Confluence Report

[elektra]

The short form: Best. Con. Ever.

The long form:
I sold books, thanks in part to the great team at Fortress Publishing Inc., who did me a favor by putting my books out for sale on their table. Thanks Brian, Chris and Christine!

I was on panels, which enabled me to meet and interact with some great people. I moderated^* the Steampunk Panel, which was a rocking good time. I finally got to meet Kevin Geiselman (Geis) in person, and shared time with Al Katerinsky and Michelle [Sagara] West. I don’t think anyone can spend too much time with Michelle–she is one of the nicest and most interesting people I’ve ever met.
I did a small press panel with Brian Koscienski & Chris Pisano of Fortress Publishing, Inc., and Eric Beebe of Post Mortem Press–we had a great time sharing the state of the world of small press.
I also participated in a Web Publishing & Web Comics panel, also with Michelle and with Richard Errington and Paul Anderson. That was a really fast-paced fun panel, even if we went off topic a time or two or three . . . .
I even did two readings, one from my story in In An Iron Cage, and a late Saturday night erotica reading with K T Pinto (aided by a bottle of Glendronach). I read a selection from Beyond the Vision of Dreams, a weresnake fantasy sent to me by my friend Stella Price, written with her sister Audra.

I squeezed in a shift at the Parsec table, which mostly consisted of chatting with the people who stopped by. I went to several panels, all enjoyable, and live-tweeted several of them (including the social networking panel). I spent a few dollars in the Huckster’s Room, and chatted with a number of the dealers. I roomed with Chris Cowan from Undiscovered Treasures, and finally had time to catch up with her. Best. Roommate. Ever.

I met a bunch of people, including the folks in charge of programming, Karen Yun-Lutz & Kevin Hayes, and several folks from the Seton Hall MFA program. I only wish I could have spent more time with all of them!

If you haven’t been to Confluence, put it on your calendar for next year. It’s always a terrific con. I’m already making plans for next year!

Oh, and I got a convention t-shirt that had my name on the back as one of the guests–how cool is that?

^*I gained the courage to moderate from talking to one of the best panel moderators around, Carl Cipra. I asked him how to be a good moderator, listened, and tried to apply what I learned.

Mirrored from Until Midnight and Occasionally Later.