Archive for the 'Conventions' Category

It’s time for the Aug 15th Carnival of Genealogy. I was sure I wouldn’t be contributing to this one. The topic is Genealogy conferences and seminars, and I’ve never been to one. If I’m going to blog about something, it should be something with which I’m familiar. So I was content that I was going to sit this one out, and see what others had to say.

Then Janice at CowHampshire, admitting she had never attended a conference, posted her “Genealogy seminars I’d like to see” The list was humorous, I was listed as a host of one of the seminars, and I realized I could come up with a humorous list, too, but now it would be redundant, or worse, copying, unless I came up with my own unique twist.

Then Jasia, at Creative Gene, posted her suggestions for conferences from the perspective of one who had attended…and I realized there were some vague familiarities, and I had my topic.

What to expect when your favorite genealogical conference merges with a local SF convention.

1) Possible panel/seminar topics:
a. Homer Simpson’s Family Tree
b. Genealogy references in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: from Nature’s Nobility to graveyard visits.
c. Did your great grandparents read science fiction? An introduction to First Fandom for Young Adults.
d. Did your ancestors get eaten by Grendel? Where would they be buried if they were?
e. Making whoopee in the 17th century, were there any differences? (midnight panel)
f. Podcasting for the Genea-blogger.
g. Heraldry – What your local branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism has to offer your local genealogy society – and vice versa.
h. The 1891 and 1901 England Census are online? Is HG Wells listed? (Yes - ancestry.co.uk, image)

2) Genealogy Guest of Honor: Alex Haley. (live via time machine) Huge line for autographs, but a smaller subset of attendees will turn their nose up, claim the writer was a hack, and refuse to get in line, even if they’ve read all his books.

3) There will be a masquerade. A chance to dress up like your ancestors – or your future descendents! Prizes will be awarded.

4) Art Show will have new categories for Coats of Arms and family photographs.

5) Free alcohol in the room parties after hours will lead to genealogists logging on to OneWorldTree and adding entries to prove they are descended from Isaac Newton or Beowulf.

Note: I’ve started to post genealogy stuff here, so that those interested in just genealogy don’t have to wade through my other mishmash, and those interested in the mishmash, don’t have to wade through my growing interest in genealogy. But this post definitely belongs in both places.

Are you going to be in Collinsville, IL this weekend at the North American Science Fiction Convention, hosted by Archon? (NASFiC doesn’t occur every year…it only occurs when the WorldCon isn’t in North America, and WorldCon is in Japan this year. Archon won the bid to host NASFiC. Should be huge. Should be fun.)

I am.

If you’re there, and are wondering…hey, where’s TransylvanianDutch? (or if you know me offblog, where’s John?) Here’s a list of where I am likely to be. Of course, my schedule is open to change. I’m not a panelist or anything, this is just a list of the activities from the program guide (on the website linked above) that jumped out at me and said: Hey..I’m interesting.

Thursday

1 pm - Graphic Novels and Comics - why we love them (Depending upon how late I wake up Thursday morning and get my *ss down to Collinsville I could miss this)
2 pm - Open Blog Insert Foot (don’t want to miss this tho)
3 pm - Guide to Small Press Publishing
or Torturing Characters
4 pm - early dinner
5 pm - Barri Bumgarner’s Reading
6 pm - Gary Hanak concert
7 pm - How to write realistic violence
8 pm - More to St. Louis Fandom than Archon (not a panelist, but I know several panelists, and there is a distinct possibility I will be talking a bit during the panel, since I am active in local fandom)

Friday

10 am - Is there room for a god in a science fiction universe
1 pm - Writing YA SF/Fantasy
3 pm - Crossing genres
4 pm - Recording your stuff
5 pm - Bardic Concert
7-9pm - Break from NASFiC - drive West to Hartford Coffee Company for open mic
10 pm - Luke Ski concert

Saturday (you’ll notice this is less full. Will probably visit the dealers room, art show, etc on Saturday because the panels looked less interesting.)

10 am - Publishing short stories
11 am - HP Fan Fiction — or maybe an early lunch
12 - SF/F poetry
1 pm - Tom Smith concert
7 pm - Masquerade

Sunday

11 am - Elizabeth Moon reading
12 - Ethics of Self Promotion
2 - Heroes
3 - Preparing a manuscript for submission
4 - Closing ceremonies

Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night I will be in the Filking Room. Filking. Get your mind out of the gutter you muggles! Filk music is Folk music for narrow values of ‘o’. (Most likely etymology is that it was a typo in an early newsletter that caught on). Most filk music is song parody (popular songs with new lyrics written with SF/Fantasy themes) but there is original filk as well. Filks I’ve written.

I will be at the Maryville Marriott this weekend. (Take the Maryville University exit off 40/64 West, make a right, and it will be on your left.)

ShowMeCon, the junior St. Louis Area Science Fiction Convention, is having their 5th annual convention. (Archon is the senior con, with 30 under its belt.)

Once again my responsibility is the “hospitality room”, though I will need to spend less time there than in past years, so if you make it down there, you might find me elsewhere during the day. But I will be in the hospitality room at night.

Using data from the extensive Fanboy’s Convention List, I have added a listing of upcoming conventions in the state of Missouri and any state that happens to touch us, even if only by a mm on a map.

You can find the link on the left. You can also find this list on the MySpace for the USS Discovery, or our Wiki. (Yes, ‘our.’ I am the ‘commanding officer’ of this local fan-group.)

Not much happens on the first day of a convention whether it is a 3-day or a 4-day convention. But it was still interesting.

The Gateway Center at Collinsville has expanded. No one has said this explicitly, but I suspect they did it at least partially to get Archon to stay there next year when it hosts NASFiC. There had been some talk when the bid was first won that it might be held at a St. Louis hotel Unfounded rumors? I have no idea. But that talk is non-existent anymore and it is clear they are advertising the same location as always.

A major capital project for one convention, one weekend? Well…there’s currently 2500 or so people who attend Archon every year, and NASFiC is predicted to be around 4000. (WorldCons are about 5000-6000) A least, those are the numbers I heard tonight. And you allow a convention to go somewhere else for one year, they might not come back.

So the building is bigger this year. I attended a few panels. One on publishing. Another on filk music. Another on the decrease in members all fan groups are experiencing. Some interesting conversations developed, and I will probably write on a few of these topics when I have more time.

I will be in Collinsville, IL most of the weekend at the Science Fiction convention known as Archon.

I will head down there today for a few hours. Sleep at home tonight, but head back tomorrow for the weekend.

I will return home Sunday for a gathering in celebration of my neice’s 8th birthday. Her favorite books are The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. All were read to her, though she is currently reading voraciously through the Nancy Drew mysteries. So I consider it my job as her geeky uncle to make sure she doesn’t stray from fantasy, because I hope at some point in the future for her birthday parties to be held at Archon. It would be much easier for me. So I have asked some Librarian friends which fantasy books they might recommend for young readers. (For some reason I have so far been unable to ascertain, she has made it clear she doesn’t want to read the Harry Potter books, or have them read to her.)

ShowMeCon IV is over, and boy, was it fun!

Friday morning, I travelled to the Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame with Peter David, his daughter Ariel, and 3 other convention staffers. PAD rode in my car. There’s a small alley in the HoF, and we bowled a game. PAD is what is termed an 800-series bowler, meaning he’s managed to achieve a total of 800 out of 900 in a 3 game series. (This weekend was pretty close to the 1 year anniversary of that achievement.) His daughter has won trophies on the Jr. circuit. Meanwhile, I rarely break 100 in a given game. While my game didn’t improve much, I learned a lot about the history of the game at the museum.

I saw a lot of PAD over the weekend — various panels, and at a dinner banquet Friday night. I purchased from him a script he wrote for the television show Space Cases called The Impossible Dram. The title is naturally a reference to Man of La Mancha. It was one of two such scripts he was offering, the other for the pilot of the show. Both were signed by Jewel Staite, as she was on Space Cases in 1996, playing the role of an engineering genius, 8 years before she got the role of Kaylee for Firefly. I also managed to narrow down the books of his I wanted him to sign to just five.
I also talked with several other less known authors, and the media guest, Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane opposite Kirk Alyn and George Reeves.

ShowMeCon V will be April 20-22, 2007 - at the Maryville Marriott off Hwy 40/64. The author guest of honor will be local author, Barri Bumgarner. The media guest is yet to be named.

I dropped some alcohol off in the hospitality room a few hours ago, helped set up the art-show panels, and then headed home, as I still wasn’t packed for the weekend. I have been to many conventions, and have helped staff four or five, but I suspect this will be one of my more memorable. Hopefully I’m not jinxing it with this post.

I went to my first convention back in 1991. It was a pure Star Trek convention, and Michael Dorn (Worf) was the guest. For several years I was the traditional Trekkie, and I would stand in line for autographs, listen to the guest speeches, buy blooper tapes in the dealer’s room, etc. But I got bored with the autographs. They’re nice to have, but I have no intention of making money on Ebay or anything, so what’s the point, really? Proof that I saw the actors? I know I did. I have some cool autographed wall hangings, but I have enough. Really.

This weekend Peter David is the guest of honor. I have counted 92 comic books, 13 paperbacks, and 3 hardbacks I could have him sign. 108 autographs might be a few too many to ask him to sign. But it is 18*6, and picking is going to be so difficult. And as I said, I don’t really care about the autographs that much. I just want to keep him busy for a couple minutes so I have a chance to talk to him, and you know, I don’t need my books to do that.

Because at some point this weekend I am one of only a few staff members who will be accompanying PAD (he refers to himself by his initials a lot) on a trip around St. Louis. Where and when exactly I’m not going to say. But the trip should take about four hours. If I don’t get the chance to say everything I want to say in those four hours, there’s something wrong with me. Of course, I have to try not to come off as a total geek. And that could be difficult. Especially if I began with, “when we get back to the hotel, would you mind signing 108 books of yours for me?”

update I’ve narrowed it down to 20: 15 cbs, 2 ppbs, 3 hcs.

ShowMeCon4

Author Guest of Honor: Peter David

Media Guest of Honor: Noel Neill (Lois Lane from the 1950s)

The easiest way to find me is to go to the hospitality room, and if I’m not there, wait.  Not that I go to a convention for the free food and drink…but because I am on the staff, and my responsibility is the hospitality room…so while I will have relief on occasion so I can attend a few panels, and get Peter David to sign my stack of books…ultimately I will return.

As I’ve mentioned before, a few years back I got hooked on the 1980s New Universe
from Marvel.  I’ve found the back issues of most of the titles from the short-lived series.
It appears for the 20th anniversary, it’s coming back.  Warren Ellis is doing a series called newuniversal and there are a handful of one-shots out this month with the title Untold Tales of the New Universe.  (A separate issue for DP7, Psi-Force, Starbrand, Nightmask and Justice)  Peter David is listed as the author of the Justice one-shot, so I am happy it is being released prior to ShowMeCon in April.  Another book to add to my stack to get signed.

A few of the reviewsites around the net make the obvious comparison to J.Michael Straczynski’s Supreme Power.  I wonder how many people made the comparison when JMS wrote his series.

  

7:00pm  (wherein I miss another Archon Opening Ceremonies because they schedule a panel I want to attend up against it.)

 

GC - Illini B   (Writing) So, You Wrote A Book - Getting Started In Publishing In The New Millennium: Rebecca Meluch(M), Cindy Appel, Haley Elizabeth Garwood, Caitlin Moriarity, Warren Lapine  

 

8:00pm  (coin toss #1)

 

GC - Illini B   (Media) "Who’s On Again - A Discussion Of The New Doctor: Steve Swope, Mike Evans, Jenny Evans, Robert Levy, Mike Dugan

GC - Mississippian   (Fan) Play - The Kryptonite Caper

 

9:00pm (undecided…maybe get a drink or two in the hospitality room?)

 

GC - Mississippian   (Filk/GoH) "Pink Tennies and All": Eric Coleman

 

11:00pm                 

 

FRIDAY

 

 

GC - Mississippian   Paranormal - The SF Of The Romance Genre - Crossing Genres: Robin Owens(M), Rae Morgan, Elizabeth Donald, Leigh Wyndfield, Haley Elizabeth Garwood

 

1:00pm  (Coin Toss #2.  It looks like guest panelist Ryu Cope will also be tossing a coin)

 

GC - Marquette A   (Writing) Home Grown SF&F - St. Louis Area Writers: Cindy Appel, Marella Sands, Ryu Cope, Lloyd Kropp, Mark Tiedemann

 

HI - Calhoun   "There Once Was A Girl From St. Lou…"; Poetry Really Belongs In SF & Fantasy: Joey Froehlich(M), Elizabeth Barrette, Ryu Cope

 

2:00pm  

 

GC - Mississippian   (GoH) Overlooked And Underappreciated Authors You Should Know But May Not: M.R. Sellars(M), Stephen Hickman, Glen Cook, Jim Bakke

         

3:00pm   

 

GC - Mississippian   On The Wrong Side Of Uncle Sam: Elonka Dunin, Barri Bumgarner

 

4:00pm  

 

GC - Marquette A   The Fantasy Phenomenon - Use Of Telepathy & Other Phenomenon In Fantasy: Robin Owens, M.R. Sellars, Cullen Bunn

    

5:00pm   (Roll a 4 sided die)

               

GC - Illini A   (Writing) Doing Your Homework - Research Techniques For Writers: Susan Squires, Susan Baugh, Richard White, Bill Clemente

GC - Illini B   Fan Fiction - Turning Your Favorite Characters Into Your Own Fantasy: Cindi Gille-Rowley

     

6:00pm  (Coin Toss #2 … I may try to find a way to do both)

               

GC - Mississippian   (Media) The Obligatory Star Trek Panel: Cindy Appel(M), John Novak, Doug Ferguson, Mike Cole, Sam Maronie, Judi Cook

Dinner 

 

7:00pm 

               

GC - Marquette A   Charity Auction (2 hours)

 

9:00pm  

               

GC - Mississippian   (GoH) Sex & Science Fiction - How Far Can You Go?: Rae Morgan(M), Elizabeth Donald, Robin Owens, Jen Schumacher, Elizabeth Barrette

         

10:00pm  

               

GC - Mississippian   (Writing) Aesthetics Of Horror Fiction - How Do We Write Fear?: H.R. Knight, Thomas M.K. Stratmann, M.R. Sellars, Mike Oliveri, Barri Bumgarner, James C. Bassett

 

11:00 pm (find my friends, which will be easy, since they should be roaming around the Holiday Inn Room Parties by now.)  

 

SATURDAY

 

11:00am 

               

GC - Marquette A   (GoH) What’s New At Baen Books (slide show, door prizes; 2 hours): Toni Weisskopf

 

Noon     

               

GC - Illini A   Fiction With An Agenda: Richard White(M), Bill Clemente, Lynn Stranathan, Donna Bakke

          

1:00pm  

 

2.00 pm       

               

GC - LaSalle   (Media/GoH) Q & A: Marc Singer, Joanna Cassidy, Melody Anderson

               

               

GC - Illini B   (GoH) Vampires & Werewolves & Zombies, Oh My!: Tom Seymour(M), Sherri Dean, Susan Squires, Elizabeth Donald, Melissa Tatum  

               

GC - Illini B   (Art) It’s Not Your Grandpa’s Comic Book - Graphic Novels: Mitch Foust, Paul Daly, Jen Schumacher, Caitlin Moriarity

 

9:00pm   (Hey!  Luke Ski’s coming?  This wasn’t advertised!  He must either realllly like St. Louis, or he’s trying to hawk his latest album…)

 

HI - Ballrooms C, D   (Filk) The Great Luke Ski Special Concert (some time during the dance): Luke Ski

 

10 pm

 

SUNDAY

 

11:00am  

 

GC - Illini A    What A Fool Believes - Religion, Politics, & SF: Lloyd Kropp(M), Steven Antczak, Joseph P. Martino, Rebecca Meluch, Tom Meserole, Vic Milan

       

Noon (get out my tired coin)  

              

GC - Illini A   Alternative Publishing - Self Publication, E-books, Etc.: Elizabeth Donald(M), Ruth Souther, Leigh Wyndfield, Warren Lapine

GC - Mississippian   (Media/GoH) Genre TV - All The SF That’s Fit To Show (And Some That’s Not): Susan Baugh(M), Melissa Tatum, Linda Wyatt, Jody Lynn Nye, Sherri Dean, Jim Bakke, Donna Bakke, Judi Cook

              

GC - LaSalle   (Filk) The Great Luke Ski In Concert: Luke Ski

  

Great way to end the day…tho Closing Ceremnies is at 4.  Since I missed opening ceremonies, maybe I’ll attend.       

 

  

7:00pm  (wherein I miss another Archon Opening Ceremonies because they schedule a panel I want to attend up against it.)

 

GC - Illini B   (Writing) So, You Wrote A Book - Getting Started In Publishing In The New Millennium: Rebecca Meluch(M), Cindy Appel, Haley Elizabeth Garwood, Caitlin Moriarity, Warren Lapine  

 

8:00pm  (coin toss #1)

 

GC - Illini B   (Media) "Who’s On Again - A Discussion Of The New Doctor: Steve Swope, Mike Evans, Jenny Evans, Robert Levy, Mike Dugan

GC - Mississippian   (Fan) Play - The Kryptonite Caper

 

9:00pm (undecided…maybe get a drink or two in the hospitality room?)

 

GC - Mississippian   (Filk/GoH) "Pink Tennies and All": Eric Coleman

 

11:00pm                 

 

FRIDAY

 

 

GC - Mississippian   Paranormal - The SF Of The Romance Genre - Crossing Genres: Robin Owens(M), Rae Morgan, Elizabeth Donald, Leigh Wyndfield, Haley Elizabeth Garwood

 

1:00pm  (Coin Toss #2.  It looks like guest panelist Ryu Cope will also be tossing a coin)

 

GC - Marquette A   (Writing) Home Grown SF&F - St. Louis Area Writers: Cindy Appel, Marella Sands, Ryu Cope, Lloyd Kropp, Mark Tiedemann

 

HI - Calhoun   "There Once Was A Girl From St. Lou…"; Poetry Really Belongs In SF & Fantasy: Joey Froehlich(M), Elizabeth Barrette, Ryu Cope

 

2:00pm  

 

GC - Mississippian   (GoH) Overlooked And Underappreciated Authors You Should Know But May Not: M.R. Sellars(M), Stephen Hickman, Glen Cook, Jim Bakke

         

3:00pm   

 

GC - Mississippian   On The Wrong Side Of Uncle Sam: Elonka Dunin, Barri Bumgarner

 

4:00pm  

 

GC - Marquette A   The Fantasy Phenomenon - Use Of Telepathy & Other Phenomenon In Fantasy: Robin Owens, M.R. Sellars, Cullen Bunn

    

5:00pm   (Roll a 4 sided die)

               

GC - Illini A   (Writing) Doing Your Homework - Research Techniques For Writers: Susan Squires, Susan Baugh, Richard White, Bill Clemente

GC - Illini B   Fan Fiction - Turning Your Favorite Characters Into Your Own Fantasy: Cindi Gille-Rowley

     

6:00pm  (Coin Toss #2 … I may try to find a way to do both)

               

GC - Mississippian   (Media) The Obligatory Star Trek Panel: Cindy Appel(M), John Novak, Doug Ferguson, Mike Cole, Sam Maronie, Judi Cook

Dinner 

 

7:00pm 

               

GC - Marquette A   Charity Auction (2 hours)

 

9:00pm  

               

GC - Mississippian   (GoH) Sex & Science Fiction - How Far Can You Go?: Rae Morgan(M), Elizabeth Donald, Robin Owens, Jen Schumacher, Elizabeth Barrette

         

10:00pm  

               

GC - Mississippian   (Writing) Aesthetics Of Horror Fiction - How Do We Write Fear?: H.R. Knight, Thomas M.K. Stratmann, M.R. Sellars, Mike Oliveri, Barri Bumgarner, James C. Bassett

 

11:00 pm (find my friends, which will be easy, since they should be roaming around the Holiday Inn Room Parties by now.)  

 

SATURDAY

 

11:00am 

               

GC - Marquette A   (GoH) What’s New At Baen Books (slide show, door prizes; 2 hours): Toni Weisskopf

 

Noon     

               

GC - Illini A   Fiction With An Agenda: Richard White(M), Bill Clemente, Lynn Stranathan, Donna Bakke

          

1:00pm  

 

2.00 pm       

               

GC - LaSalle   (Media/GoH) Q & A: Marc Singer, Joanna Cassidy, Melody Anderson

               

               

GC - Illini B   (GoH) Vampires & Werewolves & Zombies, Oh My!: Tom Seymour(M), Sherri Dean, Susan Squires, Elizabeth Donald, Melissa Tatum  

               

GC - Illini B   (Art) It’s Not Your Grandpa’s Comic Book - Graphic Novels: Mitch Foust, Paul Daly, Jen Schumacher, Caitlin Moriarity

 

9:00pm   (Hey!  Luke Ski’s coming?  This wasn’t advertised!  He must either realllly like St. Louis, or he’s trying to hawk his latest album…)

 

HI - Ballrooms C, D   (Filk) The Great Luke Ski Special Concert (some time during the dance): Luke Ski

 

10 pm

 

SUNDAY

 

11:00am  

 

GC - Illini A    What A Fool Believes - Religion, Politics, & SF: Lloyd Kropp(M), Steven Antczak, Joseph P. Martino, Rebecca Meluch, Tom Meserole, Vic Milan

       

Noon (get out my tired coin)  

              

GC - Illini A   Alternative Publishing - Self Publication, E-books, Etc.: Elizabeth Donald(M), Ruth Souther, Leigh Wyndfield, Warren Lapine

GC - Mississippian   (Media/GoH) Genre TV - All The SF That’s Fit To Show (And Some That’s Not): Susan Baugh(M), Melissa Tatum, Linda Wyatt, Jody Lynn Nye, Sherri Dean, Jim Bakke, Donna Bakke, Judi Cook

              

GC - LaSalle   (Filk) The Great Luke Ski In Concert: Luke Ski

  

Great way to end the day…tho Closing Ceremnies is at 4.  Since I missed opening ceremonies, maybe I’ll attend.       

 

Archon, for those who don’t know, is an annual science fiction convention here in the St. Louis area. It is actually in Collinsville, IL, which is only about 10 miles East of St. Louis.

For those who like to plan less than a month ahead:

Archon 29: Sept 29-Oct 2, 2005
Guest of Honor: Authors and Editors Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett
Media Guests of Honor: Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts (Beastmaster)

For those who like to plan a year ahead

Archon 30: October 5-8, 2006
Guest of Honor: Author, Elizabeth Moon
Media Guest of Honor: Voice Over Actor, Billy West (Ren & Stimpy, Futurama, and many more)

With more to coome

And for those who really like to plan ahead (and there’s a good reason you might want to)

Archon 31/NASFiC 9: August 2-5, 2007

Why the different month? Archon won its bid to be the host of the 9th NASFiC.
Every year the Science Fiction WorldCon is hosted by a country that isn’t in North America, there is a North American Science Fiction Convention. In 2007 the WorldCon will be in Japan.

Guest of Honor: Writer, Barbara Hambly
Media Guest of Honor: Mira Furlan (Babylon 5, Lost)

And there are rumors of a big name horror author (some might even say a king of horror) who had previously said if we won the bid, he would be interested. But I can’t confirm the rumors, and even if the rumors are true, nothing is likely signed yet.

Why think about it now? Current ticket prices will go up in December of 2005. And if you didn’t buy supporting memberships prior to the voting, your cost is already 25% higher than the door prices of this year’s con.

This isn’t a WorldCon, but it’s the biggest thing next to it.

The ShowMeCon 4 Committee and staff are pleased to make the following announcements.

ShowMeCon 4 will be held the weekend of April 21-23,2006 at the Airport Hilton Hotel in St.Louis, MO. We are pleased to announce that our first Media Guest will be Noel Neill, the original Lois Lane from the Superman serials and the Superman TV series. Our Writer Guest of Honor will be Peter David. Our updated and improved website will be up and running soon; the host building received damage during one of the bouts of severe weather that the area experienced the last couple of weekends.

ShowMeCon 4 will have a 24 hour Anime room, Pool Parties on both Friday and Saturday nights, Super Saturday programming tracks, capped off by the Super Hero dance and Karaoke, starting at 9pm and running till the Super Heroes go home.

We will also have a Friday night Mystery Banquet, Art and Charity Auction and Children’s programming. We will be taking pre-reg’s at the new website as soon as it is ready, or via our P.O. Box (see below). The special Pre-Archon rate will be $20. At Archon (Sept 29 to Oct 2) it will be $25 and after Archon it will be $30 until the first of the year. Our family rates will be the same as ShowMeCon 3 rates. Hope to see you in 2006.

ShowMeCon
PO Box 410115
Creve Coeur, MO 63141-9998

I suspect I will be active on the staff once again this year. Whether or not I will be helping to run the hospitality room as I have for the past two years, I don’t know. I just learned yesterday about our Author Guest of Honor, and I couldn’t be more excited. Peter David has written comic books, Star Trek novels, original SF/Fantasy, novelizations of major motion pictures, and television scripts. If one likes humor, I highly recommend his novels Sir Apropos of Nothing, and Knight Life. (The latter based on the cocept of King Arthur running for Mayor of New York City)

There are certainly people who diss media based novels, such as the Star Trek novels. And certianly, the quality varies drastically from one author to the next. But it is illustrative of Peter David’s ability, I believe, that he is the only author who has been given by Paramount his own ship of characters to write about. He was allowed to staff it with minor characters from the television show (such as Commander Shelby from Star Trek:The Next Generation’s Best of Both Worlds 2-parter). The books go under the title of Star Trek: New Fronteir.

It will also be fun to see Noel Neill. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the Kirk Alyn serials and the George Reeves TV series — of course, she’s gained much wisdom since they were filmed. I know she has a cameo in next year’s Superman Returns.

David Carradine will be in St. Louis at Kunicon March 4-6.

He will be signing autographs. He will take part in martial arts demonstrations and a kickboxing tournament presenting winners with trophies. He will be performing onstage with a flute.

One Day Passes to the convention range from $17-26 depending upon whether you choose Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Full weekend passes are $43 at the door, or $37 if you get yourself pre-registered today. (Today, 2/14, is the pre-reg deadline).

This weekend I attended a science fiction convention. (Yes, I’m one of those.)
There was a panel on writer’s groups, how to form them, where to find them. I am an amateur writer, who has had 1 or 2 successes in publishing, and the idea of the panel interested me. I’ve been in a successful writer’s group for the past 5 years or so.

I showed up, and on the panel was a well-published local author. A few books on the NYTimes bestseller list over the last decade. No names will be mentioned. Also on the panel was another member of this well-published author’s writer’s group, and a third person who rarely if ever got a chance to speak.

The two members of the same writers group talked about how well their writer’s group has worked for them, how it’s not like anything they’ve ever heard anybody else doing, and how the group is closed and they’re not accepting new members. And that’s pretty much all they talked about. When somebody suggested, “How about doing it this way?” their response was “No we couldn’t think of doing it that way, that wouldn’t work for us.”

It never occurred to them, I think, that they weren’t there to discuss only their writer’s group. They were there to discuss writer’s groups in general. It never occurred to them that writer’s groups can work in a variety of formats. (Only one format had ever worked for them…but then again, they’ve only ever had one format…)

I thought about raising my hand and asking the well-published author, if she knew about the mixed reviews her latest novels have been getting. The reader-rankings for her novels on Amazon.com have slowly been dropping. And since it is mostly devoted fans who are likely to be voting for an author of a continuing-series…this is doubly meaningful.

Here was someone pretty much giving a lecture on writer’s groups, and it looks to me like her writer’s group is failing her. My analysis is that she has been with the same writer’s group too long. They’ve become good friends. And they’re not telling her what she needs to know. She needs fresh insight.

I know I am not as well-published as she. But I believe a good writer’s group is made up of a core of writers who’ve you become comfortable with, along with new ones who don’t know you well yet. The latter is very important. The more familiar with your writing someone is, the more lapses they’re likely to forgive.