In the Footsteps of Lois Lane

by Nancy

Barbara Monajem's visit was scheduled for today but has been delayed until October 8 due to a scheduling conflict.

Those of you who're around here regularly probably remember Trish and I go to Dragon*Con every year. For five years, I volunteered in Nancy Knight's excellent Writer's Track, but I stopped when my guys started going to the con with me. This year, with the boy in college and the dh behind in class prep from the Great Move of Boy Property, I went to Atlanta by myself.

I like to be involved in the con, so I volunteered for both the Writer's Track and the Daily Dragon, the con's newspaper (most of it is online). I interviewed writers, mostly, but I also had the chance to chat with Barbara Vey about her blog, Beyond Her Book, and Debra Dixon about Bell Bridge Books, which sponsored the Writer's Track.

I also got to cover panels for Battlestar Galactica and Sanctuary. Thanks to my DD credential, I had a backstage seat for BSG (very hard to hear back there, since the sound system is aimed away from you) and a spot in the front row for Sanctuary (much better audio, and I was a mere ten feet from one of my SF heroines, Amanda Tapping--photo courtesy of Trish Milburn).

I glanced around as a woman in the uniform of Merlotte's Diner (from HBO's True Blood) walked by, and I thought, Gee, she looks like Trish. She turned to go to her seat, and I discovered she was Trish.

Not wanting to give up my precious front row seat, I phoned her from thirty feet away, and we connected after the panel for dinner. Thousands of people in the ballroom, and the only two banditas still connected!

We headed for the extremely overcrowded food court between the hotels, hunting for a spot along with Jedi, storm troopers, super-heroes, anime characters, barbarians, elves, gaming characters, Starfleet officers, and a host of others. To envision the food court, think Times Square on New Year's Eve but with a low ceiling and people constantly going back and forth to get food. The only commodity more valuable than a table is a chair.

I did email interviews before the con with S. M. Stirling, who writes alternate history, and frequent Lair guest Laura Anne Gilman. Thanks to a GRW buddy, I connected with C. L. Wilson to talk about the Tairen Soul series and what's next for her. She's doing a stand-alone, The Winter King, and then will return to the Fading Lands for Bel's and Gaelen's stories.

The interview with Barbara Vey happened purely by chance. I missed the parade because I needed to meet a friend at that time, and I made the mistake of walking into the Hyatt lobby five minutes after the parade ended and what appeared to be a large chunk of the planet's population seemed to have magically teleported in. Barbara was also struggling through the press but graciously agreed to seek out a quiet corner and chat.

Debra Dixon kindly took a few minutes from preparing her presentation to talk about Bell Bridge books and small-press publishing. She said one reason Bell Bridge decided to sponsor the Writer's Track is that the parent company, Belle Books, was born in a hotel room during DragonCon.

About halfway through the sleep-deprived weekend, I had the idea of blogging about being a Daily Dragon reporter. I'd spent the time surrounded by super-heroes, like Lois Lane, so the perfect finish for the blog, it seemed to me, would be a photo of me with Superman. Like Lois, y'know?

I saw Superman, with Zatanna the Magician, early in the con and took this photo. After I decided I needed a picture of myself with the Man of Steel, I did not see Superman again. At Dragon*Con! Hard to believe, I know. I did see Zombie Superman, but that wasn't really the look I wanted.

I mentioned this to my roommate, Debbie, as we were going up to our room about 11:30 Sunday night. A guy in the elevator said, "Superman was in the bar. With a slave-girl Leia, like, five minutes ago. A good-looking Superman." So we got off at the next floor, rode, down, and hit the bar.

No Superman.

The cop in the bar allowed as how he hadn't seen Superman in a while. We checked around on the next level down (2 bars there), but we couldn't find him. The people hanging over the escalator railing to people-watch hadn't seen the Man of Steel either--though one of them said he'd seen a "pod" of Supermen, five or six, traveling together during the weekend. Naturally, I never saw them! The cops by the escalator also had not seen Superman. I asked one of the cops how long he'd been there. He sighed and said, "a looong time."

At least with Superman, you don't have to describe him. Everybody knows who you're looking for. At this point, I was ready to give up, but Debbie was on the scent. "The Marriott!" she said. "More people in costume there."

So across the sky bridge (still heavily traveled though midnight had now come and gone) we went. We spotted one Superman whose costume wasn't really all that great and decided to look farther. We did see a comic-book-perfect Captain America, minus his helmet, but Lois doesn't hang with CA. She hangs with Supes.

"Look!" Debbie grabbed my arm. "Superman's tights and boots!"

Sure enough, they were, as we discovered when we squeezed through the crowd. However, this Superman had dispensed with the shirt and cape and had painted the big red S on his bare chest. A very nice chest, to be sure, but again not the look I wanted.

At this point, nearing 1:30 a.m., we conceded defeat. I was so fixated on finding Superman, I didn't think to have Debbie take a photo of me wearing my DD credential. With everyone leaving the next morning and the costumes packed away, I never did find Superman. But that's okay. In the olden days of the DC Universe, Lois didn't snag Superman, either.

For more information about Dragon*Con, click here. If you'd like to read the stories I wrote for the Daily Dragon, click here.

Have you ever gone on an obsessive hunt for something? If so, did you find it? Is there an event you try to attend every year, just because you love it?

The winner of the August 26 blog about summer vacation will be posted just before midnight tonight. Apologies for the delay!

Trish and Nancy Go Geeky

Over the Labor Day weekend, Nancy and I and and more than 40,000 of our geekiest friends converged on downtown Atlanta for Dragon*Con, a celebration of all things sci-fi, fantasy and general geekiness. Think ComicCon, just about a third of the size and not quite as many celebrities. Now, don't get me wrong, there are stars aplenty, along with panels, workshops, costumes both awesome and cringe-worthy, photo-taking opportunities, parties, concerts, and tons of other stuff to fill the four days to the brim. We thought we'd share some of our favorite highlights from this year's con.

Nancy: The costumes. They're always inspired and often amazing. The steampunk ones again seemed to be most elaborate and also the ones I'd least like to wear in Atlanta in late summer. I thought the various Lego people walking around were cute. As always, superheroes and stormtroopers wandered in great numbers. I didn't see as many Klingons or Rebel Alliance pilots this year as usual.

Trish: I think you could have a ton of fun at Dragon*Con just sitting in the lobby of one of the host hotels and watching all the costumes. Last year, I did a costume as Alice from Twilight, but it was basically real clothes so I didn't stand out much. This year, I had a costume made and went as Kahlen Amnell from Legend of the Seeker. That's me on the left sporting a long wig and without my glasses. Yes, I was the nearly blind Mother Confessor. :) A group of Legend of the Seeker fans got together on Friday night and did a group photo. Nancy mentioned how hot the steampunk costumes must be, but I've got to say the Mord Sith costumes (full-body leather) had to have been a million times worse. I only had on a leather bustier and I was sweating.

Nancy: The parade. It's such a gathering of enthusiastic people and so much fun. Every year, fantasy author and illustrator Janny Wurts leads off, marching down Peachtree Street and playing "Scotland the Brave" on her bagpipes. The boy was in the anime section but on the wrong side of the street, so I didn't get good photos of him. This year, a firetruck came down the street, slanted diagonally across the street but rolling forward (I have no idea how they do that) to clear it before the parade stepped off. Many cheers and loud applause greeted the fireman, who looked a bit bemused.

Kevin Sorbo rode in the parade. He comes to Dragon*Con almost every year, and I've never heard of his being less than gracious. A few years back, I looked ahead as I rode up the escalator and there, about ten feet in front of me, were Sorbo and Andromeda co-star Steve Bacic, just the two of them, no security, and nobody was bothering them.

Trish: I've yet to make it to the parade. I tend to always want to go to a panel or have my picture taken with someone more. This year at that time, I was having my photo taken with the lovely and very sweet Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Firefly/Serenity). I didn't do as many star photos this year, but I couldn't pass up ones with Jewel, Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly/Serenity and Anna on V), Sean Maher (Simon from Firefly/Serenity) -- yes, I'm a huge fan/Browncoat -- and Michael Shanks from Stargate SG-1.

It is fun and surreal to pass by stars in the hallways, on the escalators, and in the elevators. My roomie for the weekend, fellow author Tanya Michaels, and I were headed up some narrow back stairs to another level of the Hilton one of the days and met Sendhil Ramamurthy and Adrian Pasdar from Heroes going the other way. When we got to the next floor, I looked at Tanya and said, "Well, that doesn't happen every day."

Nancy: The art show. I love the art show. I always see many beautiful things I covet, especially paintings, but I have no room for any more, a result of many years of seeing beautiful pictures we coveted in a variety of settings. Still, I go and look. The work is so creative, not just paintings and drawings but sculptures, jewelry, chain mail, all kinds of things. I considered buying a small print we could surely squeeze in somewhere but ultimately resisted. I did get a Christmas gift, though.

Trish: I didn't make it to the art show this year. I started to one afternoon, but by the time I'd gotten through one of the dealer rooms, I had a splitting headache and went to my room instead. I did, however, stroll through the Walk of Fame where the stars meet fans and sign autographs. Tanya and I met James and Oliver Phelps, the Weasley twins from the Harry Potter movies, who were very nice, and talked with Mark Sheppard, who plays Crowley on Supernatural, about his character and the upcoming season. He's been in so many of our favorite shows (Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural, etc.)

Nancy: The dealers' rooms. Talk about coveting--there are some beautiful things down there, weapons, costumes, jewelry, art work. I mostly resisted, though. I haven't worn the beautiful glass dragon necklace I got last year. I'd love to have a broadsword but not keep in the closet. There's that space thing again. It's narrow but long, takes up a lot of room on the wall. I did get an HMS Fearless, CL-56 shirt, commemorating the Royal Manticoran Navy light cruiser (Honor Harrington series, for those who care).

Trish: I told myself I was going to be good this year, and I suppose compared to last year I was. I added a couple of Firefly shirts to my collection, three Firefly-inspired necklaces, and one book Cold Magic by Kate Elliott).

Nancy: The programs. I went to one on "The Physics of Magic" that included Lair guest Laura Anne Gilman that had plenty of food for thought. I enjoyed "An Hour With Elizabeth Moon" on the Anne McCaffrey track. I love Moon's Vatta's War series--in which there will not be anything new for a while, alas--and enjoyed her Paksenarrion series, which she is now expanding.

I closed out my weekend at the "Shooting Science Fiction in Canada" panel with Alaina Huffman of Smallville (Black Canary) and Stargate Universe, Michael Shanks of Stargate SG-1 and Smallville (Hawkman), and Mark Sheppard of BSG, Supernatural (where he plays a "sexually ambivalent crossroads demon"), and lots of other sff series. They were laid back and funny. I'm always grateful to stars who stick around on Monday, when the thinning crowd means I can go to their panels without standing in a long line for 90 minutes.

Trish: There are so many great things to choose from. I've been to writer's track programs before, but this year I went to all TV-related things. The first panel Tanya and I went to was on V, and it ended up being the Morena Baccarin show since Laura Vandervoort and Joel Gretsch canceled their appearances, but she did a great job. We stood in line for more than 2 hours to get into the Firefly panel with Morena, Jewel, Sean and Summer Glau (River) on Saturday. The line literally wrapped around the entire block twice, so long that the Dragon*Con officials had to start counting back the line and when they got to the fire marshal limit for the ballroom, they had to tell everyone behind that they couldn't get in. Yes, this for a show that was canceled before it aired an entire season. Grrr, Fox! Sunday morning, we got great seats at the Warehouse 13 panel. I think it was less attended than the ones held on the previous days because everyone thought Eddie McClintock (Pete) was going to be gone already. Well, turns out he was having such a good time that he stuck around to do this panel with Saul Rubinek (Artie), Tia Carrere (Katie), and Mark Sheppard (Valda). It was a great panel! And I started following Eddie's hilarious tweets on Twitter.

Nancy: Pervading it all, of course, is the energy and enthusiasm of people who've come to celebrate things they love in the company of other people celebrating what THEY love. It was a great weekend.

Trish: Ditto what Nancy said. :)

Okay, now we're curious. If you were to go to Dragon*Con and dress up, who would you dress up as?

The Awesomeness of Dragon*Con

By Banditas Nancy and Trish along with guest Tanya Michna

At this time last week, Nancy and I, along with our good friend (and my roomie for the weekend) Tanya Michna (aka Tanya Michaels), were embracing our inner geekitude along with 40,000 other sci fi, fantasy and pop culture fans at the annual Dragon*Con conference in Atlanta. This was my second year to attend, and it lived up to the fun I had last year. Tanya and I were part of different panels on the Writer Track, and we also attended the Supernatural fan discussion and handed out business cards for the Supernatural Sisters blog (where we're two of the five contributing writers). I know Nancy had a lot of great experiences with big-name writers this year.

So, the three of us decided to share some highlights with you, complete with lots of piccies.

Nancy:

My favorite things: Sitting in a giant ballroom with a horde of Star Trek fans watching Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner do riffs off each other. I've been a Classic Trek fan since high school. I'd seen Nimoy but not Shatner, who never did many conventions. This is a highlight of my fannish life, ranking right up there with meeting my favorite Superman artist, the late Curt Swan, at a local con years ago and taking writing classes from A.C. Crispin.

Meeting Lois McMaster Bujold, author of the Vorkosigan Chronicles, the Sharing Knife series, and a fantasy series starting with The Curse of Chalion. She's very friendly and very thoughtful. I just wish I'd had less of an awe factor going; it tends to generate conversational clumsiness.

Hearing Laura Anne Gilman, author of Luna's Retrievers series, which Jeanne and I love, read from her forthcoming fantasy, The Vineart Wars. I also got to chat with her while we all waited in the hall for someone to unlock the door to the room where she was to read. She'll join us Oct. 16 to discuss that series, which has less romance than the Retrievers but lots of action.

Listening to Michael Biehn (the original, and still best, Kyle Reese in Terminator) discuss his career and getting to ask him a question, thanks to Cassondra and Steve. And he said "Hi" to me, as I think I may have mentioned one or two or six times already since then.

Seeing GRW friends and writer buddies I don't get to see anywhere else and going to dinner with my online sff critique group. Our teacher, A.C. Crispin, goes every year, and Lois McMaster Bujold and Julie Kenner joined us this year.

Seeing the wonderfully inventive costumes, especially for the Steampunk (Victorian era science fiction fans).

What I did not get to do: Hear Bujold read. I was like a distractable kid this year, unable to keep up with what what was going on despite having circled things (many, many things) on the program grid. She was reading from the forthcoming Miles Vorkosigan adventure, the first in several years, and I HATE that I missed it!

I also missed Catherine Asaro's reading and panel appearances, and I love her Skolian Empire series.

I did not get to the Cybersecurity panel on the Science track, something I thought might be useful for a future project. I didn't see the panel on surviving the apocalypse, which also had research potential for a future project, on the Apocalypse Rising track.

I didn't see Kate Mulgrew or Patrick Stewart. Simply couldn't stomach the lines.

I missed the parade. I was having breakfast with friends, and the time got away from me. I love the parade, which the dh calls "the extroverted half of the con performing for the introverted half." And the boy and his girlfriend marched in the anime crowd, along with the son of some friends. The dh watched, though, and he didn't see any of them in the mob of costumed anime fans marching down Peachtree Street. I wanted to cheer on the Stargate contingent (I'm a member of Stargate Atlanta), too. And to see the massive Star Wars group, complete with a big unit of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion. Oh, well--next year!

I didn't get to see Trish and Tanya except for about thirty seconds outside the Writer Track room. With 40,000+ people there, running into your friends becomes unlikely. Maybe next year for that, too.

Tanya:

This was my fourth DragonCon, but I don't think you can ever really "get used to" the convention! The spectacle of the crowds and costumes never fails to awe (and occasionally overwhelm.)

My favorite moments from this year: After missing all of the Battlestar Galactica panels last year ('cuz they seemed to conflict with the Firefly stuff--or at least the three hours I was spending in the Firefly lines), I was thrilled to go to a BSG panel this year, now that we all know who the final Cylons were and could discuss it. It cracked me up when the Galactica "chief" Aaron Douglas crashed the panel!

I also really enjoyed the Buffyverse panel including the fabulous Felicia Day, the gorgeous Charisma Carpenter and Julie Benz (neither of whom have aged in like a decade--what is up with that?) and Buffy "1.0" Kristie Swanson, although there were a few awkward moments because everyone else had recurring roles on Buffy and/or Angel and she, though in the original Buffy movie, admitted to never even watching the show.

Even though there were only fans and no stars (sigh), I loved the Supernatural panel--much fun discussing where we think the show is going in the newly kicked off season 5!

On Saturday, I got to attend the "An Hour with Draco Malfoy" panel with Tom Felton, who was hilarious and really gracious (even in the face of some slightly crazed fans with inappropriate questions. Eesh, people).

Then there was the rockin' Cruxshadows concert, worth both the line AND being up past 2 a.m. Sunday was a favorite moment of different kind, because I actually got to participate on a panel with some really impressive writers. I was honored to be up there with them!

I had wanted to go to the Twilight panel, but gave it up to go to a YA panel that included Tricia Mills (yay!) and Diana Peterfreund, author of Rampant (which I am reading now.) I also missed the parade (the line for BSG was already forming). But I've actually missed that every single year I've gone, so it's becoming like a tradition!

A first for this year: I came in costume! I was Tonks, echoing her purple-haired look from the Order of the Phoenix movie. It wasn't 100% accurate, but total strangers guessed who I was and even asked for my picture so we'll call it a success. I'm already brainstorming costume ideas for next year. After all...only 355 days 'til the next Dragon*Con! (Photo: Trish as Alice Cullen from Twilight and Tanya as Tonks from Harry Potter)

Trish:

Like Tanya, I was all about the Firefly stuff last year since Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite and Morena Baccarin were in attendance, and thus missed all the Battlestar Galactica stuff. Not so this year! The BSG panel was great, and you could just tell all these people loved working together. There were a lot of BSG cast members in attendance: Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh), Kate Vernon (Ellen Tigh), Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), Michael Trucco (Sam Anders), Alessandro Juliani (Felix Gaeda), Luciana Carro (Kat), Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Kandyse McClure (Dualla).

That same camaraderie existed among the members of my other favorite panel -- for Stargate. There were two SG1 panelists (Gary Jones and Colin Cunningham), but I was most excited to see the four Stargate Atlantis cast members: Joe Flanigan (John Sheppard), Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett), Rachel Luttrell (Teyla Emmagan) and Jason Momoa (Ronon Dex). I'm a big fan of Atlantis and hate that it was canceled. I'm hoping there will be some Atlantis movies in the future like there has been for SG1.

While I attended some other panels, did a little shopping in the dealer rooms (got two new Firefly T-shirts as well as a model of the Serenity and some little Firefly action figures), and attended the Cruxshadows concert, a lot of my time was taken up with getting my photo taken with stars. I went a little crazy with it this year, but my favorites were with the Stargate and BSG cast members. And the one with John Schneider. Yes, he was a great Jonathon Kent on Smallville, but I have liked him since the Dukes of Hazzard days. If I could go back and tell my 12-year-old self that I'd meet "Bo Duke" one day, I wouldn't have believed it.

Here I am with Joe Flanigan and Paul McGillion (pulling a Zoolander pose), who autographed the photo.

And next I'm pictured with Michael Trucco, Kandyse McClure and Mary McDonnell (who I also loved in Dances with Wolves).

And perhaps the coolest thing to happen to me at the conference was when I was in the Walk of Fame room where the stars meet fans and sign autographs. I was going to have my photo taken with Michael Hogan and Kate Vernon from BSG. While I was waiting, I got to talking to one of their assistants. He saw my guest name badge and said my name looked familiar. I was taken aback, but we got to talking about how I'm an author. Then he told Kate. Even though the fans were supposed to stay on the front side of the tables, Kate told me to come around to the back and while we waited for Michael to finish talking to someone else, we talked about my YA novel. Totally surreal moment, and they are both so incredibly nice. Here's the photo the assistant snapped.

Part of the fun of Dragon*Con is just checking out all the costumes. Some people go all out and probably spend a fortune on their costumes.

Dr. Horrible (with Tanya)

Fray (from the Buffyverse)

Some Lycans from the Underworld movies. You can't see all the people dressed in the vampire armor from Underworld Evolution.

And Captain Mal, River Tam and Jayne Cobb from Firefly/Serenity (with me stuck in the middle)

The things I didn't make it to that I regret missing: the parade, a session with Diana Gabaldon (it totally slipped my mind!), the Twilight panel with Peter Facinelli and Justin Chon (though I did have my photo taken with them), the Tom Felton presentation, and some workshops on costuming that looked interesting.