Paul had his book release party for The Dragon Hunters on Friday night at the convention. In true Paul style he held it up on the 15th floor where he could look down through the clouds into the Void and ponder what winged monsters might come up to attack him. I feasted on Pizza, chocolate, and cookies while I waited in the eternally long line of his rabid fans waiting for a moment to bask in his evil overlordly presence (and get a signed copy of his book).
More Evil Overlords: Paul Genesse (again. He truly is evil), Howard Taylor, Dan Willis, L.E. Modesitt, Dave Wolverton.
Howard Taylor had his book launch party at CONduit as well. More pizza. More cookies. More chocolate. He even had this fluffy little eclairs that tasted like heaven. Two thumbs up from me. And his newest book. Scholck Mercenary: The Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance is terrific. I loved every page of it.
I really enjoyed Dan Willis's panel, On Writing. He had a lot of great material to share, and I can't wait to implement it in my own writing.
Dave Wolverton did the Main Address on Saturday where he talked about stories that appeal to the collective consciousness because of genetic memory. Way good stuff.
Late Saturday night a bunch of us got together, and I got to hang out and listen for scraps of wisdom from L.E. Modesitt. Truly an icon in the field.
On Saturday, I got to be on a fun panel about marketing YA/MG fiction with my editor Stacy Whitman and a bunch of my favorite YA/MG authors: James Dashner, Mette Ivie Harrison, Julie Wright, Dan Willis, and Sandra Tayler. We had a great time.
Sandra has a terrific new picture book out called Hold Onto Your Horses. The best picture book I've read in a while. Check out the website.
I also got to do a reading along with Aleta Clegg whose new book will be coming out soon. And then I got to do a book signing with Paul. A lot of fun there. Of course you never know what's going to happen when Paul is around.
Quite a memorable weekend.
