Dragoncon!

Just back from Dragoncon and “Holy Crap!” doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’m still a bit footsore, a bit sleep-deprived, and a bit overwhelmed by it all — but what a fantastic experience. The Con was a massive convergence of all things sci-fi, fantastical, horrific, and just plain . . . other. Massive throngs of people slipping between four hotels in the heart of Atlanta, incredible costumes, great panels and programs and galleries, and tons and tons of dealers and exhibitors catering to nearly every urge, passion, enthusiasm, or addiction a genre fan might have — or concievabley develop.

It’s just as well I didn’t bring a camera, or attempt anything like a ‘Con Report,’ because I needed the whole four days just to wrap my head around the scale of the thing. Plus I was busy at the Roguelikefiction booth at the exhibitors hall helping my friend Nathan Jerpe sell his built-from-scratch computer RPG Legerdemain. Jason Waltz of Rogue Blades Entertainment made the long trip down to Atlanta with some copies of Return of the Sword, and we managed to get books in the hands of a lot of fans of Heroic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery . . . until we sold out! I doubt if either of our roguish products could have sold any better if they had been literal hot cakes.

And I even got to play big shot and autograph some copies of Return of the Sword, an activity that makes for a great ego-boost for a solitary, ‘under-the-radar’ writer like me. Dragoncon was an absolute blast, I met a lot of great people with similar interests, and I’m already counting the days till next year.