So, this past weekend, I drove over to Atlanta to check out my first DragonCon. I don't usually attend, in part because I've always had this one described as a mediacon, not a reading con, and mostly because it's usually held the same weekend as the unmissable World Science Fiction Convention. But this time out, DragonCon and WorldCon fell a week apart, and given the close proximity of my house to the former, I thought I'd check it out.I was just making a hit and run, but enjoyed
hanging with Jetse de Vries of Interzone (who drove cross country from Anaheim to be here) and meeting Yara Abuata of BenBella Books (who I 
previously only knew through our email correspondence. I occassionally write for their Smart Pop series.)I'm still not sure, after checking out the convention, if it would be a good place to host a Pyr booth or not. With some 25,000 attendees, it represents good exposure, but my impression is that the guy installing vampire teeth for $65 a set made out better than any bookseller. (Would appreciate any opinions on this.)
Finally, it was a bit poignant for me standing in the back of a 600 plus crowd to catch a glimpse
of Peter Jurasic, Mira Furlan and others from the Babylon 5 cast. Wanted to say a quick hello to folks I used to work with every day, but there was no way to even get close. Very good to see their amazing work hasn't been forgotten though. I don't think enough people on the book side of the SF fence recognize what an amazing and literate show B5 was.
I was really impressed with several of the costumes. I couldn't catch up with the Hell Boy when I had my camera out, but the guy dressed as Electro blew me away. His fingers
really shot bolts! You can see them if you enlarge the picture. And this guy made a pretty convincing Lex Luthor.Don't know when I'll be back, but I'm glad I made the trip this time.
9 comments:
That Electro suit IS awesome. Thanks for the report. (Tamu)
Hey Tamu,
Seeing it live was really wild. It made a loud, clicking noise and the electricity really danced. I'm pretty impressed with the Spider-Man too though. I love the way the camera creates the illusion of a heavy black illustration outline around the figure, almost as if he were drawn.
My man Jetse! Huzzah!
Hey, I like the one with the guy looking at the fairy girl as if to say,"Hey, could we maybe go out sometime or sumthin". She responds with, "Yeah, right fanboy, in your dreams!" Ah, the memories.
Ha. Just noticed that guy.
I think he rode the elevator down with me earlier. This was the good fairy picture. They looked pretty ragged out in the other one.
Hey, by the way. Is that Jetse in the picture of the Interzone table? It'd be good to be able to put a face to the name when I talk to him on email. Sounds like a very cool show. We don't really get cons that are that large up here in Boston. With the exception of the World Con three years ago.
Yes, that is indeed Jetse at the Interzone table.But how big is your annual Boskone?
Sad to say that I haven't been to Boskone in a few years. I always say that I'm going to go and exhibit in the art show, but then it creeps up and I never seem to find the time. 07 might be a possibility since I've got some decent pieces to show. I don't think they've got the volume of attendees that World Con or Dragon Con has though. More like World Fantasy in size as far as attendees, but not nearly as large as WF when it comes to programming or fun. Arisia seems to be the one that most local artist types tend to go to lately. That's a great art show too.
Man, any con in your backyard you need to go to. There's a tiny con here in Huntsville, AL I've been checking out, though I have a schedule conflict this year. They pull in a lot of Baen authors, but surprisingly few attendees given the proximity of all those engineers and NASA folks. I'd love to see them market more aggressively to the surrounding, what with Space Camp there and all, it has the potential to be the major southern con with a little work.
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