*Twitch*Twitch*Twitch*
Oops! You weren’t supposed to see the traditional post-Dragon Con Dead Bug Routine. But this Dragon Con was so much more than usual–more people, more lines, more panels… Did I mention MORE PEOPLE? Unofficial estimates put attendance at over 70,000 per day.
There were lines for everything, including most of the writing track panels. Never saw that before! On the plus side, even the more obscure panelists played to packed rooms. On the negative, people spent more time in line than they did at events, and at least some of it was spent in the rain–not good if you were in costume.
The dealers and exhibit spaces were moved to the America’s Mart, which meant that folks not in line were probably on their way to or from shopping. As a hardworking panelist, I didn’t get in much shopping. If my roomie Jana Oliver and Glennis LeBlanc of The Missing Volume hadn’t conspired on my behalf, I never would’ve been able to get a copy of Jana’s new novel, Briar Rose. The closest I got to shopping was the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab booth on the first floor of the America’s Mart. There I went to town.
Did I mention I was hardworking? There were nine panels listed on my Guest badge, not including my stint as a presenter for the Parsec Awards. I wound up on two more–one as an emergency fill-in; the other because there were already eight people on the panel, and they figured one more couldn’t hurt.
I also recorded eight interviews for Buzzy Mag, including Jim Butcher, and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn and Richard Epcar, two of the most distinctive voices from one of my favorite anime series, Ghost in the Shell. In the process I discovered that Faith Hunter has the best entourage. I mean, who wouldn’t want to have Jane Yellowrock as their personal bodyguard?
I also saw some amazing costumes. But I must confess to a major personal fail in the photography department. I wasn’t fast enough to photograph two women in the Hyatt’s Elevator of the Damned. One had diminutive bats doing duty as pasties and a bikini bottom consisting mostly of cobwebs. Her companion had a bra of rubber chickens over a bottom of waffles. Yes, waffles.
I don’t make this stuff up! I’m not that good!
For the rest, you can see the pictures (and a little light commentary) on my Flickr page, The interviews will follow in about six months. Then we’ll be ramping up to do it all over again. I can’t wait!
