What a great con this was. First thing, the organizers did an excellent job. Registration was smooth, programs were interesting and the hospitality was wonderful. Thanks to everyone who put something in the bookbag and the people who donated books to the bag. Mine was filled with wonderful things.
Hades Press had a wonderful pre-party with a band called the Plaid Tongued Devils. I've never heard celtic style ska music before. I loved it and bought a CD.
One of the things that really excited me was to learn about some wonderful Canadian small presses. I bought a beautiful anthology published by Ash-Tree Press called At Ease With the Dead. It's a beautifully made book. I haven't started to read it yet. Super busy processing images from Canada, getting ready for the show in December, NanoWriMo and that book is just too nice to crack the cover on. I know that sounds weird and is something an author doesn't want to hear. It's on the reading pile for December. I'll review it later.
Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy is also making wonderful books and as I'm a Calgary girl, I'm really excited that it is based in Calgary. I had a chance to talk to Brian Hades, the publisher, and he was a very nice and gracious person. It was also nice to make the connection that one of my favorite books, Sojurn, by Janna Oliver, was published by this company. I bought the sequel, Virtual Evil, in the dealers' room.
Speaking of Janna Oliver, I was lucky enough to hear her speak at a panel and later during the conference share nachos with her! She and Jeanne Marie were gracious enough to let me join them for a drink. I had a great time listening to these women. I really mark this as a conference highlight for me. I also appreciate them allowing to to have their pictures taken with Fletcher Wriggley.
I went to a writers' chat hosted by Jo Beverly. It was nice of her to host this in her room and it was great to meet other romance writers doing fantasy writing.
I was also able to talk to my favorite cover artist, John Picacio. I met him at the Yokohama World Con 2007 while doing some translating and general gofer jobs. The artists's panel discussions were really interesting. It's really interesting to hear about creative processes for image work. Surprisingly, I find it really helpful for photography.
Through this panel, I learned about the work of Shaun Tan. I'm so amazed by Tales from Outer Suburbia. I was going to bring home a copy from Canada but my luggage was already at max for both suitcases and I was carrying lots of camera gear. I gave my copy to my friend's daughter and am ordering my own copy from Amazon.com. I have been recommending this book to everyone. I know I really freaked out one of the employees at the Chinook Mall branch of Chapters when I dragged him over to the books and told him that this is the book he should be recommending people buy for Christmas.
Tales from Outer Suburbia is a wonderful collection of images and short stories. I liked the tone of the images, wonderful color and detail and somehow feeling lonely. Almost all the images have an element of humor that I really enjoyed. Then again, I photograph Estello and a clay pig called Fletcher. So, if you aren't willing to take my word about the images (even though you should) then take my word about the poignancy of the stories. The first story is a half page long but it's a really wonderful piece of short fiction.
There was a picture of one of the characters, Eric, for sale in the art dealers' room and now I really, really regret not buying it. At any rate, I really love the book and stories and find it really inspiring to have that kind of fiction and art available as a book.
I met lots of wonderful people at the con and had a lovely time. I found it really easy to talk to people and the atmosphere was really friendly and supportive. I will probably write more about the con later, but I am doing the NaNoWriMo and finally feeling jittery about not doing any writing on it today.
More con later and some pics to come. I actually have a funny story to tell about people from Ducks Unlimited party.
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