Prose and Cons: A GenCon 2013 Report
Day Two: Friends of Friends
The second day of my first GenCon
started like the first: up at 5:30 (4:30 my time), big breakfast at the motel,
to the bus at 7:00, chatted with Vern the driver and our few fellow travelers,
jump off the bus at 8:03, ran to Room 245 for my 8:00 session and apologized to
the ticket-taker for being late. Again, he said it was fine, smiled and let me
go into the panel discussion already in progress.
I was at the con for the writing
seminars and symposiums. Friday, today, was a lighter load compared to
Thursday’s all-day marathon. I had
seminars at eight, noon and four,
five and six.
The 8:00 panel was on the Business of Writing – taxes, websites, Twitter and
Facebook pages, agents, etc. One of the panelists was writer Elizabeth Vaughan
(www.eavwrites.com). In the course of the panel she said she was a
bankruptcy attorney.
…
What?
Have you ever run into a coworker at
a grocery store? Or has a church member or other group walk in front of you
while waiting at the drive-through at McDonalds? Who are you and how do I know you? Oh, you’re not where I am
used to seeing you. A judge and I like to eat at a local restaurant with our
families. It’s unsettling seeing him in shorts. He probably thinks the same of
me…
Did she just say she was a
bankruptcy attorney? I was too busy taking notes; I must have heard that wrong.
But no, she repeated it.
At the end of every session the
panelists handed out five paperback novels (“prizes”). One person at the noon session gave hers back because she already
won the same book yesterday. I leave as they announce the winners – as I
usually have no luck at such things. This gets me to the door by the time they
are finished and back in line quickly to re-enter the room for the next session.
But this time I walked to the panel
table. There were the usual well-wishers and follow-up questions. I was the
last one in line to talk to Elizabeth
“Did you say you were a bankruptcy
attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
“I am too!”
Oh, she laughed as I asked, “Where
do you practice?”
“I’m the Chapter 13 Trustee staff attorney
for the Northern District of Ohio Toledo
“Southern District of Illinois.”
“Then you must know Tony Wiese (a pseudonym for the Chapter 13 Trustee staff attorney).”
“Tony and I went to law school
together. We’ve been good friends since 1989.” (Despite the pseudonym, it WAS true - I only changed the name to protect the innocent...).
Small world! And she looked familiar,
too. Had she ever spoken at a NACBA (the National Association of Consumer
Bankruptcy Attorneys) conferences? No, she hates speaking in front of huge
crowds – these panels were more her speed. “It’s not really that much different,”
I said.
I’ve spoken at conferences. Not the thousands
of a NACBA convention, but around a thousand at small attorney conferences.
The room was to be cleared for the
next session and Elizabeth
She laughed and assured me that was
not the case. I thanked her for her time and she told me to say hello to Tony.
Wow.
My first encounter with a
professional writer, other than standing in line waiting to lavish praise and
have a book signed. It thrilled me. And
relieved me.
Attorneys become writers. John
Grisham and Scott Turow are at the top of the list. But a bankruptcy attorney
(she had a private practice and was a Chapter 7 Trustee before her current
position) who does – present tense – what I do. Exactly what I do. And she has
found time to make a second career as a writer. My heart lifted and I was so
encouraged walking to the escalator to spend the rest of the morning in the
Exhibit Hall.
Wow.
This was my first time in the
Exhibit Hall where I wasn’t watching the clock. Yesterday I had two one-hour
gaps. Now I am free for three hours.
I walked past the tables of Fantasy
Flight Games where hosts gave one-hour demos of their board and card games. The
“Lord of the Rings” table was full and in session.
Another table just started a session
of “Letters from Whitechapel.” The host asked if I was interested, since I was
watching the table.
“Oh yes, thank you!” I had the game
at home (being something of a Ripper-ologist) and read through the rules but
had never played. Two others joined us – the host had to explain the rules for
a fourth time but seemed not to mind.
It’s a complicated version of Battleship.
The host plays Jack the Ripper and moves about the game board - a map of Whitechapel , England
In the meantime the fiend is killing
prostitutes! Prostitutes are markers on the board. He kills one on, say, Dot #75.
He makes it home in five turns, so he MUST be within fifteen dots of 75. The next day he kills a prostitute on Dot #18. So when he heads home we know it is near 75
(he has fifteen rounds to get home or players win). If a player crosses a space
the Ripper moved through, the host places a yellow disk on the space. This way
we can trace and track the Ripper’s movements.
Complicated? Oh yes. Fun? Oh yes
yes!!
I found Chaosium’s kiosk. Chaosium
is a role-playing game company that publishes (among others games) “Call of
Cthulhu” – one of my favorite RPGs. The salesmen were nice and courteous, but
busy. They didn’t have much time for me to gush at how much I loved their RPGs.
Perhaps I expected the crew to be creepier, I suppose, haha. Didn’t stop me
from buying a few books of course…
Yesterday I spotted a banner for a
kiosk that sold books on clearance. It had a very thorough collection of RPGs -
all 50% off. One row of books proclaimed “Buy 1, Get 3 Free”. I looked at some
of the selections and doubted I could find one book, let alone three more.
There was a complete collection of Mystic Eye Games RPGs. Of course I have all
those.
At the bottom of the first shelf, in
the “C”s, I found the payload. Here were more Call of Cthulhu books. Kneeling
to avoid tripping the throng around me, and with my kneecaps filling with
fluid, I found four books.
Another kiosk was an independent
publisher that released two Cthulhu-World War II scenarios. You could buy the
modules that used the “Call of Cthulhu” rules or another companies’ rules. I
bought the CoC books.
Sense a theme here?
By now my backpack was quite heavy!
I passed the autograph kiosk and
there were Peter Davidson and Walter Koenig and two others. The line was longer
than the day before, but manageable. My original plan was to get their
autographs today when there was more time. I was lucky enough to take care of
that the day before.
I flashed back to Wizard Con earlier
in St. Louis
No so here.
I wonder why? There were more people here, but the focus at
GenCon wasn’t necessarily on guest autographs (that seemed the chief Con
money-maker at Wizard Con). As I
mentioned in a previous blog – perhaps Wizard Con will be better organized at
its second St.
Louis
I passed the musician kiosks. Musicians can make money creating original soundtracks for gamers! Renaissance-esque
songs for your medieval or fantasy-based RPG or LARP (live action role
playing), heavy metal for your cyberpunk game, etc.; all can be commissioned.
One booth hosted Dan the Bard, ie Dan
Marcotte. He was not there, but his assistant told me about his commission
work. I looked at his CDs. One caught my eye. Hey, I own this one! My
brother-in-law gave it to me. He performs as Jesse Linder or Jock Stewart at
Ren Fests all over the country.
Dan the Bard sold mostly CDs at his
booth, but he had a compilation DVD of various Renfest performers with photos
of the contributors …
…and there was Jess’ picture! “There’s Jesse Linder,” I said to the
assistant, “that’s my brother-in-law!”
What a sweet surprise seeing a photo
of my brother-in-law on a DVD on sale at GenCon! I was tickled for a second
time that day!
Oh, and here is Jess’ website: http://www.3pintsgone.com. He plays guitar and sings in a group called 3
Pints Gone. Look at the website. Buy
something. Go see them.
I
strolled through the Exhibit Hall after my noon writing panel and passed the
Paizo Games area. They release other games, but Pathfinder RPG is their bread
and butter. A crowd gathered around a long table stacked with paperback books.
I saw a few copies of “Death’s Heretic” by James L Sutter.
“Oh,” I thought, “there’s the
paperback I brought with me to read. Oh,
and there’s James L. Sutter signing copies.”
I introduced myself and he asked if I
read the book.
“Yes, I’m enjoying it so far. In
fact I brought a copy of it to read at the con! Would you sign my copy?” I
reached into my heavy backpack for my paperback copy. I read it earlier that morning
while waiting for my noon symposium!
He was proud that I brought his book
for my casual reading!
That afternoon I lurked at Fantasy
Flight’s “Lord of the Rings” card game demo table. The four players (the
maximum for the demo) were in the middle of a game. An hour later I went back. It was filled with
new players. An hour later, yep, new players. I kept missing my chance to jump
in.
By now I was grabbing anything free
a kiosk was giving out – magnets, pins, cards with websites that leads you to
samples of books and RPG rules. I think at the end the weight of my backpack
cracked my clavicle. Just kidding. Close, but kidding.
I ended the day with three seminars.
I left the 4:00 session to get in line for the 5:00. I made it to the door when they called my
name! I won a book! Woot! I went back to
the panel table to pick up “Master of Devils” by Dave Gross.
The line to get into the 5:00
session stretched to the elevator! There were over a hundred people in line by
now. It was the only session where every seat was taken. After the casualness
of all the previous sessions, this one was cramped and hot.
Why?
Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon were
on the panel. The couple has written almost 100 books. They are legends in the
fantasy genre.
They were both very friendly,
willing to share their experiences and knowledge and gave great advice.
Larry Dixon had the most memorable
line of the symposium. Question: “Can
you have good storytelling with no plot?”
“Three words: ‘Previously, on Lost’.”
At Wizard Con I was pleased to run
into my sister, her husband and my nephew. At Gen Con I was pleased to have
dinner with my other sister, my nephew and my niece. I called them at the end
of my last session. They were already at the convention center watching the
cosplayers after spending the afternoon in Indianapolis. We met and spent the
next two hours at a downtown Italian restaurant.
We talked and gossiped. I hope my
niece and nephew enjoyed the evening with their foul-mouthed uncle.
It was a wonderful meal with
wonderful company.
They drove me to my motel. This time
it was Bill’s turn to be fast asleep as I came in late.
And the evening and the morning were
the second day…
Copyright 2013 Michael G Curry
'Previously, on Lost...' Bwhahahahahahaaaa!!! :)
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