World Fantasy 2009, Part 1
So I went to WFC this year in San Jose, and had an awesome time. I kept meaning to blog about it, but I came back to a mountain of work, and then I got the swine, and then my computer broke, etc. Due to the comedy of errors the last few weeks of my life have been, this blog kept getting put off, and now it’s out of date.
But really, I’ve got some good stuff. For instance, in the weird category, I learned that Ellen Asher, the famous editor of the Science Fiction Book Club who was to receive a lifetime achievement award that year, started her job on February 8, 1973. The very day I was born. A momentous day for the fantasy industry, indeed.
I love the World Fantasy convention. It’s not a flashy con, and it’s not meant to attract anyone but a specific crowd of people: Those who work in, or are looking for work in, the SF publishing industry. It’s not a fan con… but it also kind of is. Why? Because unlike many industries, SF publishing is completely populated with fans. People gravitate to SF publishing because they LOVE SF publishing. Trust me. It’s definitely not for the money.
So essentially, whether you are a writer, an editor, an agent, or a publisher, the entire con is FILLED with people who have similar interests both at work and at home. And they all hang out at the bar and get drunk together. Rival publishers who strive to crush one another professionally laugh and toast and enjoy each other’s company, making obscure Dungeons & Dragons or Science Fiction TV jokes, and getting a roomful of laughs, rather than the awkward stares we are used to. It’s a place that a group filled with introverts (myself included) can feel safe enough to open up. I had this bright idea to bring my mini video camera and do some little interviews with people to post on the blog. More on that later.
In addition to being in sunny California, WFC had a lot of benefits this year. It was my third time going to the con, but my first one where I had a book out worldwide, and some people actually knew who I was. That was a weird change. It forced me to be more social than normal, which of course means I made an ass of myself.
It’s okay. I wasn’t alone.
I went with my buddy Myke Cole and my agents, Joshua and Eddie. I was also supposed to meet some people I had been working and/or corresponding with for quite some time but had never physically met before. Like the folks at Subterranean Press. And Brent Weeks.
Brent and I have been pen pals for a while. Brent bought The Warded Man the day it came out in the US, and wrote me a nice letter saying he was looking forward to reading it. We’d been competing on the Amazon.uk bestseller lists for months, and I guess he wanted to check out the competition. I won’t lie. I had already been eyeing The Way of Shadows for my to-read pile for the same reasons and soon picked it up. Great friggin’ book. We started pen palling, and it was nice to have another rookie writer to talk to about our experiences. We live on opposite sides of the country, though, so we couldn’t just go out for a beer. Until WFC.
Brent and I hit it off really well in person. We had dinner with him and his lovely wife Kristi, and spent a lot of time talking shop and geeking out about each others’ books. Late on Saturday night, later than any civilized person should even be awake, when we were all 2 days hung over and utterly exhausted, I suddenly remembered the camera, and decided to do some impromptu interviews at the bar.
I’m sure you see where this is going. The camera was passed around all night, and I went home with 82 short videos, each averaging about 45 seconds in length. There was a lot of crap, but as I recalled through the dim fog of alcohol, there were also some legendary moment. Sure enough, I have gone through all the film, and there are indeed some gems, like this one, as author Blake Charlton administers a nerdcore pervy sex quiz to Brent and I:
There is lots more video to follow, as I get the chance to upload, it, but we’ll start with this disclaimer:
The night goes downhill from there.
AHAHAHA! Way for Brent Weeks to say the right thing.
Sounds like a great time.
Nerds night out!!!
I wanna see the rest! But this con sounds really cool, but no fan con?
sad…
*gigglesnort*
OMG. The potential for blackmail in this is mind-boggling. I can’t wait to see the rest.
Iris:
It’s “no fan con” because membership is limited (we had to turn people away), the memberships are considered pretty pricey ($150 for four days; it would have been $175 at the door had we not sold out), programming is relatively sparse (two tracks of panels plus readings), and costumes are discouraged (except that there were costume parties on Halloween itself). But anyone can buy a membership as long as the con has not run out of them, so it’s not like there’s someone at registration saying, “You’re a fan! Get out of here!”
WFC is essentially a highly-focused literary convention with an emphasis on fantasy literature and art, with a further overlay of being a significant gathering of professionals in the field. For those who are interested, it’s a blast. For the great majority of modern convention-going fans, it would actually come across as very boring and way too expensive.