World Fantasy Convention 2016, Uber Corgi, and Serendipity

This is a partial report on my doings at WFC in Columbus. I only attended Friday and part of Saturday this year.  My original intent had been for longer. Unbeknownst to me, however, cosmic forces far beyond the understanding of mere mortals intervened.  My dear Chicago Cubs made it to the World Series! That forced an adjustment to my shedule, as the Brits say.

I had a nice time driving down from Toledo to Columbus with Marc Tassin. This was the longest conversation we ever had, and we both learned things about the other and laughed a bit. I caught up briefly with Beth Vaughan, who’d already been in Columbus for a couple of days. She’s writing her fingers to nubbins working on SOMETHING NEW.

Friday night I hung out at the bar. With my daughter Jamie. We watched the Cubs and Indians play game three. We had dinner elsewhere, and then settled in to watch baseball. Jamie doesn’t really care for baseball. She doesn’t drink alcohol, except for an occasional glass of wine. The evening’s result? It was great! I couldn’t have had a better time or company.

Saturday was kind of the usual con stuff, although World Fantasy is really more of a pro convention than many others. I met Maurice Broaddus, who has been a nice addition to Marc’s GenCon Writers’ Symposia. I got knocked out in the art room by a painting titled The Sanguinary Innocent by Jarrod Erik. I was tempted to make an offer, although with a minimum bid of $1,400.00 I would have been persona non grata upon arriving back home.

“But just look at this. What stark beauty. What power.”

“What the in the ever loving HELL were you thinking?”

What I DID buy turned out to be even better, and all it cost was $15.00. While perusing the dealer room, I noticed a cheerful fellow behind a table hawking his new collection of short stories with some illustrations. As part of his pitch he offered to do a custom pen and ink drawing of any beast you could name.

“Any beast?” sez me.

“Any beast. What do you have in mind?”sez cheerful writer/artist.

“Well, years ago my son came up with the concept of Der Uber Corgi. It’s a big Corgi wearing a World War I spiked German helmet.” (The helmet is called a pickelhaube, btw, and Der Uber Corgi’s nemesis is The Iron Ostrich. But that’s a story for another day.)

“Heh. Sounds cute. Big Corgi.”

“I mean BIG, like Godzilla-sized, laying waste to the city.”

So, I pay my $15.00 for his book, and then wander the room awhile as he works. (I never liked people looking over my shoulder when I was building cabinets.)

I do hear him giggle a couple of times. When I return, he’s finished the piece, and he seems very pleased. He tells me it was a lot of fun. I take a look, and I’m seriously stunned. It’s not what I was expecting, because it’s pretty much exactly what I was hoping for, only even more so. I find it hard to tell him how pleased I am, and I know my son Alex will love it.

The writer/artist is a fellow named Jerome Stueart. (Yes, that’s the correct spelling.) His book is titled The Angels of Our Better Beasts. And his stories are TERRIFIC! I won’t go into any review here, but I can say that if his drawing was the cake, his stories are the best butter crème coconut frosting I can imagine. Alex loves coconut frosting.

I almost didn’t go to World Fantasy this year at all because of the Cubbies. Alex and I had watched every game of their playoff run together, and the World Series, of course, is the epitome. How could I miss one of those games with him? Now I’m so glad I did. Even with no other consideration, spending the evening with Jamie, and then discovering Jerome Stueart and bringing Uber Corgi home was so, so worth it!

GenCon 2015

GenCon 2015 has come and gone, and I have a few observations or comments.

First of all, Marc Tassin did a truly amazing job organizing and running the Writers Symposium. It gets better every year, and I'm proud to call him my friend and fellow writing group member. Terry Brooks was the Big Kahuna Guest of Honor this year, but there were so many other talented and pleasant guests.

I didn't attend many panels this time (more on that below), but I do want to mention how much I enjoyed Geoffery Girard's presentation on "Query Letters, Pitches and Synopses." This was aimed at writers who have a novel ready or nearly ready to start pushing on an unsuspecting world of agents and editors. As Geoffery himself admits, the information and advice in his talk isn't new, and you can find it in many places. His presentation, however, was energetic, well-organized, joyful, and most importantly useful! The best part for me was the exercise of writing the infamous "elevator pitch", and then practicing it with all the other people in the room. We did this many, many times, including repetitions during which the listener purposefully interrupted your pitch with questions. Speaking for myself (and prolly most of the other students), it got easier every time. By the end of the pitch session I was very comfortable, and happy to field the interrupting questions. Great job, Geoffery! If he repeats this talk at GenCon or anywhere else, I highly recommend it.

I also attended the "What Editors Want" panel with Jim Minz of Baen Books, and Marco Palmieri of Tor, among others. I won't delve into the details, but I must repeat a quote that Jim read out loud near the end of the session. It's from Calvin Coolidge:

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

This is so flippin' true that it should always be included when printing The Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy. My life is a testimonial to this. Take it to heart!

One more little note about the Symposium. I got to meet Kameron Hurley again, and deliver my apology in person! (See my previous blog entry with her name in the title.)

Okay, the reason I didn't attend many panels was because I wanted to spend more time with Alex, and simply have fun together playing games and gawking. On that account, the trip was a complete success! I look forward to next year, but we gotta get a room closer to the con.