Further Confusion 2013
So I got back from FC 2013 late last night. On Thursday I head to Seattle for ALA Midwinter and hopefully the job placement center will help me.
So an FC con report seems due in my opinion lets get started. Its been a while since I did a conreport anyway.
So to start off with I was actually a bit worried about this con. As in upset stomach and vomiting before I left for the convention. I'm not sure what got me into this mindset but I felt awful and it was all nerves. Further the past few weeks I've been feeling particularly unattractive, unsexy and unwanted. The trip did not start off great the night before the water had to be turned off to the house due to a frozen pipe that had burst.
Then my flight had to be cancelled. As in the plane was grounded and we were taken off the plane as it became clear the flight would not occur. Now at this point I'm a seasoned traveler so after running to get out tot he main desk and stand in line behind five people (better then standing behind dozens of people) I did a little kevetching but I knew I'd be okay. I've wrestled with this before and the stewards and pilot had both said mechanical error which means the airline will do their best to reroute a person. A problem due to weather they can brush off as not their problem. Admitting to a mechanical issue means they must, by contract, do something.
So I got a reroute through American Airlines and I was out a few hours later. I spent some time exploring the Albuquerque Sunport which was nice. I flew into Los Angeles and despite being stuck in a peripheral terminal that I needed to take a bus to get to he main section I was well set. A few hours later and one light rail trip done I was at Further Confusion.
I won't bore you with a total recount so here are the basics.
I saw an incredible amount of good people and acquaintances and people I knew well. I saw friends. I had an amazing time standing around talking, hugging and generally being with people. It was incredibly cool. I got to have a tremendously awesome first night dinner with the erudite TheGneech, his delightful wife, and the always great Sir Fox. We had steak sandwiches. Food wise the FC convention is never lacking in options but we ended up eating twice at the Blue Chip. It had okay food but I didn't love the place. Oddly enough I had no Italian food the entire convention. A rarity for me considering how much i do love pasta. The finaly night I had an amazingly delightful dinner.
Years ago Jakebe joked that he would take me out for a steak dinner and dessert if I got toob's book to sell out at all the cons I attended that year (technically it was FC but that was an easy hurdle as Toob had many close friends in the area already salivating over Smiley and the Hero so I said entire year). I reached the goal and so it was decided food would happen. It might have been a joke but it was incredibly nice. I went with a nice sized dinner party to a really upscale spot and I got a lovely trout, clam chowder and creme brule. It was a very nice dinner where I felt animated and happy. I also felt really special for getting the meal with friends that was sort of centered on me. So that was a big bump up.
I got to see a lot of good friends too and I ran into some people like Blaiddewolf I only knew from online. Naturally I was rooming with Fuzz and Teiran who are always good room mates and close friends. It was great seeing them. I also got to hang out with the incredibly useful and cool ConfusedOO/BuckTurner at the table.I got to have a few really illuminating conversations with Rikoshi as well which were really delightful he's a good writer who is also an antleredfoxwithahuskytail. I left the conversations intrigued. I also ran into my long running crush. At RainFurrest I had finally admitted to my crush of two years who I felt about him. It was not a highlight of that convention (I still had a good time there). Anyway said crush decided to tell me that while he didn't feel that way about me he thought it was very nice I had said that and he wanted to apologize for giving what he felt was a poor initial response. It was a very nice thing to do and he didn't need to do it. I also ran into QuentinCoyote. and we had a nice short chat. He's a good coyote. Graveyard Greg and Threetails were also at the table hawking their new books and we got to talk a little but though not as much as I could have as the convention was busy busy busy. Mary Lowd (the always on the ball writer of Otters in Space who I respect greatly... also you better all have a copy of her book by now), White Yote (an ever cool guy who is always fun to see), and Toob (what needs to be said? the dude is just fun to be around) all stopped by the table to chat as did the very neat Watts Martin
On the book front this convention was a big release convention with thirteen new titles. This included Threetails new book The Goldenlea a new work that was different from her last one Basecraft Cirrostratus. Graveyard Greg's new zombie apocalypse work Carpe Mortis (I can't seem to find a link online in my 2 minuets of searching). Though i admit I am most excited to be reading Indigo Rain a triumphant return of the well talented Watts Martin to furry writing and publishing. The book looks incredible and I'm super happy to get to reading it. A very nice addition to the cupcakes line I'm eager to get to read. And Rukis' new novel Heretic (i'll post a link sooner or later) as well as several comics. I also got to talk to Bellua a bit the awesome big lion writer about some of his new projects.
Of course the big book at the table was the new work by Rikoshi. Summerhill. Not only has it been a few years coming but it came out in a lovely hard cover format. Frankly from all that I heard about the work I was excited to see it. Summerhill did not disappoint in the slightest in my opinion. I did a little steal reading at the table and I finished it off today after reading the bulk on the way home. Sales were incredible and I did barely anythign to get it out the door. The hardcovers were great and people were excited. I highly recommend this novel!
Sofawolf of course had the latest Kyell Gold book Divisions which was I'm sure a gangbuster success. I didn't have much time to check out their table and its rude to ask I suppose. Still its the third part of an overwhelmingly successful Tetralogy (though its rumored it will go to a five part series now). I did see a copy of New Fables 2012 and i was needless to say delighted to see the collection as New Fables are some of my favorite works put out by Sofawolf (I bought a copy obviously).
I even got some fun art for myself and got to fanboy over some favorite artists like TK Dye, Simpson, Cooner, K-9, Idess and Teaselbone.
The only major downside was how short the entire con felt and the hotel's serious need for repairs. the dealer's room on the first day was unbearably hot due to a broken temperature system which caused it to be so hot we were all ready to collapse. I'm sure it depressed sales greatly. Several people got cold showers after exiting that terrible day. I hear several conference rooms had the same problem. the elevators were also difficult to work with and our room had signs of obvious wear and tear damage including a difficult temperature control. Now I admit after my last post this is odd to say but I can be flexible about temperature. I have my settings i'm comfortable with but I'm comfy with a lot of ranges so I can live with it. Still this was a clear problem
The trip home was sad, I was already missing people by the time I got through security but I found Bravopup and Vermy Fox and I saw the Blotches and some other furs so it worked out. The trip home was uneventuful despite having to take a propplane out of Denver. I spent most of it reading the excellent new release Summerhill which was a great read and near impossible to put down.[but it today!]
And that was FC only ALA midwinter which I leave for this Thursday... whee?
So an FC con report seems due in my opinion lets get started. Its been a while since I did a conreport anyway.
So to start off with I was actually a bit worried about this con. As in upset stomach and vomiting before I left for the convention. I'm not sure what got me into this mindset but I felt awful and it was all nerves. Further the past few weeks I've been feeling particularly unattractive, unsexy and unwanted. The trip did not start off great the night before the water had to be turned off to the house due to a frozen pipe that had burst.
Then my flight had to be cancelled. As in the plane was grounded and we were taken off the plane as it became clear the flight would not occur. Now at this point I'm a seasoned traveler so after running to get out tot he main desk and stand in line behind five people (better then standing behind dozens of people) I did a little kevetching but I knew I'd be okay. I've wrestled with this before and the stewards and pilot had both said mechanical error which means the airline will do their best to reroute a person. A problem due to weather they can brush off as not their problem. Admitting to a mechanical issue means they must, by contract, do something.
So I got a reroute through American Airlines and I was out a few hours later. I spent some time exploring the Albuquerque Sunport which was nice. I flew into Los Angeles and despite being stuck in a peripheral terminal that I needed to take a bus to get to he main section I was well set. A few hours later and one light rail trip done I was at Further Confusion.
I won't bore you with a total recount so here are the basics.
I saw an incredible amount of good people and acquaintances and people I knew well. I saw friends. I had an amazing time standing around talking, hugging and generally being with people. It was incredibly cool. I got to have a tremendously awesome first night dinner with the erudite TheGneech, his delightful wife, and the always great Sir Fox. We had steak sandwiches. Food wise the FC convention is never lacking in options but we ended up eating twice at the Blue Chip. It had okay food but I didn't love the place. Oddly enough I had no Italian food the entire convention. A rarity for me considering how much i do love pasta. The finaly night I had an amazingly delightful dinner.
Years ago Jakebe joked that he would take me out for a steak dinner and dessert if I got toob's book to sell out at all the cons I attended that year (technically it was FC but that was an easy hurdle as Toob had many close friends in the area already salivating over Smiley and the Hero so I said entire year). I reached the goal and so it was decided food would happen. It might have been a joke but it was incredibly nice. I went with a nice sized dinner party to a really upscale spot and I got a lovely trout, clam chowder and creme brule. It was a very nice dinner where I felt animated and happy. I also felt really special for getting the meal with friends that was sort of centered on me. So that was a big bump up.
I got to see a lot of good friends too and I ran into some people like Blaiddewolf I only knew from online. Naturally I was rooming with Fuzz and Teiran who are always good room mates and close friends. It was great seeing them. I also got to hang out with the incredibly useful and cool ConfusedOO/BuckTurner at the table.I got to have a few really illuminating conversations with Rikoshi as well which were really delightful he's a good writer who is also an antleredfoxwithahuskytail. I left the conversations intrigued. I also ran into my long running crush. At RainFurrest I had finally admitted to my crush of two years who I felt about him. It was not a highlight of that convention (I still had a good time there). Anyway said crush decided to tell me that while he didn't feel that way about me he thought it was very nice I had said that and he wanted to apologize for giving what he felt was a poor initial response. It was a very nice thing to do and he didn't need to do it. I also ran into QuentinCoyote. and we had a nice short chat. He's a good coyote. Graveyard Greg and Threetails were also at the table hawking their new books and we got to talk a little but though not as much as I could have as the convention was busy busy busy. Mary Lowd (the always on the ball writer of Otters in Space who I respect greatly... also you better all have a copy of her book by now), White Yote (an ever cool guy who is always fun to see), and Toob (what needs to be said? the dude is just fun to be around) all stopped by the table to chat as did the very neat Watts Martin
On the book front this convention was a big release convention with thirteen new titles. This included Threetails new book The Goldenlea a new work that was different from her last one Basecraft Cirrostratus. Graveyard Greg's new zombie apocalypse work Carpe Mortis (I can't seem to find a link online in my 2 minuets of searching). Though i admit I am most excited to be reading Indigo Rain a triumphant return of the well talented Watts Martin to furry writing and publishing. The book looks incredible and I'm super happy to get to reading it. A very nice addition to the cupcakes line I'm eager to get to read. And Rukis' new novel Heretic (i'll post a link sooner or later) as well as several comics. I also got to talk to Bellua a bit the awesome big lion writer about some of his new projects.
Of course the big book at the table was the new work by Rikoshi. Summerhill. Not only has it been a few years coming but it came out in a lovely hard cover format. Frankly from all that I heard about the work I was excited to see it. Summerhill did not disappoint in the slightest in my opinion. I did a little steal reading at the table and I finished it off today after reading the bulk on the way home. Sales were incredible and I did barely anythign to get it out the door. The hardcovers were great and people were excited. I highly recommend this novel!
Sofawolf of course had the latest Kyell Gold book Divisions which was I'm sure a gangbuster success. I didn't have much time to check out their table and its rude to ask I suppose. Still its the third part of an overwhelmingly successful Tetralogy (though its rumored it will go to a five part series now). I did see a copy of New Fables 2012 and i was needless to say delighted to see the collection as New Fables are some of my favorite works put out by Sofawolf (I bought a copy obviously).
I even got some fun art for myself and got to fanboy over some favorite artists like TK Dye, Simpson, Cooner, K-9, Idess and Teaselbone.
The only major downside was how short the entire con felt and the hotel's serious need for repairs. the dealer's room on the first day was unbearably hot due to a broken temperature system which caused it to be so hot we were all ready to collapse. I'm sure it depressed sales greatly. Several people got cold showers after exiting that terrible day. I hear several conference rooms had the same problem. the elevators were also difficult to work with and our room had signs of obvious wear and tear damage including a difficult temperature control. Now I admit after my last post this is odd to say but I can be flexible about temperature. I have my settings i'm comfortable with but I'm comfy with a lot of ranges so I can live with it. Still this was a clear problem
The trip home was sad, I was already missing people by the time I got through security but I found Bravopup and Vermy Fox and I saw the Blotches and some other furs so it worked out. The trip home was uneventuful despite having to take a propplane out of Denver. I spent most of it reading the excellent new release Summerhill which was a great read and near impossible to put down.[but it today!]
And that was FC only ALA midwinter which I leave for this Thursday... whee?