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Old Dude and Ms. B. at the Gross-Out Contest. No, we were not the
stars.
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Brugger and I just returned from a fantastic weekend at
Scares That Care AuthorCon III in Williamsburg, VA, and I probably won't finish this blog tonight because I'm
about to drop.
Scares That Care is a charity organization put together by
a group of horror professionals to help individuals in specific dire
circumstances, and AuthorCon has become the biggest gathering of horror writers
and artists in the country, if not the world. Largely via the conventions, the
organization has raised an impressive amount of money over thirty-plus years,
which goes directly to the selected recipients.
Ms. B. and I attended
AuthorCon II
last year and for me, sales-wise, it was one of the most successful cons ever.
This year didn't quite match last year's total, but it was still a resounding
success. I didn't have my own dealer table (tables had sold out within four
minutes of being offered, and by the time I became aware that availability had
been announced, they were all gone). However, being a regular
Crossroad Press author, CEO
David Niall Wilson offered me space at one of their
three tables in the hotel's promenade area. My sincere thanks to the whole
Crossroad Press gang —
David W.,
David Dodd, and
Trish Wilson (
Patricia Lee Macomber)!
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The Crossroad Press Gang: David Dodd,
Patricia Lee Macomber (Trish Wilson), David Niall Wilson
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Friday, April 12
We hit the road bright and early so we might arrive at
Indian Fields Tavern
in Charles City, about 25 miles this side of Williamsburg, in time for lunch.
I've been there on a couple of prior occasions, and I cannot rave enough about
their Charles City Burger. Yes, we got there in time for lunch, and I had one of
them there burgers. So did Ms. B. I stopped for a couple of geocaches on the
trip, but there aren't many near the major roads that I haven't already
claimed.
Since it was considerably less expensive than the
DoubleTree by Hilton, where the con takes place, we stayed at the nearby
Merrimac Inn & Suites, which is an old-style motor court, hardly luxurious but comfortable enough. Our only complaints were
a lack of good hot water and pressure in the shower and few electrical
outlets. Fortunately, we had a tower with AC and USB outlets. Once checked in
there, we booked it down to the con and set to work setting up one end of the
Crossroad Press tables. Writer/Editor
Katherine "Creepy Cat" Kerestman manned a table directly across from us
and had plenty of copies of the anthology,
The Weird Cat, which she and
S.T. Joshi edited last year (this one contains my story,
"
Nimbus"). She's also a fellow
Dark Shadows and
Twin Peaks fan, so we have a lot of common interests, and it was
cool to finally meet her in person. Along with Kat, I also met online friend
and fellow
Dark Shadows devotee, Ms.
Amanda Trujillo, for
the first time in person.
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The notorious Mark Sieber
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Also nearby lurked long-time friend and
Horror Drive-In
rock star, Mr.
Mark Sieber, so we immediately launched into a lengthy
gab session. I had just returned to the Crossroad Press table when my phone
dinged, and I received notification that my interview on
Cemetery Dance Online, conducted by writer
Rick Hipson, had gone live. And who should
be standing nearby but Mr. Rick himself, so again, it was great to meet yet
another online friend in the flesh. (See Friday's blog announcement about the interview
here.)
At 1600, the opening ceremony drew an already huge crowd to the main
auditorium. It was a rousing kick-off, athough the temperature in there was
oppressive enough to wilt the hardiest of the Fremen on the planet Arrakis.
Lord have mercy. Fortunately, after the first night, the temperature in most
areas of the hotel held steady at reasonably comfortable temperatures. At
1700, the main ballroom & promenade areas opened for business. Happily,
business for me turned out fairly brisk. We found that old friend and purveyor
of "Southern-Fried Horror," Mr. Ronald Kelly and his wife
Joyce had set up across the way from us; I had originally suggested to
him that we start a food fight, but with the high temps in the hotel, we
decided it might be better to fling ice at each other. Ms. B. and broke around 2030 hours for what we hoped would be a quick dinner at the nearby hotel bar. But
no; they ended up losing our order for two salads, and we ended up waiting an
hour (at least they comped our drinks). We got back to our table with only a
few minutes left before closing time.
Afterward, we retired to Dave & Trish's room and drank bourbon — well,
some of us did, while others (Ms. B.) settled for boxed wine. It
might have been a shade too much bourbon and wine, but I won't
swear to it.
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Katherine "Creepy Cat" Kerestman
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Southern-Fried Horror! Joyce and Ronald Kelly
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Saturday, April 13
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Sirrah Madeiros and Joe Maddrey
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Up bright and early, we stopped at a nearby Seven-Eleven to grab coffee
and danishes for breakfast. At the con, business took off at a fair pace, and
I moved a fair number of books. First thing, I ran into good friend
Joe Maddrey, who had paid us a visit in Martinsville a few months back.
He was talking to Kat across the way and trying to avoid me by keeping his
back turned to me, but sadly for him, I recognized the back of his head. No
escape for the wicked! About half the contributors to
Deathrealm: Spirits were there at the con, so a good many lucky
buyers were able to acquire some prized autographs in their copies. Onsite, we
had contributors Maurice Broaddus, Heather Daughrity,
Brian Keene, Ronald Kelly, Eric LaRocca,
Patricia Lee Macomber, Bridgett Nelson, and
David Niall Wilson. Also on hand were many of the
Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter; during the afternoon, we
all got together for a group photo. Also from the chapter, I
discovered Sirrah Medeiros, Mike Rook, Charles Wood,
Sidney Williams, and Valerie B. Williams running amok in the
hotel, so I dutifully terrorized them. Plaguing old friends
Jeff Strand, Tom Deady, Mike Deady, Richard Dansky, John Langan, and others with
my existence proved particularly exhilarating.
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Scary Sidney Williams. Okay, maybe not that scary here.
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At 1230, I had a reading with longtime compadre P.D. "Trish" Cacek, and
attendance turned out to be pretty good, considering it was right in the
middle of most people's lunchtimes. I had suggested that folks bring their
lunch, though I worried a little that they might hurl food my way (not such a
bad prospect if it were delicious, I guess), but no one flung anything.
Afterward, a nice little discussion ensued, so this was one of the con's
highlights for me.
The rest of the afternoon was a bit slower. The crowd had thinned after
lunchtime, and there never was a very large resurgence, at least until the
evening's festivities began. I did get to spend some time on the social front
with
Heather Daughrity and her husband,
Joshua Loyd Fox, which
was a treat. I recently read Heather's
Echoes of the Dead fiction collection and gave it a blurb.
Enjoyed a few nice spells yakking with
Paul Tremblay,
Eric LaRocca,
Brian Keene, and others. For
the evening, Ms. B. and I joined a large party headed up by the Crossroad Gang
for dinner at the nearby
The Whaling Company
restaurant. Very good it was, with spicy cajun scallops for both Brugger and
me. Present in the gang were old friends, artist
Keith Minnion and
writer
Dave Simms, as well as newer acquaintances
Justin Holley,
Dan Henk, and
Garrett Boatman, so we yakked on and on. This led us until fairly
late in the evening, just in time to attend the customary Saturday night
Gross-Out Contest. Such an event had never been high on my priority
list, but I will say that we enjoyed it enough. Laughed a lot, and I guess it
was pretty gross, if you have a penchant for that sort of thing.
We managed to drink considerably less than last night, which was a good thing,
since that might have been way too much.
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Mr. Dansky (and his good buddy, Sasquatch!) and
Mr. Deathrealm
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Jeff "I Am a Gross-Out Contest Judge and You're Not!" Strand
& Bridgett "I Am Too!" Nelson
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Oh, Lordy, the horror! Artist Keith Minnion and author
David Simms
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The Horror Writers Association Virginia Chapter, looking as
pleasant as you'll ever see them
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Sunday, April 14
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Mr. Deathrealm, Heather Daughrity, Joshua Loyd Fox
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After a brief stop at Starbucks for coffee and a light breakfast, we returned
to the con for a couple of hours, did a little business, and then broke down a
few minutes before noon, as we didn't want to be too late returning to our
houseful of starving cats (who only had our cat sitter to look after and overfeed them under duress while we were gone). This time, we aimed ourselves at
Cul's Courthouse Grill in Charles City, which we had discovered many years ago. They too are known
for fantastic burgers, but I try not to have too much dead cow in one weekend, so I
opted for their chicken tenders. Also very good. Only one cache stop on the
way back to Martinsville.
I always enjoy AuthorCon, and we plan to attend next year's in Williamsburg,
for sure — hopefully with a dealer table of my own. There's going to be
new AuthorCon in St. Louis later this year, but that one is not in the cards
for me, alas. Although sales were bit slower for me this year than last, I
consider the weekend an absolute success. The events, the networking, and
all-around fun times make this a con to treasure — not to mention the great
good it does as a charity function. Such fantastic, selfless jobs by all the con organizers
and volunteers, with special shout outs to Brian Keene,
Joe Ripple, Angel Hollman-Gaston, Jake Lerner,
Brian Smith, and everyone else who give this thing life and purpose —
not to mention the wonderful folks who shelled out money for my books, only to
have them devalued with my autograph. Such brave souls!
So... till next year, AuthorCon folks!
