Tag Archives: Convention

Live and In Person!

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That’s right ~ for the first time in what seems like forever, I’m headed to a science fiction convention live and in person. Philcon is being held the weekend of November 19-21 this year, and they’re doing it in person. Thankfully, I still make the list of people they’ll tolerate as a guest.

PHILCON!

They have strict rules in place about vaccination and mask wearing, but they are not actually any different than where I work. I’m glad they’re serious about keeping their participants safe. They certainly don’t seem to be holding non-attendance against anyone that would normally be there either. It will definitely be an interesting journey.

While I’m there, my schedule so far includes 4 panels:

 Start Time      Duration      Room Name      Title
Fri 7:00 PM 50 Min Plaza 2 Setting the Scene: Ambience for GMs
Fri 9:00 PM 50 Min Plaza 2 Writing Branching Narratives for Game Play
Sat 1:00 PM    50 Min        Plaza 2          The Harry Potter Kids Have Grown Up               
Sat 7:00 PM    50 Min        Plaza 2            Architecture in Worldbuilding   

I’m very interested to hear what other things will be going on and hopefully reconnect with a number of friends while attending. I’m also looking forward to digging back into the writing business. I’ve allowed my writing to sit idle for far too long a time.

A full report to follow!

Withdrawal

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I had big plans for stuff this weekend. I did. Somehow the wheels came off that vehicle and here I am skidding to a stop on a Sunday night facing another long work week where I doubt my productivity improves. This is another one of those “heavy sigh” posts. IF you don’t want to stick with it, I understand. Short version – I withdrew from being part of the con staff team for Discon / World Con.

Some of you know that I was part of convention staffs for many years. It’s a volunteer thing, but it was being part of the fandom community. We had something really special and we made a lot of folks happy. Then that all stopped, rather abruptly. When it stopped I decided that being a department head and helping create a positive convention atmosphere could be handled by others and decided to focus on growing my own presence as an author or an artist as a guest at conventions. While it was still work, I did what I could to make it an enjoyable thing. I really do love it when fan groups get together.

A friend suggested / recruited me to be part of the team that is putting together the World Science Fiction convention this year. I was a little hesitant because I know the work that goes into pulling together a smaller con – world con was going to be significantly bigger than that. I decided I would be part of the team. I know how it all works but I wouldn’t be in charge of anything or anyone – I could just work hard and help out.

Some folks in the fan community are aware of the controversy surrounding the con breaking ties with the person they invited as the editor guest of honor. This has become a significant mess – and I sympathize with the people being put in a position where they are forced to deal with this. There was no way everyone was coming out happy after all was said and done.

The problem – and here’s where it gets to the part about *me* – is that it has brought out some of the worst behavior in the fan community I’ve ever seen. Bluntly, it’s extremely disappointing. I withdrew my support from the convention and left the staff. No, it won’t likely have much of an impact on them. No, I am not writing this as some kind of side picking or declarations of “correctness” for the community at large. It’s because there’s something more important that I think we can all work on.

Here is a slightly edited version of what I wrote to the folks that needed to know on the con staff:

The recent controversy surrounding the removal of a GOH is the starting point, but not wholly the cause for my withdrawal.

The first I heard of this was seeing an ’emergency meeting’ with regards to this being posted. It was the single night of the week that I didn’t have a meeting, but calling something an emergency does tend to garner attention. I signed on.

While on the zoom meeting, and within the first 5 minutes of my presence there, one of the attendees (and I’m sorry that I didn’t stay to record his name for later reference) declared that if you were associated with this Baen board you were either a racist or you were tolerant of racists. Sweeping generalizations about people he doesn’t know and has never met based on a single piece of information. He declared ME a racist or tolerant of racists. He’s never met me. He never saw me. He simply decided that the members of a particular group could be easily labeled and lumped together. Tell me again what everyone’s upset about? I left when the shouting started. I do not have time for that.

There continued to be a lot of talk – and I have been following along. From discord (staff server, not public) – so I don’t mangle the wording:

but I can only apologize for my own bad behavior. It’s no excuse that some of the other children were being naughty as well.

The “I was bad but so were others?” defense? Really? My daughter does better than that. You’ll say “he apologized” but was it really an apology or just an “oops I got called out”? Because there certainly was no retraction there.

“…but I can see the concern about losing people if she goes too. I just don’t figure we want those people.” (emphasis mine)

“Those people”? What sort of person does that sound like?

This is all coming up during the week with some of the most challenging weather conditions in a century across the country (including loss of power for con chair), but waiting until the weekend to make further announcement (after potential meetings, discussion and thoughtful consideration) was unacceptable and we need to have a vehement response immediately?

For the record, advocating violence is not acceptable. Yes the convention should and has made it clear that attendees will be safe. None of that is wrong. Civilized free speech ends when your speech declares the existence of others needs to end. It is not acceptable. Painting with the same paint, just pushing the brush in a different direction is not different, nor acceptable either – and that’s exactly what the “team” has done. It doesn’t feel like a team and certainly doesn’t seem very welcoming to me – never really has. This just cemented it.

I realize that my family’s health issues have kept me from being more assistance than I would normally be for con staff, but stepping directly back into that has made me believe my time, effort and emotional well being would be better off doing something else. IF people on the team want to wrap themselves in a blanket of self righteousness and deal in absolutes while casting unfounded aspersions at other people on the team they’ve never met, I don’t have the willingness to try to be part of this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this if you’ve hung on this far.

That was what I sent, but I want to emphasize something here. WE are ALL responsible for our own behavior. Each person must consider what they are saying and how they go about putting their words out toward others. Words have power. Words have meaning. Turning the same type of words, set in the exact same kind of argument framing as those you argue against back toward them will never help. The convention staff is a microcosm of where we are as a whole in the fan community. People are using the slight anonymity of an online presence to say things they would never say if they were standing face to face with the same people. I am frustrated and saddened that it has reached this point, but I feel that leaving the staff of something I was very much looking forward to was important for my own well being.

I’m going to focus on continuing to build an open, accepting and welcoming fan presence with Watch The Skies. I hope that will be something that fans can work with and share in building.

Gone Virtual

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I would have to consider it the negligent misuse of understatement to say that our current global pandemic has changed many things. Everyone has been asked to significantly change our way of living. How we work, how we connect with each other and certainly how we gather… and that is to say that we DO NOT GATHER. We don’t know a lot about the virus that is raging across the world and killing people by the thousands. We do know that if we keep our distance from each other, things slow down.

Everything has slowed down. Meetings take longer to arrange. Work hits unexpected delays. Time off takes on a whole new dimension – if you’re lucky enough to still have a job and still be working.

Part of the slowing down, part of the social distance needed involves not getting together. Conventions that many of my friends and collegues depend on are simply not happening this year. They are not able to gather so many people in a single place. The risk is too great.

Going to conventions – particularly science fiction / fandom cons – are a major part of my life. I have been going to or working as part of the staff of cons for somewhere around the past 27 years. I genuinely don’t remember a year when I haven’t been off to Richmond or Boston or Pittsburgh or Baltimore for a convention. Sometimes a big con, sometimes a small con – always going to see friends and talk about my favorite things. This is part of my life. It is part of my family’s life. My daughter doesn’t know anything else. In her mind this is simply what people of like minds do – they get together to enjoy their favorite things.

I’m not going to any conventions this year. None.

That is at least the plan as it stands right now. Most cons have “shut it down” and declared they will return in 2021. Some are making the effort to push ahead with the program parts they had lined up and are creating methods for holding virtual cons. I am amazed at how quickly some of these fan run, volunteer organizations have turned around the parts they need in order to make something like this work. I applaud them. It’s fantastic to see that they’re doing what they need to in order to survive. I wonder how many of them will. I just don’t see myself doing a virtual con. It feels too much like work at this point.

I understand the value of meeting virtually. I am, on average, attending between 5 and 10 virtual meetings every week now. I have adjusted my computer settings, arranged my working spaces differently along with changing and upgrading some of my hardware… and it’s still not the same. Gathering with friends in the same physical location matters. A hug, a handshake or even a simple hand on the shoulder are very important. Yes, there are down sides to meeting in person. There is expense. It’s time consuming. Scheduling is a challenge. Meeting with your friends is great, dealing with everyone else… not as much. Even with all the challenges (and occasionally the terrible smells) I hope to see the very best of them return for live and in person events. They are what recharge my batteries. It’s how I level up my creativity.

For the first time in decades I will be home on Memorial Day weekend. My family will be having a small gathering to celebrate my sister’s birthday. That’s it. That’s the entire schedule. There are no festivals going on, there are no events other than on the computer. We’ll see how it all goes. It is an odd feeling to know I won’t be part of something so dear to me. Hopefully it will come back around. Until then I’ll have to navigate my way around “the new normal”.

The virtual con is going on!

Time and Space

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It has been a year. Today isn’t a specific anniversary date, but it has been a year since the company that ran a number of conventions including ReGenerationWho imploded. I wrote about my feelings in Death of a Convention last year, but now I’ve had significantly more time to reflect.

That time to reflect has both helped and hurt.

Time away from the chaos, rushing and stress has given me the chance to really enjoy all the fun we had and the amazing things we accomplished over the years. I have so many new friends because of the things we did. We were part of something amazing and wonderful. It has helped me to see just how cool the fandom community really is.

Time away has hurt too. I don’t get to see many of those folks on a regular basis. We’re connected via social media, but sometimes an in person get together is needed. It has also hurt to see folks that did not handle any of this well. I will not name people here, but I have generated a deep and abiding anger toward some parts of the collapsing mess that was. It hasn’t gone away. I don’t think it will any time soon.

I think that’s the key to it all. Keeping the memories and the feelings we all made together. There will be other conventions in the future (not this year of course – 2020 the plague year) and there will be more chances to make that magic.

Keep doing amazing things, even when they hurt a little too. It’s part of what makes us who we are.

Such Magic!
Sharing a Hug

Philcon 2019

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

Philcon

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.

Philcon Schedule

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I will be attending Philcon again this year as a guest. I am always grateful to be asked to participate. Schedules were recently announced. A number of my friends have posted their schedules already, but I held off just a little. I’m still adjusting to the idea of what I signed up to do…

Fri 6:00 PM in Plaza II (Two) (1 hour)
INTRO TO URBAN FANTASY (3632)

    [Panelists: Vikki Ciaffone (mod), Eric Hardenbrook, Elektra Hammond,
    Bruce Dykes, Michael Hanson]

    Contemporary Fantasy, Portal Fiction, and yes, Paranormal Romance-
    what makes this genre distinct from other kinds of fantasy? What
    books make the best entry point into the various subgenres

Fri 10:00 PM in Plaza III (Three) (1 hour)
CROSSING THE STREAMS (3619)

    [Panelists: Aaron Feldman (mod), Eric Hardenbrook, Joseph Haughey]

    The old policy of fan artists and writers carefully avoiding any
    contact with The Powers That Be is becoming untenable in the age of
    Social Media, where actors routinely retweet fanfic and fanart of
    their characters and more professional authors are going public
    about their history as fanfic writers. But some boundaries are still
    useful to maintain. How can fans and professionals coexist in this
    new status quo

Sat 11:00 AM in Crystal Ballroom Three (1 hour)
HOW DOES A READER DISCOVER NEW AUTHORS? (3492)

    [Panelists: Elektra Hammond (mod), Timothy Pratt, Elyse Rosenstein,
    Mary Spila, Eric Hardenbrook, Phil Giunta]

    In a world where people are more likely to order new releases by
    their favorites off of Amazon than drive to a bookstore and browse,
    how do readers find authors they hadn’t previously heard of

Sun 10:00 AM in Crystal Ballroom Two (1 hour)
ROSIE OR THE ROOMBA? (3678)

    [Panelists: Eric Hardenbrook (mod)]

    Modern science fiction frequently depicts advances for the spaces we
    live in as dependent on the technology inside of them.  What are
    some advances in the technology of the actual buildings around us
    today?

It’s the last one that caused me to hesitate. You read it right – that panel is all me. I have the hour all to myself. IF it all goes wrong, it’s all on me. So I’m going to start digging in and getting my program ready.

Hopefully I’ll see you there!

Save Against Fear

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Great art for the con

This review was originally published in Watch The Skies – October 2019 issue.

The Bodhana Group is a nonprofit organization that advocates the use of tabletop gaming as a directed therapeutic and clinical practice that can benefit personal growth as well as enhance social and educational services to individuals and families. Over the weekend of October 11 through 13th they also ran their annual convention “Save Against Fear”. IF you’re in the Central Pennsylvania area and enjoy playing games, I would highly recommend putting this event on your calendar.

This year was the ninth year for the event and the third time I had attended. I was not alone. The con this year brought in about 450 people from all across the area and nearby states. The convention took over a large space in a local mall and used it all. There were literally dozens of games running at any given time all weekend long. Role playing games, computer simulation games, board games, card games – even beta test games. There were at least six game design groups set up and showing off their latest creations. Massive miniatures displays and games took up the rear section of the game floor covering everything from the Civil War to Star Wars. The miniatures on display were painted in myriad colors and stood out against all sorts of terrain. Some folks took the opportunity to learn how to paint the minis and add spectacular bases to them. In short, if you like to game this was the place to be.

Registration was right up front. It was fast, clearly marked and a breeze to get through. In fact, all the aspects of the convention were super smooth. There was a bake sale if you needed a snack. Vendors took over a section of the floor and brought a wide variety of items in for sale, from art to books to the next set of dice that you clearly need. The game designers had a lot of interesting things to play test and just have plain fun with.

The single biggest part of the con was the game library. It’s massive. It was overwhelming. When I say those thing it feels a bit like hyperbole, but there were hundreds of games to chose from. The games were all laid out along a huge set of tables and roughly divided into sections based on how long it would take to play the game. If you can name the game, I’d wager it was there. I know there are some skeptics out there but when I saw Gnip Gnop, Payday, and Canasta next to the Mork and Mindy board game I began to have trouble choosing what to play. If there’s any criticism of the con it would be that. The game selection was too much if you were even a tiny bit unsure what to play. The best part would be the fine folks working all the tables. All the people working were gamers and fans of the work they do. They were happy to come up with a recommendation based on what you were thinking and even an explanation of how to play if somebody in your crowd didn’t know how to play.

The convention had easy parking, easy access via the mall and was just down from the food court. The staff was fantastic, the games and programs were smooth as could be. I know I’m missing some of the things that were going on (Oh yeah! There were raffles and a silent auction too) but I think that’s what’s going to recommend this con the most. There was a ton to do all weekend long. If you’re in the area next October I would highly recommend you make your way there. I know I’m looking forward to it already.

Balticon 53

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Table tent and ribbon

As I wrote the post title I was struck by the number. The 53rd convention from BSFS. I know I’m the “new guy” to many, having only really started at Balticon 27 but this convention has always seemed like my ‘home con’ if that could even be such a thing (that’s 26 years for those that don’t want to ‘math’). I’m not joking about the ‘new guy’ thing either. I know at least one person that has gone to every Balticon. Part of my recounting of number of visits to the convention stems from how many people I didn’t see there this year. I came up with a dozen folks off the top of my head that, through various circumstances or choices, simply didn’t make it to the con this year. It felt oddly empty. Logically it wasn’t, but it felt that way.

I will say that I was very impressed with the con team this year. Registration *always* has problems with my wife and daughter. I don’t know why – but the mistress of registration remembered me and it was much smoother this year than in years past. The con added a ribbon option this year for people that wanted to have a clear definition of what pronoun they prefer. I think this was an excellent option for those that were interested in having one or felt they needed it. While I did not use one myself (moving rapidly toward the land of the dinosaur) I did find it useful from time to time. Thankfully I didn’t see anyone abusing it. The art show was bigger than I’ve seen it in some time. There was a lot of great work on display there – and I ended up coming home with two new pieces. Programming was very strong. They got information out early, had the schedule posted ahead of their normal time and were quite active at the con itself… more on that in a minute.

It was an adventure to get to the hotel. The interstate we take to get there was shut down and all traffic diverted off to side roads. We managed to avoid the worst of the traffic, but it sent us off into the wilderness for a while. A longer ride there than normal.

I started the weekend off with 3 panels on Friday night. I felt like the panels were decent and that I contributed without being super awkward or out of place. Writing military campaigns was my weakest of the day. Genre in the age of binge watching was decent, but uneven. Bad movie adaptations could have been better (I’m not a fan of throwing it to the audience right away). On the upside I was told one of my statements / arguments actually inspired a panel for next year.

Saturday brought all kinds of weird with it. At loose ends with no panels for the entire day I could do as I pleased. I took some time to wander the con and check things out. I got to spend a lot of time in the art show. I checked out the vendor tables. I got to sit and chat with my friend Jay and get started on an upcoming project (totally a secret for right now). While we were sitting and working, Jay needed to go and be on a panel. I decided I would be supportive and headed to the panel with him.

I’m not going to recount all the details here, but that particular panel was not good. Jay told me I was ‘not contractually obligated’ to stay, but I felt as if I was abandoning him to a terrible fate. It devolved so quickly that I bailed out after about 15-20 minutes. Apparently my fears were not unfounded. I was told it got worse after I left.

This is the part where I explain how the programming team was active during the convention. I was approached later in the day by the head of programming (after being pointed out by the con safety team and flagged down). I gave my view of the events of the panel. The head of the convention was called over. I was asked to recount my view of things again. The problematic individual was subsequently pulled from all panels for the remainder of the weekend. I’m not going to call that person out. I was a witness and not directly involved with the event in question. I gave my view on matters and that was enough for the incident in question. I’m certain there were lots of hurt feelings over the whole thing. I hope the person in question gives the whole thing some thought and uses it as a learning experience rather than fuel for some kind of grudge.

Quick tips from my point of view about convention panels:

1: Being the moderator of a panel does NOT mean you’re the primary speaker

2: The audience is there for ALL the panelists generally, and sometimes for ONE in particular – and that might not be you

3: There are panelists that know more than you and people that have different experiences than you – let them speak ( please note that the gender of said individual plays no part in that statement)

4: Stay as focused as you can (difficult, I know) on the actual topic of the panel and the stated level of expertise it’s aimed at

5: Panelists are volunteering their time. Being angry at them, talking them down, demanding they defer to the moderator is generally the path to a really bad experience

That list is not all inclusive, but relevant to the past weekend.

Saturday night featured a riot in the streets of Baltimore – in front of the convention hotel. No, I’m not joking. Thankfully I was able to avoid any issues with that, but a handful of other con goers were not so fortunate. To my knowledge, everyone came out the other side OK and relatively unscathed.

My Sunday at the con featured two more panels. I got to talk about traumatizing your characters in your writing (and why you don’t necessarily need to) AND I got to talk about the future of energy. The trauma panel was really interesting and I’m glad I got to be part of it. It was really well moderated and the discussion was far ranging with many different opinions and story telling tidbits.

The future of energy panel was an up and down thing for me. I’m going to do a separate write up for the actual content from my point of view because it was far more interesting than I initially thought it might be. I’m also going to see if I can use some of the notes from my fellow panelist Jim. He had some great points and information. I hope the audience enjoyed the panel as much as I did.

There was also shopping, chatting with friends that were there, games in the game room and a fantastic dinner out with amazing ice cream immediately following.

I had a nice, relaxing weekend. The convention itself felt a little like things might be shifting or changing, but that’s something to think about for next year. This was a really good con.

Balticon!

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It’s that time of year! I’ll be at Balticon again this year – and hopefully I’ll see you there too! My schedule is here:

Friday

Logistics and Tactics: Writing Campaigns

Watertable BC, 5pm – 5:55pm

Writing large scale military campaigns

Genre in the Age of Binge-Watching

Watertable BC, 8pm – 8:55pm


Bad Movie Adaptations

Watertable BC, 9pm – 9:55pm

Sunday

Advancing the Story Without Traumatizing Your Characters

Guilford, 12pm – 12:55pm

Energy Production of the Future

Homeland, 6pm – 6:55pm

Death of a Convention

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I posted this initially on my Facebook page, but I am not really a fan of that place. Safer to keep a copy here where I can come back to it with less issue.

The convention has been canceled. This is the last event the company behind Regeneration Who, Potterverse and Intervention had scheduled to my knowledge. This cancellation is unfortunate and difficult to process for many. I am still trying to decide how I feel about the whole thing. Instant reactions are not often the best reactions.

Running an event like this – any event really – is a lot of work. It’s a lot of logistics and arrangements and contracts and… you get the idea. It takes a team of dedicated people. Events like these can be really magical to those involved and to those making it happen. The key part of that is ‘magic’.

It is exceedingly rare to see events create and capture that kind of magic over and over again. Magic is fleeting, it is ephemeral. The misty parts at the edges of your memories about all the great things going on tend to cover up those hard working corners and the dusty bins containing all the pain and the sweat and the frustrations. Sometimes the best possible thing is to allow the magic to float and drift and remain as a fleeting vision. Perhaps that vision will inspire others and another beanstalk will grow from the magic beans acquired at something we created.

As part of the children’s program team (and then head of the department) it was always my goal to create a place where any of the young fans could create, express and enjoy all the things that their imaginations wanted. When asked to provide a job description for my position to the leaders of the con I told them simply, “Children’s Programming is the creation of a lavish 8 year old’s birthday party that needs to be sustained for an entire weekend. It really isn’t more difficult than that.”

It was more difficult than it sounds. The ideas, the planning, the craft testing and the clean up were a lot of work. It was worth it. Teaching young fans how to imagine and create with their fandom and then act in a way that will allow others to join and follow in their footsteps was vital. Regeneration Who 5 would have been my 14th convention doing this. Over the years of work there was always the hope that we were doing it right, but it was just hope. This year I got the best result I could have hoped for. I was approached by a young fan I knew that had attended many of our events and spent a great deal of time creating and imagining things in our program room to ask me a question. This young fan had passed their 18th birthday – and could they now become a staff member and join the team to help create the magic.

That was the goal. Achievement unlocked. Level up. I could not have been happier.

Now, particularly given current circumstances, I think it’s time to allow others to carry on the magic. I don’t believe I will be part of con staff any more. I want to keep a little of that magic and let the fuzzy edges soften things. I want to see what others come up with. It will take an awful lot to make me reconsider at this point. Change is inevitable. Magic is fleeting.

Things are a mess right now. I have no answers for any of that. There are a lot of angry and hurt people out there. Hold on to the magic and give time the chance to soften the edges. Keep some of the magic within yourself but pass a spark on to others so they can enjoy it too.

Thank you for the opportunity to be part of the team. Thank you to my team – you were amazing (and totally made me look good!). Thank you to all the folks with kind words and encouragement. Please share this post if you feel the need to. I look forward to seeing you out and about in the magical world of fandom.