Jean Marie's Domain

Originally published at Jean Marie Ward. You can comment here or there.

It’s almost here! Dragon Con starts Friday, and I can’t wait to party! Er, I can’t wait to take part in the many wonderful panels assigned to me.

Seriously, they are wonderful. As are the parties, and the parades, and the costumes, and the concerts, and all the rest. Hope to see you there!

Friday

The 2012 con hadn't even started when these guys showed up.

11:30 AM: What’s Next in Urban Fantasy?
Industry professionals share their insights on what’s new and what’s next in the field
Location: International BC – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: Anne Sowards, Lucienne Diver, Jean Marie Ward, Claire M. Eddy, Elizabeth Donald, Jeanne C. Stein

2:30 PM: Science Fiction or Fantasy?
Lines are blurring. Let’s talk definitions.
Location: Embassy A-B – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: Jean Marie Ward (Hopefully there will be more!)

4 PM: Writing Non-Fiction for Fun and Profit
Location: Embassy D-F – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: John L. Flynn, Dr. Bob Blackwood, Jean Marie Ward, Richard Lee Byers, Benjamin Radford

10 PM: Yellow-Brick Fairytales: Oz & Other Alt. History Storybook Variations
Follow the yellow brick road down the rabbit hole and happily ever after as the Victorian roots of fairy tales are discussed within alt. history.
Location: Augusta 3 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: Erin Leigh Bushko, Jana Oliver, Stephen L. Antczak, Jean Marie Ward

Saturday

1 PM: Space Opera Then..Military SF Now
Space opera in the Fifties was rousing space battles and epic adventure. Military SF now is much the same. Or is it?
Location: Centennial I – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: Michael Z. Williamson, John D. Ringo, Mike Resnick, Timothy Zahn, Jean Marie Ward (Moderator, Jack Campbell

2:30 PM: Social Media–Make it Work for You
Location: Embassy D-F – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: Jean Marie Ward, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Diana Peterfreund

4 PM: Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading
Bite-sized readings from the writers of Broad Universe.
Location: Vinings – Hyatt (Length: 2.5 Hours)
Panelists: Gail Z. Martin, Jean Marie Ward

Sunday

5:30 PM: Parsec Awards
The premier awards for podcasters working in SF and fantasy.
Location: Regency V (Length: 2.5 Hours)

7 PM: Women in Alternate History
This discussion of girl power & gears features writers and costumers sharing their opinions on women in alt. history and weigh in with your thoughts!
Location: Augusta 3 – Westin (Length: 1 Hour)
Panelists: Kathryn Hinds, The League of S.T.E.A.M., Delilah S. Dawson, Jean Marie Ward

Monday

1 PM: Win, Lose Or Draw
A perennial favorite hosted by Jean Marie Ward. And yes, there will be prizes.
Location: Embassy A-B – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
Master of Ceremonies: Jean Marie Ward

 
The Cruxshadows Dancers at the band's September 5 Dragon*Con performance (photo by Jean Marie Ward)

I've posted a Thursday Thirteen of pictures for my monthly blog at Beyond the Veil. But be warned, those shots are just the teaser. To see the rest of the photos you'll need to follow the link at the end of the article. Enjoy!

My name is listed on the DragonCon Guests Page, and they've given me a biography of my very own.  So it's official, I will be adding my own special brand of madness to DragonCon, September 4-7.  Not only that, they've added a new track featuring everybody's favorite new genre, Steampunk.  Okay, now you have Lois McMasters Bujold, Charlaine Harris and ME--plus that brand new Steampunk track--on the schedule.  Why haven't you bought your membership yet?  ;-)

Breakfast of Champions: Jody Lynn Nye (left) and Anne McCaffrey (center) read the newsletter of fellow author Carole Nelson Douglas (right).

For me, every Dragon*Con has a theme. This year’s was set bymartianmooncrab when she suggested we get together Wednesday evening, August 27. I thought we’d have tea and jabber.
Well, we had tea.
And jabbered. 
With Anne McCaffrey.

Yes, you read right, the Grand Lady of Dragons herself. Martianmooncrab was helping her at DragonCon, ably assisted by koolness and Anne’s son Todd. 

That lovely session set the tone for the entire con. Not a day went by where we didn’t run into each other or shared a meal. At the DragonCon banquet, I shared a table with a guy who claimed to have sprung the cork on the champagne when Anne became the first woman to win a Hugo in 1968. It was his first drink. He was fourteen. (Don't worry, the Statute of Limitations is long past on that one.  And he turned out okay. He's now a surgeon and runs the annual Dragon*Con blood drive.)


martianmooncrab & koolness

 

Even the darling spouse got in the act, FedEx-ing me copies of the Analogs containing Anne’s first Pern stories. He bought them when they were first released and suddenly couldn’t live without having them autographed. Then he wouldn’t let me mail them back or pack them in the luggage. I had to hand-carry them home. LOL

I wasn’t trying to be a fan girl. Honest. I was just trying to hang with martianmooncrab, who has the coolest earrings evah--tiny beaded portraits of Marvin Martian made for her by Elizabeth Anne Scarborough. Nothing beats Marvin Martian earrings. Nothing.


Jana Oliver (right) & me following the 2008 DragonCon Awards Banquet.

 

As for the rest of the best, nothing beats reuniting with friends you never see enough. I had a blast rooming with cymrieges and Carole Nelson Douglas. The Press Room Gang and I toasted missing friends. (Here’s looking at you qnotku.) We dressed as pirates and got into trouble--but not so much I couldn’t make it to my panels.

A certain somebody who shall remain nameless scheduled me for a 10 a.m. panel the morning after the Cruxshadows concert. To be fair, we both thought they’d be scheduled for Sunday night, but such was not to be. Fortunately, the other panelists were brilliant and I had prepped enough to (literally) talk in my sleep. I did, however, call Susan Sizemore “Sue”. *headdesk* As somebody who spent her childhood insisting her name had two words instead of one, I’m especially sensitive to getting names right. So I’m going to be gnashing my teeth over this for years. 


(From left to right) Dead Authors C.S. Lewis (hobsonphile) & Mary Shelley (me)

 

Another stand-out panel was the Science Fiction/Fantasy Literature Track’s Attack of the Dead Authors Society, in which Van Allen Plexico tried to ride herd on John W. Campbell (Larry Davis), C.S. Lewis (hobsonphile), Mary Shelley (me) and the one, the only Robert E. Howard (Joe Crowe). As you can see from the photo, Van wasn’t quite prepared to host REH for the third year running. My only regret was they were all behaving so nicely I didn’t get to thrash anyone with my fan. Playing an agnostic vegetarian on a panel with Lewis and Howard, I had such high hopes of it too. Dangnabbit!


Van Plexico (left) reacts to the introduction of Robert E. Howard (Joe Crowe, center) for the third running.  John W. Cambell (Larry Davis) looks so serene, he must've been expecting this.

This year, I also sat on a panel with a rock star. Ego Likeness singer/songwriter Donna Lynch penned the horror novel Isabel Burning, which meant she went the writers’ panel route too. Lovely, talented, bright and nice--it’s almost too much in one package. And to make things even more intense, Steven Archer, the band’s other half, is also an artist. His 365 Days of Blasphemous Horrors is currently running on the Weird Tales web site and on the LJ community weirdtales_mag

 
The Ego Likeness Table: Donna Lynch and ?  Sure doesn't look like the Steven Archer you see on stage.

 

I really wish I could’ve seen this year’s Ego Likeness show, but with two concert tracks running every night of the con, even a music-crazy person like me was guaranteed to miss a lot. I made it to the Emerald Rose, Voltaire and CruxShadows shows. Those are a given. It simply isn’t Dragon*Con without them. And for at least the past two years, I have enjoyed a little bit of Ego Likeness at the end of the CruxShadows’ set. I also bought too much music and danced myself to jelly.

From another perspective, however, the most interesting concert was the Mindless Self Indulgence show. With a name like that you’d think they’d be a perfect DragonCon fit. The punk/industrial music worked fine. But security wasn’t prepared for a true mosh pit. I’m not sure if you can see it in this photo, but yes, they are getting ready to throw that guy on the stage. And he wasn’t the only one. Apparently, somebody was nearly crushed against the stage too, necessitating a call to the local EMT service. I can’t help wondering if the experience will affect next year’s concert program.