Day One of Mountain-Con III
Today was the opening of Mountain-Con in Salt Lake City, Utah. I have been excitedly waiting for this day to arrive since it will be my first real FanCon.
So I’m going to do is basically give you a run down of what I did, who I met and what activities I participated in.
When I arrived at the registration booth it was very chaotic. I’m sure it was because the event had just started and probably and everyone was running around trying to tie up all the lose ends. But I have to admit, first impressions are always a gage for me and my first impression wasn’t exceptional. Again, I’m trying to keep an open mind and just go with the flow.
Personally making me feel completely welcome, invited and appreciated for paying months in advance, should have been a priority. Don’t place people at the registration booth who don’t give a crap if I’m there or not. I was hoping this experience wasn’t a reflection of the entire event, seeing how I had just walked in.
I fully expected the attendance on the first day, a Friday afternoon, to be pretty low and I was right. I attended several panel discussions and there were only a hand full of people in each ones. It really made it difficult to carry on a conversation with only one or two people, so I had high expectations of the panel guests. And I think they did a super job.
The first panel I wanted to attend was BSG - Season 4 & Beyond. It was canceled, not sure why, the sign at the door just had the words CANCELLED written on it. So I high tailed it over to Starfleet Academy History 101. This turned out to be a lecture on the early US space program. I believe the person presenting was Professor Victoria Windsor (who seemed to have a British accent that kept coming and going), but was a complete hoot. Event though the subject matter was sort of dry she was very entertaining. You can see a picture of her here.
The next panel I attended was Sci-Fi on TV - Best 10 TV Shows. This turned out to be an open discussion about TV shows currently airing or soon to be on the air. I was really hoping this panel was had a little more structure. I really wanted to know what the panel felt were the top 10 shows. Here are the ones we discussed:
- Heros (of course the best Sci-Fi show currently running)
- Jericho
- Dr. Who
- Torchwood
- Sara Jane Adventures (a British show not yet in the US)
- Bionic Woman (this is supposed to be a rocking show)
- Battlestar Galactica
- Razor
- Journeyman
- Flash Gordon
- Lost (honorable mention)
- A bunch of others I couldn’t type fast enough to catch.
By time we were done with this panel I had a headache. There were a few good discussions but the gist was most of the attendees and panel guests thought Sci-Fi TV is getting darker and darker and harder to watch.
The next panel I attended was one I had been looking forward to all afternoon, Working with Small Publishers. I am trying to attend as many of the writing panels as I can because I want to get a better understanding of the business and what other Authors have faced and what advice they have. Everyone was very eager to share and the panel was awesome.
One of the coolest guys I’ve met so far has to be Ken Rand. He’s a writer; of many genres. But most of all he’s a writer. He’s passionate about writing and I can tell just from our brief interaction I’ll be buying some of his books tomorrow. -PS when you go to a show like this, take some cash. I didn’t and wish I had. Duh. Ken says “Anyone can say can’t write. Let no one say you don’t”. That statement took me a while to understand, but I think he’s trying to say is people may not like what you write but that doesn’t mean you don’t.
Another writer that was on this panel was Howard Tayler. His web site name is awesome, SchlockMercenary.com. He writes a comic strip on the web and also published a couple of books. He is a very interesting and passionate writer. In fact, I must have pushed a button of his when he asked who in the room were writers, I raised my hand, and then said, well, I’m trying to be a writer. He slammed his fist on the table and said “are you writing?” I answered “yes”, he said “then you are a writer.” It was interesting. Again, he has a lot of passion and I look forward to reading his comic and his blog.
There were two ladies on this panel and I am so sorry but didn’t write down their names and they aren’t in the convention program. I’ll update tomorrows blog post with their names and stories.
After that panel I just walked around to several of the Actor booths (David Prowse who played Darth Vader behind the mask was there), talked with a few more Authors and walked through the dealers room (where they sell all the lout.) One of the Authors I met was Paul Genesse. Very sharp guy. Has a new book coming out in 2008, visit his web site and check it out. I also met an Author named Eric James Stone. He tells me he writes short stories mostly and hands me a business card, and says “look at the back, it’s a short story”, and sure enough, on the back of his business card was a short story. Visit his web site here to learn more.
Exhausted and hungry I decided to call it a day. Saturday is the big day and has so many panels that I’m going to have to miss some to be in others. I’ll attend as many of the writing ones as I can.
One final note; I saw Garrett Wang walk in just before I left. It was pretty cool. In all honesty, I wouldn’t have been as excited to attend this convention had it not been for Garrett. My favorite Star Trek series is Voyager and I think it’s pretty cool he’ll be at this one.
By the way, no wireless Internet. That would have been a great bonus.
That’s all for today.
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