I’m back from Archon. Whew! I’ve been to a few cons before, but usually just to putz around the dealer’s room, pester a few geek celebrities and watch some movies. This one had more panels than I knew what to do with! There were panels about using monsters in fiction, making compelling stories, sci-fi weaponry, and that was just the writing stuff. My wife and I also went to a ton of Doctor Who panels, Torchwood, you name it. There were so many, my butt got numb from being in those seats!
Then there was the MST3K stuff. Yowza! Everyone was there except for Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy (since they’re Riff Trackers now and I suppose in some enemy camp. I don’t keep up with all that stuff). They answered questions, shared anecdotes and even showed some early videos they used to sell the original show. Very entertaining stuff. They even riffed on a few of the costumes worn by the fanboys asking questions. Good-natured ribbing, mostly, but classic. I found I was most awestruck by Trace Beaulieu. There was just something beyond cool hearing Crow and Dr. Forrester talking IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME!!! Yeah, that’s the sort of exponentially increasing geekery that took over when I stood in line for autographs. “Crow just took my money for a Cinematic Titanic DVD!!” “Dr. Forrester just shook my hand!” It wasn’t my proudest moment, but it was a lot of fun. Of course, everyone was great. They’re all really cool people who I genuinely admire. There are funny shows. There are shows that stick with you. Then, there’s MST3K. Stupid, genius, adolescent, smart, all at once. I’m a fan. You get it.
I was also very happy to meet one of my current favorite authors, EE Knight. I can never recommend the Vampire Earth series enough. A fresh take on so many different genres, this series makes me happy I’m such a slow reader. That way, each book lasts longer and has more time to sink in. I was also honored to get a blurb from him for the cover of Skinners #1. An all-around great guy, plus he had plenty of great things to say at the writing panels. I really wanted to talk to him more, but I’m sure he had plenty of other glassy-eyed fans to contend with. Some of those fans were girls dressed in hot vampire outfits and not big tattooed bald guys who write about bloodthirsty werewolves, so it seemed like the right thing to do for the latter group to step aside for the former. Plus, since I couldn’t help but stare at some of those hotties in costumes, I was on thin ice with security anyway.
I bought too many t-shirts, debated too many details of Time Lord history and ate too much fast food. All in all, a great con experience. Time to grudgingly return to the real world and get some work done. My writing engines are fired up!
Then there was the MST3K stuff. Yowza! Everyone was there except for Mike Nelson and Kevin Murphy (since they’re Riff Trackers now and I suppose in some enemy camp. I don’t keep up with all that stuff). They answered questions, shared anecdotes and even showed some early videos they used to sell the original show. Very entertaining stuff. They even riffed on a few of the costumes worn by the fanboys asking questions. Good-natured ribbing, mostly, but classic. I found I was most awestruck by Trace Beaulieu. There was just something beyond cool hearing Crow and Dr. Forrester talking IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME!!! Yeah, that’s the sort of exponentially increasing geekery that took over when I stood in line for autographs. “Crow just took my money for a Cinematic Titanic DVD!!” “Dr. Forrester just shook my hand!” It wasn’t my proudest moment, but it was a lot of fun. Of course, everyone was great. They’re all really cool people who I genuinely admire. There are funny shows. There are shows that stick with you. Then, there’s MST3K. Stupid, genius, adolescent, smart, all at once. I’m a fan. You get it.
I was also very happy to meet one of my current favorite authors, EE Knight. I can never recommend the Vampire Earth series enough. A fresh take on so many different genres, this series makes me happy I’m such a slow reader. That way, each book lasts longer and has more time to sink in. I was also honored to get a blurb from him for the cover of Skinners #1. An all-around great guy, plus he had plenty of great things to say at the writing panels. I really wanted to talk to him more, but I’m sure he had plenty of other glassy-eyed fans to contend with. Some of those fans were girls dressed in hot vampire outfits and not big tattooed bald guys who write about bloodthirsty werewolves, so it seemed like the right thing to do for the latter group to step aside for the former. Plus, since I couldn’t help but stare at some of those hotties in costumes, I was on thin ice with security anyway.
I bought too many t-shirts, debated too many details of Time Lord history and ate too much fast food. All in all, a great con experience. Time to grudgingly return to the real world and get some work done. My writing engines are fired up!
