Andy Zach's Blog: The Unlikely life of Andy Zach - Posts Tagged "penned-con"

Here's Andy Zach's Penned Con Report - Plus Free Books. Enjoy! Ask questions! Get your books.

 

My Undead Mother-in-law front cover. Click to get for free!

And other free books are on the linked page too.
Andy Zach's Penned Con Report - Day 1
Thursday, September 20, my assistant Tori Smith and I arrived at the Red Lion hotel in City Center block of St. Louis. The hotel is a repurposed block of downtown St. Louis, complete with three thirteen-story atriums. The Penned Con convention resided on the lucky thirteenth floor. Gander at these pictures from the outdoor lounge:



View from 13th floor of Red Lion hotel in St. Louis, looking toward Busch Stadium.

Here's my assistant, Tori Smith in the lounge:

Tori Smith on the 13th floor lounge of the Red Lion

And here's a picture of my fellow author Bess Sturgis:

Author Bess Sturgis enjoying lunch.

But wait! There's more!
Penned Con Report - Opening Mystery Party
The mystery party was a rather clever author and reader mixer. We were randomly put into groups to solve a murder mystery, while dressed in garb of the 1920s. How random? We selected our desired time, and the 10-15 people in the 5-minute time slots between 8 PM and 10 PM got put together.

Here's a picture of our 9:55 group:

Andy Zach, (far left, as in out to left field), with other authors and readers.

You may be happy to know we solved the mystery. We reviewed five scenes and interviewed five characters and it wasn't the butler.
Penned Con Report - Day 2 - Selling Books
After all, we authors LOVE to get our books into the hands of readers.  We even give them away. (See above).

Now, to the right from my table:

Looking to the right of Andy's table
Then, looking to the left of Andy's table:

The left side of Andy's table.

Next, from the front of the table:

The front of Andy's table.

Finally, my table itself, adorned with my lovely assistant, Tori Smith:

Andy Zach's table with his lovely assistant, Tori Smith
The Elevator Adventure
You may ask, "Is this like Willy Wonka's glass elevator?" Don't I wish! No, the hotel had a bank of three elevators and one hundred and thirty five authors and eight hundred and ninety readers all wanting to get to the thirteenth floor at once. Every day. At the same time.

The adventure begins with one elevator permanently dead.  Oopsie.

To the hotel's credit, everyone had wonderful positive attitudes and they all worked to solve the problem. They led herds of authors (is that the right collective noun?) to the freight elevator to circumvent the constriction.

They put one elevator on manual and had an employee run it. That's how Tori made a Pokemon game friend:

Tori and elevator operator Dennis unite for Pokemon.
Day 3 - The Big Dinner
Once more, Tori and I dressed in 20s mufti for the awards dinner.

Tori and Andy dressed to the 9s--1929.
We had a scrumptious meal and heard from the head of the Autism foundation. Penned Con gives to that worthy cause. Then the awards came out. I don't know who won, because we went to bed.

The next day, we drove home to Peoria.
One More Thing - Zombie Turkeys on Sale for .99!
Your favorite comic paranormal animal story is right here, right now for .99!

Zombie Turkeys front cover. Click to get a copy!