UFC
It is the day after a convention, and my brain is still in what I'm now calling ConSpace. This is a state of existence that is not coherent, and creates such good ideas as having beans on toast for lunch, getting out the lunch supplies, and making myself a cup of tea instead, then forgetting about lunch for an hour.
If this writing is as incoherent as I feel, I apologize in advance.
--
United Fan Con was my first venture into the world of regional, non-gaming cons. It was, I believe I can safely say, nothing at all like GenCon, and only a very little bit like Origins. The highlights of the week were hanging out with the guys from Secret Identity Podcast, who were my convention hosts, and the guys from Hero Envy, getting to meet a handful of the New England Browncoats I've been on a mailing list with for a year or more and have never before met in person, and getting to hear parts of Jewel Staite's Q&A session.
My favorite part of the conventions is always talking to new people about books--sometimes my books in particular, but also whatever people happen to be reading. I had a lovely chat with some young women about the wondefulness of Terry Pratchett. I had great fun spending time with sarahtdl talking about libraries, being a libra, anime conventions, and a host of other topics. I also had a chance to speak with some other authors and comic book designers/writers/artists about their work. I had doughnuts with the guys from Radbu Productions. I sat next to Sean Wang (pronounced Wong) (who has a most excellent print available of the characters of the Fellowship of the Ring and a great space adventure comic that I did not get a chance to read at the con but am putting on my Christmas list). I had a great chat about designing booth space with Mark Tarrant, the author of an upcoming Vampire Western called The Blood Rider. And I talked about small publishers with Clifford B. Bowyer, author of The Imperium Saga, a trilogy of adult novels that runs alongside a series of children's middle-grade fiction that tells another part of the story. (His books are available through Silver Leaf Books.)
I also gave Jewel Staite a copy of Into the Reach, because it seemed like a good idea at the time. If she likes it (which, of course, I hope), then it will have been a good idea, and I'll be very glad. But I imagine being given a book by a little-known-author at a convention is probably a bit odd, so who knows what will happen.
--
It does, however, lead to something that has been tickling at the back of my brain. Early on when he was writing the first novel of the Dreaming Dark saga, Keith Baker mentioned that if he were casting actors to play his characters, he'd almost certainly cast Nathan Fillion, but the rest were up for grabs. Since then, Keith has run a poll on his Web site asking readers to cast the other characters. I don't often cast my characters as actors until after I've already got them solidly in my head, and sometimes not even then. I've been told by my first reader, Arielle, the actor who must be cast as Kennerly (not listed here as when I eventually have my own Web site, I may copy Keith and do polls). I've also discussed casting the characters once with my husband, but never really landed on anything positive.
After this weekend, though, hearing Jewel speak about how much she enjoys kicking butt in her upcoming movie The Tribe, a thought that had been floating in my brain clicked into place. If it were up to me to cast actors as the heroes from Into the Reach, I'd cast Jewel as Lydia, so long as the "auburn hair" look works for her.
So, if this manages to float around the ether of the internet so that some Browncoat notices and it eventually gets back to Jewel Staite, that was the subconscious reason that I gave her a copy of the book--which, of course, I didn't explain because it wasn't formulated in my head, and I (being one of those people who doesn't like to be in the way) didn't want to bother her with actual conversation while she was busy doing her photo shoot. (In fact, I would have been just as happy to let her guest liaison give it to her, but he insisted...)
--
A final note, and then I'm actually going to get back to making lunch (which I've been neglecting now for about an hour and a half). I did get filmed for a Secret Identity promo, and Brian LeTendre interviewed me for the next issue of their podcast, which they recorded at the show. (I'm sure there are probably bits of my extremely loud trumpet of a laugh that filter through while they're doing bits of the show I'm not intentionally in, for which I apologize.) When I have the link for both the new episode and the promo, I'll post them here.
Just finished reading Scrib, a YA novel by playwright David Ives, which would had me in stitches this morning between drifting in and out of ConSpace fog.
If this writing is as incoherent as I feel, I apologize in advance.
--
United Fan Con was my first venture into the world of regional, non-gaming cons. It was, I believe I can safely say, nothing at all like GenCon, and only a very little bit like Origins. The highlights of the week were hanging out with the guys from Secret Identity Podcast, who were my convention hosts, and the guys from Hero Envy, getting to meet a handful of the New England Browncoats I've been on a mailing list with for a year or more and have never before met in person, and getting to hear parts of Jewel Staite's Q&A session.
My favorite part of the conventions is always talking to new people about books--sometimes my books in particular, but also whatever people happen to be reading. I had a lovely chat with some young women about the wondefulness of Terry Pratchett. I had great fun spending time with sarahtdl talking about libraries, being a libra, anime conventions, and a host of other topics. I also had a chance to speak with some other authors and comic book designers/writers/artists about their work. I had doughnuts with the guys from Radbu Productions. I sat next to Sean Wang (pronounced Wong) (who has a most excellent print available of the characters of the Fellowship of the Ring and a great space adventure comic that I did not get a chance to read at the con but am putting on my Christmas list). I had a great chat about designing booth space with Mark Tarrant, the author of an upcoming Vampire Western called The Blood Rider. And I talked about small publishers with Clifford B. Bowyer, author of The Imperium Saga, a trilogy of adult novels that runs alongside a series of children's middle-grade fiction that tells another part of the story. (His books are available through Silver Leaf Books.)
I also gave Jewel Staite a copy of Into the Reach, because it seemed like a good idea at the time. If she likes it (which, of course, I hope), then it will have been a good idea, and I'll be very glad. But I imagine being given a book by a little-known-author at a convention is probably a bit odd, so who knows what will happen.
--
It does, however, lead to something that has been tickling at the back of my brain. Early on when he was writing the first novel of the Dreaming Dark saga, Keith Baker mentioned that if he were casting actors to play his characters, he'd almost certainly cast Nathan Fillion, but the rest were up for grabs. Since then, Keith has run a poll on his Web site asking readers to cast the other characters. I don't often cast my characters as actors until after I've already got them solidly in my head, and sometimes not even then. I've been told by my first reader, Arielle, the actor who must be cast as Kennerly (not listed here as when I eventually have my own Web site, I may copy Keith and do polls). I've also discussed casting the characters once with my husband, but never really landed on anything positive.
After this weekend, though, hearing Jewel speak about how much she enjoys kicking butt in her upcoming movie The Tribe, a thought that had been floating in my brain clicked into place. If it were up to me to cast actors as the heroes from Into the Reach, I'd cast Jewel as Lydia, so long as the "auburn hair" look works for her.
So, if this manages to float around the ether of the internet so that some Browncoat notices and it eventually gets back to Jewel Staite, that was the subconscious reason that I gave her a copy of the book--which, of course, I didn't explain because it wasn't formulated in my head, and I (being one of those people who doesn't like to be in the way) didn't want to bother her with actual conversation while she was busy doing her photo shoot. (In fact, I would have been just as happy to let her guest liaison give it to her, but he insisted...)
--
A final note, and then I'm actually going to get back to making lunch (which I've been neglecting now for about an hour and a half). I did get filmed for a Secret Identity promo, and Brian LeTendre interviewed me for the next issue of their podcast, which they recorded at the show. (I'm sure there are probably bits of my extremely loud trumpet of a laugh that filter through while they're doing bits of the show I'm not intentionally in, for which I apologize.) When I have the link for both the new episode and the promo, I'll post them here.
Just finished reading Scrib, a YA novel by playwright David Ives, which would had me in stitches this morning between drifting in and out of ConSpace fog.