This was originally published in Watch The Skies November 2019 issue.

I am always happy to be asked to be a participant at the convention put on by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society. I was given a couple of different panels to be part of and I stepped out and took on my own panel for the first time ever. It’s very easy after years of participation to become jaded and treat an event like this as work, so it was nice to shake things up a little.

Attendance this year felt light. I had the opportunity to chat with a few vendors I know and they seemed to get the same feeling. Even the book launch party wasn’t as crowded as an event like that normally is. That being said, the majority of people I spoke to had an excellent weekend. There were some that had a less than stellar experience. Putting the conventions rules and posted policies to the test is never the way you want to spend a con weekend. I was sad to see this happen, but it was something that only effected me in a tangentially.

Programs had a couple of little hiccups. IF I hadn’t loaded up the schedule app on my phone I wouldn’t have found out about the change in my schedule. Given the number of panelists, requests, rules and topics I’m a bit surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Speaks well of the program staff I think. I was able to get it sorted out easily – no real fuss. I got to talk about introducing people to board games, introducing people to urban fantasy, methods for finding new authors along with a solo panel. That’s right, me and only me! My first ever solo panel Rosie or the Roomba was well attended – despite being scheduled at ten in the morning on Sunday. I had the room to myself as nothing was scheduled ahead of me and I was thankful for the extra set up time. Bringing my own multi-media presentation was a bit of a challenge, but the technology end worked out very cleanly and neatly. I got a number of insightful questions and some very sharp consideration from the folks that attended the panel. I consider it a success and will likely attempt to do the panel again for another convention.

One of my favorite parts of this year was a young artist displaying in the art show. This young person wanted interaction and posted a hand made sign up with his art to say so. I’m not an Instagram person, but if you are you should head over and check out the work of @eanr’sart over there. I know at least one of this artist’s pictures was snapped up and taken home. I suspect a taste of success will continue to bring this artist back.

As always it was wonderful to see various members of my ‘convention’ family that I don’t get to spend enough time with. It was a fast weekend. I was on the way home again almost before I realized it. As always I hope to be invited back again next year. You should consider signing up and heading to the con too. That, after all, is how we’re going to keep science fiction conventions rolling far into the future.