Farpoint Convention Recap
Farpoint's 20th anniversary convention
brought with it a number of wonderful events, a few surprises, MANY laughs, and some fun-filled firsts. It was also not without its changes. The first surprise actually occurred en route as we passed a flaming car on the side of the road along Route 78. I hoped that this would not be an omen for our weekend.
This was a special Farpoint and not merely for its milestone year, but also because I had been ordained manager of the writers programming track, or as Howard Weinstein called it, the "Writer Wrangler". Yee-haw!!
Evon and I arrived at the hotel around 3PM and after dropping off our charity auction donations at the art room and delivering copies of handouts to Howard for his Saturday writing workshop (which I wasn't able to attend for the first time in years), we were able to check-in and get our badges before schlepping our stuff from car to hotel room. First-time writer guest Donna Galanti arrived minutes after we did. Kate Mason and Clarence Brown, also new to the con, showed up later in the evening. I happened to be near the doors and unfortunately couldn't lock them in time before Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, and Glenn Hauman strolled in. I caught up with Danielle ACKLEY -McPhail in the dealer room, then later her husband Mike McPhail, Richard White and the lovely Kelly Meding in one of the discussion panel rooms.
Finally, while chatting with operations manager Renee Wilson and con co-chair Sharon VanBlarcom in the Atrium, Bob Greenberger made an appearance just when someone made a comment about not allowing dogs in the hotel. Coincidence?
The adorable Felicia Day took time on Friday to sign autographs since she would not be there on Sunday. I gave her a copy of my second novel, By Your Side, and thanked her for being my "good luck charm". Her first appearance at Farpoint coincided with the debut of my first novel and now that she was back, I was premiering another. Coincidence?
The Friday night dinner was followed by an award ceremony as the Volker-McChesney award was presented to Patti Papineau, long-time attendee who has served as a sign language interpreter for many a con over the years. This was followed by a brief auction for one of Farpoint's charities and a second auction to help Peter David, who suffered a stroke in December. It was then that I was forced to depart to set up for the book fair and completely missed Peter David's surprise appearance on stage that, I am told, brought down the house. Sorry I missed that and the live radio drama performance that starred the cast of Prometheus Radio Theatre along with celebrity guests Rob Paulsen, Lee Arenberg, John Billingsley and his lovely wife, Bonita Friedericy.
Ah, the book fair! It took place in, and outside of, the Con Suite and despite complaints from some of the writers about conflicting with Vic's Place out in the Atrium (think karaoke with geeks and booze), the fair went well. The launch of my second novel, By Your Side , was a success. I sold 8 copies that night and 2 more during the weekend. I also sold 2 copies of each of Testing the Prisoner and ReDeus: Divine Tales during the con.
Saturday was spent mostly coordinating with the other writers to ensure they knew where to sit for their one-hour autograph sessions and fielding questions. I set up base of operations just outside the con suite. This served the dual purpose of making me easy to find and kept me close to the free goodies. Evon and I stole away from the table (thank you Ethan Wilson for standing--or sitting--guard) while we walked over to Giancarlo Esposito to get his autograph and our photos taken with him. He was very gracious. It was an honor to meet such an accomplished performer. Needless to say, Mr. Esposito also received a copy of my book. :-)
In what could be called the epitome of irony, I completely missed my 4PM panel on "Time Management for Writers". After a quick ride into Baltimore to drop off writer Clarence Brown later in the evening, Evon and I hit dinner at Basta Pasta. We returned to the hotel well in time to chill out for a few minutes in the room and catch a bit of Back to the Future II. Evon ended up crashing while I went to 10-Forward and hung out with babes Sharon VanBlarcom, Cindy Shockey, Cindy Woods, Renee Wilson and a very dapper Lance Woods. I then visited Steve Wilson, Renfield and June Swords, Nobilis Reed and other rotating cast members in Suite 308 overlooking the dance floor. Fun times and good conversations.
By Sunday morning, my duties as writer liaison began to wind down and I was able to make the "Plotters vs. Pantsers" panel with Don Sakers, Marianne Petrino-Schaad, and Aaron Rosenberg. We discussed those who outline their stories (plotters) versus those who write by the seat of their pants (pantsers). Plenty of audience participation made for a lively and informative discussion.
Later that day, I sat in for the AfterEarth panel hosted by Peter David, Bob Greenberger and Michael Jan Friedman. The trio discussed their involvement in creating media tie-in material (novels, novellas, comic books) surrounding Will Smith's upcoming summer film of the same name.
Our final event of the con was sitting in on John Bilingsley and Bonita Friedericy's comedy hour. I don't quite recall all that happened as it's mostly a blur now. Prizes for best questions consisted of such high-quality items as a bouquet of dead yellow roses, an eraser shaped like a piece of sushi, a Tupperware lid that John used to serve cookies to the audience and one other item that escapes memory. Speaking of escaping, whenever anyone left the ballroom, Bonita chased them out into the hallway and dragged them back in. Billingsely then donned a "Minister" baseball cap and purple shaw and "married" a couple in the audience, who then received the dead yellow roses from Bonita. After the ceremony, Billingsley asked everyone to stand up and proceeded to marry everyone in the room!
This was a special Farpoint and not merely for its milestone year, but also because I had been ordained manager of the writers programming track, or as Howard Weinstein called it, the "Writer Wrangler". Yee-haw!!
Evon and I arrived at the hotel around 3PM and after dropping off our charity auction donations at the art room and delivering copies of handouts to Howard for his Saturday writing workshop (which I wasn't able to attend for the first time in years), we were able to check-in and get our badges before schlepping our stuff from car to hotel room. First-time writer guest Donna Galanti arrived minutes after we did. Kate Mason and Clarence Brown, also new to the con, showed up later in the evening. I happened to be near the doors and unfortunately couldn't lock them in time before Aaron Rosenberg, David Mack, and Glenn Hauman strolled in. I caught up with Danielle ACKLEY -McPhail in the dealer room, then later her husband Mike McPhail, Richard White and the lovely Kelly Meding in one of the discussion panel rooms.
Finally, while chatting with operations manager Renee Wilson and con co-chair Sharon VanBlarcom in the Atrium, Bob Greenberger made an appearance just when someone made a comment about not allowing dogs in the hotel. Coincidence?
The adorable Felicia Day took time on Friday to sign autographs since she would not be there on Sunday. I gave her a copy of my second novel, By Your Side, and thanked her for being my "good luck charm". Her first appearance at Farpoint coincided with the debut of my first novel and now that she was back, I was premiering another. Coincidence?
The Friday night dinner was followed by an award ceremony as the Volker-McChesney award was presented to Patti Papineau, long-time attendee who has served as a sign language interpreter for many a con over the years. This was followed by a brief auction for one of Farpoint's charities and a second auction to help Peter David, who suffered a stroke in December. It was then that I was forced to depart to set up for the book fair and completely missed Peter David's surprise appearance on stage that, I am told, brought down the house. Sorry I missed that and the live radio drama performance that starred the cast of Prometheus Radio Theatre along with celebrity guests Rob Paulsen, Lee Arenberg, John Billingsley and his lovely wife, Bonita Friedericy.
Ah, the book fair! It took place in, and outside of, the Con Suite and despite complaints from some of the writers about conflicting with Vic's Place out in the Atrium (think karaoke with geeks and booze), the fair went well. The launch of my second novel, By Your Side , was a success. I sold 8 copies that night and 2 more during the weekend. I also sold 2 copies of each of Testing the Prisoner and ReDeus: Divine Tales during the con.
Saturday was spent mostly coordinating with the other writers to ensure they knew where to sit for their one-hour autograph sessions and fielding questions. I set up base of operations just outside the con suite. This served the dual purpose of making me easy to find and kept me close to the free goodies. Evon and I stole away from the table (thank you Ethan Wilson for standing--or sitting--guard) while we walked over to Giancarlo Esposito to get his autograph and our photos taken with him. He was very gracious. It was an honor to meet such an accomplished performer. Needless to say, Mr. Esposito also received a copy of my book. :-)
In what could be called the epitome of irony, I completely missed my 4PM panel on "Time Management for Writers". After a quick ride into Baltimore to drop off writer Clarence Brown later in the evening, Evon and I hit dinner at Basta Pasta. We returned to the hotel well in time to chill out for a few minutes in the room and catch a bit of Back to the Future II. Evon ended up crashing while I went to 10-Forward and hung out with babes Sharon VanBlarcom, Cindy Shockey, Cindy Woods, Renee Wilson and a very dapper Lance Woods. I then visited Steve Wilson, Renfield and June Swords, Nobilis Reed and other rotating cast members in Suite 308 overlooking the dance floor. Fun times and good conversations.
By Sunday morning, my duties as writer liaison began to wind down and I was able to make the "Plotters vs. Pantsers" panel with Don Sakers, Marianne Petrino-Schaad, and Aaron Rosenberg. We discussed those who outline their stories (plotters) versus those who write by the seat of their pants (pantsers). Plenty of audience participation made for a lively and informative discussion.
Later that day, I sat in for the AfterEarth panel hosted by Peter David, Bob Greenberger and Michael Jan Friedman. The trio discussed their involvement in creating media tie-in material (novels, novellas, comic books) surrounding Will Smith's upcoming summer film of the same name.
Our final event of the con was sitting in on John Bilingsley and Bonita Friedericy's comedy hour. I don't quite recall all that happened as it's mostly a blur now. Prizes for best questions consisted of such high-quality items as a bouquet of dead yellow roses, an eraser shaped like a piece of sushi, a Tupperware lid that John used to serve cookies to the audience and one other item that escapes memory. Speaking of escaping, whenever anyone left the ballroom, Bonita chased them out into the hallway and dragged them back in. Billingsely then donned a "Minister" baseball cap and purple shaw and "married" a couple in the audience, who then received the dead yellow roses from Bonita. After the ceremony, Billingsley asked everyone to stand up and proceeded to marry everyone in the room!
They fielded only a few questions about Chuck and Enterprise and spent most of the time cracking up the audience. They ended with an auction of autographed scripts with letters of authenticity signed by Billingsley. Since there were some autographs missing, Billingsley addressed the letters to those actors that did not sign in case the winner should see said actor(s) at a future con. He read the letters aloud and stated that "since you were the only asshole that didn't sign the script, can you please do so now for the bearer of this letter."
I hadn't laughed that much in a long time and it was a wonderful high note on which to end the con. After that, it was time to pack it in, say our good-byes, give a lot of hugs and hit the Nautilus Diner before making our way home. Happily, there were no further flaming cars to be seen.
No comments have been added yet.
