Ticket prices going up on May 1st!

Hi there! Just a reminder for those of you who haven't yet signed up for the 2009 Stoker Weekend that prices go up on May 1. You can still sign up at the reduced rate of only $120 for the entire weekend at www.stokers2009.org

If you're still on the fence about attending, here's a sample of what we've got planned for you:

- A chance to meet some of your favorite authors including Richard Matheson, John Farris, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, F. Paul Wilson, Gary A. Braunbeck, Jeff Strand, and many others.

- Other notable guests you can meet include Mick Garris, David Hartwell, Larry Roberts, Harry O. Morris, Richard Christian Matheson, and Barry Hoffman.

- Panel discussions, readings, signings, kaffeeklatches with dozens of well-known authors.

- Presentation of the Bram Stoker Awards at a wonderful banquet.

- Workshops on Writing, Screenwriting, and Marketing.

- Four sponsored parties, including a couple that promise to be absolutely spectacular.

- For the writers, we have eight amazing people ready to take your pitches: film producers, book editors, and agents. Check out the list on our web site to see who you can sign up for.

- A Dealer Room, where you can buy new or used books and talk directly to several publishers about their products.

And there's still a number of surprises that we haven't announced yet.

So, go! Check out http://www.stokers2009.org and if you like what you see, sign up!

Lisa Morton and John R. Little (Co-Organizers)

Media Guest of Honor and schedule

We're thrilled to announce that we've just added Mick Garris as our Media Guest of Honor. As you probably already know, Mick was the head honcho behind MASTERS OF HORROR and has written/directed/produced/adapted everything from episodes of AMAZING STORIES to the miniseries of Stephen King's THE STAND.

Over at the website, we've also added a complete list of the Stoker nominees and a rough schedule for the weekend:

http://www.stokers2009.com

Coming soon: News about pitch sessions and kaffeeklatsches, where you can sit down with your favorite writers in small groups for an hour.

Good stuff teaser!

It's been a busy week here in Stokerland, and although we're not quite ready to make final announcements yet, here are a few big things that are coming soon:

* A huge publisher-sponsored party with a live all-star band

* A fantastic Artist Guest of Honor (the first Artist GoH we've ever had at a Stoker Weekend)

* Pitch sessions with mass market publishers, small press publishers, literary agents and at least one major film producer (seriously - you're not going to believe we got this guy to take pitches when you see his list of credits!)

* Videotaped interviews and news coverage of the entire weekend

* Event-sharing with the California Crime Writers Conference

Remember, ticket prices go up on March 1st. Right now they're only a C-note, and that includes the awards banquet on Saturday night. Really, you'll kick yourself if you miss this one!

Thursday night signing

Dark Delicacies will host a mass signing on Thursday night before the weekend (June 11th). If you're an author and would like to participate, please drop a line to them at darkdel@darkdel.com . Thanks!

Ticket price increase schedule

Here's the schedule of ticket price increases for the Stoker Weekend:

• On March 1, full tickets will go up to $120, and banquet only/no banquet tickets will go to $75
• On May 1, full tickets (if left) will go to $130, and banquet only/no banquet tickets will go to $80
• All banquet ticket sales will end as of June 1
• Non-banquet tickets may or may not be available at the door

Remember, ticket sales are strictly limited to 250, so get yours now!

Lifetime Achievement Award winners announced

We're absolutely thrilled to announce that this year's winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award are F. Paul Wilson and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Both of these amazing recipients have indicated an interest in attending the Stoker weekend, so mark your calendars! And congrats to Paul and Quinn.

Publish Post

We've just gone live with the website for the weekend, and you can get to it via either of these addresses:

http://www.stokers2009.com
http://www.stokers2009.org

The website is fully functional - we can accept Paypal ticket orders, and all information
on reserving hotel rooms is in place.

We've also established a Yahoo group as another way to stay up-t0-the-minute:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stokers2009/

Remember, we're cutting off ticket sales on this at 250, so don't delay!