As many have already said, FantaSci was exactly what a lot of us needed to break out of the Coronapocalypse depression.
Last year’s FantaSci was supposed to be my first convention as a published author. At that point, I had my Storming Area 51 story, my Negotiation story, and my Heart’s Enchantment story published.
The fates, however, decided that I should wait a year and have a “few credits more” to my name.
I will say, it was nice to show up to my first convention as an author with an actual book to brag about, read from, and sign as well as two and a half more written that I could boast about. I also had three more 4HU stories and couple “other” stories to my name. Even better, I showed up as a story contest finalist- a position that landed me on a panel with David Weber, Larry Correia, and D.J. Butler, as well as Chris Kennedy, Rob Howell, Kevin Steverson, Jon Osborne, and the contest finalists who could make it- Melissa Olthoff and J.P. Chandler. Anyway we’ll get to all that.
The absolute best part of the weekend was that I was able to get kid care and convince my gorgeous wife to tag along. It was great having her there, though I’m now somewhat worried as numerous people threatened to keep her for themselves. I was told I’m no longer allowed to show up to any convention without her- which would be fine if I wasn’t afraid of all the people who may be plotting to steal her. I guess I’ll just have to chance it.
Thursday morning, we headed to the airport for the first time in forever, and made our connections all the way to North Carolina.
Update: When I originally wrote this, I missed the fact that Mia Kleve, my editor, and Matt Novotny, a fellow 4HU/Peacemaker author, just happened to be on our same flight out of Denver. Mia was happy to know they had a spare pilot.
Upon landing, a couple good friends had found their way to Ted’s Montana Grill, which I can never resist, so we met them there for some good food. After that, we headed up to the Speaker’s room to catch up with a good long list of people we hadn’t seen in awhile. There were many hellos, many hugs, much catching up, and much Scotch.
Having stayed up way too late, we spent our first convention day sleeping in. Then, we got coffee and breakfast before heading over to the Doubletree (I am embarrassed to say we stayed at the next hotel over because we had a bazillion member points there that had collected during the Coronapocalypse). I brought a stack of my books to Chris Kennedy’s booth who graciously allowed me to steal a corner of his table. I went to Melissa Olthoff’s cherry-poppin’ panel (her first as an author and she’d arrived from the airport minutes earlier), where they discussed Soundwaves- the music one uses while writing and scheming, as well as music for any given occasion. It was an awesome panel led by Ian J. Malone and supported by the legendary (and good-natured) snark of Marisa Wolf. After that, we headed to the first dedicated Four Horsemen panel, led, of course, by Mark Wandrey. This was my first ever 4HU panel as a published 4HU author. I do need to work on better-scripting out my brief self-promotional blurbs in the future, but at least I didn’t pass out or anything. This was followed immediately by the Peacemakers panel led by my #1 writing mentor, Kevin Ikenberry, where I got another chance to promote my recent works. Following that panel, we got caught up in a few hugs and hellos with people we hadn’t seen in a while. In the process, we wound up a few minutes late to Monalisa Foster’s excellent presentation on Point of View in Writing. She truly knows the craft and has a great method for writing the perspective correctly. At that panel, I bumped into Michael Morton, the only other Cannon Publishing author to make it (we’re working together in their Fallen Empire Universe). It was awesome meeting him.
After those first few panels, I headed to the dealers room to sell my very own books for the very first time. I even sold some! We also caught up with some more long lost friends before heading to the… <drum roll> Songs of Valor panel! I can only say it was surreal sitting between David Weber and D.J. Butler, with Larry Correia a couple chairs down. Each of us was given the opportunity to give the elevator pitch on our stories, and then we opened the panel up for questions. I must say, with the breadth of experience Weber can claim, there was great wisdom every time he spoke. I really should’ve been writing that all down. Anyway, then people came up so we could sign books. This was another amazing first for me- signing books. Furthermore, not only was I signing books for the first time, but I was doing so amidst the great authors I’ve already listed. It was at that moment that I realized I need to come up with a much better author signature. Sadly, I could only scratch out something that vaguely represents my initials as I learned to do in my twenty-year Air Force career. This will be remedied at my next convention. In a rush to grab a quick bite, we missed the start of the Dating Game <sad face>. The rest of Friday was spent catching up with people and, specifically, hanging out with the Fosters. Awesome people.
Saturday we got a slightly earlier start and got breakfast before things got going. I began the day at the CKP booth selling my books, at which I did fairly well. At noon I joined in the New Mythology Press panel, led by Rob Howell and starring such greats as Jon Osborne, Scott Huggins (the only ever writer to win both Baen’s Sci-fi and fantasy writing contests), Barbara Evers, and Steven G. Johnson. Then, I hit up Larry Correia’s open ended “Open-minded Author” panel. I’m gonna fanboy a little- it’s always a blast to hear him talk about anything at all. He’s just such a positive, energetic person at these things. I took one more book selling break, then ran off to the CKP Year Ahead panel to support all things CKP and self-promote some more. After a little more hob-nobbing, I did my first ever reading. I’m pretty sure I guilted a few from Jason Cordova’s crowd into staying to listen to me, but I did learn they had all read my book, so I’m calling it a big win. I read my favorite passages from These Things We Do as well as my favorite clip from my upcoming Mess With The Bull. One of the best things about FantaSci for me, as a new author, is that the calm, relaxed atmosphere was a great place for me to knock out the jitters of some of these first experiences. After my reading, a few of us escaped to change for the Big Event.
And then came the Dining Out (Dun, dun, duuunnnn!). I shamelessly re-named our table the Intergalactic Haulers. Chris Kennedy, Kevin Ikenberry, Kevin Steverson, and Marisa Wolf did an excellent job running the event and much fun was had by all. Yvonne Jacobs was a hoot, but then, when isn’t she? My best regards to all the Merc companies and fans who joined us. I think the highlight was the Correias sending themselves to the grog without even being told. The event was followed by some more general courtyard debauchery. At some point, karaoke started up. My wife, karaoke fiend that she is, dominated. When I walked in, she serenaded me with Meredith Brooks’ “B!+c#”. I was so proud. All too late, Melissa decided that us three attending Songs of Valor finalists would join together to sing “Another One Bites the Dust”. Alas, the karaoke was getting shut down right then because we were too rowdy a crowd and FantaSci failed to book out the entire hotel. We turned in somewhat early to ensure we could survive another day.
Sunday was a great deal more chill. Rob Howell held his New Mythology kaffeeklatsch which proved a much better opportunity to get to know the authors he’s gathered. Awesome people one and all. Afterward, I did my best to sell a few more books in the dealers room and we counted down the few remaining hours Melissa had left. Marisa Wolf stole us away for some BBQ. For no apparent reason, the route consisted of a corkscrew spiral pattern of four hundred sixty five consecutive right turns. Driving in the south, amiright? We returned in time for the closing ceremonies, where we learned that J.P. Chandler was the big winner of the Songs of Valor contest (insert shocked face- “A Hill To Die On” was awesome and we all knew he would win). Much congratulations to him. Next, I had to take my remaining books back as Chris Kennedy packed his table away. I sold about as well as I’d expected and am happy with my first attempt. Next time, I hope to have a few more books out.
Shortly thereafter, <tear> Melissa was forced to return to reality a day ahead of the rest of us. She didn’t leave before being recruited to write three more short stories. Also, Melissa, where’s that novel? <eyebrow raise>
The rest of the day was chill, which was perfect. We hung out in the courtyard, plotted great things, and solved all the problems of the world. Unfortunately, no one wrote anything down. No worries, we’ll re-hash it all next year. Rob Hampson directed a group of us to a delicious Thai and sushi dinner. Finally, we returned to the courtyard for more of the same. Yet more people told me they loved my wife and planned to keep her. Chris Smith, the Massas, the Fosters, and us Moopses closed the night out and can honestly say we shut down FantaSci somewhere around 3am. We’re epic, what can I say?
In the end, it was an awesome first convention to attend as an author, even if it was 14 months late. Joel Lyons and company did a great job putting together their second FantaSci, and I can only hope it grows in years to come.
Final update: Cisca owes me. Ask me why in person.
Final plug- if you haven’t already, but Songs of Valor, read it, love it, review it. Link at the top of the page.
