WonderCon 2015 Wrap-up

It was good to get back to a convention finally. I didn't get to spend as much time at WonderCon as I would have liked, but still got check out a few panels on Friday and Saturday. Here's a quick recap.

Friday wasn't too crowded. I walked the main exhibit hall with my wife and we met up with spec-fic author Craig Comer to check out a panel on trans-marketing creative projects. The highlight of the day for my wife was catching close-up glimpses of Lou Ferrigno and Margot Kidder. For me, it was just fun to see everyone dressed up and the spectacle of it all.

Drill Sergeant Preacher
doesn't approve of Cthulhu

Saturday I went solo. It was much more crowded and security was amped up, partly, I assume, because of the militant Christian evangelists there. One guy, whom I dubbed Drill Sergeant Preacher, took exception to my Cthulhu fish t-shirt and screamed at me, "I SEE THAT YOU LOVE YOUR FALSE PROPHETS MORE THAN YOU LOVE JESUS!!!" I just smiled and snapped a photo. I'm not sure what exactly he was hoping to accomplish. Do fire and brimstone sermons still work in the 21st Century?

Inside the convention center, I caught the panel on Fantasy Fiction, moderated by Maryelizabeth Hart from Mysterious Galaxy and featuring Arwen Elys Dayton, Todd McCaffrey, Naomi Novik, and Greg Van Eekhout. The conversation got started with the panelists responding to

Find me at Wondercon 2015

WonderCon 2014 was the last convention I attended. :(

Between getting engaged, getting married, moving, and writing Souldrifter all in the last twelve months, I haven't gotten a chance to attend any conventions or conferences in quite a while, so I'm excited to attend this year's WonderCon as a professional attendee. Here's the panels I'm hoping to catch. If you'll be attending too, follow me on Twitter for live updates throughout the weekend and make sure to introduce yourself and say hi..Despite my grizzly-bearded visage, I promise I won't bite!


WonderCon 2015. Anaheim, California. April 3-5.

FRIDAY

12:30-1:30 Comic Arts Conference Session 1: Supeheroes before Superman. Room 210. I didn't even know there were superheroes before Superman and the Golden Age of comics, so this should be

Life and Stuff

So, I've continued my abysmal blogging performance through the Spring of 2014, but it's actually a good thing (or at least that's what I'm telling myself). I've been making a concerted effort to cut back on the time I spend (i.e. waste) on social media, and instead have been focusing on writing and, you know, trying to maintain a personal life. In fact, after almost five years of dating, I finally proposed to my girlfriend, Mandy Burke. We're engaged and looking at getting married soon. Pretty crazy! Six years ago, I was relegated to being single for life, and was perfectly content being so. I was happy enough with myself, with reading, writing, hiking, drinking beer, etc. You can imagine my surprise when I met a woman who actually liked me! Even more shocking was the discovery that life is actually better with a good partner.

WonderCon Notes and Dreamwielder News

It's almost been a month now since Dreamwielder came out, and as you might expect, I've been a busy bee. I capped the month off yesterday w/ a quick visit to WonderCon, which is essentially ComicCon Lite. I did a quick run through of the main exhibit hall where I witnessed everything you might expect—crazy costumes, a boatload of comic books, and these cool R2 droids—and then it was off to the panel discussion I really wanted to see, "A Story is a Story." Patrick Rothfuss was one of the panelists and he was hilarious and insightful. All in all, it was a good time.

I came home to find that Dreamwielder has moved up into the top 300 bestselling ranks for Barnes & Noble Nook books. This is in large part due to the book's selection as a Nook First Look book, which I'm very proud to be included in. The boost in sales rankings means Dreamwielder is now on page 2 of the best sci-fi and fantasy novels under $4. It's pretty amazing to see my book right alongside major hits from John Scalzi, Robert Jordan, George Orwell, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.