Fan Expo 2010 Report

Let me just come right out of the gates and say Fan Expo was absolutely amazing. We broke all sales records once again and the great con goers were exactly that. Great!


We arrived in Toronto and our first contact was an insane cab driver. This guy was nuts. I actually tried to video tape him in the dark cab... those tapes may never be released.

The good Ensign and I settled into the hotel and discovered that we were very close to everything. The Convention center was 2 blocks away and we had enough bars to keep me happy. The next moring we hit it hard... setting up at such a big con was awesome and I have to say the staff was really great. We checked in and got on the floor in no time, which is pretty unreal when you consider that there were hundreds of vendors ranging from local jewelry makers to Marvel Comics. Here's a shot of part of Friday's crowd.


Saturday was unreal. The entire convention center was packed and getting outside to get food or anything was a 30 minute ordeal at the least. Trust me, I'm not complaining. We had innumerable people come by the table and pick the books up. We also had a bunch of fun raffles of homemade steampunk weaponry, which everyone seemed to love. Lot's of good costumes too:


I was a panelist in the steampunk 101 panel and people waited 2 hours to get in. There were so many people in the room the entire floor was covered with people sitting all around us. It's such a cool sight as this is the second time this has happened in the last few months. Steampunk is getting so huge. It's unreal to see it grow so quickly.

On our return home day (Monday) we decided to have a "Canada Day". We went to Tim Hortons, got coffee and Dutchies then we were off to The Hockey Hall of Fame. Ok, this place is so awesome. Besides that it's big and has tons of nifty things to look at, they have the best interactive games ever. My favorite was where you put on goalie gloves and stop real hurling pucks that shoot out of holes in a screen. We have video of that as well. If you like hockey and are in Toronto, this is a must see.




So what do I say? This was a truly amazing con. Like I said, we broke all records. I'm already signed up for next year and I can't wait.

Dragon Con
I leave for Dragon Con on Thursday evening. Yes that has not afforded me much sleep or recovery time from busting my ass in Canada but Dragon Con is always such a blast. I'll be on the "New Voices in Steampunk" panel at 11:30AM in the Westin Hotel. GUESTS: Clay & Susan Griffith, Nick Valentino, Emilie Bush, Kimberly Richardson

On Saturday I'll hop skip and jump over to Decatur GA for the Decatur Book Festival all day where I'll be joining my fellow Echelon authors at booth 107. Then right back to Dragon Con for Saturday night's insanity. So I'm a busy boy... These events are especially great because I get to see all my friends in one place. Well, ok two places. See you all soon!

Anachrocon in Atlanta GA

Anachrocon is a steampunk event (Con) that I heard about last year. Apparently it was so popular last year that it was extended from 1 day to 3 days. I originally met most of the Atlanta based steampunk crews at The Mechanical Masquerade (which is an every other month 1 night dance, vending, burlesque, all around good time event held in Avalon Estates GA which is right outside of Atlanta.) So I can't tell you how good it was to show up at Anachrocon and see a bunch of familiar faces and uber friendly people. I can't tell you how pleased I am about the friends I made and the awesome relationships I now have with these people. I'm sorry I say that a lot but it's true. I really feel like I have family all over the country now.

On to the con...
Anachrocon was held at the Wellesly Inn in Atlanta, I showed up Thursday evening and settled in. Friday the entire thing started up at 1:30ish and off we went. William and Cindy MacLeod (the chief organizers, con planning gurus and generally amazing people) asked me to to a reading and a full hour on Thomas Riley. I'll just come out and admit that I've never done a reading and I've never had a full hour to talk about the book before. Needless to say, I was nervous. That afternoon, I went to the Spirit of St. Louis Room, sat down and did it. The room was not only pretty full but it was a blast! Through immersion, my nervousness disappeared.

(Photo by Paul Tod Rieger. Thanks Paul!)

That night began the room parties. The one on Friday is the ever popular and often wildest "Pirate Party" Basically people set up large but low cost to consumer bars in their rooms and have private parties. The result: everyone has a darn good time. Here's a quick behind the scenes look into the pirate party on Friday.

Saturday was a big day filled with panels and long vending hours. 9AM-8PM I think. I took off to attend Emilie Bush's reading of her steampunk novel Chenda and The Airship Brofman and I took an hour to attend a reading by Kimberly Richardson of Tales of a Goth Librarian. Both were wonderful panels!!!
Here's Emilie Reading:


Here's Kimberly Reading: (Heyyyy I didn't get a nice fluffy chair.)


Saturday evening was even crazier when it comes to parties. At least three major room parties were going on and everyone was enjoying the festivities that night. Here's some pictures:
The band, The Extraordinary Contraptions:


Burlesque by The Syrens of The South:


Regrettably I didn't get this gentleman's name but he had an amazing costume with moving parts!!


Here's me hanging with Steampunk Boba Fett:


And here's a shot of a Saturday evening room party. People always seem to take picture's of me and it looks like I'm angry. I promise I'm not. This was a great Mad Hatter Party!

(Photo by: Paige Gardner Smith)

You can't bring me down
So I have this thing for Suicidal Tendencies. (Yes, the old thrash band.)Sunday I woke to news that Nashville was having biblical storms. Not thinking much of it, I get a call that my house is flooding. So fresh out of bed, I'm running around like a mad man trying to collect my things and regrettably I was forced to leave early. After the insane drive back home we spent the day shoveling brown water out of the basement and trying to get things in order... what was destroyed etc... So once again thing's conspired against me but that's ok because you really can't bring me down.

To Canada and Beyond!
I have two weeks off. I'm actually quite excited about it. I have some writing to do and a a TON of catch-up with my Sky Pirates and emails for the book. So look for new stuff very soon. Next up is The Victoria Steam Exposition in Victoria British Columbia, Then The World Steam Expo in Dearborn MI then... the massive, the scary, the wonderfully chaotic Printer's Row in Chicago. So be happy fellow readers, you may just get a blog that's not just about my travels.

T0 all my Atlanta and Anachrocon friends: THANK YOU! I had a blast and I can't wait to see you all at Dragon Con and Anachrocon next year!

What? You don;t have your copy of Thomas Riley? Or did you miss me on Sunday? Pick up a copy (on sale at Amazon) HERE.