In recovery.
It was actually a very nice convention, but the ‘bookish’ venues were overcrowded, standing room only and the ‘gamish’ venues were cavernous places only 1/3 to 1/2 filled. This left us ‘bookish’ types so cramped for space there was hardly any opportunity for signing books at a panel, or holding any ‘after’ discussion, as your alternative was a highly trafficked-at-high-speed hallway…kind of strange. We didn’t sell a single e-book, didn’t have anywhere to set up even an informal station, there was no bar until 9PM, and the coffee shop was barriered on all sides and not real friendly attitude toward people wanting to sit down. The convention atmosphere, however, was very nice—lot of fans whose name I didn’t get to know. Jane and I alternated panels: I got a full load, huge number of panels, and she got none, so as informal as this con was, we just each took the ones that most interested us.
So all in all, we had a very good time—room was comfy, though the card-lock could use cleaning: we had to use the keycard up to 10-12 swipes to get it to take, we had to take the problem to the desk once, and to a nearby chambermaid on the last run to get our luggage and the cats. BUT the hotel staff was wonderful: they had spare toothpaste, they had spare bandaids—this was good. It’s a great hotel, but getting populous. Tanya Huff and Jim Glass were GOHs—we like them both. And Mike and Patty Briggs were there—a real plus! I got poisoned at one breakfast buffet—they had onion in the eggs and in the potatoes; so I ate the sausage, and it had so much msg I stiffened up like a 90 year old and had trouble even sitting down and standing up, not to mention constant pain. The food at this hotel is possibly the worst hotel food in the United States and Canada. The convention, however, runs a pizza and hot dog concession that will prevent your being poisoned. And bringing your own bottle is a must: the bar is sort of nice, but some years they throw out all the convention folk in favor of rowdy locals. Just take it that RadCon is a good con hampered by incredibly bad hotel food, but it can be worked around.
We visited Patty and Mike afterward, Jane got to ride—I was still limping from my blisters and the MSG, and my iffy hip is still in rehab at the Y, so I’m not able to yet—but it was still good. I recommend the com—but bring your own edibles or plan to eat pizza and hot dogs!
I seem to remember you came came down to Texas a while back for a con, right? I’ve never attended a book specific con before (anime con is another matter) and was wondering if there were ones around here worth attending.
Oh boy. It appears I have a new user picture. I’m not sure when I did that, but I assure you it is still me. Only at a different angle.
I would heartily recommend FenCon, next year, in the Dallas area. We were there this last year and it was really one of the best conventions I’ve been to in years. It had a very ‘fan’ feel, ie, it felt like the good old ones. Another one close to you—Soonercon in Oklahoma City. Jane and I will be at the next one, and, Oklahoma City being our old home, I know the people putting it on. Cons generally to avoid are those that are put on by ‘organizers’ who are putting on a media-connected show: they’re more interested in separating you from your money, a lot of flash, huge guest list, no chance at all to sit and talk. I think Soonercon is going to be at the Sheraton OKC, and they’ll have a website. If you know the name of the con and add dot org, you can usually go straight to them on the web.
Do you know if you will be at FenCon this year? If so, I will order my ticket asap.
Alas, not this year for FenCon. Too close to Soonercon, (OKC) which we will of course be at, in official function. We’ll be at MisCon (Missoula)…and at Spocon (Spokane). I’ve begun to resolve I’m going to tune up the dreaded 12-string, admit my eyesight is not going to let me read music or words at cons, and just prepare a small memorized repertoire. Lifelong, I haven’t been able to memorize music, but hey, when life says ya gotta, you do.
OKC might be doable. I’ve driven through that state many a time and it is beautiful to my midwestern eyes at least. Any chance to visit the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum is a must too. June might be too quick for me to swing though. I am starting a new job in a week and they have some funny thoughts on vacation time. Dallas would probably be more realistic, but I don’t know anyone there.
While you’re in the state the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History at Norman is pretty cool.
Hey, tulrose, I have a cousin and his family in Norman. Howdy!
I’m up I-44 in Tulsa.
Oh, absolutely: world-class dino exhibit and other bits and bobs. I went to school with the Stovall Museum across the little side street, and used to study beside the mammoth and next to the dimetrodon…They’re old friends. Now they’re all in fancy new guise in a great museum. Oklahoma being on the dino trackway, there are some really good ones…
Parts of a con, for those of you who’ve never been to one:
1. panel rooms—where a group of the pro guests sit at a long table in front of an audience of (ideally) about 25, talk in turn on a given topic, and then open it to the floor for questions.
2. the art show—where artists, professional and not, hang work that’s for sale (bid) (or not): an auction happens on the last day.
3. the dealer’s room—wares on tables are definitely for sale, everything from mediaeval armor bits to books to coloring books, pattern books, cloaks, gaming supplies, etc.
4. the consuite—usually there’s some sort of munchie, often asking a contribution of change to the pot, drinks (usually soft), and places to sit and talk.
5. filk room — musicians with guitars take over a panel room and play and sing sf-based songs from late hours on.
6. video room— where you can view tapes of old shows and movies. I have never understood why anyone would come to a con and spend their time watching old episodes of Space 1999
7. gaming — where you can get into a game and not exit to eat or sleep for 3 days. See comment on 6. 😉
8. your room — many cons have deals with the hotel that let you defray costs by sharing the premises for the price of a double. I’ve known situations where even the tub was a bed, but most hotels like to limit it to 4.
9. your meals — try the consuite, to economize. Hotel bars often serve the same food aas the candlelight restaurant, cheaper and faster. And its not unknown to trek out after food, afoot. Program books often list nearby fare.
10. costumes: there is, usually Saturday night, a Masquerade, in which costumes and skits are judged by pros and costumers; often followed by a dance, for those who do. Those who don’t may be amused by bouncing large balloons or other distractions of the moment…AND there are hall costumes, which range from person in jeans and a teeshirt carrying a walking stick, being Gandalf for the day, to really elaborate space marines or guys in armor: these are sometimes judged, too, by secret judges. Some cons are real big on costume; a few that are more scholarly definitely discourage them. If you see costuming on the program, figure that hall costumes are a go.
11. GOH speeches: used to take place at the Convention Banquet, but hotels have gotten so slipshod, so unreasonable, and the food so bad that the banquet often gets replaced by some other function…but if there is one, this is where they’ll be.
HOW TO BREAK INTO CON-GOING if you don’t know anybody: one of the best-ever ways is to find the gopher room (go-fer, as in Go for Things) and volunteer. This will sometimes get you a free membership; it teaches you who’s who, when you have to find them; you’ll have a badge that makes you officially someone whose questions you answer; and you’ll end up knowing where everything is: the map of the hotel in the program book will guide you. And you’ll know the gopher-chief and many other gophers, some of whom will be local club members. It’s a great intro, and by the time it’s over, you’ll have war stories with the rest of them.
The video room made much more sense back in the 90s before DVDs and before reliable video access to series. My earliest con experiences was with anime cons and their video room included fansubs and stuff not released so it was a nice break from the rat race of a 10k sized con. Even later on before internet streaming was possible it was nice to preview a dvd before purchase because those suckers used to be $29 for 2-4 episodes of an anime. These days though I’m not sure what the angle is. Most things you can buy or find online. Even in scifi fandom most old shows you can get on dvd or through other means and new stuff is sold everywhere of course. Maybe they haven’t found a replacement for a vegging out option like that. Fan made music videos seem to be the obvious successor. You can find them online of course, but there is something fun about having them all in one place in a contest like setting.
I’ve only been to one Con. I was the dancer, and the spousal unit and children got in for free! Since I had, at the time, four under the age of ten, I thought that was great!
I usually prefer cons under 1500 people…and even smaller; at cons, I expect to find a nice place to sit and talk to people—fan or pro: people. Definitely sf pros prefer to be in contact with the attendees…not waltzed up to a suite to be surrounded exclusively by the concom with no contact that isn’t a ‘paid event’, or, worse, isolated into a hotel room solo. Writers aren’t movie stars (and in my experience, the best of THEM would far rather attend a room party and have a good time) — just hanging out, talking sf and such… The only offlimits time writers generally want is during meals with somebody (who could be their agent or publisher: it’s bad to be at the point of a deal and have somebody come up with a stack books to sign!) — but at all other times, there’s no off-limits. I hope people will come up, introduce themselves, and we can go off some comfy venue like the bar and sit and talk at a table that can steadily acquire more chairs, more people. That’s the most fun.
Sweetbo, there is ApolloCon in Houston. I haven’t been in a couple of years, but it has grown some each year and, I thought, improved.
There is or was AggieCon in College Station, held on the Texas A&M campus, run by their science fiction club. It was nicer than I’d thought when I went as a student.
I’m not sure what’s in Austin, but I’m sure you’ll find something. I know for sure there are the very active Austin Browncoats.
Dallas, go with FenCon as CJ said. I haven’t been there. (I’ve only been to cons about, hmm, four or five times, maybe six.)
I’d bet there’s something in San Antonio and in Lubbock. El Paso, I don’t know. — Check Google for your nearest big city or college town. Heck, look for wherever you are. 🙂
I’ve enjoyed most cons. (I have not been to the huge two, DragonCon and ComicCon.)
The fans are nearly all ordinary folks, and you have something in common, sometimes a lot in common. You can meet authors and artists, sometimes space scientists. The panels are generally good. The dealer and art rooms are fun. There are plenty of people not in costume. There are some great costumes, too. You’ll find any age there. Adults, seniors, college, teens, kids. You’ll see a few parents with their kids and teens. You’ll see some teens and kids hanging out together or with someone older. Most are older teens up through middle-aged adults. There are plenty of newbies, wide-eyed, taking it all in. The excitement on a new or younger fan’s face is great to see. Usually, people are well behaved. Come on, these are people who love books, movies, gaming, anime and manga and comics, roleplaying. There’s a high geek factor. 🙂 It’s like meeting people who visit this blog. 🙂 — It is likely not too different from an anime con. 🙂
I’m quiet but friendly in person, kinda shy, but I learned in college and the work world to put myself out there. Sometimes, I get a little hyper from it all, but that’s fine. Yes, being around a bunch of people can be something to handle. But con goers, fans, are pretty much like you and me and the others who visit here. 🙂 Go with a friend if you can, but go on your own if you have to. You have a love of science fiction and fantasy in all their forms in common.
It is very cool to meet authors and artists, to sit in on their discussion panels. Likewise when you get to hear actual space scientists, NASA or university people or elsewhere. These folks all love the genre too. You can meet actors at some cons, voice and live action.
Also, don’t worry about being starstruck. When I’ve met authors or others, they are almost always regular folks and friendly. They are fans too, as well as creative people and business people. And…many authors are kinda shy about their work or themselves. Now, yes, you will also find people where being outspoken is not their problem. Heheh. But that’s again like with anybody. — You’ve seen CJ’s, Jane’s, and Lynn’s blogs. ‘Nuff said.
I don’t know if I’ll get to attend ApolloCon this year, but I’d really like to. I might be surprised and be able to do it.
SoonerCon is probably out of the question for this year, unless things really take an upswing I don’t know about. But maybe next year for SoonerCon. (I have cousins in Oklahoma: OKC, Duncan, and Norman.)
Dallas also has AllCon, which embraces all pop culture, AKon and AnimeFest for anime, manga and Japanese culture (including JRock bands) and various gaming, sci-fi and comic cons. We even had a WhoFest one year.
I don’t know if DFW has a large amount of geeks or not, but we do love our geeky hobbies!
I am a big panel fan – I love going and learning something new. I love asking questions the guests like to answer, questions that have actual intelligence behind them.
Now I am a panelist (anime and academia; Asian ball-jointed dolls) myself – who would have thunk it?
I have to admit – I was very shy around CJ when I wanted her to sign my beat-up paperback of “Pride of Chanur” at FenCon last year, and this was after we had spent the previous day together, even eating two meals with her and Jane. As a fan before a friend, I have always been one of those people who don’t want to intrude on a guest of honour/celebrity’s space when they’re not doing their con ‘job’. *shuffles feet while in an ‘aw shucks’ pose*
Never worry about asking me or Jane to sign something. I really don’t mind at all—but bring a pen! I never can hang onto one, so I just don’t try.
Austin has Ikki-con, Ushi-con and others. Here is a list of TX, AR, LA, OK, and NM cons:
http://www.cam-info.net/concalendar.html
Austin specific cons are what I should probably look into first. It seems like there are a good population of, uh, nerds here between Dell and Apple and all the programming gigs so I have high expectations. I always had good experiences at cons. I’m not terribly shy but I am stalker aware so I’m more likely to keep things low key on both sides of it. I’m usually the tragically normal looking one at a con that people passing through feel is safe enough to approach and ask what’s going on. Like when ACen shared a hotel with an eye doctor convension. Little did they know I’m geeky on the inside. LOL
In Dallas I’ve been to Anime/Manga Cons (AKon, AllCon, YuleCon) and I’ve been to Writers’ Cons (FenCon and ConDFW, and a loooong time ago Cluefest – RIP) – I’ll take the writers’ cons every time. I’m going to SoonerCon for the first time this year, as well as the new Steampunk-centric Con, Octopodicon (I’ll be helping with some BJD programming)!
http://www.soonercon.com/
http://www.fencon.org/
http://www.condfw.org/
http://octopodicon.org/
Thanks for the tour CJ. Never been to a con, and other than a chance to meet you and or one or two others I’m not likely to go to one. Do you ever do con’s in Denver?
A friend of mine met you at a con probably 20 years ago and said you were super friendly, a regular-type person.
Lol—I hope I am! I haven’t been to Denver in a long time. Maybe it’ll turn up on the itinerary.
And I’ll second the request for you to consider adding a con in Denver to your itinerary.
I always have fun at cons. Meeting other fans and acting like a giddy fanboy around my favorite authors. I just looked it up…CJ can you believe I first met you 25 years ago in Denver?!
Good Lord…
We’ve been thinking about having a very mini-con, here, just appointing a date, a hotel, and figuring out a few things to do, and hoping a few of the faithful can make it in—just show up on the given weekend, pick a hotel in walking distance of a lot of stuff, and eateries. Dunno if we’ll do it this year, but if we start thinking about it…maybe next.
We’d love to do that. Probably better for us next year. 2013 so far has not been good money-wise.
I was a fangirl once and went to a con at heathrow. met up with all these people I knew in a chatroom/message board. it must have been about 2003, I think. I was much older than any of them. it was all about Farscape, which had a very Australian sense of humour … it was very good fun. I remember I was reading Cyteen for the first time while I was there! and I made a velvet dress for the fancy dress but couldn’t actually bring myself to stand up and compete, I was dressed as Aeryn Sun in mourning with a long black wig, and I behaved quite badly while in costume! those were the days … yes, giddy fangirl! exactly! a couple of days to shed normality. the hotel was quite expensive, but the alternative was a mcdonalds – eeek – disgusting … 😀
One of the best cons ever was in Glasgow…the consuite/greenroom had a huge, endlessly renewing tray of venison stew, the con drank the hotel bar dry Saturday night, there were good panels, there was a ceilidh (sort of like square dancing, but Celtic) that just danced the varnish off the floor, and all the fans and the pros mixed round the venison tray and got on famously—if you sat down at one of the round tables, there was always good company.
I’ll be lucky if I make ApolloCon this year, but I will keep those TX and OK cons in mind for next year. Hoping my situation will start to improve later this year, so I can maybe try a con (or any other activity) outside my home city. — BTW, my memory for names with faces sometimes takes a while to firm up, especially when there are a lot of people and names to take in. — It’d be cool to say hi to folks at a con. 🙂
@sweetbo — Apple has an Austin location? How did I not know this?
Oops. Today it dawned on me: I had finished reading Invader and started Inheritor. This explains why I didn’t find the pb in my To Read Stack. I’d put it up, boxed it, with other Foreigner titles, previously read and to be read. I am not happy with myself, the state of my memory, to forget this. It was when I remembered plot details this morning that I clued in. But apparently, the second half of the book leaked out of my memory some time after reading it. Geez, reading comprehension and retention snafu, there. I’d thought I was doing better than that. I’m hoping it’s just a bump in the road.
So, tonight, I’ll pick up where I left off. It’s in ~Inheritor~, not ~Invader~, wherein Bren is at the facility looking over the construction of the atevi spaceframe.
Not only that it’s fairly recently I finished it, but that it’s a favorite author and a new series for me… I am more than a little frazzled not to remember better.
At least I should be better now, memory-wise. But yikes.
Je l’ai manqué, j’ai oublié, c’est ma faute, quel honneur! Excusez-moi, il faut montre plus mieux guérir et courtoisie. Eh bien….
Oh oh oh a ShejiCon? You know I’m good for helping spiff up the place…the gods of airlines willing.
BCS, Apple is building a new campus in NW Austin, a couple of miles from my house. One seems to recall reports of approximately 3600 new jobs when it gets up and running. The neighborhood is going to get interesting.
Fencon 2013 GOH is Larry Niven. I plan on going again this year.
One is also very glad to hear that a mini-con is still being thought about. There are still things downtown Witchyg wants to investigate, and it’s just so beautiful there.
That’s good to hear, thanks, Kroyd.