I feel like I should start this post with the ridonculous horrors that was our arrival into Atlanta for the DragonCon09 but to be honest, it is still a very painful and bitter memory. Perhaps once I am home and nothing else can go wrong as part of my DragonCon experience I will share. Instead I will start with today, the official day one.
First a pick of Linda Robertson author of Vicious Circle enjoying the cosplay!
Registration. OMG. I knew this con was big, but somehow that did not translate to me the potential nightmare of the logistics for things like registration. All and all, it was very smooth. I was so impressed that even though it was an hour wait, the line was moving steady and no one was complaining. I did hear that people who registered the night before (on Thursday) had a much longer wait for pre-reg but then again, they were also free to attend the earliest panels.
DragonCon TV: Too cool. I love it. If you are at one of the con hotels check it out. If you're not, you can check this out online and get the scoop on DragonCon first:http://dailydragon.dragoncon.org/
The Hotels: If you can manage I say room in one of the hosting hotels. It just makes things easier. I find the layout of the Hyatt, which is where the Dark Fantasy/Horror/Romance track and the writing track are, to be very confusing. Sometimes I forget which hotel I'm even in..and I will admit, that after seeing something is in the Sheraton I have decided not to go to that panel!
The Sessions:
The interview with Charlaine Harris was AWESOME!!! I was totally geeking out. I love it when I find people who are in love with the series as I am. The couple next to me had read the books and watched True Blood and like me, they loved them both as is. Because so many people I know are not up to speed on Season 2 (b/c they don't have HBO) and because some people have only either read the books or watched the show, I never have anyone I can talk openly with in person. So this was fantastic. We got hints to the Season Finale which CH has a cameo in and teasers for season 3 including some fun new casting sessions happening right now! I'll try to do a post just on CH and TB.
Went to two urban fantasy panels, and was loving it! Meant some new authors including an Ohio native Leanna Renee Hieber who's debut novel "The strangely beautiful tale of Miss Percy Parker" which just came out last week. She's going to be in Columbus in a few weeks, so I will write more about her later as well.
I'm also super excited about some YA books that are coming out. You should know by now I am a huge fan of YA stuff and I think that for the SF genre, (SF including Sci-Fi and Fantasy) they are doing some amazing stuff in YA that I am not finding in Adult stuff. As a writer, I find the vulnerability, insecurity, and general naivete of YA characters an interesting change of pace. Some of my faves based on the convo...
*Hunger Games & Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
*Demon's Lexicono by Sarah Resse Brennan
*Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey
*Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
*Ash by Melinda Lo
* The Dead and the Gone, Live as we knew it and The world I live In all by Susan Beth Pfeffer
*Leviathan by Scott Westerfield
There were a couple of my all time faves on the list that I have already read:
*The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
*Wake By Lisa McMann (also wrote Fade and Gone)
*City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
Okay that's all for now. My pics from the iphone aren't very good but I have my Nikon today so I will get more good stuff to post.
