It is hard to say how large the crowd will be at the Pen.  They can get a lot of people in there if needed.  They should be doing a webcast of the event. I need to double check on that and will post the link.  I'm assuming he will likely be there fairly late, so have not scheduled him for anything first thing at the convention on Friday.

Yes, Mysterious Galaxy will be the bookseller at the convention and should have plenty of copies.  Jim is also doing the signing at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale on Thursday night and they should have some available afterwards.  I would suggest that if you are planning to go to Phoenix Comicon, it would be best to purchase your tickets in advance.

For programming, it looks like Jim's main solo talk will be early afternoon on Saturday.  He'll be doing other panels throughout the weekend but that will be the one where it will be all about Jim's work.

Lee Whiteside
Books and Authors Manager, Phoenix Comicon

SCOTT LYNCH EEEEEEEEE

Calm down....  Bear will be there as well, so restrain yourself.

BTW, We've got almost the entire list of authors announced.  Now the trick is figuring out who goes on what panel.  We definitely won't put 10 urban fantasy authors all on the same panel like San Diego.

A few notes on Phoenix Comicon for those who aren't local and might be interested in attending.

The convention is growing (much as a lot of Comic Cons), but we've been doing a steady increase over several years so have not had the growing pains some cons have had.  Last year's attendance was 55,000.  This year is expected to be more.  We've expanded the exhibitor space from last year and have additional program space. 

We will have close to 70 published authors on hand with three publishers exhibiting (Tor Books, Del Rey Books and Angry Robot).  The front page at http://www.phoenixcomicon.com currently has around 40 of the authors listed with 20+ more to come.

For the Books and Authors programming, I have four rooms dedicated to SF/F literature oriented programming (including a number of panels about writing), one dedicated to educational topics (for which educators can get learning credits), plus will also have panels in our larger event rooms.  We're also doing an evening Drinks with Authors event on Saturday night.

On the exhibit floor, we'll have an Author's Alley area with many of the participating authors having table space, signing table for those authors not doing a table as well as a larger area for the authors who will definitely draw a crowd.  Our bookseller is Mysterious Galaxy Books and we've expanded their space this year to accommodate all the books they will be carrying.

Jim will definitely be doing a solo talk and will be doing panels with other authors during the weekend. We're still in the process of putting together panel ideas.

For those interested in gaming, we have a large gaming area with many RPG and card games available. There's also plenty of comics guests, anime, horror, costuming, youth, actor guests, and various other things going on.

The hotels closest to the convention center are filling up, with the Sheraton being the one with the most rooms available.  Yes, it will be warm in Phoenix in early June, but the convention center and the hotels have very strong air conditioners.  The light rail also goes right by the convention center, so if you are staying elsewhere and you can get to it, you don't have to worry about parking.

Any questions you may have about the convention, please post them in this thread.

Lee Whiteside
Books and Authors Manager, Phoenix Comicon

We've been given the go ahead to announce that Jim will be appearing at Phoenix Comicon, June 5-8, 2014. 

http://www.phoenixcomicon.com

You can join in the squee on our facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/phoenixcomicon

Lee Whiteside
Books and Authors Manager, Phoenix Comicon

There was a very good crowd at Poisoned Pen, more than they planned for.  They ended up running out to some other stores to buy books from them so they'd have enough.  (They do arrange for signings at B&N occasionally so they do have a corporate account there).  I tried to warn them that last year's crowd wasn't as big as it could have been since Jim did an appearance at the AZ Book Festival the day before.  This time it was the only appearance in town so there was a full house.

He was very funny and relaxed during the Q&A.  Nothing revealed that I can remember that hasn't already been mentioned on reports from the other Q&A's.  I did take a few pictures.  I'll hopefully get them posted on my blog in the new few days (http://sftvblog.blogspot.com)

Lee

Looking forward to seeing Jim in the Phoenix area again.  The Poisoned Pen has remodeled since last time and should be able to accomodate a bigger crowd, so don't be shy about coming out to the signing.  Last year, there was also a signing at the book festival, so the crowd was split up some.

Note that there are two other authors scheduled for 1 pm before Jim.  I'm not sure how they will be handling the two sessions, though.

Lee Whiteside

I would love to see the series in HD.

They have been showing the series on Sky HD in the UK concurrent with the show's airing on Sky One.  That would indicate they have an HD version of the show availalable.

Lee Whiteside
SFTV.org