On a personal level, I actually signed books for people I didn’t know! O.K., so I cheated a little and gave away six copies of Moonlight Medicine: Onset that I had lying around at a mass autograph session, but still. I am quite happy with the way things turned out and with the number of people who attended my reading of a short excerpt of Moonlight Medicine: Epidemic where I was joined by authors Cindy Spencer Pape, Harry R. Champion (M. H. Mead), Margaret Yang (M.H. Mead), and Bryon Quertermous. I also think that my other panels were well-attended and went smoothly. I will even go so far as to say that we had a bit of a blast at the “Why Aren’t There More Vampyre Astronauts?” panel with Michael Cieslak and Christian Klaver. I would also like to thank Laura Bickle, Merrie Haskell, and Ferrett Steinmetz for being on the Plotting vs Pantsing panel that I moderated. Additionally, the Science Fiction That is No Longer Fiction panel that I was on with Dr. Heir Professor Brian Gray and Douglas Johnson was recorded and will supposedly be featured on Slashdot.org. Woot!
Sadly, there were some downsides to the experience. If you’ve never been, the Renaissance Center is an extremely confusing place with towers and circles and crannies and nooks, and can be extremely difficult to navigate. Also, most events, panels, activities, and important places were split between two floors with no easy access to stairs, so we were constantly riding the elevators up and down. Additionally, despite the fact that you couldn’t throw a hedgehog without hitting an author, the literary track seemed a bit sparse in my opinion. However, this turned out to be a good thing since exhaustion kept me from attending panels dawn to dusk anyway.
All in all, I would consider DetCon1 a success both as a Con and on a personal, self-promotional level. And speaking of promoting, if it sounded like I was name dropping earlier, I totally was. I encourage you to check out all the author links.
Cheers!