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I'm back from DucKon, a local SF convention. I ended up eating dinner in the hotel bar both nights. I also ended up in conversations with "mundanes," also known as "not convention guests." On Friday night it was with a consultant in from Tennessee on business, on Saturday it was with a couple in from Cincinnati for a wedding. On both occasions, the question was "what is this 'con' thing, anyway?"
Well, it's a lot like a college dorm. See, just like in college, a bunch of people are thrown together in close quarters for a period of time. Also like in college, they have a lot of deep, philosophical conversations about topics great and small. Some of these conversations are scheduled (called "programming") and some aren't. Some are fueled by booze (the average con-goer is well past the legal age) and some aren't. Also like in college, you get all kinds of folks, some of whom like to dress up in weird outfits. If you liked college, you might like SF cons.
In other news, my "Self-publishing for Dummies" panel was poorly-attended, but I did get to meet another self-publisher, Jon Klement. He has a series of books starring something called a Smerd. Nice guy - hopefully I'll get a chance to review some of his stuff. Speaking of self-publishing, I just finished![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jeff_duntemann's new short story collection, Cold Hands. Enjoyable as usual, and I'll have a more cogent review up in the usual places soon.
Finally, have you noticed a huge explosion in computer-generated images of people? It seems like every self-publisher in town is using them to decorate their book covers. Apparently they all come from Poser, a $249.99 software package. Now you know.
Well, it's a lot like a college dorm. See, just like in college, a bunch of people are thrown together in close quarters for a period of time. Also like in college, they have a lot of deep, philosophical conversations about topics great and small. Some of these conversations are scheduled (called "programming") and some aren't. Some are fueled by booze (the average con-goer is well past the legal age) and some aren't. Also like in college, you get all kinds of folks, some of whom like to dress up in weird outfits. If you liked college, you might like SF cons.
In other news, my "Self-publishing for Dummies" panel was poorly-attended, but I did get to meet another self-publisher, Jon Klement. He has a series of books starring something called a Smerd. Nice guy - hopefully I'll get a chance to review some of his stuff. Speaking of self-publishing, I just finished
jeff_duntemann's new short story collection, Cold Hands. Enjoyable as usual, and I'll have a more cogent review up in the usual places soon.Finally, have you noticed a huge explosion in computer-generated images of people? It seems like every self-publisher in town is using them to decorate their book covers. Apparently they all come from Poser, a $249.99 software package. Now you know.
