More Pi-con

For such a small con ( usual attendance is around 300 ), Pi-con had an excellent variety of events and program items. I was impressed.

Friday evening hubby and I attended a reading by award-winning author and guest of honor Jo Walton. She was very entertaining and not a writer we were previously familiar with. From now on we will definitely keep an eye out for her work.

Early Sat. morning we both attended a live demonstration of medieval sword fighting techniques. This wasn't your usual "stage" fighting; this was the real thing! Swordsmaster Steven Hirsch has studied texts of the time describing, even picturing, the actual techniques used---and they were pretty brutal.

We also attended some lively panels: NASA's 100-year plan for sending out starships, Star Trek's "attitude" toward the disabled, and several others. We sampled some of the rooms in "dealers' row". But one of the highlights of the con for us was the "rapid-fire reading" given by several members of Broad Universe---a group that I belong to, which is dedicated to promoting the work of women writers. Not only were the readings interesting, but we were able to get acquainted with some of my fellow writers.

Quite a few con-goers decided to leave Sat. pm due to Hurricane Irene; others, like us, decided to wait out the storm at the hotel and stay over one more night, which the Holiday Inn was very gracious about. Sunday turned out to be a really fun day. I attended a panel discussing e-books and self-publishing and publishing in general. Hubby went to one across the hall on 1960's SF movies ( his forte, not mine! )

A wrap-up/gripe session commenced at 3 pm and ran for about an hour and a half. We'd never attended one before as we usually had to head for home before then. Comments were overwhelmingly positive. And there were several first-time Pi-con-goers besides ourselves.

Instead of closing shop at that point and leaving the over-nighters to their own devices, the con committee scrambled to come up with additional panels. And very thoughtfully, the con suite, where free food and drink were available, stayed open to accomodate the remaining fans. We attended a very entertaining spur-of-the-moment panel discussing "Babylon 5", one of our all-time favorite TV series, the one credited with inventing the arc storyline. That panel was one of the best at this con.

We really didn't want to leave Pi-con, but perhaps the best thing of all was discovering a "new" convention, dedicated to geeks like us, that was close enough to get to by car, and that was small, friendly, and welcoming. We made some new friends and really look forward to seeing them at next year's Pi-con!

That's a wrap!

MRTighe

6 Pi-con

We had an absolute blast at Pi-con this weekend past. There was a fair amount of traffic going west on the Mass. turnpike, but it thinned out considerably once we'd passed the NYC exit. We reached Enfield, CT in about 2 1/2 hours. No trouble finding the Holiday Inn, which is conveniently located just off the highway. The staff there was very friendly and helpful, more so than is typical at cons. ( They like us; they really, really like us! )

Attendance was down from their usual due to an unwelcome guest---Hurricane Irene---which passed almost directly over us. We had some rain, a bit of wind Sunday, and a beautiful rainbow Sun. evening, but nothing too bad. We lucked out compared to the Southeast and the rest of New England.

The fans who attended Pi-con ran the gamut from writers, editors, scientists, and serious readers to filkers, gamers, costumers, anime buffs, and LARPers. They were all more than usually friendly and welcoming. Quite evidently, this is a con that is glad to have first-timers attend. Because Irene was due to pass by at the time we'd usually be heading for home, we decided ( as did quite a few others ) to stay put an extra night, and we were glad we did. The con scheduled extra events to entertain us and provided plenty of food and drink for those of us who chose to stay.

We had no trouble at all getting home in beautiful sunshine Mon. am, very little traffic so we made it in two hours. Pi-con was one of those cons that you leave thinking, " I can hardly wait to come back next year!" I'll give a more detailed account of events, program, and guests later!

All for now,

MRTighe

Looking Ahead

I'm looking forward to attending Pi-con 6 in Enfield CT this weekend. We've never attended this con before, but it looks like fun. For many years my hubby and I attended United Fan Con in Springfield MA until that convention became defunct. What a shame! We really miss it. UFC was one of our all-time favorite cons: small, friendly, with a large, loyal following, and a lot of fun guests. Oh, well.

Now I've learned about another con, one we never heard of before: Anthocon, to be held in Portsmouth NH in Nov. It appears to be aimed primarily at writing/publishing professionals: writers, editors, artists. publishers, etc.---even more specific than Readercon. Most cons are aimed at a broader spectrum: book lovers, fans of TV shows, comic and anime fans, and so forth. Some are aimed at specific fandoms or genres: Star Trek, Star Wars, Twilight, etc.

While hubby and I used to attend cons simply for the fun of it, to meet and talk with other fans and media guests, get the latest news on our favorite shows, books, and movies, now we have to look at attending cons as more business-oriented. Our aim is to familiarize fans of SF&F with my name and my books. Not an easy task as there are thousands upon thousands of related books/authors. Besides achieving name regognition, it's always good, no matter what profession you're in, to make connections!

Will write again after Pi-con and give you a review.

MRTighe