My last DemiCon?

By Jan S. Gephardt

DemiCon 34 may have been my last DemiCon. I have a lot of great history with DemiCon as an institution, and as an eagerly-anticipated annual event. I’ve blogged about it in this space for the last several years, as veteran readers of this blog may recall.

It was the convention that primarily inspired my 2019 post “Why I go to SF Conventions.” For a profile of DemiCon at its recent best, take a look at my 2018 post, “My DemiCon 29 Experience.” I had a wonderful time there.

Even the Pandemic didn’t kill my love for DemiCon. Their patient, helpful Joe Struss helped me create “My First Original Video” for Virtual DemiCon in 2020. And they looked as if they were coming back strong in 2022, as reflected in my post “The Best and Worst Time.”

But DemiCon 34 may have been my last DemiCon. At least for a while.

Image courtesy of the DemiCon Facebook Page.

 

A Series of Unfortunate Events

I figured we were off to another great start last fall, when I received an invitation to attend with a guest as a professional guest (this means the membership fee is waived because I’ll be “paying for it” by appearing on panels. It’s a normal-enough procedure, and I’m always happy to agree). I responded quickly to say quite truthfully that I was looking forward to it.

After that, however, crickets. (Okay, it was winter. But still). Finally in March I figured I’d better find out if they’d forgotten me. As it turned out, they kind of had. There’d been a reshuffling of the con committee in some way. My invitation and acceptance had gotten lost in that shuffle. But Amanda in Programming said of course I’d be welcome, and she’d find ways to fit me onto panels. No author reading, though.

Um, okay. Well, things could still work out. It didn’t have to be my last DemiCon. But unfortunate events and disappointments gradually accumulated.

Woulda, Coulda, but missed it! Here’s some of the paper sculpture I would like to have shown at DemiCon this year. All artwork is © Jan S. Gephardt.

 

Art Show?

I couldn’t find Art Show information online. Turns out it was on their website and they did (let the record show) have an Art Show. It was listed under “Venue” in dim type at the bottom of their index page. I found “Dealers Room” on that drop-down menu, but somehow my eyes kept skipping over “Art Show” (second down after “Anime Room”).

I guess I was always in too much of a hurry to search the fine print. And, perhaps because of the concom shakeup, I also never received a contact from the Art Show Director. Usually I get a cheery email a few months out, asking if I’ll be showing art again this year. That really would have saved me, this year.

So, I didn’t bring any art (thought, “what’s the point?” and we were tight on space). Then, to my dismay, I discovered there was an Art Show after all. I tried not to be too upset, but I never could quite bring myself to go inside and see what was there. I suppose it should be no big deal in the grand scheme. But I was crushed.

Granted, a mistake I made shouldn’t be used as a justification to make this my last DemiCon. But it was one more, particularly searing disappointment on the growing pile of them.

Our son Tyrell Gephardt represents at the Weird Sisters Publishing Dealers Table on Friday 5/5/23. This shot gives a good view of about half of the Dealers Room, as well as the books we offered. Photo by Pascal Gephardt. Nebula 2 tablecloth design ©2021 by Chaz Kemp.

 

A Very Tight Squeeze

The Big Convention Experiment for this year is a quest to answer the question: Can Weird Sisters Publishing present a profitable Dealers Table at sf conventions? Didn’t have to be super-lucrative, but at least breaking even would be nice. We tried to vary our offerings (and increase the odds of selling things) by including the work of selected Kansas City Author Friends Dora Furlong, Lynette M. Burrows, Randal Spangler, Karin Rita Gastreich, and M. C. Chambers, as well as my books and my sister G. S. Norwood’s Deep Ellum Duet. Happily, we did sell something from almost everyone. But did we break even? No.

Our first challenge was squeezing ourselves into the space. To say the Dealers Room was “cozy” . . . well, check out the photo above. There wasn’t room for our banner. In fact, it’s a good thing I’ve lost about 30 lbs. over the course of the past year (thank you, NOOM!), or I wouldn’t have been able to squeeze through to work the table.

Unfortunately, the aisle space was almost as constricted as the space behind the table. ADA compliance? Ouch! Not so much. The aisles were consistently congested each time I came in, but that doesn’t mean there was room for a lot of traffic. Yes, it was a small con. But as a semi-frequent visitor to the dealers rooms of many conventions, I can tell you I personally would have looked at the congestion and thought, “Nope.” Was that the experience that made me question whether this would be my last DemiCon? Well, no. Not by itself.

Taken before the “A.I. Meets SF” Panel on 5/5/23. L-R: Steven Southard, Jan S. Gephardt, and David J. Pedersen. Jan teamed up with one or the other of these men for all but one of her subsequent panels. Photo by Helpful Audience Member Number One, who remained anonymous.

 

The Best Bright Spot: My Panels

For me, the highlight of this convention was the panels. This is often true. For one, I love to talk about our genre(s), writing, art, and related topics. For another, I generally love working with the other panelists. Most are interesting, knowledgeable, and intelligent people, and would be so in any setting. A well-moderated, intelligent discussion with such people is a delight I relish.

Most of my panels teamed me up with either Steven Southard or David J. Pedersen. The “A.I. Meets SF” panel on Friday 5/5/23 included all three of us. I had a lovely time working with both of them. They’re bright, thoughtful men. I’d met and been on panels with David before, but a major high point of DemiCon 34 was meeting Steven. Our panel discussions were lots of fun, and we had large, intelligent, well-informed audiences. It was a mix of elements practically guaranteed to be both stimulating and fun.

I was on five panels. By the time we got to the final one on Sunday afternoon (where I joined Author Guest Rachel Aukes to discuss “Who Will We Meet in Space?”), I think everyone was exhausted. The audience barely outnumbered Rachel and me, and they seemed little disposed to talk much. But that somewhat “flat note” certainly wouldn’t have been enough, on its own, to make me ask, “Is this my last DemiCon?”

Two queen beds and big, sunny windows provided a deceptively-inviting view. Photo by Jan S. Gephardt.

 

My Last DemiCon?

In my first book, What’s Bred in the Bone, there’s a chapter titled, “A Combined Weight of Awfulness.” I wouldn’t ascribe “awfulness” to my DemiCon 34 experience (with one exception). But disappointment after disappointment built up through the weekend. The convention committee seemed disorganized. There weren’t many panels that looked interesting to me, outside of the ones I was on. Readings by friends were mostly scheduled against my own panels, so I couldn’t attend them. I didn’t get many other networking opportunities.

But our discovery in one of our rooms would’ve sent us home immediately if we’d been there strictly as fans. A rash of distinctive red bumps rose on several sensitive square inches of my son’s skin. Then he found a rather distinctive little brown bug in his bed. And when you find one, you know there must be more. De-con efforts have continued since we got home, to make sure none infiltrated our luggage.

We had a dealer’s table. I’d made promises to be on panels. We’d bought a program book ad. So we accepted a change of rooms and stayed. But combined with all the other issues and disappointments, this was definitely the nadir of all my convention-going experiences in the more than three decades I’ve been going to conventions all over the country. So DemiCon 34 is likely to have been my last DemiCon. At least for a good long while.

IMAGE CREDITS

Many thanks to The DemiCon 34 Facebook Page for their Convention header. The artwork displayed in my “woulda” montage is © Jan S. Gephardt. Many thanks to Pascal for the Dealer’s Table photo and to Helpful Audience Member Number One, for the photo of the “A.I. Meets SF” panelists. I took that room pic myself. 

Preparing for DemiCon

 By Jan S. Gephardt

This week I’m preparing for DemiCon 33, to be held in Des Moines, IA May 6-8, 2022. There is a lot to do. Would you like a glimpse of my process?

My son Tyrell and I had been in the habit of attending 6-8 science fiction conventions per year before the Pandemic locked everything down. In our attempts to evade the roller-coaster of Covid dips and peaks, we dared to attend Archon 44 in person last October. But the Omicron surge (and an extremely untimely snowstorm) shoved us back into attending Capricon 42 virtually, last February.

Preparing for a virtual convention differs dramatically from preparing to go in person. There are logistics involved with both, but it takes far greater organization and effort to attend an SF convention in person. Either way, we have to iron out membership details, but an in-person appearance means making hotel reservations and lots more planning ahead. Not to mention hauling all our stuff several hundred miles to go encamp somewhere for several days.

Jan and Ty are preparing for DemiCon 33 (header courtesy of DemiCon 33).

 

To Attend or Go Virtual, That is the (First) Question

Even as we’re preparing for DemiCon, we’re keeping a wary eye on the recent rise in Omicron BA.2 cases. I’m double-vaxxed and double-boosted (Ty’s too young and healthy to need the second booster). Both my Beloved and I are in a higher risk category because of our age. And my family also cares for my frail, 97-year-old father, whom we’d like to keep alive and well.

I know a lot of the country is young, healthy, and really, thoroughly beyond tired of being careful. For well or ill, however, my family still can’t afford to take undue risks with Covid. So it was with considerable caution that we decided to give DemiCon an in-person try. They’re following local health guidelines at the con, but we’ll definitely bring our hand sanitizer and masks!

This is kind of how a lot of people visualize the Covid “roller coaster.” (See credits below).

 

When I go to a convention, I no longer go just as myself, but also a representative of Weird Sisters Publishing. That somewhat alters the advance publicity planning. For one thing, I decided this year to try advertising in conventions’ program books. This might raise awareness of our little company, and it also might help financially-distressed cons – which means most of them, these days.

Preparing for DemiCon Way Beforehand

Advertising means I must design an ad. Ad deadlines usually come a month or more before the convention. But it’s a way to represent, when we’re still too small to support a dealers’ table. We don’t have many titles in print yet (also, the hours I’d have to keep, to run a dealer’s table, might seriously end this confirmed old night owl).

But, few or many, preparing for DemiCon means I had to have some books. In stock. At the con.I have more on order, and I’m lucky to have what I hope are enough for DemiCon already in hand. We currently have print editions of my three XK9 books. That’s it for now, but not for long.

My sister’s Deep Ellum Stories are too short for individual print copies bigger than maybe a booklet. Those might be more expensive to print than I could ask people to pay. We’re holding out for an omnibus edition before we print it, once she’s finished the other two stories she’s planning. Starting this fall, once my late brother-in-law’s Windhover Tetralogy is back in print, I may have to make a different calculation about that dealer’s table.

Here’s Jan, masked for Covid protection at Archon 44, October 2021 (photo by Tyrell E. Gephardt).

 

Long Live S.W.A.G.!

Lacking a dealer’s table, I am a mobile exhibit. I’ve made signs. I always carry a copy or two of each book. And I like to come loaded with S.W.A.G. for the freebie table or to give away at autograph sessions or my reading.

What is S.W.A.G.? I wrote an entire blog post about it, a while back. The acronym stands for “stuff we all get.” That is, free things handed out at a convention. For Weird Sisters, it consists of bookmarks for each book, a postcard that promotes What’s Bred in the Bone and my reading, and badge ribbons. I do have new bookmarks to hand out since the Pandemic: I had some made for The Other Side of Fear, A Bone to Pick, and my sister’s story Deep Ellum Blues.

Making bookmarks and badge ribbons are two other long-term projects, along with ordering books and making ads. I first have to figure out designs and badge ribbon one-liners. Then I compose and design them, and place my orders so I’ll have them when it’s time to go to more conventions. Preparing for DemiCon, plus preparing to have enough S.W.A.G. for the rest of the summer and fall, took a while.

A lot of work goes into the creation of “freebies” at conventions. (See credits below).

The Art Part

Anyone who’s seen me at a convention knows I nearly always have artwork in the Art Show. I’ve “always” been a visual artist. I was an art major (printmaking and graphic design) for my undergraduate degree (I minored in journalism). During my full-time teaching career, I worked as an art teacher who also taught some publications. But, although I steadily honed my writing craft in the background, in the early years the artwork always came first.

And after 40 years of bringing artwork to science fiction conventions, it just doesn’t feel right if I don’t have an Art Show display! Thus, preparing for DemiCon means gathering enough work for a display, getting registered, and preparing the paperwork needed.

If you’ve followed this blog, you have seen lots of “Here’s my art show panel at X” photos. I’ll probably post one of this year’s DemiCon display, too. Sorry to say, it will be smaller than in past years. Between writing fiction, working on my monthly newsletters, blogging, and working on covers for Warren’s Windhover Tetralogy, I’ve had less time than usual for paper sculpture.

Jan’s art show panel at Archon 43 in October 2019, when she won an award for "Best 3D" (photo by Jan S. Gephardt).

 

Panels, Readings, and Presenting Myself

Conventions, large or small, are entertainment venues that operate on thin profit margins. They often give panelists free memberships, but that’s not just because they love them. It’s because they’re relying on them to help provide a worthwhile experience for con-goers.

I spent too many years as a teacher preparing lesson plans to stomach just walking into a panel “cold,” and “winging it.” To me, that’s grossly unprofessional. But that means I must develop materials for panels ahead of time. My ideal? To go into a panel with enough material (even if I’m not the official moderator) to guide the panel into interesting discussions for the full time we have. If we don’t get to all (or any) of them, that’s okay, as long as the audience enjoyed the panel.

For readings, especially when I share a short time slot during a session with one or more other authors, I plan ahead. Readings are like auditions for my books, so I practice. I time myself to be sure I respect others’ time allotments. And, although it’s always a challenge at this end of the “con season,” coughing fits are not entertaining. I try to get my voice in shape, so I’m able to read all the way through smoothly.

Here’s a walk through the decades that Jan’s been going to sf cons. (See credits and panelist identifications below).

 

Preparing for DemiCon

As you can see, preparing for DemiCon – or any convention – takes a lot of work. I think it’s worth it, because I love science fiction conventions. If you also go to conventions and enjoy the special exhibits and/or panels, now you have a bit more behind-the-scenes understanding of what goes into them. And if you’re a newer creator, getting ready for an early-career foray to a convention, maybe this post has offered some ideas (the teacher in me hopes so).

And thank God the conventions are coming back! Many thanks to all the dedicated convention committees and their financial backers. And here's a hope for the DemiCon committe, my fellow panelists and exhibitors, and all my fellow attendees, that with all of us preparing for DemiCon, it’ll be the best one yet!

IMAGE CREDITS

First of all, many thanks to DemiCon 33! Thanks for inviting me, for providing me with a venue to show and read my work to others, and thanks also for your header graphic at the top of this post!

I assembled the “Covid Roller Coaster” montage with two images: Statista provided the graph of Covid cases in the US from the start of the Pandemic through April 9, 2022. The burning roller coaster photo came from Inspire More’s article full of Covid-related memes (the credit there said only “Instagram”). Tineye Reverse Image search found it on a website I can’t access, back in early September 2014. Other hints in its early record on Tineye indicate a possible location in the Los Angles area, but that’s all I could find in a quick search.

SF Convention Memory Lane

I owe Tyrell E, Gephardt repeated thanks for photos of me at conventions. He took the one of me, masked up behind my current collection of signs, books, and S.W.A.G. at Archon 44 last October (2021). He also took the one of me at Capricon in 2020 with my then-full display of S.W.A.G., at my autograph session. And he gets further credit for the photo of me at Archon 43 in 2019, preparing to do a reading.

I took other photos of our S.W.A.G., as well as the wide photo of my Art Show display at Archon 43 in 2019. Sorry: the one at DemiCon 33 won’t be that big, because I’ve sold a lot of that artwork since then.

I don’t think I was ever sure who took the “historical documents” that show me at ConQuesT in 1985 (ConQuesT 16) and 2012 (ConQuesT 46), but I can identify my fellow panelists. In the 1985 photo they are L-R: Dell Harris, Ken Keller, me, and the late Roland Schmidt, my former co-teacher and a fantasy watercolorist. BTW, that’s my calligraphy on the name cards, back before desktop printing made them easy to print. And in the 2012 photo that’s me on the left. Tracy S. Morris sits in the middle with her book Bride of Tranquility. At the right is fellow Kansas City writer, artist, and longtime sf fan Sherri Dean.

Authors everywhere

There seemed to be authors everywhere at Capricon 40. I've already introduced several of them in the "Capricon Project" posts "Detectives in the Wild" and "Indie Author Speed-Dating." But there were yet more!

(image courtesy of Capricon 40 website)

Personal experiences

These Capricon Project posts focus only on authors I met and interacted with personally at the con. My apologies to all the other authors who were there. If I didn't encounter you in a meaningful way at the con, I didn't include you.

I did also video-record a series of short interviews with Indie authors with tables in the Capricon 40 Dealers' Room. I'm still working on those. I need to learn how to use Premiere Pro to edit them. I hope to produce them for posting during the spring months.

Yes, there were authors everywhere at Capricon 40. Let me mention a few more here.

Jonathan P. Brazee

Jonathan P. Brazee at the Indie Author Speed-Dating event at Capricon 40 (Photo by Jan S. Gephardt)

I've had the pleasure of being friends with Jonathan Brazee since we met in Puerto Rico in 2017. He is a prolific, successful Nebula Award-nominated, Dragon Award-winning author who mostly writes military science fiction. I included a short profile of him in one of my post-Capricon articles last year, but he's expanded several of his series since then.

He wrote his 2020 novel Gemini Twins in honor of his own twin daughters. Other recently-completed series include Ghost Marines and The Navy of Humankind-Wasp Squadron.

Books by Jonathan P. Brazee from right to left: the Navy of Humankind-Wasp Squadron series, Gemini Twins, and the Ghost Marines series. (Book cover images courtesy of Amazon).

Dorothy Winsor

I shared a reading time-slot with Dorothy Winsor at Capricon 40. She read a wonderful short story. I believe she said it's unpublished to date, but it deserves to be seen and read! She writes mostly middle-grade and Young Adult fantasy.

The book she promoted most at Capricon was The Wind Reader. It's a story about a young boy who tells fortunes on the street to earn a living. Then he tells a fortune for prince that later actually comes true(!) Next he's compelled to come to the castle to be the royal fortune teller--a role for which he's not prepared.

At right is Dorothy Winsor, just before her reading at Capricon 40. At left, her current novel, The Wind Reader. (photo by Jan S. Gephardt. Book covers are courtesy of Amazon).

Lance Erlick

I stayed for the readings that followed mine and Dorothy's. This gave me the opportunity to hear an excerpt from Lance Erlick's book Reborn. It's the first of his Android Chronicles books. Interesting and well written, it probably ought to come with trigger warnings.

Erlick's android protagonist "Synthia Cross is a state-of-the-art masterwork of synthetic human design—and a fantasy come true for her creator." She shows enough alarming signs of emergent behavior, however, that her creator wipes her memory each day to keep her in control. He has his nefarious reasons, but she's already learning how to leave herself clues so she can reconstruct her past--and reveal her creator's true intentions.

Lance Erlick listens to Kristine Smith's reading at Capricon 40, before it's his turn. At right are three books of the Android Chronicles. (photo by Jan S. Gephardt. Book covers are courtesy of Amazon).

Kristine Smith

Kristine shared the reading time-slot with Lance. A winner of the John W. Campbell Award, she's been writing the Jani Kilian Chronicles for several years. Its multiple volumes tell the story of a struggle for understanding and peace between humans and an exo-terrestraial species called the idomeni.

The title character is a former captain with powerful enemies and a body that's been expensively repaired after traumatic injuries that allowed her death to be faked. Kilian subsequently forms a friendship with the idomeni ambassador. Smith's reading selection this time was an excerpt from the most recent Jani Kilian book. She also writes the Lauren Reardon series, under the name of Alex Gordon.

Kristine Smith reads from part of the Jani Kilian series at Capricon 40. (photo by Jan S. Gephardt. Book covers courtesy of Amazon).

Donna J. W. Munro

I shared an autographing table with Donna J. W. Munro, who primarily writes dark fantasy horror, YA fiction, and science fiction. She is a prolific writer of short fiction, including two stories, "Death's Day Off," and "My Forever Love," in the anthology Beautiful Lies, Painful Truths, Vol. II.

According to her blog, the first of a series about zombies, called the Poppet Series ("about tamed zombies and the girl who wants to save them"), will be available in May 2020.

Donna J. W. Munro and one of the anthologies in which her short fiction is published. (photo by Tyrell E. Gephardt; book cover image courtesy of Amazon.)

W. A. Thomasson

W. A. (Bill) Thomasson
(photo: Tyrell E. Gephardt)

Like Jonathan Brazee, I met Bill Thomasson in Puerto Rico in 2017, and we've bumped into each other at conventions ever since. Bill has been working on a sword and sorcery novel for some time. He'd hoped that The Whip of Abadur would be available in time for Capricon 40, but it's still in production (indeed, there's no cover yet!).

He describes the story this way: "In an ancient Fertile Land that is not quite the one we know, the cat burglar Teema is hired to retrieve a demon-god’s stolen symbol of power and return it to its proper temple. But she quickly learns that meddling in the affairs of gods and demons is more dangerous than she had thought."

As you can see, Capricon 40 featured authors everywhere! I hope you've enjoyed one more small tour through some of the exotic and interesting worlds they've created, in this final episode of the Capricon Project.

IMAGE CREDITS:

The photos of Jonathan Brazee, Dorothy Winsor, Lance Erlick, and Kristine Smith all were taken at Capricon 40 by Jan S. Gephardt with the subjects' knowledge and consent. If you wish to re-use or reblog any of these photos, please credit Jan as the photographer and if possible include a link back to this post. 

The photos of Donna J. W. Munro and W. A. (Bill) Thomasson were taken by Tyrell E. Gephardt, also at Capricon 40, and also with the subjects' knowledge and consent. Please observe the same courtesy of including an attribution and link back, if you use these photos.

The Capricon 40 header is courtesy of Capricon 40's website. All of the book cover images are courtesy of Amazon (see captions for individual links).

Looking forward to Capricon 40

My "sf convention year" kicks off in February. I'm looking forward to Capricon 40 on Valentine's weekend, Feb. 13-16, 2020, in Wheeling, IL. And I'm already preparing for panel discussions and the Art Show.

My first Capricon was Cap 30, when my friend Lucy A. Synk was their Artist Guest of Honor. She invited me to attend as her guest. I had a lot of fun, but wasn't able to go back for several years after that.

Montage by Jan S. Gephardt, to represent her Blogging a Panel post from the Capricon 37 she wasn't able to attend.

Blogging a panel

I tried to go back in 2017, but a combination of countervailing events forced me to cancel so late in the process that I'd already been scheduled for panels. Unfortunately, one panel for which I'd been scheduled, Writing about Forensics, only had two panelists. The other, Jen Haeger, also had to cancel late in the process, so Writing about Forensics suddenly also got scrubbed.

Jen and I had been communicating online, and we decided that even if we couldn't go to Capricon and present the panel in person, we still could present the panel virtually. This led to Blogging a Panel on this blog (I think it was paralleled on Jen's blog and also that of Capricon's parent group, Phandemonium).

Since then, I haven't had to resort to such drastic measures.

This blog has followed my adventures at Capricon 38 and my Artwork, travel follies, and reflections upon Capricon 39.

Image courtesy of Capricon

Looking forward to Capricon 40

I plan to have my artwork in the Art Show, and of course I'll be on panels. I even have my schedule already! So I'm really looking forward to Capricon 40.

There's one set for Thursday at 5:00 p.m., called Detectives in the Wild (I moderate). We'll talk about detectives in science fiction (as opposed to urban fantasy, where they more often turn up).

Photo by Ty Gephardt, taken May 24, 2019.
Books, badge ribbons and bookmarks at the
Mad Authors' Salon co-hosted by Jan S. Gephardt,
Lynette M. Burrows, and Dora Furlong, at
ConQuesT 50 in Kansas City, MO.

On Friday my panels are Pronouns and SF/F at 2:30 p.m., and Weird Hobbies for Immortals at 4 p.m. (I moderate that one, too). I'm also scheduled to participate in the Indie Author Speed-Dating event on Friday at 5:30 p.m., which should be interesting (I have badge ribbons and bookmarks to hand out!)

Saturday starts early (for me). I'm scheduled to autograph at 10 a.m. and read from What's Bred in the Bone at 1 p.m., sharing the time slot with Dorothy Winsor. That evening at 7 p.m. I'll facilitate the Creating a Tropical World workshop.

Finally, on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. I'll participate in Religion and Ethics in an Age of Artificial Intelligence, which also ought to be an interesting discussion. I promise I'll come with coffee in hand, so I'm coherent.

Of course I'll also have paperback copies available from Weird Sisters Publishing. Certainly I'll bring copies of What's Bred in the Bone. If all goes well, I'll also have paperback copies of my sister's Deep Ellum Pawn novelette (as I write this, it's still only available via Kindle)!

With all of this, I hope that you, like me, will be looking forward to Capricon 40--either at the convention in Wheeling, or perhaps here in follow-up blog posts.

Photo by Jan S. Gephardt. This is my Art Show display at Archon in Collinsville, IL as it looked October 6, 2019.

Please note: My next XK9 story, a prequel novella titled The Other Side of Fear, will be available in March 2020. The second novel in the XK9 "Bones" Trilogy, A Bone to Pick, is set for release this fall.

IMAGE CREDITS: 
The "Blogging a Panel" header is by Jan S. Gephardt, with images courtesy of Reference,  Belleville News-Democrat,  National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Criminal Justice Degreelink. 
The half-header for Capricon 40 is courtesy of the Capricon Website. 
The photo of my book display at the May 24, 2019 "Mad Authors' Salon" at ConQuesT 50 is by Ty Gephardt, and used with his permission. 
I took the photo of my art display at Archon, October 6, 2019 myself. you may re-post or re-blog any of them with correct attribution to the creators and a link back to this post.

Will I see you in Collinsville?

It's early October, so it's time for Archon! Will I see you in Collinsville?

This year's convention is the 43rd iteration of "The Midwest's Premier Science Fiction and Fantasy Event." After a hiatus of more than a decade, Ty and I returned for last year's Archon, and quickly decided we wanted to come back.

Will I see you in Collinsville? There'll be a lot to see and do there. What will you miss, if you can't come?

Artwork
As you know if you've followed this blog for any length of time, I always want to be in the Art Show of any convention I attend. This one's no exception! I'll bring my own paper sculpture, including a newly piece that I've been working on--for real!--since 2012 (My Beloved is downstairs matting it, as I write this post).

The Silver Lady Appears, 2012-2019, by Jan S. Gephardt

This season from ConQuesT on, I've been acting as an agent for Lucy A. Synk's artwork, too. She has been developing an interesting series of "Dirty Pour Planets," which actually include moons, stars, nebulae, and other astronomical objects, as well as imagined planets. She explains her technique briefly on her "Planet Series" webpage.

Boreas and Khione, 2019, by Lucy A. Synk

But you really should enjoy these originals in person, for the full effect. With all the iridescent paints, mica chips, and other cool elements in her bag of tricks, no photograph or image scan really does them justice. So, will I see you in Collinsville?

My Reading
I love readings at conventions. I love listening to them from other authors, and I love doing them myself, reading from my own work. It's an author's way of giving out free samples (and who doesn't like free samples?).

My reading at Archon 43 is scheduled for Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m., in the Gateway Center Cahokian Room ("The Authorquarium").

It's also a great way to learn about new books and authors. A significant portion of my towering "TBR Pile" (to-be-read) may be laid at the doorstep of going to readings at cons!

I'll be part of a three-author panel that also includes Howard Andrew Jones and Marella Sands. We'll each present a reading at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday evening (Oct. 5, 2019) in the Gateway Center's Cahokian Room (aka "The Authorquarium").

I'll probably read from What's Bred in the Bone, unless enough of the audience is interested in hearing an excerpt from A Bone to Pick, the second novel in the "Bones" Trilogy (due to be released in 2020). Will I see you in Collinsville?

Panels
I'm scheduled on six panels, other than my reading (I'm pleased! I get to moderate about half of them!). Here's my schedule:

Friday
4:00 p.m. - Gateway Center Illini A - "The Viability of Being an Artist"
Can art be a viable career in today's world?

5:00 p.m. - Gateway Center Salon 4 - "Why do Stories of Children Captivate us?"
It, Harry Potter, Stranger Things, etc. Stories about children grab our attention. Is it good writing or nostalgia?

At Archon 42, fellow panelist Rachael Mayo interacts with audience members after our "Art on a Budget" panel.

Saturday
Noon - Gateway Center Salon 1 - "Will the Robots Rebel?"
It's a popular plot device, but what's the likelihood of this actually happening?

1:00 p.m. - Gateway Center Illini A - "Bright Colors"
I have bright colors and I'm not afraid to use them! (artist panel)

5:00 p.m. - Double Tree St. Clair A and B - "LGBTQ+ Representation in Fandom"
The representation is getting better, but what can happen to make it amazing and standardized across the board? (I'll have to sprint across the "causeway" to the Gateway Center after the end of this panel to get to my reading at 6:00 in the Gateway Center).

8:00 p.m. - Gateway Center Illini A - "Creating Covers"
Book covers are the first thing to pique the reader's interest! Learn how to create dynamic book covers to complement great stories!

Will I see you in Collinsville? It ought to be an excellent weekend at Archon 43.

At Archon 42, L-R, George Sirois (“SEAR-oy”), Brad R. Cook, Camille Faye, and Debbie Manber Kupfer discussed "Alternate Paths to Publishing."

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to the Archon website (artwork by Mitchell D. Bentley of Atomic Fly Studios) for the "Archon 43" banner. The cover artwork for my novel What's Bred in the Bone is © 2019 by Jody A. Lee. 
The photo of my art show panel from the FenCon XVI Art Show, and the photo of my new work The Silver Lady Appears, are by me, Jan S. Gephardt, of my own artwork. The photo of the painting Boreas and Khione is by Lucy A. Synk, as is the artwork itself. Used here with permission from the artist. 
The two "reading" photos that flank my book cover in the "readings" montage are by (L) Judith Bemis (taken at NorthAmericon '17) and (R) Dolly M. Dgrafe (taken at FenCon XVI). The two photos from Archon 42 are by Jan S. Gephardt, and originally were published in the "Glimpses of Archon 42" post on this blog.