I’m rested up after Albacon–kudos to the ConCom. Albacon is a very small convention (~150 attendees), but the panels were well-attended, the discussion was lively, the parties were fun, the con suite well-stocked, and the overall experience first rate.
I enjoyed all of the panels I was on, especially moderating “Best Summer Movies”–I should have guessed that doing movie reviews would lead to really enjoying panels about them. I also got to expound about small press, editing anthologies, and funny SF.
Visits to the huckster’s room were tempting, and in some cases, books were purchased. All the panels were tons of fun to listen to, especially Keith DeCandido’s reading (he read from his Leverage tie-in novel The Zoo Job, and from “The Ballad of Big Charlie,” his contribution to V-Wars, an anthology edited by Jonathan Maberry.
And for the first time ever I made it to the green room. The pumpkin soup was amazing.
Albacon is one of my favorite conventions. My first convention in Albany (I’m pretty sure) was Lastcon T’ree, back when I still lived in the greater Boston area. Lastcon morphed into Albacon, and I’ve gone on and off over the years. I’ve got an awesome full color “Hamsters over Schnectady” t-shirt from one year, although I think it might have been given away in the great t-shirt purge (it was from my really heavy days). Albany holds lots of good con memories for me: I attended a Costume Con there, and a great comic book show.
Albacon 2010 was particularly amazing. Albacon 2012 looks to be even better–it will be my first Albacon as a program participant.
I’ve gotten my preliminary panel schedule. Here’s where you can find me:
SATURDAY, 20 October
9:00am
How do Readers find New Books?
[Panelists: Palmatier (M), Frederick, Hollmer, Laity, Hammond]
The systems readers used to rely on to discover books are either disappearing (traditional book reviews, book stores) or are being gamed by marketers, con artists and spammers so they’re useless (user reviews, keywords, subject searches, Internet ads).
12:00noon
Best summer movies of 2012
[Panelists: Hammond (M), B. Prellwitz, Palmatier, Lievan, Silber]
Make your case
5:00pm
Putting together an anthology
[Panelists: DeCandido (M), Sargent, Palmatier, Hammond]
Editors and authors speak
7:00pm
Are remakes as good as the original?
[Panelists: Lievan (M), Drummond, Silber, Sargent, Hammond, Keener]
If not, why not? Who did it successfully? Who tried honorably and faild? Who never
really got the original?
SUNDAY, 21 October
2:00pm
What happened to funny SF?
[Panelists: Strock (M), Lay, Laity, Hammond, Rothman]
It’s rare you see humorous SF, especially novel-length these days. Are we so serious?
