Comic-Con Report, Day 1 (for me)

Believe it or not, I did survive Comic-Con. Every year I go, it gets bigger, and I wonder if it will ever slow down. It never does.

I hear that this year’s attendance may top 125,000 people. Con management actually stopped preregistration in the middle of the show (for those buying one-day tickets later in the show, I presume) and even shut down on-site registration on Saturday.

Couple that with the heat wave that ran through town, and it was one sweaty, wild time. Since the weather is normally perfect year-round in San Diego, it seemed like few of the restaurants or bars had any kind of air conditioning. At least the convention center had upgraded its system, preventing the roasting we used to see, starting about 3 PM each day. You put that many people in one room, and it gets hot.

Anyhow, here’s how my trip went.
Read More

The Art of the Schmooze

Yes, I’m back from Comic-Con. It was a blast, and I’ll have a full report soon. In the meantime, here’s a tidbit that’s apropos.

On a mailing list for tie-in writers (affiliated with the IAMTW), KeVin Killiany asked about the best ways to look for work at a convention. Many of his fellow writers (including me) chipped in with some answers that should make for fun reading.

Last Week’s US News

Although I haven’t seen it yet, I’m told last week’s US News & World Report contains an advertorial for Rockford Memorial Hospital. It features a story, with photos, about our family and the fantastic experiences we had with the hospital before, during, and after the birth of our quadruplets four years ago.

As I’ve said before, we rarely do any kind of publicity about our kids. Still, we make exceptions to thank those people who helped us so much when we needed them most.

Comic-Con, Here I Come!

I’m taking off tomorrow for sunny San Diego for Comic-Con. My first seminar is on Friday at 11:30 AM in Room 1B: “Competing for the Young Adult Mind with Words and Pictures.” The fabulous Maryelizabeth Hart (of Mysterious Galaxy fame) moderates the panel, and I’ll try to keep up with her and Holly Black (game-industry refugee and Spiderwick Chronicles author), Shane Berryhill (Chance Fortune), Tony DiTerlizzi (adventure gaming artist who illustrated the Spiderwick Chronicles and–get this–created the cover to the upcoming Peter Pan in Scarlet), Tim Eldred (adventure gaming artist and author of Grease Monkey) , and Anne Ursu (author of The Cronus Chronicles). We’ll have a group signing after that from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.

On Saturday, at 11 AM, I’m moderating “Getting Published in Gaming” in Room 24A. The brave souls joining me include Jamie Chambers (of Margaret Weis Productions), Phil Lacefield (of Paizo), Lee Hammock (freelance game designer), Tony Parker (freelance artist), Jeff Tidball (of Atlas Games), Seth Johnson (of WizKids), Christopher Appel (freelance artist), and fellow Alliterates member Stan! (of Upper Deck).

Later that day, I’ll be signing books at the Wizards of the Coast booth from 3:00 to 3:30 PM. Check out the entire Wizards signing schedule for details about Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and R.A. Salvatore’s signings too.

If you’ll be at the show, be sure to hunt me down and say hi. I’m looking forward to seeing all sorts of old friends and making new ones too.

Dragons About to Be Revealed

I got my author’s copies of The Dragons Revealed in the mail last Thursday. They look great, and I think this is going to make a fitting capstone for this line. Fourteen books in a series is great by any standard, and I’m honored to be the one who both opened the door and closed it.

Because of the word that the line will end, I’m told not as many bookstores will carry these last two books. If you want them be sure to order them through your friendly local bookstore. Otherwise, you can find them online, too, in all the usual places.

Edge of Midnight

My friend Rob Vaux tells me that his Edge of Midnight game of modern, magical noir action is getting ready for release. Rob developed the game while at AEG, and the great and wise John Zinser allowed him to take it with him when he left. That’s a great thing for those of us who enjoy this sort of blend of shotguns and sorcery, especially when you put a talent like Rob behind it. Can’t wait to see this one.

Back from Protospiel

I had a fantastic time at Protospiel this past weekend, although it was unlike any other game convention I’d ever been to. I played lots of games, many of which were excellent, and every one of them was a prototype the designer hoped to get published someday. Many thanks to all the excellent people I met, particularly Mike Petty and David Whitcher, who set the whole thing up and invited me to join them.

My seminar on Saturday seemed to go well. Everyone stopped playing to listen to me for a bit, which meant a lot with this crowd. They even asked cogent questions. Afterward, I got to chat with my good friends Will and William Niebling and meet Alex Yeager, all three of whom hail from Mayfair Games. Brett Seymour, who comments here sometimes, also showed up for the talk, and I enjoyed meeting him and putting a face to the name.

I also managed to get out of the convention room a few times. It had been five or six years since I’d been back to Ann Arbor, and I was eager to explore a bit. Mostly it seemed the same, but here and there something new stabbed from the land like a non-native tree threatening to crowd out the original growth.

I ate at some of my favorite places: Red Hot Lovers, Blimpy Burder, and Mongolian Barbecue. I also got to see the Sullivan-Sain family, for whom my wife spent many years as a nanny back when she was in college. Plus, I managed to meet up with Dan Anderson, one of my great pals from college, who I hadn’t seen in over 12 years.

In short, great weekend. Now I’m scrambling to catch up with everything before I leave for Comic-Con.