What’s an Otaku? An otaku is someone passionate about their unconventional interests, and spends considerable time, thought, and/or money in support of them. People usually think of anime and manga fans, but in Japan it would also include trains, martial arts, traditional/historic clothing, gaming, etc.
Continue reading →The schedule for for Penguicon is out. Here’s what I’m doing: Writer’s Block ( Saturday, 4/30 6:00 ) I’ll be reading from A Wrecking Bar, a Chocolate Bar, and a Ka Offering for Na-Nefer-Ka-Ptah, and signing copies. The book will be available for sale at the con bookstore. This is a wonderful program for authors who are involved with the con! Life track: How to Poison Your Muse: The Toxic … Continue reading →
In part 3, we finished our discussion of what you might find at a typical literary con. Now it’s time to plan our visit! In previous posts, I mentioned that conventions promote themselves by going to other cons. They throw room parties, leave flyers, and sell memberships. Volunteers who work at one con may help with others too. Con committees and staff network with other cons, and they always have. … Continue reading →
In part 2, we talked about things you might find at a typical con. Time for more. A further mention of the literature track programming: Many, many SF and Fantasy fans are curious about writing, how their favorite books get written, and what it’s like to be an author. And, of course, many people wish they had a book published. That makes writing panels popular. At some cons, you can … Continue reading →
We had an introduction to SFF cons in part 01, now I’ll talk about things you might find at a ‘typical’ con. Cons usually feature several Guests of Honor (GOH‘s). One or more authors top the list, but cons will invite GOH’s to support their other tracks as well. These often include science, literature, art, computing, game design, music (filk), and fandom. The GOH’s help bring a focus to the … Continue reading →
If you write science fiction, fantasy, or other ‘speculative’ fiction, science fiction conventions are a great way to promote your stories, improve your skills, and network with other authors. They can be difficult to find, but are well worth the effort. I’m not talking about the huge for-profit media cons you see in the news. They’re organized around a mass-market fandom- mainstream comics, anime, tv series, or movie franchises. They … Continue reading →
Penguicon is my favorite convention. For those of you who have only heard of media SF cons (meet the stars of your favorite show!) or comic cons (meet stars, cosplay), volunteer-run SF/Fantasy cons are an entirely different experience, and I haven’t heard of any other conventions quite like Penguicon. It started out as a hybrid SF/Fantasy and Linux/Open-Source convention, but it’s expanded since then. I will write more about it … Continue reading →
