I’m back from GenCon. This year the con at large attracted well over 30,000 paid members, with its con-within-a-con The GenCon Writer’s Symposium bringing in nearly 3,000 attendees for its 77 scheduled panels, readings, and workshops.
This year’s roster of attending sf/f/h professionals included Maurice Broaddus, Jerry Gordon, Bill Fawcett, Jean Rabe, Jason Sizemore, Michael Stackpole, Anton Strout, Elizabeth Vaughan, and dozens of other good friends and colleagues. (I can’t name them all here, alas! Please identify my omissions in your comments below.)
According to the article “Conventional Wisdom: Why ‘Gen’ Con?” by Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett, which appeared in the summer issue of the SFWA Bulletin , GenCon is “the second largest regular non-media-oriented SF and fantasy-themed convention in the US, followed only by DragonCon.”
Clearly, GenCon is an event that needs to be on your radar if you’re interests in the world of speculative fiction.
I started attending four years ago, talked into it by Will Horner at Fantasist Enterprises (publisher of the Veins Cycle and my forthcoming horror collection Voices). Will suggested that stopping by the display from time to time and doing a few panels would introduce me to lots of new and enthusiastic readers. He was right.
Upcoming Events:
In a couple weeks I’ll be heading to Context in Columbus, where I’ll be conducting workshops on Building Narrative Tension, Characterization and Dialogue, and Fictional Details. Should be fun. If you’re in the area, please stop by.
After that, on September 24, I’ll be doing a 21st Century Scop reading and signing at Eljay’s Books in Pittsburgh. The good people at Eljay’s have posted an interview in advance of the event. Please check it out and let me know what you think.
Finally, here at 21st-Century Scop, we’ll soon be revisiting our Virtual Social-Media Panel for more talk about the ways in which contemporary writers interact with readers. Until then, take a look at the thoughtful comments posted by some of the blog’s followers.
Your comments are one of the best things about this blog. Please keep them coming.
More soon!
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