2019: 

In short, between the potent politics, graphic nature, and embracing of the tropes, Wending doesn’t shy away from ANYTHING in Wanderers. As a writer, Chuck is far from a shy person, as people who follow him online and in fiction already know. I’ve read a few of Chuck Wendig’s novels and I see some pieces of those works, here, except maybe a little more refined an in your face. Wanderers is a magnum opus for him, it seems like a work of fiction he’s been working towards, and is a powerful achievement ...  Wendig has shown himself at the very least an equal storyteller/writer of the Epic Apocalypse with Wanderers. For me, it is an instant classic, an immediate Modern Masterpiece of the genre, and will probably be my favorite 2019 novel, and a book I will hold very high in my pantheon for years to come.

I’ll close out with my bookstack from New York Comic-Con 2022.

Friday Round-Up NYCC 2015, Jim Butcher & Kameron Hurley @SFFWorld, Mind Meld @SFSignal

Big Friday-Round up this week, although nothing else new from me this past week. However, but last week was quite busy indeed. Last weekend (10/9-10/11), I attended New York Comic Con with a Press Pass. I was granted this Press Pass for the third year in a row (2013, 2014) largely because of my writings for SF Signal and SFFWorld. So, it was only fitting that I posted conference reports to both of those fine sites.

My report for Friday, October 9 was posted to SF Signal on Monday (10/12)

My report for Saturday, October 10 was posted to SFFWorld on Thursday (10/15)

In between those two Con reports, on Tuesday, at SFFWorld a “conversational review” of Jim Butcher’s The Aeronaut’s Windlass was posted. The Marks Yon and Chitty and I all loved the book so this back and forth was quite fun.

Mark Y: As you’ve said already, Rob, Rowl is a wonderfully realised character, and I think my favourite – I can see a lot of fans for him. I must admit that I also noticed what Rob has said here, that the characterisation is dominated by females, not that that’s a bad thing. I liked it! But bearing in mind Jim’s previous female leads (Karrin Murphy, Molly Carpenter, for example) how do Gwendolyn, Bridget and even Folly stand up for you by comparison here?

Rob B: Have I mentioned that I like Bridget? Gwen was a great character, too. Very headstrong and I really empathized reading the scenes written with her as the POV. I don’t think she was as frustrating to the extent that her co-characters did, I got a sense that some thought she was a bit of a nuisance but again I didn’t see her that way at all. She was just a very headstrong, youthful character who acts before thinking. Folly is a lot of fun, too, even if she was more of a secondary character. I see big things down the road for her in terms of moving up to be more of a primary player. (Or maybe if the series is popular enough, a story from her POV would be fun).

Mark C: Gwen is definitely fierce and headstrong, and her view of the world is somewhat annoying at times, though her cousin Benedict certainly balances her out. Folly is also great fun, a character that could grow massively as the story progresses. I also liked Bridget (perhaps not as much as Rob… ), and her development through the novel is perhaps the best of the bunch – it’s great to see her take such a prominent role. I’d perhaps go as far to say that it is the male characters that fall behind here, or certainly don’t have the same level of development that the female characters have.

On Wednesday, my October Mind Meld posted to SF Signal wherein I asked Michael J. Martinez, one of my SFFWorld pals Victoria Rogers, Tim Pratt, Rhiannon Frater, Nick Sharps, Priscilla Spencer, Larry Ketchersid, Shana Dubois, Kristi Charish, and Helen Lowe:

Q: Who Has Your Back when Monsters Attack

We all know the monsters are coming, whether they are zombies, vampires, orcs, dragons, or aliens, they are coming – it is known. So who would you want by your side when they arrive?

We also posted an interview at SFFWorld with Kameron Hurley wherein she answered questions from Dag, Luke, and me.

New York Comic Con 2014 - Day Two - Saturday

Day two of New York Comic Con in 2014 for me was Saturday and I admit to being slightly apprehensive about Saturday at the Javits Center. Last year, I attended only on Friday but the year before (2012) Leslie and I went on Saturday and the convention was mobbed and over-crowded. I suspect, at least partially, it felt that way because I knew I was attending only one day and felt it imperative to get to EVERYTHING in that condensed window. This year; however, I followed my wife’s advice as we took a leisurely stroll up and down the aisles of the entire convention floor. When we first arrived, we attended the panel for FX’s The League on the main Stage on the bottom floor. Neither of us watches the show; but two of the stars – Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas – run a podcast we both like called How Did this Get Made? in which the panelists picks apart crappy or craptacular films. After a forthcoming episode was screened at the panel 1) we realized the show probably isn’t for us and 2) the panel was worth sitting through to hear Mantzoukas riff on the audience.

From there we went up and looked through the DC Entertainment booth which was highlighting Batman’s 75th Anniversary. There was also some gameplay footage of a new game - Infinite Crisis which looks like it could be fun. After the bat-visit, we proceeded to take our time walking up and down the aisles of the main floor. The first booth we hit was Obscura, the booth representing the store/show from the Science Channel show Oddities (a show my wife enjoys and one of the few reality programs I can tolerate). We chatted with proprietor Evan for a bit and Leslie purchased the book, The Morbid Anatomy Anthology they were selling which featured an essay from Evan. Leslie and I chatted with a few of the independent authors along our journey, purchased a couple of books and generally just absorbed everything.

I drifted through Publisher’s row again and made small talk with Ardi from Tor (and snagged a copy of Max Gladstone’s Three Parts Dead) as well as the folks at the Penguin, Hachette/Orbit and Random House booths. My wife was purchasing the puzzle of a novel S (the novel conceived by J.J. Abrams and written by Doug Dorst) and tugged on my shoulder at the Hachette booth. As it turns out, while she was making her purchase (and getting a couple of free ARCs with the purchase), a gentleman was looking at Leviathan Wakes and was likely asking about it. She said to him, that he should talk to me about out and I basically made him buy it. I guess my description of how great the book is worked on him.

Then we arrived at the BOOM! booth, saw a small gathering and realized Brian and Wendy Froud were signing things, particularly some commemorative editions of The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The Storyteller. The Frouds, as in the creative forces behind some of the most iconic fantasy imagery of the past 30 or so years, including a film very near and dear to both our hearts: The Dark Crystal. Even better, while Leslie was getting her book signed by the Frouds, a woman next to us began chatting, in a very familiar manner, with the Frouds. We came to realize she was Cheryl Henson, one of Jim Henson’s daughters. I loved The Muppets growing up and most of the Henson productions, but my wife’s love for the Henson creative empire is far more expansive than mine. She couldn’t stop thanking Cheryl Henson for all the wonderful things her family’s company has created and done for people. Leslie may have even offered to work for any Henson company in any capacity, even if it mean just retrieving cloth from the warehouse to make Muppets. That might have been one of my favorite moments of NYCC, having Leslie meet somebody who meant so much to her as a child

Up and down the aisles we traversed, spotting art and assorted geekery ephemera. When we arrived at Neal Adams’s booth, I was tempted to purchase either a book for him to sign or a Batman print for him to sign, but I’ve still got some other geekish art pieces yet unhung in my house. Up and down, up and down…hit the Baen Books booth and snagged a copy of Larry Correia’s Hard Magic. I really enjoy his Monster Hunter books and wanted to give this other series a shot. Larry was going to be there later on, so I stopped by to have him sign Hard Magic and he was kind enough to give me a hardcover of Monster Hunter Nemesis before signing it. I know Larry’s got a rather…vocal online presence, but the few minutes he and I chatted he could not have been nicer. I was also hoping to get a copy of Charles Gannon’s Fire with Fire signed, but I missed his signing time. Jim Minz, who was running the booth, was kind enough to hand me a copy of the second book in that series, Trial by Fire.

The two Correias and Mike Underwood's book are signed by the authors

Immediately thereafter was the signing for Mike Underwood’s Shield and Crocus at the 47North booth, which was just around the corner from Baen. I was online and having a conversation with a couple of people about Mike’s books when I realized, well rather, we both realized, we knew each other via twitter. I was chatting with none other than Sally of the excellent Qwillery blog. After hearing her schedule and what she was planning for her NYCC trip for the blog, I am even more impressed with her blog. We had Mike sign our books and then Sally and I started chatting with my wife when we spotted the mighty Shecky on line for Mike’s signature. I’d known Shecky for a while and met him in person at a recent Tor.com event (where I also chatted with Mike Underwood), but this was the first time I met Sally. The four of us then spoke for a bit until we realized the hour and how much at that point in the day, we all just wanted to go home.

Both times (Friday and Saturday) I strolled over to the Topatco booth Cecil Baldwin, the voice of Night Vale Radio was finishing up a signing. This just got me to thinking, it would have made sense for their booth to be very near the Obscura booth.

Anyway, that was Day 2 of New York Comic Con 2014 for me.

New York Comic Con 2014 - Day One - Friday

New York Comic-Con 2014 is marks the third time I’ve attended the convention, and the second year in a row I’ve attended with press pass. This year, 2014, is also the first year wherein I’ve attended three days. The owners of the comic shoppe where I get my stash have been friends with my wife’s family for quite a while; Leslie’s mother worked with the owner’s father. So Leslie helped staff their double booth on Sunday and as such, she was given an exhibitor pass so she went with me on Saturday, worked the booth on Sunday, and she let her brother use the exhibitor pass so he could go with me on Friday.

So wow, this event seems to grow each year but I was surprised Friday, in terms of the crowds and the fact that there was cool air blowing through. So, he (Mike) and I walked the hall a little bit in the morning when we arrived before the Geek Geek Revolution panel I wanted to attend. Mike is much more into video games than I am, so he checked out their booths and some other things while I headed down to the back of the Javits Center for the GGR panel. Waiting on line for it, I saw Jennie Ivins and the man known on twitter as SheckyX, so we chatted as we entered the panel and they both introduced me to Garrett from Ranting Dragon. Big thanks to Jennie for securing a few seats for us in one of the first couple of rows.

The Geek Geek Revolution panel was essentially a geek trivia challenge and featured John Scalzi, Peter V. Brett, Amber Benson, Maureen Johnson, Lou Anders, and M.D. Payne. The panel was moderated by Patrick Rothfuss. Amber and Maureen set Scalzi in their sights, but when Amber didn’t raise her hand before Scalzi on the Buffy questions, the winner was pretty much set from there. Should Rothfuss ever decided to foolishly give up his writing career, he'd be a great game show host. Damn can that man project his voice.

Afterwards, I got a few books signed, including The Daylight War by Peter and my ARC of Name of the Wind by Patrick.

After that, I headed up to the publisher’s area and chatted with some of the fine folks who help to make the books I read and love. I stopped by HarperCollins’s booth and was chatting with their new editor, David Pomerico about a few books coming out from them in the nearish future (Dave was particularly excited about his first signing for HC and it does sound quite good). We got to talking about cover art, how Richard Anderson does great work and seems to be in very high demand when Kameron Hurley’s agent dropped in the booth. Kameron’s agent also handles Brian Staveley; both Brian and Kameron’s books have cover art by Anderson and I had to tell Kameron’s agent how fucking awesome The Mirror Empire was.

After that, I headed to the Penguin booth where I was able to snag a copy of Daniel José Older’s Half Resurrection Blues. I chatted with the great Colleen Lindsay for a bit and told her she needs to write a book about Mugsy. Iwas also able to snag a copy of Anton Strout’s Alchemystic and Tom Sniegowski’s A Kiss Before Apocalyps to have them signed by the authors. (I've been wanting to read Alchemystic for a while since I've become a big fan of the Disney cartoon Gargoyles.) The Tor and Hachette booths were near them too, so I caught up with Ardi (Tor’s awesome publicist) and Ellen (Orbit’s sorceress publicist).

All in all, a lot of walking during Friday, but a day well spent.

New Template, Version 6

About eight months ago, I changed the template on my blog so naturally, I'm changing it again today.  While the previous template looked pretty nice, I realized after reading quite a few books on my kindle, I like reading white/light grey text on a black background. Also, I don't like the way my sidebar was hidden in the previous dynamic view of the blog. 

This current design is very close to what it was prior to the change over in March. Yeah, I know, I'm a little obsessed with the Red and Black color combination, but the colors  happen to be from my alma mater and my favorite NHL team, the (currently terrible) New Jersey Devils.

So, here it is, the 6th iteration of my blog.  I'll also show off one of the signatures I received at NY Comic Con last month, Elizabeth Bear's signature on Range of Ghosts.

New York Comic-Con 2013

So...New York Comic-Con...this year was the second year I attended and this time, I was able to get in with a Press Pass thanks to the writing I do for SFFWorld and now Tor.com and SF Signal. Also, thanks to Myke Cole for suggesting I try to get a Press Pass.

Last year, I attended on Saturday with my wife but this year, I flew solo on Friday thinking (and hearing from other folks) that Friday is typically not as crowded as Saturday.  Not so much, if anything, Friday this year was as packed as Saturday was last year.

As I was getting closer to the Javits Center (which, every time I go there, amazes me with how big it is), I chatted with a Dalek.  Rather, we exchanged shouts of "Exterminate!" at each other.

R to L Mike Sullivan, Scott Lynch, Elizabeth Bear,
Brian Staveley, and Drew Karpyshyn

The first thing I did was head over to the The Wheel of Time Turns and Epic Fantasy Remains Epic! panel in the basement at the back back back of the convention.I've read three of the five authors (Sullivan, Lynch, & Bear) on the panel and may try the other two in the near future. Brian Staveley in particular impressed me with how comfortable he came across.  It was a fun panel and the authors seemed to get along nicely. Of course, it helps when two of them are partners, Bear and Lynch. The panel was moderated by Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy books and she did a fine job.

At the conclusion of the panel, I had a chance to chat a bit with Irene Gallo whom everybody reading this likely knows is the art director for Tor (as such, she's responsible for the gorgeous design on Brian's debut novel The Emperor's Blades) and one of my bosses at Tor.com. We chatted a bit about Breaking Bad (happened to be wearing my Breaking Bad/Game of Thrones mash-up T-Shirt) and I had to make sure I told Irene how great the post she did at Tor.com featuring the printing process of A Memory of Light was.

I swaggered over to the autographing to get my books signed by Michael (Theft of Swords), Scott (The Lies of Locke Lamora 1st US HC), and Elizabeth (Range of Ghosts).  I bumped into Mike Underwood (author of Geekomancy and Angry Robots Marketing) on line and chatted with him a bit and realized I need to read his books. From there, I entered the chaos that is the main floor of the Javits Center during New York Comic-Con.

To be honest, I was wandering around like a cross between a zombie and a kid at the annual carnival trying to get to everything I wanted to see. Friends of the family own a comic shop (JC Comics) so I wanted to make sure to visit them. Their double booth in the comic retailer area was swamped with customers rifling through the back-issue bins and buying comics. 

Strolling through the aisles, I stopped over at the Orbit Books booth, chatted with them a bit and had to admit that I was one of the few who didn't like a certain book they published and is getting rave reviews but that I was immensely enjoying Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach (aka Rachel Aaron).

At the Penguin Booth (ACE, ROC, DAW, RazorBill and other YA imprints) SFF Marketing guru and all-around awesome person Colleen Lindsay was running a tight ship, but a fun ship as she was keeping folks in line for book signings with a bull-horn.  I grabbed a few freebies from them, including a book I've been curious about - Fated by Benedict Jacka as well as The Nethergrim by Matthew Tobin (a YA fantasy publishing in April 2014) and Vitro from Jessica Khoury (a near future YA SF publishing in January 2014). 

I stopped by the 47North booth and was offered copies of The Wretched of Muirwood by Jeff Wheeler and Seven Kinds of Hell by Dana Cameron.

Wandering the aisles I arrived at the booth for Abrams Books, who publishes lovely retrospective and coffee-table type books. I had to buy Jeff Vandermeer's Wonderbook, which is signed so I had no problems slapping down some cash for what is an amazingly gorgeous book. The DelRey/Spectra booth was very nice, and was packed for both the Jason M. Hough signing and the Scott Lynch signing. 

I wasn't walking out of the Javits Center without at least a few comics.  I needed volume five of Joe Hill/Gabriel Rodriguez's Locke & Key so I picked that up.  What I found surprising is that some of the comic publishers exhibiting weren't offering discounts on their books and merchandise (especially when the booth across from it, Midtown Comics, was offering a blanket 20% everything). Typically at these things, a discount of at least 10-20% is an across the board thing. Image was knocking off prices on some of their larger graphic novels and I was able to get a deal for 3 trades at the BOOM! booth, but Dark Horse wasn't offering anything. I would have picked up a couple of things if they were.  Based on a recommendation from Jeff Patterson on the SF Signal podcast (or maybe it was his new Three Hoarsmen with Fred Kiesche and John Stevens), I picked up The Hypernaturals by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning.  I'd been wanting to pick up/read Irredeemable by Mark Waid and Peter Krause for a while, so I picked up those two (and The Hypernaturals) at the BOOM! booth.  Lots of dealers were offering 50% of trade paperbacks and/or trades for a flat $10, so I picked up (after years of knowing I should be reading it) the first Hellblazer collection.

I made some more acquaintances at the Tor booth after informing them I wrote for Tor.com, in particular Marco Palmieri (I think) who was sporting an Orphan Black t-shirt so we both gushed about the show since I write about it.  Brian Staveley had a signing at 5PM (or was it 6PM?) and I was initially planning on sticking around for it, but between the crowds, my growing sense of claustrophobia, being on my feet all day, and wanting to make sure I got on a train to NJ that got me home in a timely fashion, I left at about 4:30. Regardless, hearing Brian on the panel (coupled with my SFFWorld colleague Nila's review of the book) convinced me to read The Emperor's Blades when it publishes.

I was really hoping RED BUBBLE would have a booth again this year, but sadly, they did not make it to the show so I didn't walk out with any new T-shirts for myself. However, I did pick up a "Coulson Lives" shirt for my wife who liked Coulson in the past Marvel movies, but has a full on crush thanks to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

As I was losing steam, I made one last pass through the aisle where the Del Rey booth was located and ran into of Myke Cole who gave me a Challenge Coin (probably the best thing I snagged at the con).  In tow was Peter V. Brett and his girlfriend Laura who was wearing a cool dress that looked to be comprised of panels from Marvel Comics.

The con seemed to run smoothly from my perspective, even if it was extremely crowded. As I get older, I'm liking crowds less and less. The only real gripe I have is with some of the folks who dress up. Rather, I have no problem with the cosplayers, on the whole because it is cool to see how inventive and accurate some of the people's costumes can be.  The issue is when somebody decides to dress up like a 10 foot tall robot and an entire crowded aisle needs to make a path for him. Or the people who hold up the foot traffic taking pictures of folks in a Deadpool costume having a sword fight with Link from Legend of Zelda.