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.

Shadowcon 2011

Shadowcon (Memphis, TN) was the first con I ever sold Thomas Riley. Everyone was absolutely amazing a year ago. It was a small con but wonderfully perfect in every way. This year, they asked me to be the Writer Guest of Honor, so of course I most happily said yes.


This year was just as perfect as last year. Seriously, everyone there is absolutely amazing. Shadowcon is a family-ish con home of the SCA (Shadow Legion) and I have to say that I really feel like part of the family there. We had a blast as usual with all the Memphis crew and this year I was one of the judges in the costume contest. Yeah, I was pretty stoked about that. (Congrats to Steampunk Batman for the overall win by the way!)

A really fun bit that I didn't expect is we did a live radio read of the stage version of Arsenic and Old Lace where I was chosen by King Kane to read the part of Mortimer Brewster (Yes Cary Grant's part in the movie!) I was petrified at first but had a blast once it started up. Kudo's to the Shadowcon organizers for putting that on. Super fun!

Ooo! And here's a print magazine called Imagyro that I have an interview in! Look closely for a rare image of Ensign Sparklebunny.


And here I am coloring before breakfast at Cracker Barrel (You can;t deny the color pages...)


I really hope to go back next year! Thank you so much Shadowcon!!!

Next Up:I'll be writing for a bit so no travel until Anachrocon in Atlanta at the end of February. Yes, I'm kind of excited about it too.

The Great Explosion of 2010

2010... What do I say? It's been the most amazing, devastating, wonderful, stressful, blissful and exhausting year of my life. Hands down. Nothing can compare to the events of this year of the Tiger. Off I go, jumping the boards, going to sea, rocketing into the upper atmosphere... Whatever you want to call it, I'm on board and the ship has a one way ticket only.

You want to know what's even more insane? 2011 & 2012 are poised to be full of absolute whirlwinds of life changing events. So stay tuned for mass chaos. I promise you will be entertained.


To wrap the year up I have a special blog planned for next week or so and with any luck, you'll have a montage (It's a montage!!!) video of 2010 in mid to late January. Think H-Street skate movies meets behind the scenes rock video. I have over 100 videos from events this year so you'll get a glimpse of my year (Well, the busy work parts anyway.)soon.

The last event of 2010 was a signing at Hastings in Murfreesboro, TN. As always, I've been met with nothing but awesomeness from every Hastings staff I've met. I love those stores! I get the next 3 weeks off... wow, that seems like such a long time. And I'll be the Guest of Honor at ShadowCon in Memphis TN on Jan 5th, 6th and 7th... You'll see lots of new and fun things at that one. It'll be so good to see my Memphis friends again and to debut some new things.

So stay tuned... The Year end blog is coming next. So if you haven't gotten your fill of holiday scandal... well, it's coming.

ShadowCon and More!

Shadowcon
I had no idea what to expect when going to Memphis for Shadowcon. There isn't much of a web presence and there aren't a lot of pictures online. So off I went and finally arrived at the hotel which was an odd strangely sprawling Holiday Inn. Immediately after hauling my stuff to the con area I was greeted with nothing but kindness by the staff. Ok the guy at the regi desk game me a little crap but everyone was amazing. Right off the bat, the organizer greeted me and opened the vendor room so I could load the books and whatnot.


Shadowcon is a laid back wonderful little con (complete with panels)that in a way is liek a family con. Everyone is welcome and everyone is treated like family. Really, what more could you ask for? There were little gaming rooms, good vendors, but most of all the people were wonderful. Yeah, I just can't get away from how nice everyone was. Here's little Sophie complete with Thomas Riley sticker on the stroller.



The majority of Shadowcon attendees are part of the SCA and more prescisely, the Gleann Abhann Kingdom. While this may sound odd and different to many of you, I can't say how welcome these people made me feel. Did I mention that the SCA people make their own mead? Well, they do and from what I tasted, it is unreal how good this stuff is. Not only that, but I managed to grab my own bottle of Liam's Mead... I'm yet to open it as I don't want it to be gone.



I was asked to do the "steampunk- genre" panel with Darlene Bolesny and Debra Parmley which I thought went very well. So thank you Shadowcon I had a blast. And while leaving, I saw this. I have no idea what it means other than it has to do with the SCA but found it interesting none the less.



This weekend
Saturday the 16th is insane for me. Ok, First off I'm signing at "The Bookstore" in Huntsville AL at Noon - 2PM. (2246 Winchester Rd NE Huntsville, AL 35811 (256) 858-2170) From there I'm busting it to Atlanta for the Mechanical Masquerade to vend and sign. I'm really excited about both these events but man, I'll be driving all over the South in a few days.



Patches!
I told you the Thomas Riley, "The Blood Countess" patches were coming in and... da da dada! They've arrived. If you're a Sky Pirate already, you'll be getting an email soon. If not... what's wrong with you? ENLIST HERE!
Anyway, you'll be able to buy these at any event I attend as well as online... or if you are already a Sky Pirate, then you'll be given special opportunity's to not only get free patches, but also bumps in rank!

On Tour!

I'm so impressed with everyone. I can't thank everyone that bought a copy of Thomas Riley enough. The response has been overwhelming and I appreciate every one of you as well as the people that have signed up as Sky Pirates.

Here are my first quarter tour dates. Keep in mind that there will be more added, but as it stands the next 3 months are filled. Now if you have enlisted as a Sky Pirate and if you attend any one of these events and are wearing your Flight Credentials, you will automatically get something special which I will talk about later. So come out, say hello and remember to sport your flight credentials!

January 8-10 ShadowCon- Memphis TN

January 16 The Bookstore- Huntsville AL 12:00-2:00PM

January 16 The Mechanical Masquerade- Atlanta GA 8:00PM-Midnight

January 22-24 Chattacon- Chattanooga TN

January 30 Davis Kidd- Nashville TN 2:00-6:00PM

February 6 Books A Million- Madison TN 12:00-3:00PM

February 12-15 The Southern California Writers Conference- San Diego CA

February 20 The Little Professor Book Center- Birmingham AL 12:00-2:00PM

February 26-28 The South Carolina Book Fest- Columbia SC

March 5-7 Stellar Con- Highpoint NC

March 12-14 MidSouthCon- Memphis TN

March 17-21 Virginia Festival of The Book- Charlottesville VA

March 27 Borders- Brentwood TN 12:00 - 3:00PM

With that said,I'll be in Memphis TN this weekend for ShadowCon. This is my first ShadowCon experience, so if you are going, come by the table and say hi. Pictures and recound to follow next week.

You can still get signed copies of Thomas Riley HERE

And hurry to sign up to be a Sky Pirate. More really good things are coming for current Sky Pirates. In fact, I'll show you one thing below.

I've been getting a lot of requests for Sky Pirate patches. So I decided to take it a step further. Not only will you soon be able to get Official Sky Pirate Patches, but there will be an officer's program complete with different ranked patches and merit awards. I'll let you know how to get your patches as well as lifting your rank next week when they come in. Until then, enjoy the prototype: