Another year, another Baycon. How was it this time?
We showed up on Friday evening, just in time to drop our stuff off in the room and head down to catch the Opening Ceremonies. Although this was my sixth Baycon (and my wife's fourth) this was the first time we had attended the Opening Ceremonies, which was a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing because Dani and Eytan Kollin delivered a hilarious Toast. But that hilarious Toast was also a bad thing, because it was a moment that will probably never be equaled for me. All Toasts to come just might pale in comparison to this one, my first ever.
During the Opening Ceremonies I had to briefly slip out and sign my son up for Boffer Wars. After the Opening Ceremonies my wife and I headed over to catch the Avalon Rising concert. Good stuff, but the wife and I weren't able to stay and dance. So it goes.
Saturday got off to an early start, with Self-Promotion and Publicity for Writers. If you are going to be a writer, then you had better learn to self-promote and generate publicity. No one else is going to do it for you, believe me. In fact, one of the primary reasons I started this blog (seven years ago this September) was to build an audience that would follow my work. The other reason was to get me in the habit of writing daily, which is why there are always so many reviews and such. All of the panelist had good advice, but the best advice came from Toastmaster Dani Kollin. "Don't be a dick." In the Social Media Age there is absolutely nothing to be gained by becoming the next Harlan Ellison.
How the Style of Writing Can Make a Book Readable: Writer Guest of Honor Brandon Sanderson was the real highpoint of this panel about the variants and variables of Point-of-View in storytelling. First Person, Second Person, Third Person Limited, and Third Person Omniscient were all pointed at and then picked apart. I didn't catch all of it, though, as I had to slip out and grab some lunch with the family.
I know the wife and I went to the Writer Guest of Honor Interview, but it's just a blur to me. Probably thanks in large part to my running from panel to panel and not taking any notes, etc.
Book View Cafe and ePublishing Panel: As more and more writers opt for self-publishing their backlist and new work, the greater the need for editing oversight, cover art creation, formatting repair, and other stuff one does not think about if it is done right or done well. This where the collective comes into play. It was an interesting look at how writers are becoming their own ePublishing industry.
I took a short break to donate some blood, skipped the Aspiring Writers Toolkit panel, more to avoid Writer Advice Fatigue than actual disinterest in the subject, and opted for the Birds of a Feather: Doctor Who get together. I agree, Stephen Moffat really needs to write a horror movie.
Then I went up to our room and did some writing. It was a blast, because it was the very first time that I had ever done so during a convention or an out of town trip (I think that I am starting to get the hang of this writer's need to write thing) before getting some dinner and watching the Masquerade. I was surprised (and dissappointed) to find that the wait in line to get into the Masquerade (30 or so minutes) was longer than the Masquerade itself (a scant 10 minutes). Yet again, so it goes.
Sunday got off to a late start, because I am getting old and I need my sleep. My first panel of the day was at 11:30, Self Publishing: Where does it fit in the Literary Food Chain?: While that question was not really answered, it was pointed out that eReaders (i.e. the Kindle and the Nook) have changed self-publishing from Industry Pariah to Business Alternative. An eBook is a format no different from a paperback or a hardcover book. If you are going to self-publish, then you must also handle all the various headaches that the traditional publisher would (i.e. copywriting your work, getting decent cover art, getting a good editor for you book, and making sure your publication looks professional). When you self-publish you are literally starting your own publishing company, handle it as such and not a Miracle Money Making Machine. Because that is NOT self-publishing.
Then it was time for the Toastmaster Interview, which was hilarious. Dani and Eytan Kollin kept the conversation lively, family friendly (because their family was there) and touched on several important subjects. Like what NOT to ask a border guard when crossing over into Canada. They were so much fun that I wound up buying a copy of their first book, The Unincorporated Man, and had them sign it. I hope that I will have read it before the NEXT Baycon comes around.
Erotic Science-Fiction and Fantasy came next (no pun intended). Since so much of my writing involves sex, sexuality, and variants thereof, I really wanted to check this out. It was an interesting look into a field that I have been a part of and the first panel that I have ever attended where I felt like I could have been part of the panel. There just might come a time where I am sitting up there. Who knows what the future holds?
Then the wife and I left the hotel for dinner, sushi, and a movie, Men in Black 3. This a Sunday evening tradition for us, but there were some changes this year. Change #1) My son did not go, because he volunteered to be a Gofer at the con and wanted to stay at the convention. Change #2) There was actually a panel, Birds of a Feather: Horror Addicts, at nine o' clock that, being a Horror Addict, I needed to attend. It was great to have the oft times ostracized (by one side or the other) Horror Genre have something of a presence at the convention. I hope it is there next year.
Monday, the last day of the con, is always a hassle. As there are always panels that eat up the checkout time, there are personal/non-convention social obligations to be met, and the feeling that the whole weekend just shot by way too quickly.
My 10 o' clock panel was Top 10 Rookie Author Gaffes, which, because of many of the above mentioned issues and hassles, I was late to. While sitting there I was pretty sure that I sat through this very same panel last year. The only person to really shake things up was Brandon Sanderson, who pointed out the very same Writing Gaffe Contradictions that Francine Prose did in her excllent book, Reading Like a Writer.
The clock was fast running down on this year's Baycon. My very last panel was supposed to be Authors: Stop Blocking Your Own Potential! I write "supposed to be" because only Brandon Sanderson showed up. At one point he asked the crowd, "Am I even in the right room?" and borrowed someone's program to verify that he was, in fact, in the right room. But it was a win for all involved, because Sanderson turned it into the Brandon Sanderson Show and engaged the audience in a lively Q & A. Since my wife was not there, I asked the question she really wanted to ask him, "What comes first, your magic systems or story ideas?" Sanderson's answer was both detailed and entertaining. I hated leaving at the hour mark, but we had a BBQ in Newark to get to. I would have loved to been at both the 1982 - 2012: Thirty Years of Science Fiction panel and the Closing Ceremonies, but it was just not meant to be. But each year I seem to get closer and closer to actually opening and closing the entire convention.
Perhaps that will happen next year. I hope I see you there!
. (It was also the book that made me want to become a writer.) This panel was, arguably, the most audience participation heavy one that I attended (every single person attending was asked to name "the book" that got him/her hooked on genre reading) and I was surprised/disappointed that I was the only one that mentioned a horror/thriller story. Oh, well... the horror genre has always been the redheaded stepchild of the science-fiction/fantasy collective. At least I mentioned one.
(a review of which is due shortly) and lazed around with my wife until it was time to catch the Masquerade. I had not really enjoyed last year's Masquerade (maybe because my wife was not with me at the time, one of her patient's had a newborn and she had to go to the hospital to perform an examination on the infant, so she missed a lot of the 2010 convention) and I almost voted for skipping this year's Masquerade. I am glad we didn't, though. All of the contestants were awesome. My son is a huge 
fan, so he was jumping in his seat and clapping when Linda Clements, John Crowley & Tim Crowley came out as several characters from the show and gave a Best Actors award winning performance.
. She was simply awesome.
. 2010 brought us the franchise fatigued sequel 
, which, while not terrible, wasn't all that good, either. I wanted this year's bad summer movie to be Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, but I got out voted two to one and we saw the paint dryingly dull and painfully unfunny (to me, that is) Kung Fu Panda 2. My wife is the opinion that KFP2 broke the bad summer movie streak, as she loved it. I do not share that opinion, as I did not. I shudder to think what will be seeing in 2012.
. (He pretty much plugged it at every panel he was on, which convinced me that I should hunt down a copy and read it.) Unlike the "First Book" panel, the panelist pretty much kept the discussion amongst themselves and it went all over the place. Of all the panels I went to, I think that this one was the most informative of them all. When the panel did ask what books have influenced those wannabe writers in the audience, I was able to give a shout out for 
by Raymond Carver and 
by Shirley Jackson, two books by two writers that any well read reader can tell have influenced me.
, after all.
are inevitable, this "everyman" super hero semi-comedy movie is nothing at all like 
) and writer/director James Gunn (
) did a great job selling the movie, but I missed whatever footage it was that they showed, because the line was so damn long. It actually stretched into the next building.
back in 1983 (when the Adversary Cycle was not even a gleam in Wilson's authorial eye) and it was awesome to get a chance to shake his hand and tell him that to his face.
that I will be tracking down and cracking open, as it is about that very theoretical possibility.
' Boba Fett, 
's River Song (Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead version), and even 
's Na'vi all strolled across the stage.
author Max Brooks was an engaging and dynamic speaker as he brought the audience up to date on the development of the 
), Jimmy Palmiotti (
), Tim Powers (
), and Greg Rucka (
) discussed their various adventures and misadventures in having their various works adapted to the screen, large (motion picture) or small (television). Their humorous misadventures far outnumbered their boastful adventures, of course. Another engaging and informative hour that went by far too quickly.
remake looks especially promising).
musical episode Once More, With Feeling. Great stuff.
and 
. I also picked up quite a few comic books that I have been searching for. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (Marvel era) issue #4, DC's The House of Secrets issues #139, 146, & 152, Harley Quinn #s 13 & 22, and Avatar's Plague of the Living Dead #s 1 - 6. Great stuff, too.
, 
, and 
. The first two are restocking my library with books that, unfortunately, I was forced to sell during a very bad time in my life. The third is a book that I have been meaning to get around to reading since college. Hopefully I will have read it by the time I attend next year's 
from my local, independent bookstore. (Missed my chance to snag a copy in the dealers room.)
) Scortia, Get Off The Unicorn by Anne McCaffrey, The Best Horror Stories from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Volume 2, and Shock II by Richard Matheson. My only regret is that I didn't get any pictures of all the cosplayers. Well, there is next year to do that...
and 
. No regrets, though.
than people would like to think that it is. My favorite comment on the adaptation of someone's source material to Hollywood product: "We hire a screenwriter to adapt your idea, then we hire a director to create his idea of what the property should be," or words to that effect. Best advice during the panel, and which was echoed at a later and completely unrelated one, was "Do it for yourself, with the idea that it might never be published. Just do it to do it."
and 
episode revolving around flying planes into the Twin Towers, Carter took a moment to share how, after 9/11, the mood of the country changed and there was no room for The X-Files. Now that times and the country's mood has changed again, Carter hopes that the interest in The X-Files is out there.
) Neumeier for his "dark, sick sense of humor." It also looks like the satire and socio-political commentary that made the original 
, but I have decided to pass on the Swag binging this year - we headed home. But I'm going back tomorrow for two more panels and, maybe, I'll rethink this year's Swag Ban. There are so many goodies there!
) Castro's Italian Zombie Makeover, where the F/X artist/film director transformed a volunteer guest into a Lucio Fulciesque zombie. The process took a lot longer than the program said it would, (and thus deprived me of the chance to catch the 
screening, because I HAD to eat) but it was well worth the wait and Castro himself is an engaging and personable speaker that clearly loves what he is doing.
and 
) for myself and got Christopher a stuffed Yoshi doll and a signed DVD of 
. My son just loves those movies, which is a good thing...because Castro screened 
and screenwriter Wanda Kurteu did not disappoint (although there was a tad too much Next Gen bashing for my tastes, perhaps it's a generational thing). Hambly's litany of writing-for-hire problems (the constant changes in the approval process and oft times bizarre editing decisions) reaffirmed just what a pain it can be. Kurteu's portion of the panel had more to do with the creative stagnation of television writing in general and 
, is already in the works (principle photography should commence in January of 2008), as is an actual animated series. Castro is hoping to sell it to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Lots of luck there, dude. But stranger things have happened. I also half-joked about the possibilites of a Dr. Carnage doll (sorry guys, I meant to type "Action Figure" - honest) and it seems that could very well be a reality as well.
. It's exactly what the title states - a collection of lesbian trysts, lycanthropy style blood-letting and laugh out loud moments (some intentional, others...well, not so intentional). It was a goofy yet appropriate manner in which to end my Saturday evening. Sadly I was incapable of keeping my eyes open for the 
. I haven't read the novel, but the film is excellent, a harrowing and terrifying descent into utter madness and brutality that left me shaken and breathless as the end credits rolled. Unfortunately the disc for Neighborhood Watch, the film that was supposed to screen after Girl, was defective and the screening unsupervised, so we left. I can't say that I regret doing so. Although the film has gotten some solid reviews, I found it hard to watch. This was not do to the content, but flat photography and ugly set design. Everybody in the cast looked ugly and the sets just looked cheap and gross. That may very well have been intentional on the part of the filmmakers, I don't know, but it made my eyes ache and my stomach lurch.
. Needless to say, I have to see it.) I also finally got my hands on a Gorn Captain action figure, but I can't shake the feeling that, at $25 bucks, I paid $5 dollars too much for it. Oh well, it was something I really, really wanted...so I'm happy with it. Christopher got a Gizmo figure, something that he's been wanting for awhile (ever since I told him he couldn't have mine, actually).
, a tad too much - it sounded like he was answering a question with a sales pitch), doing both writing and art vs working with someone else, and a ton of other topics that are a joyous, yet informative, blur. The hilarious curtain was Christopher showing off his Venom doll to a confused yet polite Terry Moore. "I don't do that character, perhaps you should talk with Peter David." It's funny now, but, at the time, I just wanted to crawl under my chair. But it did remind me that an eleven year old boy believes everybody shares an interest in whatever fascinates him. At least the confused Moore was polite about it.
still) and fat comic book guys that whine about everything and wonder why the big shots ignore you...well, the stunt that twit pulled is a perfect reason why it could wind up happening. On behalf of fans everywhere, I offer an apology to Mr. Craven. I would have done so at the show, but I did not feel comfortable leaving my son alone in that huge auditorium.
. PAD said no, that he really did not care for movies whose sole purpose was showing unique ways of killing interchangable teens. Fair enough.
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