Metropolis Supercon Roundup

Had an enjoyable weekend at Metropolis Supercon 2012, held in the town of Metropolis IL, which is perched on the border of Kentucky right across from Paducah.

Metropolis, as you might guess, takes pride in all things Superman. Big statue in the town square, a Superman museum, and even a Superman festival. The Con itself has been around for five years, and this was my second trip in.

It is about a four hour drive for me, so my day started quite early, about 4:30 am. I drove into town and went straight to the venue where I had two tables to set up on. I don't have a problem at this point filling two tables with all of the items I bring along with me! LOL




I was across from actor John Wells, director Zach Schuyler, and actor and MMA champion Dale Miller, all good friends of mine (John and Dale were in Swordbearer, as some of you might recall.) They were situated next to John Wesley Shipp, who fans might recognize as the actor who portrayed The Flash.

I did get to meet John Wesley Shipp. He came across and visited my table, where we talked for a little bit. Very nice guy, very approachable and engaging with his fans. I would totally recommend him to any event looking to bring in a very friendly celebrity guest.




The crowd this year was, admittedly, down a bit from last year, but the people were fantastic. Jeff Yonosick, an author that I know, showed up as The Joker, and even posed with a copy of Crown of Vengeance after he had purchased it. Very nice endorsement, wouldn't you say? :)

Saturday night we got a nice bonus in the way of an invite from Brandon, Joshua, and Ben, three guys who are huge movie buffs with a great memorabilia collection. They are a blast to hang out with and I'm glad we got to visit with them again this year. Joshua is an AMAZING cook, and he went all out again with a great dinner.

Last year's Metropolis I mentioned the weird phenomenon surrounding Myra's Magic Hot Dogs. Whenever myself or anyone else ate one, they would make a sale within minutes at their tables. Guess what? They worked again, and it was eerie! Three separate occasions for me, and Michael Gordon and Bobby Nash can also attest to the strange powers that these seemingly normal hot dogs have. Myra Daniels, a co-chair of Fandom Fest and the Fright Night Film Festival, got a real kick out of seeing the magic hot dogs demonstrate their powers again! LOL

Sunday was a bit on the slow side, so things shut down a little earlier, and I was able to get a jump on the road trip back to Lexington. I think the Con would be a great one day event and I hope they consolidate it next year to a longer single day schedule. Overall, though, it was very enjoyable, and I got to catch up with some good friends. I do hope to go back in 2012.

Next up this weekend is the Author's Fair in Madison, IN, where Michael West will be launching Poseidon's Children, and then on to MidSouthCon in Memphis the following weekend!

Off to Metropolis SuperCon!

Heading off to Metrpolis Supercon today for a return to an event that I did for the first time last year. Metropolis IL is known for all things Superman, from the statue in the town to the museum, to a festival it holds every year. The Metropolis Supercon is held at the Metropolis Community Center, and will feature a range of guests, including comic book artists, authors, filmmakers, and more. I had a great time last year and made some new friends that I've kept in touch with, so it will be nice to return to the town. The hours are 10-5 on Saturday and 11-4 on Sunday.

The week went by fast. The highlight was without question a pair of fantasy writing workshops I did at Washington County High School, for the classes of Danielle Burke. I worked with a group of sophomores in one class and a group of juniors in the other.

With the help of Danielle, I had given them a small creative writing assignment prior to the workshop, so before I even arrived I had already critiqued the assignments handed in from the class. I talked about the value of the fantasy genre and my own path in becoming a writer, which led into individualized critiques of the assignments done by the students, followed by a period of open Q and A afterwards. The students were really attentive, engaged, and fun to work with.

There were definitely some promising writers in the group, but my goal of showing them that every single one of them could come up with original ideas and concepts for a fantasy-genre story was accomplished without question. Really loved the range of ideas and sub-genres that were reflected in the assignments. Some very creative approaches, interesting plot devices, character concepts, and settings were contained in the writing exercises. Definitely a workshop that I would like to do again with high school students in the future.

The week had a lot of activity, and Fandom Fest announced some great new guests such as John Rhys-Davies, the legendary actor, and Ernest Cline, one of the bright new stars of the literary realms whose Ready Player One was one of the biggest debut novels of all of 2011.

It seemed that the week rushed by with all of the activity and the workshops, as when I looked up the weekend was already upon me and it was time to prepare for Metropolis. So off I go to my second Metropolis Supercon. Friends of mine like actor John Wells, actor and 5 time MMA champion Dale Miller, filmmaker Zach Schuyler, Fandom Fest leaders Ken Daniels and Myra Daniels, author Bobby Nash, and many others will be on hand for what promises to be a fun weekend event. I'll try to remember to get some pictures!

A Wonderful WonderFest Weekend!

(Some of the works from Whitworth Sculpture Studio, who were located close to my booth at Wonderfest)


This past weekend was a bit of an experiment, as I took off for Louisville, Kentucky for WonderFest 2011. WonderFest is primarily an event focusing on the world of model kits, sculptures, toys, and the like, mainly in the scifi/horror/fantasy and military arenas.

It draws a couple thousand folks in, and has a number of panels and other activities, including the famous Rondo Awards. My booth was in the corner of one of the main vendor halls, adjacent to a fine fellow named Sean Kotz, who was assisting a dealer of toys/resin cast statues/model kits, and David and Cindy from Amazing Figure Modeler Magazine. At Cons, it is always a boon when you get good neighbors, and in my case I had two outstanding ones.

I didn't know how well my booth would go over, as I was one of the only "book people" in a hall filled with dealers, suppliers of kits, clay, and all kinds of things relating to the core elements of what WonderFest is about. It was truly a bit of an experiment, but I figured that I wrote in the right genre, so I had a shot. LOL

I am happy to say that things turned out very well. I ended up meeting some wonderful fantasy readers, ran into some of my friends that I see on the Con circuit, like Carrie Galloway, author Nicole Cushing, C.T. Brannon, and many others. The vibe was good all throughout!


(Me with Carrie Galloway...FINALLY got a pic with her! LOL She's as cool as she is pretty too!


I got to attend the Rondo Awards for the first time. It is an award named for B-movie villain Rondo Hatton, and the award is a bust of his very distinctive face. The awards featured a number of categories, ranging from best films, to best magazines, podcasts, and even a hall of fame.


(William Stout giving his induction speech for the Hall of Fame at the Rondo Awards)


Some of the presentations involved humor, such as the Rue Morgue Magazine win for best podcast, and some involved some emotional moments, such as when William Stout, one of the forces behind movies such as Wizards, was inducted into the Hall of Fame. You could tell that he was genuinely moved by the award, and he gave a really personal, heartfelt speech.

My host for the weekend was none other than Ken Daniels, the king of Fandom Fest, who was busy shuttling down on Saturday to a horror and tattoo convention in Nashville TN. I think Ken was trying to kill me on Friday (I came up a night early to set up for the Saturday-Sunday event), as he kept giving me organic food at his house. As everyone knows, good food needs good additives and artificial flavoring. Organic food is...well...we'll be polite, especially when it comes to the organic biscuits that Ken had.

Luckily, I had a stock of Monster Energy to detoxify myself from the organic array, LOL.

Myra Daniels and Melissa Majors came up on Sunday, and, lo and behold, they brought more of their magic, as readers of this blog may remember from my Metropolis Weekend. I knew it was coming when Myra went to get a hot dog to tide herself over until dinner. This began a sequence where whenever Myra and Melissa stopped by the booth, people bought books. It was uncanny, and just as surreal as Metropolis. I swear if they hung out with me every time I was at a Con, I'd hit the New York Times list. It is a really strange phenomenon, but I swear it happens!


(The unrivaled M&M's, Myra Daniels and Melissa Majors, double the trouble and twice the magic!)

I met many wonderful new reader friends, including a couple, Karen Jones, and Kim Doom,who blew me away by jumping into the deep end of the pool by getting all four of the available novels, in both series. I had to get a pic of this moment, as they had come up to the table at the same time.


(a pretty amazing moment documented here, Karen Jones on the left, and Kim Doom, on the right, back to back each got all four of my available novels. Wow, that was cool!)


I really love meeting readers face to face. I'm not one of those reclusive types when it comes to my reader-friends, and it is always a special moment when I meet a new reader-friend. Here are a couple more photos of some of the newest ones who have come aboard my crazy epic fantasy journey!


(Kaitlyn is one of my new reader friends who I met last weekend!)



(Me with Mary, who got my two Fires in Eden Books and is a lover of epic fantasy! She and her husband have fantastic taste in music, including Motorhead and Metallica!)

The weekend was capped off wonderfully with a great dinner shared with Myra, Ken, Melissa, horror film genius J.D. Feigelson,and Chris from VCI Entertainment. It was a blast listening to some pretty amazing stories, and looking towards some great things in the near future involving Fandom Fest. People definitely need to look towards coming to Louisville in July...it is going to be really exciting!



(Me with Ken Daniels, who made this great weekend possible, and who is a guy I consider a friend and a visionary)

I've got another short week, as Friday I'm heading to a Author Fair in Piqua Ohio (just outside of Dayton). It is a one day event, and I'm really looking forward to seeing some authors like Stephen Hines, Bonnie Stewart, and James Barnes. The Con/Event season is fully underway!