EpicConfusion wrap-up the first

Posted by: Redhead on: January 23, 2012

• In: conventions | Jim C. Hines | Joe Abercrombie | Kameron Hurley | Patrick Rothfuss | Robin Hobb | Saladin Ahmed | Sarah Zettel | Scott Lynch
• 12 Comments

I have returned from EpicConfusion!

And it was incredible.  I was in geek heaven. Everyone’s first con experience should be like this.  There were authors hanging around, authors doing organized and well planned panels, authors autographing stuff (not just books!), and plenty of cosplay, humorous music (Rocky Horror Muppet Show!) and every flavor of crazy and fun.  I met so many wonderful folks, authors, artists, other.  Rothfuss was incredibly friendly, Lynch was gracious, Elizabeth Bear said I had pretty hair, Abercrombie may not be aware how irresistible that “British rogue” thing is to American women, Ahmed wins for nicest guy and best hair, Kameron Hurley is insanely interesting, Myke Cole gave me a hug anyways, and Peter Brett let me interrupt his dinner to talk about a panel he’d just done (btw, don’t interrupt peeps who are trying to eat. It was a total asshole thing I did), and Jim Hines is even more hilarious and friendly than I expected, even when he was completely exhausted and I was bugging him. When people found out it was my first con, they told me I picked a good one. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, and I was not disappointed.

I’ve so much to tell. . . .  and so many blurry photos to post (wait, what? my camera has a low-light setting? Why didn’t someone tell me that before!).   To keep you from having to slog through stuff you might not be interested in, there will be a post on fun/funny author interaction (that’s gonna be this one, by the way), panels, cosplay and of course, Scott Lynch gets a post all to himself.

I was that girl who faux pas’ed my way through my first con by hijacking conversations and bothering people and talking to anyone and everyone who looked interesting (including the goth cross dresser) and now I’m gonna be that girl who gives WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION. read at your own risk, and don’t say I didn’t warn you!

There will be a giveaway for peeps who survive all of these ridiculous posts.

here’s some fun and funny author stuff, with much in the way of TMI.  autography pics are near the bottom.  Stay tuned for at least two more posts. I am typing as fast as I can.

Apologies that none of this is in chronological order.

First funny story. Husband and I had just gotten there and were standing around the hotel lobby, and I whispered to him “your 2 o’clock. Guy with the curly hair and the beard. That’s Patrick Rothfuss!” and husband says “that guy? the one with the tramp beard?”  And continued to refer to Pat as “tramp beard” all weekend.  But then Pat showed up wearing a Serenity t-shirt, and suddenly husband thought he was pretty damn cool. See how cool his shirt is?

Saladin Ahmed was on one of the first panels I went to.  I stopped him afterwards and introduced myself, and he knew who I was!  An author (who I kinda stalk on twitter) knew who I was! How cool is that?  By the way, if you haven’t looked into Ahmed’s debut novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, I highly suggest you give it a try. I’ll know I’ll be getting a copy when it hits bookstore shelves in a week or two.

Loitering in the bar and bothering people who were trying to enjoy a decent meal, I got talking to Myke Cole.  He said he was on his way to a panel he was on, and he was rather engaging and it sounded interesting, so I said I’d follow him.  I was about to walk into Myke’s panel when Scott Lynch walked into a different panel.  Can you guess who I followed? It ended up being an incredible panel on Women in combat (more on that later).  A nearly debilitating sugar crash caused me to walk out of Myke’s next panel.  I later apologized for ditching his panel(s), and he still gave me a hug.  Myke’s book, Shadow Ops: Control Point is hitting store shelves in about a week. He’s a great hugger, go get the book.  I don’t usually do straight up military SF, but he said it’s Military SF meets high fantasy.. . . so i think I’ll be giving it a shot.

Chatted with Jim Hines a bit, I told him I was very much looking forward to Libriomancer, complimented him on his recent blog post about imitating the poses of women on the covers of urban fantasies . He said he was thinking of doing a calendar, I said I’d buy it, and then I suggested tramp stamps. He smiled and gave me a goblin press on tattoo. Patrick Rothfuss with Oot on shoulder, was walking by, and Jim offered a goblin tattoo to Oot, who wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  It was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

The mass autographing session on Saturday was amazing.  I’ve been to smaller author signings at bookstores, but never something like this.  Pat Rothfuss definitely had the longest line, but everyone’s lines moved very quickly, even with authors chatting with people for a few minutes.  My first words to Pat Rothfuss were something along the lines of “I love you so much, Name of the Wind turned me into a fantasy fan, and I’ve gone on to tell everyone I know to read it”, which sort of explains the message in my Princess and Mister Whiffle. Pat also had the specialty golden stickers (you know, those stickers that say “this shit is not for kids. seriously.”) for those of us who didn’t pre-order the book.  Mr. Rothfuss is as friendly as they come.

I stupidly didn’t bring any Robin Hobb books with me, but I did stop at her table and tell her how amazing Assassin’s Apprentice was for me, and that I’d gone on to buy more of her books and suggest them to others, and that she helped turn me into a fantasy fan.  I wonder if she realized how many authors referred to her works during panels?  a LOT.  She was very gracious, a little on the shy side.

Joe Abercrombie signed my copy of Magic and Dark Swords anthology. I told him his First Law Trilogy spoiled me for epic fantasy, and he laughed and said thanks.  He is incredibly witty and very handsome.  My attempt at keeping up with his wittyness was embarrassing.  My photo of him came out very blurry. 😦

Although I didn’t have any of their books with me either, I chatted a bit with Kameron Hurley and Sarah Zettel. If you haven’t read these two ladies, I suggest you start. Their books are probably marketed military sci-fi, but they write these incredible stories that aren’t at all about what they are about. And that’s why you should read them.

Everyone was so incredibly friendly. For me, authors are a cross between rock stars and superheroes, I felt honored just to walk up to these folks and say “I love your stuff, it changed my life”.

and yes, I got Scott Lynch’s autographs. Lots of them. on things other than books. He gets his very own post.  More on that , and more TMI later! 😉

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Edited to Add:

this is post one of Four. Read my other Epic ConFusion posts here, here, and here.

Tags: authors, conventions, fantasy, science fiction