What a fantastic time we had at Shore Leave 36 this weekend! I’d heard that Shore Leave was a friendly
convention, and that was certainly my experience. Huge thanks to everyone involved with organizing the event, you did a wonderful job.
After weeks of preparation in the UK, Tom and I headed to
Heathrow feeling somewhat nervous about whether everything would come together;
we had books to collect from the printer, writers to meet, panels to attend,
and a party to host.
Books! |
We arrived at the Hunt Valley Hotel a little jet-lagged on
Friday morning, ready to set up our stall.
The place was already buzzing, even at 8.30 am, and thanks to some
helpful volunteers we soon found out where we needed to go and got our
twenty-one boxes of books hauled into the hotel.
Next on the to-do list was to track down the first of our
writers – the fabulous Diana Dru Botsford, author of Stargate SG-1: Four Dragons and Stargate SG-1: The Drift.
Although we’d corresponded by email for years, this was the first time
we’d met in person, and it was really exciting to meet at last.
Diana and I man the stall |
With Diana’s help, we set up the stall in the morning and
then had a quick but delicious lunch of Maryland Crabcakes (yum!) before
getting back to the stall in time for the official opening at 2.00pm.
And what a great afternoon it was, with so many
Stargate fans coming to say hello, checking out our books, and talking Stargate
with us.
Mac's back! |
Meeting other Stargate fans was definitely the highlight of
the event for me, and we had a great time that night going out for dinner with
a whole bunch of lovely GateWorlders. We
even had a genuine Stargate fan for a waiter!
After dinner, it was back to the hotel for the Meet the Pros
event. We’d been a bit concerned that our
Stargate Atlantis Legacy authors – Jo Graham, Amy Griswold, and Melissa Scott –
hadn’t arrived that afternoon, but there’d been lots of talk about terrible
traffic and, lo and behold, when we got back to the hotel Jo, Amy and Melissa had
made it and were already set up at the Meet the Pros event.
Me, Melissa Scott, Amy Griswold, Jo Graham, Diana Dru Botsford |
After working on seven Stargate Atlantis
Legacy books with them, it was wonderful to meet the team in person. What a fantastic group of writers! We had a great time talking to readers and
signing books until midnight.
Next day, we were up and back at the hotel by 8.30. Our first panel, Ten Years of Fandemonium,
was scheduled for ten o’clock, but on the way there the wonderful Marian Trupiano
asked me if I’d like to have my photo taken with RDA... Well.
I could hardly say no, right? ;)
Fangirl alert! |
I’d like to say I was cool, calm and collected. I’d like to say that I introduced myself to
RDA like a normal person and engaged in a little witty banter. But, in fact, I think all I managed to say was
‘Hello’. It’s all a bit of a blur,
actually. I’m not even certain I said ‘thank
you’ before I ran away. Sigh. #starstruck #dork.
Nevertheless, I did manage to smile in the
photo, and notice that RDA really does have lovely warm eyes in person. He also gives nice hugs. So.
Next time I will do better and, you know, maybe actually speak. (There is a reason I’m a writer, you see, and
not an actor/public speaker!)
Anyhow, all of that meant I was fashionably/rudely late for
the Fandemonium panel. Luckily Tom,
Diana, Jo and Melissa were doing an excellent job without me and I still got
there in time to meet lots of Stargate Novels fans and to chat about what we’ve
been doing for the past ten years, and what we have coming up.
Diana, me, Melissa & Jo on the Fandemonium panel |
After that it was back to the table to chat and sell books
to more of our readers, some of whom – gasp! – hadn’t heard of us before. Lunch was a Subway sandwich at the table and
then I did a couple more panels with some of our writers: Writing Stargate and From
Fanfic to Pro. All good fun.
That just left a half hour or so to set up for the
Fandemonium party we were hosting to celebrate both the release of our latest
Stargate Atlantis Legacy book, Unascended,
and ten years of Fandemonium Books. We snacked
on fruit loops, blue jello and birthday cake – naturally.
Cake! |
It was wonderful to
see so many people there, including past and future Stargate novelists Aaron
Rosenberg, David Niall Wilson, Patricia Macomber, and Keith DeCandido. Thank you all for coming along, it was great
to see you.
Jo Graham read an extract from the fantastic Unascended (in her beautiful North
Carolina accent) and we chatted, laughed, and signed a few books, after which
we staggered back to the hotel to sleep.
Happy 10th Birthday, Fandeomonium Books! |
Sunday was a little quieter, with everyone winding
down. Diana Botsford and I did a panel
about the Stargate Reboot, which made for an interesting discussion.
To reboot, or not to reboot? |
Lots of speculation and theories flying
around, but, of course, none of us knows exactly what to expect from the new Devlin/Emmerich movies. However, it was
pretty clear that the Stargate fans we met were perplexed by the decision to
make a movie trilogy that ignores seventeen years of television canon. I guess we’ll have to watch this space... But, whatever happens, Stargate SG-1 and Stargate
Atlantis will live on in our books!
By then it was time for me to head over to RDA’s panel,
which was as charming and amusing as you’d expect. Needless to say, I didn’t ask a question,
however someone else asked about Stargate SG-1: Unleashed – the video game I wrote a couple of years ago – and I
felt obliged to jump up and try to answer his question. From a couple of things RDA said, I’m pretty
sure he knew exactly what the questioner was talking about, although he
pretended not to have a clue. He does
that a lot, right? ;)
In the Diner of Ascension |
At five o’clock we were packing up our stall, but we weren’t
finished for the day. We still had time
to visit the ‘Diner of Ascension’. Yep,
a full scale ‘50s diner within the hotel made the perfect location for a little
video shoot we did with our writers.
Look out for video interviews coming soon, including Robert Picardo, Jo
Graham, Amy Griswold, and Melissa Scott (the SGA Legacy team), Diana Dru
Botsford, Aaron Rosenberg, as well as me and Tom with a brief con report. I’ll post the links here once they’re ready.
And...relax |
After that it was late and we were all starving, so we headed
out for another wonderful meal with Diana, Marian and other new friends to
round off an exceptional weekend.
Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to come and see
us, it was truly inspiring to meet and talk to so many smart, enthusiastic, and
warm-hearted Stargate fans. I’m already
looking forward to Shore Leave 37!
Wow, wow, wow! I've been waiting for you to post about this. Looks like you guys had the best time. Of course if I were there, I probably never would have left you alone and picked your brain apart with questions about your writing process and ideas. I am chomping at the bits for the new novels! I love that you guys had cake, blue Jello and cake at your anniversary celebration.
ReplyDeleteYes, RDA does have lovely, warm eyes, though I'd probably describe them more as dreamy and hypnotic, but I'm frequently known to get hyperbolic. Can you really be hyperbolic about RDA's wyes though? No, no you can't. And his voice! Like a million knot per square inch, Turkish, silk rug (if you've ever had the pleasure of touching one of those, you know what I mean). Okay, maybe that is hyperbolic. I was fortunately enough to maintain my cool when we met him, but only because I told myself for about an hour before hand not to act like a complete dork (I was still a bit of a dork though :) ). His panel was the absolute best. You are correct in that he does seem to pretend not to really remember things. It's very Jack O'Neill, and I wonder if that wasn't something he suggested for the role, since O'Neil (with one L) didn't seem that way in the movie.
Anyway, thanks for the con report and for the new books! It's so exciting. Happy 10 years to Fandemonium, and here's to many more.
FYI, I'm ShoeQueen on ff. ;)
We did indeed have the best time! And we'd have loved to have you come talk to us. :)
DeleteI think I might have been more cool meeting RDA if I'd had more time to prepare, but then I might have just wound myself up into a bundle of nerves. So who knows? Anyway, it was fun. I'm sure he's used to people acting odd around him! lol
Thanks for the good wishes. Just one more week until Hostile Ground is released. I really hope you enjoy it. :) And after that we've got a great collection of short stories coming out in October. So there's plenty on the cards!
Thanks for the review for Shore Leave. Looked like incredible fun. Only 5 days 14 hours 15 minutes to go
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! It *was* incredible fun. :) Can't wait to hear what you think of Hostile Ground once you've had a chance to read it!
Delete