Category Archives: Conventions

Philcon!

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I’m very excited to have been invited to participate as a guest at this year’s Philcon. The convention is taking place next weekend and I’m very excited to be headed there. It even looks like I got all panels I was interested in / am qualified to talk about. That reduces my anxiety a great deal. It should be a great weekend. IF you can, get out to the convention!

Here is my schedule:

Fri 9:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
TECHNOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE (1867)

[Panelists: Bernie Mojzes (mod), David M. Axler, Mark Wolverton,
Daniel Grotta, Eric Hardenbrook]

Is our society too dependent on technology? Are we becoming
cybermen? From smartphones and tablets to online communities and
relationships, have we become unable to function without our
mechanical assistants

Sat 12:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
ART AND COMPROMISE (1953)

[Panelists: Eric Hardenbrook (mod), Robert Kauffmann, Mike McPhail,
Ray Ridenour]

Discussing the differences between approaching art as a hobby versus
art as a professional career

Sat 2:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
ART IN THE DIGITAL AGE (1951)

[Panelists: Ray Ridenour (mod), Eric Hardenbrook, Robert Kauffmann,
Luke Stelmaszek, Brian Thomas]

The blending of art and technology is more and more common. Can
artists even work without their computers anymore? Has the digital
world overtaken the traditional paintbrush? Artists discuss the
latest trends of these two world colliding into each other, and what
techniques they use now to create their art

Sat 3:00 PM in Crystal Ballroom Three (1 hour)
HOW LONG IS TOO LONG? (1739)

[Panelists: Tom Purdom (mod), D.L. Carter, Eric Hardenbrook, Neal
Levin]

Is anyone really going to start a 14-volume bug-crusher fantasy
series? (Not mentioning any names, of course). At what point does
the sheer size of a series discourage new readers

Sat 9:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
BOOK INTO GAME (1777)

[Panelists: Robert C Roman (mod), Eric Hardenbrook, Anna Kashina,
Joan Wendland]

How is a literary work made into a game? Are there some books that
just aren’t suitable or can gamers game everything

Sun 10:00 AM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
FAN WRITING IN THE INTERNET AGE (1840)

[Panelists: Anastasia Klimchynskaya (mod), Eric Hardenbrook, Berakha
Lana Guggenheim, Diane Kovalcin, Deborah Stanish]

There was a time when paper fanzines were the dominant source of fan
writing. Now, with the internet and the World Wide Web, other forms
of fan writing have taken the stage, such as blogs, vlogs, websites
and podcasts. What has fan writing become and what might it be like
in the future

Intervention 5

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Normally I would keep a convention review and publish it in Watch The Skies, but this convention happened to fall the weekend directly after this month’s publication. Rather than wait out the weeks between I’m going to put my notes up here first.

This year was the 5th for Intervention and the 5th for me as well. While I wasn’t on staff every year, I have always been at least a volunteer. I really do think the folks in charge of this convention are doing it right. It has been as smooth and uncomplicated as I’ve seen for any event I’ve been involved with. Behind the scenes prep work shows clearly.

The Friday of the convention as I arrived at the hotel genuinely felt more like a finish line than a starting line for me. My personal schedule had me on the run and busy for what felt like weeks before the convention. It took conscious effort to get into the right mind set. The convention itself, the atmosphere actually helped with that.

I would give a review of other parts of the convention or talk about the panels, but I didn’t really see a lot of those. I spent some time in the stand-up arcade playing some old school games and did get the chance to squeeze in a board game right before we headed home, but the vast majority of the time I was in the children’s programing room. That was where the fun was happening. Coloring, creating, building steampunk dinosaurs, creating homemade glow in the dark slime along with a bunch of other stuff. Making, making a mess and enjoying the work (or the destruction of the work) at the end were all parts of the fun. I give credit to Corinne as the head of the program – she really pulled together some great stuff for this year.

Whatever other details there were about the convention, this was posted on Facebook by the convention creator and I think it sums up the weekend better than anything else I can say,

READ THIS: If you don’t know what we do, why we are different, and why you should support us with donations and registrations, Monica Marier just summed it up: “Something amazing happened today. I brought my daughter to Intervention today and she made an LIFE-CHANGING discovery.
Since she started school, this kid had been told that she was weird, and wrong, and an outcast because she was a girl who liked things like skeletons, and steampunk, and Dr. Who, instead of American Girl Dolls and Horses.
Today she saw and met a ton of women and girls who liked all those “geek” things that she liked and that they were proud of it. And she realized:
SHE WAS NOT ALONE.
She was a part of something. And she was among people who thought that she was wonderful. IT’S SO GREAT that her first great con adventure was in such a safe, warm, friendly convention like Intervention and it was everything I hoped it would be and MORE. She’s already bouncing up and down in anticipation of ReGeneration Who.
THANKS SO MUCH, to Oni Hartstein, James Harknell , Pete Abrams and all the staff and artists that made this a truly fantastic weekend.
You guys put this smile here.”
Http://www.interventioncon.com

Balticon Follow Up

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The title here is a bit of a tease honestly. I don’t have enough of my thoughts pulled together to write anything even remotely coherent about the convention just now. I want to do the review justice. It was a short week back at work, but I suspect they crammed more into the schedule just to be certain they made up for Monday’s lost time. This has put the squeeze on my writing time.

Short version – it was a really good convention that once again flew past far more quickly than it should have. IF you’ve not been out to a local convention and you’re a fan, you’re missing out.

I normally hold off until the next WTS fanzine, but I think the number of weeks beyond the convention we’ll be at that point would lose some of the impact.

So – more to follow – starting with my first panel this year… the one where I was sitting next to Brandon Sanderson. Yes, that Brandon Sanderson.

Balticon 48!

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I am very excited to be heading to Hunt Valley today for Balticon. For anyone that missed my original post on Facebrick – here’s where I’ll be:

Writing the Economics of Magic (Panel) (Participant), Fri 18:00 – 18:50, Salon C (Hunt Valley Inn)
Fortress Press Book Launch (Other) (Participant), Sat 18:00 – 20:00, Con Suite (Hunt Valley Inn)
Film the Raven Evermore: Films Based on the Tales of Poe (Panel) (Participant), Sun 22:00 – 22:50, Belmont (Hunt Valley Inn)
Long-term Career Planning for Creatives: Surviving the Next 10 Revolutions (Panel) (Participant), Mon 08:00 – 08:50, Chase (Hunt Valley Inn)

I am also looking forward to seeing the liar’s panel and Mark Van Name’s new spoken word show. IF you’re headed to the convention I highly suggest both of these panels!

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Shifting Sand

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I find it a bit stunning that it’s been 2 weeks since I’ve posted here. The whirlwind that is my schedule has made time blur and shift like sand. At times I feel about as stable as sand, but I wouldn’t trade the things I do.
One of the things I do is go to conventions – and Balticon is almost here! I am really looking forward to going this weekend and getting to reconnect with folks I don’t get to spend enough time with. It looks to be an amazing weekend. IF you get the chance, get to the convention. You can find out about it here: http://www.balticon.org/ . The daily rates are posted for anyone that can’t stay the entire weekend along with a preliminary convention schedule.
I have my first panel Friday at 6 pm… and the guest of honor will be there too. I suddenly feel the need to go study economics.
Hope to see you there!

Balticon 47

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I’ve been mulling over how to approach this for a couple of days now. I’m not sure I’ve figured it out, but waiting longer makes the post less relevant and harder to recall for me.

Balticon is my favorite convention. My first one was number 27, but this year was my first time attending as an invited guest – one of the folks on the panelist side of the table, not the audience.

It probably sounds a bit silly to some folks, but this is actually a milestone. Being invited achieves one of the goals on my author’s goals list. Yes – I made a list. No – I’m not sharing how many steps are on there before WORLD DOMINATION.

Anyway I was super excited about the weekend and I wasn’t let down. For anyone that spoke to me you’ve heard this before: I threw myself on programming’s mercy – and programming had no mercy. In the end, after eliminating double bookings, I was on 10 panels (I think – the details are a bit fuzzy). That actually brings me to a fork in the road for this review. One path is all about how I wasn’t feeling at the top of my game before the weekend started (ill and under doctor’s care) and one is about crazed rantings that probably shouldn’t be public…

So, it’s true. I have been a little ill off and on for a while now. Just before the convention my doc decided that a 30 day run of antibiotics twice a day was the next step. Pure joy. What that meant was leading up to and for most of the con I didn’t really feel all that great. I was usually totally wiped out by about 10 p.m. (and on Sunday that meant one panel still to go). I would like to think what happened for me over the weekend was similar to the sports phenomenon where an athlete has some kind of illness and then has a career game. I feel really good about the panels I was on. I was in over my head more than once and all my fellow panelists were nothing but super (even when they clearly didn’t need to be). I even believe the panel “Pictionary for SFF Fans” that didn’t have any paper and a missing panelist turned out to be a lot of fun.

Yeah – pictionary panel without paper. There were issues with how the programs were set up and how people were (or were not) advised about where they should be. I got a list of a dozen panels I was supposed to be on via e-mail, but only showed up 4 times in the program listing. I’m hoping that it’s a small glitch and next year will be stronger (I’m also hoping to be invited back again).

The art show was not nearly what it has been in the past. I was very disappointed. The thought crossed my mind to attempt to put something together for next year and display something, but I was running about so much I never got the chance to talk to the person in charge of the art show. We’ll have to see how things go between now and next year.

I hope this year’s Liar’s Panel was recorded someplace. It was the funniest one I’ve ever heard. Ever. You should have been there. You should be there next year (and bring your dollar bills to challenge folks so nobody slips one past us again)!

All in all I had a really good time, got to see a lot of great folks (not nearly long enough in most cases) and did some really neat stuff. I hope the folks that attended my panels thought things went as well as I thought they did.

OH – that reminds me. I also had an author reading at the Mega Book Launch. Best Laid Plans was on display and I was reading from that – to all 3 of the folks that showed up. My wife, her girlfriend and the editor of the book. Since you missed that (and if you’re not one of those 3 folks, you did) you should go and buy the book!

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Laid-Plans-ebook/dp/B00BCUJEAE/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369966216&sr=1-10&keywords=best+laid+plans