Con-Version 23

OK. Here is my attempt at explaining what happened this weekend.

Friday, we (two members of my writing support group, Eileen and Billie, and myself) arrived in Calgary around 2pm. We settled in and went down to registered around 4pm. There wasn't a lot of people around yet, but I guess not a lot of people show up on the Friday.

The opening ceremonies were at 7pm, and we got to meet all the guests of honor. Brian Hades from EDGE announced that they were merging with Dragon Moon books. We were the first ones to hear the news.

After the ceremonies we went to the dealers room to see who was selling what. Brian Hades was there with his team (Janice and Justyn from Marketing, and his lovely wife Anita) and our picture was taken with them for the EDGE newsletter. Eileen, Billie and myself hung around and chatted with them for a while. What amazing people. Really good natured and open. Brian and I chatted about my work and about the fact that I'm new at all of this.

There was a musical at 8pm that was hilarious. It was a mixture of Phantom of the opera and Star Trek, in a completely original script. It was lots of fun. After that, we three headed for our room. We spent a good portion of the night brain storming, and went to bed around midnight.

Saturday, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Thinking we had more than enough time to eat (it was 9am and the first panel was at 10) we ordered breakfast. We didn't get it until 9:45am. We were a little pissed off to say the least, but we weren't going to let it ruin the day.

The panels I went to were; Current Trends in SF&F for Kids and Teens, Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy, Introducing EDGE, When Biology Goes Bad, and Historical European Martial Arts. Eileen and Billie when to a few different panels but it was mostly the same ones.

We went for dinner at Tony Roma's with a large group of people from the Con. Eileen knew a few of them from a workshop she had just gone to in Calgary a few days before. The service was much better then at breakfast.

Eileen and I tried to go to the dance that night but it just wasn't our thing. We did end up hanging out in the Con-Suite for a few hours talking to the Biologist from the "When Biology Goes Bad" panel, Bill (William) Gibson. We talked a lot about my novella 'White Cats and Suicide', and he gave me some phenomenal advice. Eileen talked with a gamer who helped her with the world building in her novel 'Virago'. Another late night but some awesome ideas were had by all.

Sunday, there was a brunch provided, and the three of us sat at a table with Brian Hades and team (Janice and Justyn) and Bill Gibson. What a brunch! Ideas and discussions bouncing around the table for an hour and half. But we had to leave and go clean out the room. We checked out and made it to our last two panels; Unconventional Religion and SF, and Alternative Archaeology.

Last but not least was the Blue Pencil Cafe. It was pre-registered 10 minute one-on-one sessions with Brian Hades. It was amazing. He answered all my questions and offered career advice. If you ever get to meet the man, I highly suggest you do. He told me to keep in touch and I planned to.

We didn't leave right after that like we had planned. We actually hung out in the lounge with Justyn for an hour, talking about un-writing-related topics. When we finally left, it was with carry over excitement about our writing.

I did keep in touch with Brian Hades, I emailed him this morning offering to be a volunteer reader for the EDGE (and now Dragon Moon) slush pile. It's a really good opportunity, and he was all for it. I'll get my first package in the mail sometime soon. How exciting. I'm also in touch with Bill Gibson, the genetic biologist from the University of BC. He has fantastic ideas, and really knows how to keep a story real, even if it's science fiction.

Life is good. I'll chat with you soon.

C