Armadillocon wrap-up

Armadillocon was quite fun — kudos to all the organizers! What a weekend. Scott Lynch, author of The Lies of Locke Lamora, was guest of honor, and it was just fantastic to meet him. Joan D. Vinge and James Frenkel were there — talk about the lions of the SF community. And of course all the usual suspects — er, stalwarts, of Armadillocon, including Joe Lansdale, Scott Cupp (toastmaster), Bill Crider, and the rest.

I. Am. Exhausted. I need to get this wrap up out of the way, because otherwise it will all just blur into a haze of con — I almost said, con-dom. Heh.

I was on the promotion panel, moderated by Elizabeth Moon, and we shared ideas with the audience about how we go about publicizing ourselves and our work. Then I asked the audience what makes them buy books, and they said, appearances such as ours, the cover, the back of the cover copy, and word of mouth by friends. So while we should all have websites and blogs, what makes a novel sell is what we have very little control over. Except for appearances, and we can’t be everywhere. So if you like a book, any book, help an author out and tell all your friends.

Other panels included the research panel, the worldbuilding/history panel, and villains. On the history panel, Ann Aguirre pointed out that the author’s web site has taken the place of all the maps and appendices that used to appear in the book but now are too expensive to reproduce. Whereupon Sharon Shinn said, “The website is the new Silmarillion.” Exactly. You will start seeing some changes on this website to reflect that wisdom.

The villain panel included Joan Vinge and was moderated by Mario Acevedo who is just a cool, funny person. We ranged all over the map on creating villains and protagonists, and had lots of fun.

I met fans and signed books, and let me interject to the young lady who is going to look for a gordath in New Braunfels — please be careful. I mean, have fun and all, but please be careful. But by all means, let me know if you find it!

The writer’s workshop is probably the best deal in town. If you are seriously wanting to be a writer, find a good workshop. Try to find people who are better than you are to workshop with. And if you can’t find one near you, seriously think about coming to Austin for next year’s Armadillocon. Stina Leicht and Melissa Tyler run a very good workshop. I enjoyed all the stories in my group (co-taught with Sharon Shinn). We were very impressed with the quality of the work.

I went to many readings, including those of Martha Wells, Adrian Simmons, and Matthew Bey, but missed Jessica Reisman whose story made Martha cry and therefore must be picked up by an editor ASAP. I know what is going to happen on Scott Lynch’s website before any of you do (unless you were at his reading) and I know what happens next in the third book of the series HAHAHAHAHA!!!

OMG you guys, the parties. I stayed up way past my bedtime Saturday night (making up for a shameful Friday night in which I was in bed by 10 pm because of the early start for the workshop). Space Squid, Texas 2013, and all the other party hosts, you guys did great. It was fun. And to Chris Roberson and John Picacio, Mikal Trimm (the official nemesis of Space Squid), J.K. Cheney, Nancy Hightower, Kimberly Frost (dude! Kimberly Frost is an ER doctor!) and everyone else who I am forgetting because it’s been a long weekend — thank you.

Best. Armadillocon. Ever.