Post-Apocalypse Now

Hello friends!

About a month ago I was contacted by Allison Verost, one of the excellent publicity people at Macmillan, about doing an event at NY Comic Con. I woud have 45 mins and could pick any topic to present…

They said I can wear a costume, if I want too. But this one's obviously taken and taken in style, so I won't.

This was thrilling and a teeny-teensy titch intimidating. I decided to give a talk on trends in Post-Apocalyptic literature. I even came up with a catchy title: Post-Apocalypse Now.

I promptly called an old friend, Kevin Maher. Kevin is a pop-culture guru, terrifically funny and ALSO smart. I know. It seems like too much for one person. Kevin agreed to come on board as a co-host and I was thrilled.

But then I started thinking about what I had agreed to do – and then the anxiety began.

Yes, I read a lot of Post-apoc lit. But have I read ALL of it? The Comic Con fans are really sharp. In my nightmares, I saw myself trying to make a presentation to a bunch of people who all knew more than I did about my subject. I saw myself being upbraided by people in costume. That would be really hard to take.

But I dug in. I used the Amazon gift card I got for my birthday (thank you, Renee Podunovich) to order a bunch of new releases. I went to my favorite place on earth besides Massage Envy, the library, and checked out a tall stack of End of the World novels. I got busy reading.

I read some GREAT new post-apoc books. The Last Policeman, by Ben Winters. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker. Peter Heller’s The Dog Stars. And I started to develop some theories. Hallelujah! I had some ideas!

I started structuring my thinking, pulling together a Prezi (this is like a powerpoint, but a trillion times cooler). I got pretty far into it and then I found out that not only would Kevin and I have no screen or digital projector (goodbye Prezi) but we would also have no room! We wouldn’t be in a little room, speaking to a small group of attendees. Our event, Post-Apocalypse Now, would be on the Unbound stage, in the center of a large space with people freely moving around.

You are probably imagining that I freaked out.

But no! It’s the opposite. I was terrifically relieved.

You can’t do a thoughtful little panel on trends in a genre in the center of a giant, milling crowd. You gotta do a show.

But I know how to do a show! I called Kevin and within about 30 seconds, we completely ditched our presentation and moved into show format. I’m going to sing a comedy song I’ve been working on and have my talented friends Ava Anderson and Doug Goodhart sing other songs inspired by Monument 14. I’ll also read an excerpt from Sky On Fire (Now, you gotta get there!). Kevin’s going to put together a trivia-show envelope for the whole thing. And you know what, Post-Apocalypse Now is going to be the best damn, comedy and trivia show about the End of Days that the Javitz Center has ever known.

It can't be THIS big, can it?

I do think it’s funny that presenting a discussion to a small group is more intimidating to me than singing in front of a huge convention floor, but you know what, I’m just gonna roll with what God gave me!

Comic Con, here I come!