Eureka! A Weekend at Farpoint 2015...
On the coldest weekend of the year, my wife and I drove down to Timonium, MD to participate in the 22nd annual Farpoint SF media and literary convention. We’ve been attending this convention since it’s inception in 1993 and I’ve missed only three in all those years. Since 2010, I’ve been an author guest.
Despite the frigid temperatures, I took comfort in the fact that we had clear skies for the drive, which didn’t help much when we sat in congestion on Route 83 south, delaying our arrival by 45 minutes.
When we finally arrived at our room, I had hoped that our issues were over—until I turned on the lamp between the beds and the CFL bulb fell out and shattered on the bedside table.
Nothing like a little mercury to start the convention! I hoped these annoyances would not serve as an omen for the remainder of the weekend.
My wife and I then paid a brief visit to the opening ceremonies and banquet. We hugged and chatted with several friends including Renee and Christian Wilson, Sandy Zier-Teitler, Shore Leave co-chair Inge Heyer, and Barbara Goetz before standing in line for food. However, since we were late, there were no seats. We stood and ate our plates of mac and cheese, spotted actor guests Tim Russ and Colin Ferguson among the crowd, then decided to retire to our room where the wife remained for the night.
At 9:30, I hauled my books to the Farpoint Book Fair where I shared space with fellow Firebringer Press writers Lance Woods, Steven H. Wilson, Susanna Reilly, Daniel Patrick “Renfield” Corcoran, and Michael Critzer. Our table was in line with neighboring writers Keith RA DeCandido, Allyn Gibson, David Mack, Joe Berenato, and the chaps from Crazy 8 Press (Robert Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, Peter David, and Aaron Rosenberg).
After setting up the table, I set about taking pics and catching up with some of the other writers including Kelly Meding and Kim Headlee. Back at my table, highly anticipated antics and shenanigans ensued. I sold a few books, signed a few more, and caught up with yet more friends including Cindy Woods, Marc Okrand, Ariel Vitali, Farpoint chair Sharon VanBlarcom, Judy Waidlich, and the newly engaged Annie Slonski and Todd Brugmans. A phenomenal artist and illustrator, Todd has created the covers for the last several Farpoint program books and also the cover to Lance Woods’s novel, Heroic Park.
After the book fair, I packed up and headed back to my room for the night, but not before Friday the 13th fired a final parting shot. The lady ahead of me failed to hold the door open for me. I attempted to catch it with one hand while holding onto my file box of books with the other—and gravity gets the win! The weight of the books shifted downward, splitting the cardboard box open. I almost lost everything, but caught the box in time before the contents spilled out.
Thanks to Sue Reilly for grabbing the door for me and to Christopher and Cindy VanBlarcom for providing another box that I used for the remainder of the weekend. I’m now shopping for one of those wheeled crates! No more cardboard boxes.
Later, I returned to the atrium and sat with Susanna and Zan Rosin for the karaoke where singers included Peter David, the family Wilson, June Swords, Renfield and others.
Saturday morning’s events began at 10AM with the discussion panel “Not All Genres Are Created Equal”, which touched on which genres are considered more or less challenging to write and why. It was a lively discussion between Aaron Rosenberg, Susanna Reilly, TJ Perkins, and myself serving as moderator.
After that, I set up at the Firenbringer Press table for my autograph session until noon when it was time for “What WON’T You Write” with Aaron Rosenberg, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and moderator Don Sakers. Although David Mack suggested the panel, the convention did not schedule it for him so David sat in the back of the room. The panelists discussed the types of stories and scenes that they were not comfortable writing (such as porn, erotica, blood and gore, excessive violence) and ways to convey the same emotions using other techniques of skillful storytelling. All agreed that if a scene is merely gratuitous or “edgy” for its own sake, but fails to serve the story, it should be cut.
Next up was the Firebringer Press panel with publisher Steven H. Wilson, Lance Woods, Susanna Reilly, and Michael Critzer. Each of us discussed our upcoming writing projects both with Firebringer Press and beyond. Steve talked about re-branding Prometheus Radio Theatre and mentioned some of the publications that are lined up in Firebringer’s future.
At 2PM, I finally had two hours of free time. My wife and I stood in line for Colin Ferguson’s autograph. He was extremely amiable, taking the time to chat and take pictures with each of the fans. We then took a quick tour of the dealer room where I snagged two Robert Heinlein short novels, Beyond This Horizon and Orphans of the Sky for $1 each.
At 4PM, Evon went off to watch Colin Ferguson’s stage talk. For me, it was back to the discussion panels, starting with “Writing for Anthologies” with Richard White. Two other writers were supposed to participate but did not appear, leaving Richard and I to run the show. The audience consisted of three people, but the discussion was lively nevertheless and touched on different types of anthologies, who is publishing them, niche stories, small presses, magazines, etc.
My final panel of the evening was “Public Speaking for Authors” with Aaron Rosenberg, Gregory Wilson, and Jennifer Povey as moderator. Topics included different types of public speaking, methods for preparation, relaxation, and the importance of speaking slowly and enunciating.
Finally, it was time for dinner. A few weeks prior to Farpoint, Aaron had extended an invitation to several of us to dine at Andy Nelson’s BBQ on York Road. The food was fantastic and served surprisingly quickly. One entire room in the restaurant was occupied solely by writers from Farpoint! SF fans take over wherever we go! Outside, the snow was accumulating and by the time we left, the roads had become treacherous. Despite a bit of slipping and sliding, we made it back to the hotel safely.
The wife and I decided to relax in our room rather than attend the10-Forward dance party. Instead, we watched consecutive episodes of Big Bang Theory while I processed photos from the convention and posted them on Facebook.
We packed up on Sunday morning and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Colin Ferguson bounded in a few minutes later and I chatted with him briefly about the weather and the fact that I was having a “Ferguson week” after seeing Craig Ferguson live at the Sands in Bethlehem, PA a few days earlier.
Later that morning, I decided to get one more autograph from Colin before it was time for me to give a reading from one of my books. Danielle Ackley-McPhail was also scheduled and took the first turn. Our captive audience of three trimmed down to two weary souls by the time I began reading one of my stories from Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity.
My final panel of the con was “Part-Time Writer, Full-Time World” with Aaron Rosenberg, moderator Don Sakers, and Jay Smith. As the name suggests, the panelists discussed the struggles of carving out time to write around our respective work and personal schedules.
The last event of Farpoint for me was seeing Colin Ferguson’s stage talk and it was absolutely entertaining…even before Colin appeared. His likeness was auctioned off in the form of a prop from the previous evening’s Luna-C comedy skit wherein Fargo accidentally turned Eureka’s sheriff, Jack Carter, into a Maytag washing machine. Colin had provided the voice of Carter and the cast had signed the cardboard prop (shown below).
Colin’s talk was fun and engaging. He discussed a wide range of topics from directing and producing episodes of Eureka to the physicality of working on the show, all of which he enjoyed. He spoke highly of the casts of every show he worked on including Vampire Diaries and Haven as well as Eureka.
All told, it was a fun convention. Looking forward to 2016!
Despite the frigid temperatures, I took comfort in the fact that we had clear skies for the drive, which didn’t help much when we sat in congestion on Route 83 south, delaying our arrival by 45 minutes.
When we finally arrived at our room, I had hoped that our issues were over—until I turned on the lamp between the beds and the CFL bulb fell out and shattered on the bedside table.
Nothing like a little mercury to start the convention! I hoped these annoyances would not serve as an omen for the remainder of the weekend.
My wife and I then paid a brief visit to the opening ceremonies and banquet. We hugged and chatted with several friends including Renee and Christian Wilson, Sandy Zier-Teitler, Shore Leave co-chair Inge Heyer, and Barbara Goetz before standing in line for food. However, since we were late, there were no seats. We stood and ate our plates of mac and cheese, spotted actor guests Tim Russ and Colin Ferguson among the crowd, then decided to retire to our room where the wife remained for the night.
At 9:30, I hauled my books to the Farpoint Book Fair where I shared space with fellow Firebringer Press writers Lance Woods, Steven H. Wilson, Susanna Reilly, Daniel Patrick “Renfield” Corcoran, and Michael Critzer. Our table was in line with neighboring writers Keith RA DeCandido, Allyn Gibson, David Mack, Joe Berenato, and the chaps from Crazy 8 Press (Robert Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, Peter David, and Aaron Rosenberg).
After setting up the table, I set about taking pics and catching up with some of the other writers including Kelly Meding and Kim Headlee. Back at my table, highly anticipated antics and shenanigans ensued. I sold a few books, signed a few more, and caught up with yet more friends including Cindy Woods, Marc Okrand, Ariel Vitali, Farpoint chair Sharon VanBlarcom, Judy Waidlich, and the newly engaged Annie Slonski and Todd Brugmans. A phenomenal artist and illustrator, Todd has created the covers for the last several Farpoint program books and also the cover to Lance Woods’s novel, Heroic Park.
After the book fair, I packed up and headed back to my room for the night, but not before Friday the 13th fired a final parting shot. The lady ahead of me failed to hold the door open for me. I attempted to catch it with one hand while holding onto my file box of books with the other—and gravity gets the win! The weight of the books shifted downward, splitting the cardboard box open. I almost lost everything, but caught the box in time before the contents spilled out.
Thanks to Sue Reilly for grabbing the door for me and to Christopher and Cindy VanBlarcom for providing another box that I used for the remainder of the weekend. I’m now shopping for one of those wheeled crates! No more cardboard boxes.
Later, I returned to the atrium and sat with Susanna and Zan Rosin for the karaoke where singers included Peter David, the family Wilson, June Swords, Renfield and others.
Saturday morning’s events began at 10AM with the discussion panel “Not All Genres Are Created Equal”, which touched on which genres are considered more or less challenging to write and why. It was a lively discussion between Aaron Rosenberg, Susanna Reilly, TJ Perkins, and myself serving as moderator.
After that, I set up at the Firenbringer Press table for my autograph session until noon when it was time for “What WON’T You Write” with Aaron Rosenberg, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, and moderator Don Sakers. Although David Mack suggested the panel, the convention did not schedule it for him so David sat in the back of the room. The panelists discussed the types of stories and scenes that they were not comfortable writing (such as porn, erotica, blood and gore, excessive violence) and ways to convey the same emotions using other techniques of skillful storytelling. All agreed that if a scene is merely gratuitous or “edgy” for its own sake, but fails to serve the story, it should be cut.
Next up was the Firebringer Press panel with publisher Steven H. Wilson, Lance Woods, Susanna Reilly, and Michael Critzer. Each of us discussed our upcoming writing projects both with Firebringer Press and beyond. Steve talked about re-branding Prometheus Radio Theatre and mentioned some of the publications that are lined up in Firebringer’s future.
At 2PM, I finally had two hours of free time. My wife and I stood in line for Colin Ferguson’s autograph. He was extremely amiable, taking the time to chat and take pictures with each of the fans. We then took a quick tour of the dealer room where I snagged two Robert Heinlein short novels, Beyond This Horizon and Orphans of the Sky for $1 each.
At 4PM, Evon went off to watch Colin Ferguson’s stage talk. For me, it was back to the discussion panels, starting with “Writing for Anthologies” with Richard White. Two other writers were supposed to participate but did not appear, leaving Richard and I to run the show. The audience consisted of three people, but the discussion was lively nevertheless and touched on different types of anthologies, who is publishing them, niche stories, small presses, magazines, etc.
My final panel of the evening was “Public Speaking for Authors” with Aaron Rosenberg, Gregory Wilson, and Jennifer Povey as moderator. Topics included different types of public speaking, methods for preparation, relaxation, and the importance of speaking slowly and enunciating.
Finally, it was time for dinner. A few weeks prior to Farpoint, Aaron had extended an invitation to several of us to dine at Andy Nelson’s BBQ on York Road. The food was fantastic and served surprisingly quickly. One entire room in the restaurant was occupied solely by writers from Farpoint! SF fans take over wherever we go! Outside, the snow was accumulating and by the time we left, the roads had become treacherous. Despite a bit of slipping and sliding, we made it back to the hotel safely.
The wife and I decided to relax in our room rather than attend the10-Forward dance party. Instead, we watched consecutive episodes of Big Bang Theory while I processed photos from the convention and posted them on Facebook.
We packed up on Sunday morning and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Colin Ferguson bounded in a few minutes later and I chatted with him briefly about the weather and the fact that I was having a “Ferguson week” after seeing Craig Ferguson live at the Sands in Bethlehem, PA a few days earlier.
Later that morning, I decided to get one more autograph from Colin before it was time for me to give a reading from one of my books. Danielle Ackley-McPhail was also scheduled and took the first turn. Our captive audience of three trimmed down to two weary souls by the time I began reading one of my stories from Somewhere in the Middle of Eternity.
My final panel of the con was “Part-Time Writer, Full-Time World” with Aaron Rosenberg, moderator Don Sakers, and Jay Smith. As the name suggests, the panelists discussed the struggles of carving out time to write around our respective work and personal schedules.
The last event of Farpoint for me was seeing Colin Ferguson’s stage talk and it was absolutely entertaining…even before Colin appeared. His likeness was auctioned off in the form of a prop from the previous evening’s Luna-C comedy skit wherein Fargo accidentally turned Eureka’s sheriff, Jack Carter, into a Maytag washing machine. Colin had provided the voice of Carter and the cast had signed the cardboard prop (shown below).
Colin’s talk was fun and engaging. He discussed a wide range of topics from directing and producing episodes of Eureka to the physicality of working on the show, all of which he enjoyed. He spoke highly of the casts of every show he worked on including Vampire Diaries and Haven as well as Eureka.
All told, it was a fun convention. Looking forward to 2016!
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