What a Convention!

Not sure who let in that guy on the left!
Daniel Arthur Smith's table was awesome!

Does anyone remember Yakov Smirnoff? His catch-phrase, in mock Russian accent, was, “What a country!”

I feel the same way about the Book Fiend Reader’s Fest conventions: What a weekend!

First, it was SO FUN! This was the first convention I attended as an active author with published works. I did a reading, participated on a panel, and had SO MUCH FUN!

What a weekend!

I also learned a lot, which is a good thing if I’m every going to get accepted by another convention committee. I flew out of Southern California on Friday afternoon. My schedule was somewhat brutal to make the convention. I flew into Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, and we arrived late. In fact, my connecting flight was boarding when I finally got off the plane. No big deal, though. This is what we train for! The concourses were next to each other, although it was a good mile or two of actual leg work to get there, but I made it just as they called for final boarding!

Jessica Lucci, Elizabeth Chatworth, and Corrina Lawson
Steampunking it up!

Touching down in Hartford, Connecticut was exactly what I thought it would be like. There, it was nearly midnight, but that’s only 9 o’clock for a West Coaster, so I was more than up for the hour-long ride from the airport to Norwich and my awaiting AirBnB. The apartment I stayed in was SO CUTE that I wished I’d had more time to spend there. I’d thought it was just a bedroom, but it was actually and entire place, and WAY more affordable any a hotel.

What a weekend!

The Book Fiend Readers Fest was mostly supposed to be steampunk-based, so I made the mistake of ONLY carrying THE CLOCKWORK DETECTIVE with me. This is no fault of the convention, just an inexperienced author. There was a lot of fantasy, urban fantasy, science fiction, etc. present, so TEARS OF HEAVEN, HELL BECOMES HER, and COMPANY OF THE DAMNED would have fit right in. I could have swapped out two volumes of each, and they would have been right at home.

Rookie mistakes were going to happen. I forget to bring any swag or business cards. It was a pretty basic oversight, and I won’t miss those opportunities again. I have all that stuff, but, as Tolkien wrote, “One thing drives out another.” That was certainly the case.

I did have a lovely steampunk-themed table cloth that I purchased specifically for these kinds of events. That goes into the gear for future efforts. Bookmarks have been made, and business cards have all gone into the box along with the unsold copies of the books. Stands and pricing sheets were ready to go, so those were never an issue. There are some sweet, sweet lighted pens/stylus combinations that I’ve been considering, and I just need to pull the trigger for the next convention.

Over-all, though: WHAT A WEEKEND!