milehicon wrapup

I had a lot of fun at MileHiCon this past weekend. It was a bit different this year because I had three friends along for a mommy's weekend (2 of them sf con virgins). They had fun too, I think!

Friday Night I sat next to Michael Swanwick a the big signing and he was wonderful. I learned a lot just watching him connect with fans, and had some great bar chats with other writers, readers, and friends later that night. I love chatting at cons.

I enjoyed the Obligation vs Opportunity panel on Saturday. We talked about tackling -isms and diversity and issues and theme vs story. I mentioned that prejudice is a running theme in the SEVEN EYES series, and how writing about these issues can help writers sort them out for ourselves. (clue: I do feel strongly that Story comes first though!) I had some good chats with writers afterward, too. That night my friends and I hung out with Patrick Hester and Jeanne Stein. 

On Sunday, the reading went well. I read the first part of Chapter 2 of EMISSARY, which is a fight scene. I thought it would be more exciting for a Sunday morning. Carol Berg's story "Seeds" in the new BLACKGUARDS anthology is excellent! Then I talked about Supernatural with Aaron Michael Ritchey, M. Likiss and 15 fans of the show. We had fun discussing the themes of the show and debating Sam vs Dean. (Several people chose Castiel.)

I finished up with a panel on combat. With two veterans and an active duty Air Force officer on the panel I was pretty well "outgunned." (see what I did there?) I did mention rednecks once and cringed afterward; I have some work to do in the prejudice/stereotype department myself. I finished out the day with some excellent card tricks from Peter Wacks.

Today I came back to pretty much a terrible, no good, awful Monday, and I'm hiding in ENEMY until future notice. I will be at World Fantasy, so more on that later.