First, I had a blast! Seriously, I’ve always enjoyed Lunacon, so having the opportunity to enjoy it from the POV of GoH just ratcheted everything up several notches.
Yes, there were some programming snafus, and yes, attendance was a bit down from past years (blamed variously on a WickedFaire type event, Purim, ICFA, and people afraid of the Super Moon), but none of that diminished the event for me in the least.
As usual, I got to spend lots of time visiting with old friends in and around the convention, in the green room, on panels, and at parties. I was interviewed by special GoH Eric in the Elevator for his show, and Artist GoH Rachael Mayo and I put on a small interview about our mutual joys and frustrations working together as I tried to describe what I intended for a cover and she tried to read my mind, sometimes to fantastic success and sometimes to dismal failure.
There were also the usual random people accosting me in the hallways (as fans are wont to do) demanding snippets in Klingon, but after nearly twenty years of that I’d probably be disappointed if it didn’t happen.
And I had a book launch for Buffalito Contingency which involved two long tables loaded up with copies of the new novel, the previous collection, the first novel, assorted chapbooks, copies of books from Paper Golem, and even a Klingon translation. Also an assortment of shiny artwork prints by Rachael Mayo. My wife, Valerie, and our assigned minion, Roadkill (aka Mom), sat at the far end selling people books as they waited in line for the privilege. Then I signed and inscribed with a brand new purple pen, and passed the books to Rachael on my right to sign as well (when she wasn’t busy selling art prints). This went on for about an hour and a half and was one of the highlights of the convention. I was overwhelmed by the people who came up and wanted to tell me how much they’d loved the first novel or a given short story. Fortunately, we were doing the book launch in a ballroom, or my expanding ego might have crushed us all.
Another highlight was actually getting time to sit and chat with Rachael. We’ve been working together for years, but almost never get to see one another, let alone brain storm on ideas in rapid fire back and forth chatter (one result of which may well be a painting on black velvet of buffalo dogs playing poker, but I digress).
As things wound down on Sunday, and the art show closed up, I crept in and negotiated for the purchase of the framed cover art to both Amazing Conroy novels. I so rarely buy anything for myself, and this made me very happy.
Thank you to everyone who made the convention possible, organizers and con com and staff, pros and guests, attendees and dealers. I had an amazing time at Lunacon, and I’ll be back again next year because whether I’m the GoH or not this is one incredibly fun convention!
Book Launch Siging with Artist GoH Rachael Mayo
Tags: Conventions
You forgot to mention how awesome you were as the special MC for the book raffle. I would totally buy a print of that velvet painting! As for the Super Moon, it was definitely making its presence known at Lunacon, aside from people possibly being scared off. I was up extra-late on Friday talking to a friend who was having an interesting reaction …
03.23.11 at 1:12 pm