Thursday, February 26, 2026Obviously, these pics aren't from
AuthorCon, but they were taken at a cool geocaching stop between Martinsville and
Williamsburg—a cache called
"Rock Out #2" (GCAA7W3), to be precise—along the Chickahominy River. It was a somewhat dreary drive,
with a good bit of rain and fog, but I didn't let that interfere with the
caching. Sadly, though, Brugger is unable to attend, due to her mom falling
and breaking her hip and a leg, so she is having to go to Michigan to help
both her mom and her dad get along. Thus, on this trip, I ended up going after
more caches than usual, since I had no worries about taxing her patience while
I hunted, heh heh.
I stopped for lunch at
Indian Fields Tavern
in Charles City, a few miles this side of Williamsburg. It's one of our
favorite dining destinations, along with the nearby
Cul's Courthouse Grill, which we usually visit on alternate trips. Both restaurants have some of
the best burgers I've ever tasted, but through no fault of my own, I might
have had one too many burgers this week (I didn't mean to, really!), So, I
tried their "Barn Bird" chicken sandwich, which was quite good, though not in
the same league as their "Charles City Burger."
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At Angler's Park, Danville, VA
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Once in Williamsburg, I stopped for provisions at a handy grocery store and
then made my way to the
Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Williamsburg, where I settled into my room, took a much-needed shower, and relaxed for
a bit. Eventually, I made my way down to the bar to see if I might run into
any familiar faces. I did indeed, and I'm looking forward to seeing several
others of my acquaintance who will be arriving later this evening or
tomorrow morning.
For dinner, I ordered some Thai food from
nearby
Thai Tara—a Crying Tiger appetizer and tofu fried rice. Once done, I headed back to
the bar and hung out with several old writer friends, which was quite
pleasant. The bartender makes a damned good Bloody Mary, and damn if these
people don't feature some kind of vodka concoction in a bag. I did not have
one of those, and I almost certainly will not.
Tomorrow, I'll be setting up in the ballroom as early as I can manage, and
I'll be on the Cosmic Horror panel in the evening.
Friday, February 27, 2026
Coffee! Lord, did I need coffee this morning. There's a coffeemaker in the
room that comes with some of that not-so-good stuff, and there's a coffee
shop in the convention area that has the not-so-cheap good stuff. So I
compromised and got some not-so-cheap coffee and then drank some not-so-good
coffee. It almost woke me up, but I may need to return to the coffee shop
for the better brew. And soon.
I was right there when registration opened up, so I checked in and then went
about the task of setting up my table in the ballroom. Having Brugger along
to do the heavy lifting would have helped a lot, but, well, nope. (She has
reached Michigan and is currently at the hospital with her mom.) For most of
the morning, I socialized with some incoming authors/artists/friends and
circumnavigated the hotel a number of times to get my mileage in for the
day. I plagued a lot of people with my existence—folks like
Bridgette & Mike Brenmark, Rebecca Cuthbert,
Richard Dansky, Larry Hinkle, Justin Holley, Brian Keene, Todd Kiesling, Red Lagoe,
Tom Lucas, Bryan Nowak, Stephen & Sharon Provost,
J. Dennison Reed, Mark Sieber, Dave Simms,
Sidney Williams, Valerie Williams, and others. I guarantee
there will be considerably more plaguing before this weekend is over.
At 4:00 p.m., the opening ceremonies officially kicked off the weekend. Then
the dealer's room opened up. I manned my table, shot shit with many people,
grabbed tacos from the hotel's taco bar, and sold a few books. At 7:30, I
went forth to participate in the Cosmic Horror panel, which also included
Ben Farthing, Amanda Headlee, Thomas R. Clark,
Todd Keisling, Mary SanGiovanni, and Tommy B. Smith. It was very well attended and most enjoyable. When I returned to my
table, several people came by and bought books. There is happiness.
Finally, I made my way to Rich Dansky's room for his traditional Scotch
& Cheese Party™, which included lots of scotch, lots of cheese, and lots
of people. We drank and made merry for a good while, and then... it was time
to crash. Tomorrow, I have a reading (with Rich), a panel on Folk Horror,
and a long day in the dealer's room. Hopefully, it will be a profitable day.
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The opening ceremonies, with Joe Ripple extolling the virtues of
Uranus
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L: Old Dude; R: Sidney Williams, looking uncustomarily happy
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Sasquatch...er...Richard Dansky in a rare, non-blurry photo
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Old Dude and Grand Llama Bryan Nowak
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An insidiously happy-looking Bridgette Brenmark
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Stephen & Sharon Provost discovering that they accidentally
super-glued their hands together
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Saturday, February 28, 2026
As with so many mornings lately, I woke up to a miserable allergy
attack, so I reluctantly took a Benadryl, which works reasonably well on the
allergy but turns me into a drugged-up zombie. To help compensate, I drank a
couple of extra doses of coffee, but it failed to kill the zombie. I had a
less-than-satisfying breakfast at the hotel's breakfast buffet, and then
kerplunked into my chair at the dealer's table. I sold a couple of books
before my 11:00 a.m. reading with Mr. Dansky. We ended up with a few folks
in attendance, which is always better than no folks in attendance. Richard
read a highly entertaining ghost tale, and then I read the first chapter of
my sequel to The House at Black Tooth Pond, tentatively titled Broken Barriers. Neither of us suffered an onslaught of projectiles.
Immediately afterward, I was on the Folk Horror panel, which also
featured Jonathan Gensler, Thomas R. Clark,
Tony Evans, and Bitter Karella. This one was also very well
attended, and the discussion was lively.
I snagged a late lunch from the coffee shop, which, much like breakfast,
wasn't very appetizing—a re-warmed, overpriced, rather stale sandwich.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon at my table, and—happily—sold a
lot of books. Several folks who'd been to my reading and panels came to
visit and showered me with money. In return, I devalued their books with my
signature.
Things slowed down a bit late in the day, so I was pretty glad when six
o'clock rolled around. That chair gets hard after a while. But afterward, I
trucked around the place for a while and got my daily steps in.
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Michael Deady and David Simms, scaring and caring
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Somebody left their lipstick at my table. I hope it wasn't a gift
because it's not my color.
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L: Another photo of the inimitable Mark "Horror Drive-In" Sieber for my
collection; R: Ruh-Roh
At 7:00 p.m., I joined a cavalcade of horror folk on a pilgrimage to
The Whaling Company restaurant, which has been an AuthorCon tradition since the day I
started AuthorConning. About 7:15 p.m., these fourteen devilish writers
descended on the place and proceeded to drink, eat, and carry on with wild
abandon. I killed a dozen oysters on the half shell, a cup of some of the
best New England clam chowder I've ever had, and two very stiff gin
martinis. The food and service here has always been better than exemplary,
and so it was tonight. Sadly, though, this was almost certainly the last
time any of us will be able to enjoy this particular experience, as, much to
our chagrin, the restaurant is set to close this coming August. This feels
like the passing of an old friend, for the memories of the people and good
times here are many, and they are deep.
Once back at the hotel, I yakked with Brugger for a while on the phone. She
and her folks are doing as well as could be expected under the
circumstances. After we said our good-byes, I went round to the bar, where I
met Mr. Dansky and some of his friends. We all sank another round of very
potent drinks.
For tonight, this is all she wrote. Tomorrow is Last Day.
Sunday, March 1, 2026
After dragging myself out of bed this morning, I got all my stuff packed up,
took it out to the car, and checked out of my room. Then I settled myself at
my table in the ballroom for a couple of hours. I sold several more books in
that short spell. At noon, I had a final panel on vintage paperbacks,
featuring Sidney Williams, Mark Sieber, Phrique,
Jason Cavallaro, Craig Brownlie, and Bitter Karella,
which turned out to be a lot of fun.
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The Vintage Paperback panel, with Sidney Williams, Phrique, Old Dude,
Jason Cavallaro, Mark Sieber, Craig Brownlie, Bitter Karella
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Then it was time to hit the road. I was starving, so I zoomed straight
to
Cul's Courthouse Grill in Charles City, about a 40-minute drive. This time...yes, I did have that
burger. An incredibly huge, indescribably good burger. It's hard to say
whether
Indian Fields or
Cul's makes THE best burger, but
they're both among my favorites in the world.
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Cul's Courthouse Grill in Charles City
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| THE burger |
Over many years of traveling to Williamsburg, I have found most of the
geocaches anywhere near the highways between here and there, but a scant
handful still appeared on my map. Not anymore, though, because I made a few
stops and grabbed all the caches—at least those that don't require going some
distance out of the way. These were all fun, and at one in Clarksville, I
happened upon a couple of very sweet little kache kitties. They were friendly
enough, though they didn't let me come too close, and I
approve of this. A lot of humans are not as kindly disposed toward cats as I
am.
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| Kache Kitties |
By the time I reached South Boston, the sun was setting, and the view was
pretty spectacular from the highway. I managed a couple of pictures, though as
usual, they don't adequately capture the sheer vista and range of colors.
Sales-wise, this was one of the best AuthorCons I've had, and despite
Kimberly's absence, I had an all-around excellent time. I got to hang with so
many good friends, a few of whom I've not seen in a very long time, and I also
met a bunch of great folks I didn't already know. It goes without saying that
I plan to attend the next one, and I hope very much that, next time, Brugger
will be along to do the heavy lifting.
Of course, AuthorCon is great for bookselling, networking, and having fun,
though its true mission is to support the
Scares That Care!
volunteer charity. To date, the charity has raised and donated over a
half-million dollars to organizations and families with a child affected by
illness, burns, or women fighting breast cancer. So, supporting the con
directly helps individuals in dire need. In fact, thanks to the generosity of
so many creative individuals,
Scares That Care! was able to present a
check for $10,000 to this year's breast cancer survivor,
Mindy Rhone,
at the convention.
Till later, all my fiends and neighbors.
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Scares That Care! presents a $10,000 check to the 2026 breast cancer
nominee, Mindy Rhone
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