Hey all!
Just got back from FenCon X, the world’s foremost furry convention. Depressingly, most of the yiffing seems to have been replaced by the equally ghastly-named filking, as well as science fiction and fantasy discussion. Sad, but I managed to have fun anyway.
Quick shout-out to some of the people who made the weekend great:
– Barbara Wright (@zendragandt), author of the fantastic Pyramid Waltz series, my chauffeur and traveling companion. Her worldbuilding tips captivated the Red Oak Room while her constant references to stabbing frightened a significant portion of it. Go forth and check out her work!
– Erin Kennemeyer (@emkennemer), my second caravan comrade and obsessive-to-the-point-of-annoyance filk fanatic. She also served as Barbara’s unofficial publicist, and managed to get a request for one of her own unpublished stories apropos nothing other than being her normal awesome self.
– Jim Reader, hometown friend and longtime convention attendee who threw a bangin’ room party Friday night and brought all the boys (and girls) to the bar on Saturday. Had us cracking up as usual, and surprisingly, I didn’t find his caramel-tasting Jack Daniels Honey to be too unappealing, which is high praise for a teetotaler like me.
– Rosemary Clement-Moore (@rclementmoore), an unbelievably charming author and apparent purveyor of dinosaur porn who hit it out of the park in her panels with her wit and improv skills. You better believe I grabbed a book from her, straight out of the trunk all classy-like. You can buy her stuff from Amazon, which is possibly more convenient but not near as awesome.
– Michele Bardsley (@michelebardsley), hilarious and prolific author of the Broken Heart and Nevermore series…es (serii? Aggregate nouns are awful). Barbara, Erin and I showed up a half-hour early for a panel about death to find Michele preparing, and far from being dour, we proceeded to laugh ourselves to death talking about ball-jointed dolls and convention grudges. And that was before Amber Benson and Rhonda Eudaly joined the conversation … you know, actual panelists, instead of we three comedy saboteurs. It was both the least educational and most enjoyable panel of the entire weekend.
– MaryJanice Davidson, who prevented me from getting a book deal by throwing Patrick Nielsen Hayden over a balcony just as he was about to make an offer.
Of course, I had many fleeting interactions with other authors and fans, including the little brother himself, Mr. Cory Doctorow. I’ll have a more in-depth writeup coming soon (likely in two parts), but I wanted to throw out a quick mini-recap before I crash and wake up tomorrow confused why I’m surrounded by my own things (video game hardware from the 1990s and collectible porcelain otters, natch) instead of by a half-eaten midnight poboy and a room service menu.
Funny! Comedy writing panel… I'm just sayin'.
DUDE. Yes. RCM is jut so casually, excruciatingly rad. And I think she's like that, like, ALL OF THE TIME. No, I don't know how it works either. But read Texas Gothic with a quickness – it punches all the YA stereotypes square in the eye!
Also, you are obviously a person of class, taste, and sophistication, so I might have to check out these other people too.
(And damn, buddy, will you turn off this CAPTCHA thing? It's seriously the most annoying conversational condom ever.)
Tex, the funniest thing about your captcha complaint is that a spam comment appeared right below yours. So it wasn't even working.
I've removed the verification now, so INFORMATION CAN BE FREE just as God and Doctorow would want.