Shorty

January 2010 Hanging with Shorty. He even has a cooler of the Blue Stuff on him!

In 2010 I attended my first con as a vendor. My first steampunk book, Thomas Riley, had just come out and I picked a con that seemed pretty cool that was close to Nashville. It was Shadow Con. Honestly, I was a bit nervous. I had no idea how smaller cons worked or how people would be. I'd been to San Diego Comic Con before and to Dragon Con, but never to a more regional and strictly fan driven one. This time I was on panels and selling my own book and really on my own in the world of Fandom for the first time. That can be scary! I mean, did the steampunks speak in British Accents all the time? Would everyone judge me for my limited knowledge of Klingon or my poor skills at Warcraft? I had no idea.

At Shadowcon, I set my table up and everyone was insanely nice to me. They all were so cool. This includes one Stuart "Shorty" Bergman. He was a huge man with long hair and beard. Instantly intimidating. He was the nicest guy you could have met. He welcomed me to the con, hung out at my table and talked about, well everything and I just met the guy! Later, I ended up at his little room party in the hotel where we had "The Blue Stuff" which he then told me was his version of Romulan Ale. It was like a billion different kinds of liquor with Blue Curaco for color. At the end of this life defining conference, Shorty even sold me my first bottle of Mead, which I was really excited about.

I saw Shorty several more times, at Midsouthcon and again at Shadowcon the following year. We talked Facebook after I moved to Washington and he always made it a point to chat me up when he saw me online. I still regret not being able to go to the Memphis fandom con he helped launch.

I found out yesterday that Shorty's battle with Cancer had ended and I wouldn't get the pleasure of seeing Shorty's gleeful face or cheers him with a nearly poisonous amount of Blue Stuff.

Shorty was so kind to me when I was just starting out and he helped ease me into an entire culture that I was quite nervous about when I started. And through the years, he always stayed in contact. Fandom all over has lost an icon, a bright light, and a hell of a guy.

Rest In Peace, Shorty. I will miss you.

The Literary Underworld

 

The Literary Underworld is a group on authors and just plain awesome people that travel to cons selling books for awesome "underground" authors. Now, I may not be "awesome" but I am honored to be in with this wonderful group of people and this week, they're doing a massive blitz/blog tour. There were a few authors scheduled to be on my blog but life sent me a few waves this week and I fell behind. So to try to make up for my slack, I'm posting my own blog here for them in addition to my other posts.

It doesn't matter what you're interested in, The Literary Underworld has a book for you! I picked up Elizabeth Donald's "The Cold Ones" at MidSouthCon in Memphis TN and I have one word for you... AWESOME! It's a great horror/action story that's a wonderful quick read and leaves you wanting more and more. This is just a tiny sampling of what The Literary Underworld has to offer. Check out their store and fall in love with a new piece of literature today!

Check out their website here: http://www.literaryunderworld.com/

MidSouthCon

Ok, I'm a week behind on my posts so you'll get MidSouthCon right now and I'll post about Virginia in a few days.

MidSouthCon took place in Memphis TN or technically Olive Branch MS, which is right outside of Memphis. We showed up on Friday, set up the table and met the neighbors. Good people. Reconnected with long ago friend Stephen Zimmer, which was a great treat.

You all know I love a good Con and basically I haven't been to a bad one yet. Even the small more family like Cons are wonderful. MidSouthCon was the largest regional one (Besides D*C of course) that I've attended in a while. First off it's packed and I mean packed with panels. There are seriously like 7 panels going every hour in one hotel. That's a lot for a mid sized hotel. The Con Suite was great (Free Beer). May I pause in thanks for this free beer thing that South Eastern Cons have going on. I mean that never happens right?

Saturday I had two panels Steampunk "What puts the punk in steampumk?" It was a great panel with Kimberly Richardson, Sid Reese, and Angelia Sparrow. The moderator didn't show up and the room was pretty full so we just winged it and I have to say that it created a great open forum where everyone, even the crowd was able to speak.

Later, I was on the "To Market To Market... finding one that fits your work panel." This was another great little panel aimed toward the writers part of the convention. It was a thrill being on a panel with Julie Kagawa, Elizabeth Donald and Kathryn Sullivan. Great people with some really good views on writing.

Sunday I was on a panel that I really wasn't suited for called Coloring Inside the Lines which dealt with contract writing for other people's creations. After about 5 minutes I discovered that I really didn't belong there and I think I said one thing the entire hour. Oh this is fun too, I got to sign my first Young Alchemists e-short CD.


Anyway, MidSouthCon is great! Lots to do and a wide variety of subject matter. I have to tell you that a lot of people made the weekend wonderful but I have to mention this mother and daughter that took a Thomas Riley Wanted Poster off the wall so I could sign it... pretty amazing feeling.


Also there was Anna. Anna bought the book on Friday and stayed up all night reading it until she was done. Then to make it even better she wrote a poem about Thomas Riley. It's really quite mind blowing to have some write a poem about your book. It's under her picture. Sorry this is a bit blurry.


Thomas Riley
By: A. M. Paulson
In West Canvia there lives an inventor
Who is more gifted than any other.
His name is Thomas Riley,
And his gifts are in machinery and alchemy.
Deep in his lab he works
Both night and day.
His young assistant,
And his greatest asset,
Is the young and beautiful Miss Cynthia Bassett.
Together they make chemical marvels
And technological wonders
The likes of which have never before been seen.
Can their combined ingenuity
Along with their boundless creativity
Be enough to defeat Lemuria,
Thus win the war for West Canvia?
We will have to wait and see.
Cause there are still two more books in this trilogy.

Next up
This weekend I'll be in Clarksville, IN (Just North of Louisville) for the Almost Famous Book Faire, then on Sunday I'll be at Barnes & Noble in Louisville KY. Come say hi!

As always:
Get signed copies of Thomas Riley Here.
Buy through Amazon Here.
Enlist as a Sky Pirate Here.

www.sirthomasriley.com