I’m sure everyone is aware of the incredible time we had at Dragon*Con this year. Between the photos I posted via Instagram and my tweets of Squee, how could we have not? In fact, we are already planning for next year’s event!
One of the highlights was knowing I’d be able to meet some of my favorite Pyr authors like, Philippa Ballantine (and Tee too!!) and K.D. McEntire. I had all the books I wanted signed sitting in a neat pile a week before the event. What I did not anticipate was meeting more authors and coming home with more books! Maybe that should have been a given?
Saturday afternoon I met K.D. McEntire, author of Lightbringer (YA) and Reaper (YA), after she’d already sold out of Lightbringer! I’d planned on buying a copy of Lightbringer so Reaper would have company on my bookshelf. My daughter had originally bought the book for her Kindle. There was one copy left, but it had been signed incorrectly. I decided I wanted it anyway. All books should have a home and besides, the incorrect name was Wendy! So K.D. made the book out to Wendy and Amanda. (The main character’s name is Wendy!)
I know, as an artist and writer, when someone appreciates your creation you swell with unrestrained joy. What I didn’t realize is how wonderful it felt to make another creative person feel that way. How often do we get to tell someone face-to-face how much we love their work? Seeing her reaction was priceless.
The same was true when I met Philippa Ballantine and Tee Morris the same afternoon. What genuine, kind people and in the midst of all the chaos! They were even nice enough to sign my Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences books–not Pyr books.
The excitement didn’t end there. I had the opportunity to speak with Clay and Susan Griffith about their book, Vampire Empire: The Greyfriar (which has been on my list for some time). On the last day of the convention I spoke with E.C. Myers about his new book Fair Coin (YA).
I also had the opportunity to chat with some of the Pyr publicists who I’ve had email contact with over the last year. It’s always awesome when you can put a face to a mysterious email address!
Here’s a look at the other lovely items we acquired over the weekend:
There is another book I purchased and autographed but I’m saving it for another post. Stay tuned, it’s not over!
Just so excited to meet you…and to see an actual ARC of Hunter & Fox. Wasn’t DragonCon wonderful and crazy?! Hope to see you again, at somewhere far less intense
And you!! I knew DragonCon would be crazy, but I never imagined how intense the crowds would be (and the heat generated by those crowds). I hope you’ve recovered–I’m not there yet. LOL
It looks like you had an amazing time. I love the autographs, and so many! Also the bracelet, that’s very cool.
We did! The experience overwhelming. It’s incredible how much this Con has changed since I went so many years ago.
Enjoy reading about others’ experiences at Dragon*Con. Hoping to have that experience myself next year. I love the pictures of your haul.
Thank you! Dragon*Con was fun but also inspiring. I couldn’t go to enough panels!
I felt the same way about the first-year Phoenix Festival (in Birmingham) that I went to Memorial Day weekend. Met so many nice people and still keep in touch with some of them through Facebook.
It’s great meeting other people with the same interests and ways of thinking!
looks like you had a great time! Cons are the best for meeting our author-heroes, aren’t they? And don’t you wish you had a time machine so you could make it to every panel, since there is always at least two going on at the same time that you really want to go to.
I always worry I’m going to freak the person out when I say “omgosh I love your books so much I read them over and over again!”, but so far, the few authors I’ve met and done that to have been Okay with it (or just really polite).
I’ve been loving looking at everyone posts from DragonCon, maybe one year I’ll get to go to that one!
Yes! A time machine is just what we needed. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see everything, so I tried to enjoy what I did see. It’s incredible how much DragonCon has grown since I went to the little Con so many years ago.