Charlotte, NC - ConCarolinas is a nice, small con. The guest list was a little bit light, so I ended up doing a lot of panels (five in a row at one point on Saturday). Not that I minded: that's why I go to these things. To see people, to meet peple, to talk to people; fans and writers alike. Plus, one of my favorite people in the world, Alethea Kontis, was there too and we hung out all weekend, including staying up way to late Saturday night watching the Geek Comedy Tour (very funnny bunch of young comedians who performed from 10:30 until almost midnight), and then staying for the Rocky Horror Picture Show afterwards. It was well after 2 a.m. before we finally called it a night.
Alethea and I also hung out quite a bit with friend James Maxey. James is an immensely talented writer whose second novel, Bitterwood, is coming out from Solaris Books next month. It's a novel full of dragons, but with a great twist (which I decline to ruin for you here; you'll just have to buy the book when it comes out). Unfortunately James had another commitment Saturday evening, so he missed out on the late-night lunacy.
I also had the good fortune to sit on several panels with GOH Barbara Hambly, who is a gracious, knowledgeable writer and I learned a lot by just sitting next to her and listening. I also enjoyed meeting Robert Buettner, who was a Special Guest at the con. I have to confess that I was not familiar with his work before, but he was kind enough to give a copy of his award-winning military SF novel, Orphange. I promise all of you that I won't read it until I'm caught up again on the IGMS submissions, but it will go at the top of my pile for when I'm done.
One particulary fun thing about this con was the wedding they held. It was actually listed on the program as a panel; two people who met at last year's ConCarolina tied the knot at this years con. They were a slightly older couple, dressed up in Renaissance attire, and the whole thing was terribly sweet. Sadly, I was on a panel at the time (about interesting ways to destroy the world - it was the tail end of my marathon session), so I only got to see a little bit of the actual event. But what a fun concept.
There were lots of other folks there (apologies to everyone else whose name I didn't drop), and a good time was had by all.
I had to cancel my trip to Nashville TN for Hypericon (June 15 - 17) for personal reasons, so my next con won't be until TrinocCon in Raleigh, NC (Aug. 3 - 5). I can't speak for the rest of you, but this news makes my wife and children very happy.
Hi Ed! I really enjoyed meeting you this weekend and listening to a couple of the panels you were on. I am also planning on being at TrinocCon so I will have to keep an eye out for you there! Are you going to be on any of the panels there?
ReplyDelete-Abbie Wu
Hi Abbie. The pleasure was mine. I will be on some panels at TrinocCon, but have no idea what they are yet. We rarely get our schedules until right before the actual event.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to seeing you there.
You caused me a lot of trouble at Hypericon last weekend. My job is hard enough without people asking me "Where's Edmund?" every ten minutes. We had people demanding refunds because you weren't there. Half the dealers left on Friday. The hotel was willing to cut our bill in half if the manager could get your autograph. One of the costumers killed themself on stage and her last words were "Bury me next to Edmund". This should explain the large package you'll be getting in the next few days.
ReplyDeleteHope you can make it next year.
Fred from Hypericon