Category: animecons

Con Men

Sorry for the quiet… when the H1B’s at Kindle fixed one problem with the cover of “C&DC” they broke a different part.  Trusting them not at all to not screw it up again, I used my very limited Acrobat skills to make a change and submit it.  With chance and luck will hear something by Monday.

With that – hopefully – behind me, I’ll be looking about for a copyeditor and cover designer for my short story collection.  I’m still tinkering with that MS a bit but still look to a publishing date in early March.

As for this weekend, it is once again Ohayocon here in central Ohio!  As each year there are fewer and fewer panels that interest me, we’re only staying one night at a hotel next to the convention center.  Daughter #1 in even driving down from college to attend; I believe she’s cosplaying Weiss from RWBY.  Me?  After sounding the waters on Instagram, I dusted off Elias Ainsworth from “Ancient Magus’ Bride,” for Saturday.  Come Sunday PM, I hope finally to re-read my notes and start in on Part 2 of Crusade.  Cheerio!

Continue reading “Con Men” →

January, Part 1 – A Look Back

Yes:  dark again.  But for many reasons, good, other, bad.

For the Good, below the fold you’ll find a couple of pix of me and my wife at central Ohio’s largest animecon, Ohayocon.  For Friday I reprised my very popular Elias Ainsworth (Ancient Magus Bride)… over 500 pictures of me.  Saturday, the missus and I were White and Red Blood Cells (Cells at Work); pictures?  Not so many.  Still and all, it was great fun for us and for our daughters.  Poignantly, Daughter #1 (in green) will be off to University in the Autumn… will she join us next year…?

A few days after that, at 53-year-old I’d my first colonoscopy.  While all seems well, no, I’m not posting pictures from that.

Quickly following on, Daughter #2 succumbed to con-funk, which she passed onto my wife – who now has bronchitis – and later to me, who, after suffering with a URTI for a fortnight, am finally getting better.  And I refuse to discuss yesterday’s blood-draw where I seized.  First time in a quarter-century.

Part two of January in 24-36 hours… great things are afoot for Machine Civilization during the month of February!

Continue reading “January, Part 1 – A Look Back” →

Whiskey

I’ve roughed out 900 words with Nichole, Bakke, and the chieftain.  But it’s late and I cannot begin to even make minor edits.  I’ll round it all out tomorrow evening.

I’ll be going dark for 36 hours after that as my family is off to Matsuricon, central Ohio’s 2nd largest animecon.  The panels look meh, but I’ll look awesome.

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Coming Back to Life

I’ve never had much use for “the Holidays.”  I am asocial and dislike the dark of winter.  Even as an orthodox Catholic, Christmas is just a matter of “meh” for me.  And this year, things preyed on my mind.

  1. Would it be ready for Ohayocon?  “It?”  Wait & see, below the fold.
  2. With our family finances in tatters, I can neither afford a line-editor nor a book cover for Defiant.
  3. My wife silently badgers me to make my next writing project about her father’s oral history.  I want to do that; I’m committed to it.   But it’s not fun!  That’s work!  I want to SEE more of my friends and family in Machine Civilization!
  4. Day-job is becoming more and more oppressive, leading to my reaxion of coming home and immediately climbing into the bottle.  Very bad form.
  5. All combining into the past six weeks:  not writing a tanjed thing.  And, borderline psychotic as a result of it.  Hell, today, at day-job, I had to use scissors to cut out some QR barcodes.  My right hand shook badly enough that Friend Tracy asked if something was wrong….

Yes.  Yes there is:  in abandoning writing, I’ve abandoned myself.  I’m dying; at a rather astonishing rate.  I do not want this:  I’ve glimpses:  Gary & Henge, older, trying to talk out where and what to do with their love for one another.  Nichole5 stands with Togame atop the New Tokyo Tower, with its Reactionless Thruster crown, talking about off-world colonies.  Editing Pirate Twins into a light-novel-with-pictures or a graphic novel…

I’ve so much to do, and I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Lent and lighter evenings are upon me; I’m not one to “give up” as I’ve so little.  Instead, I shall take on:  my father-in-law’s history, Machine Civilization’s new stories, things I cannot imagine.

Clear the decks:  I’m engaging my enemy!

…

Apropos of this, below the fold is the utterly astounding artwork of Matt Michallow of StarArtWorks.  He, through me, the guy wearing his art, owned Ohayocon, the largest animecon of central Ohio, two weeks ago.  Over 350 pictures taken!

Continue reading “Coming Back to Life” →

Reversion to the Median

Back to normal, really.  After nearly a 4-week hiatus getting “Cursed Hearts” released into the wild and dealing with some RealLife issues, things will be getting back on track here.

Yesterday was Matsuricon in Columbus, Ohio, the second biggest animecon in this area.  Unlike making it a long family weekend as we do for Ohayocon, we just drop by on Saturday.  Got there around 1030; was surprisingly empty, so Registration was a breeze.  Suddenly filled up around 1200.  Was everyone hungover and sleeping in?

Caught a panel about buying odd stuff from Japan, the creator of the Monogatari series, and a short performance by Kazha (they were okay).  Also hit the Dealers Room and got some Angel Beats artbooks and a Saber Lily figurine for my wife.

Later, was chilling at the bar in the Hiatt.  After determining that the kid next to me was 1, a girl and not a trap, and 2, legal, I started a chatting her up.  A 20-something year old pastry chef, she was also part Hungarian, which I IMMEDIATELY brought up when my wife appeared, before she yelled “Lolicon!” and clouted me.  We secured a table just as Friend Will made his appearance.  Sometime during the next five Martinis I know my daughters dropped by, but reality was rather ephemeral at this point.

Even so, and even being a Race Realist, there was a moment when I looked about the table and thought, counterclockwise:  me (pasty old white guy), 1/8 Jewess (half my age), Black guy (half my age), two Chinese girls, and my Central Asian wife, all there to celebrate and have a good time over Japanese comics and animation.  What an amazing and too-short moment of Western Civilization!

Ohayocon 2017 Panel

Friday PM, a looooong walk from the action of the rest of central Ohio’s biggest animecon. I was to give a talk on Creative Writing & Self-publishing.  I expected 3.  Maybe 5.  Ten minutes before the talk, doors open.  18 came in.  I had 15 hand-outs.

Ten minutes later, when I stand to begin my talk, there are just over 50 people.  I reach down for the water bottle, think better of it, and reach for my flask of bourbon, instead.  I raise my head and smile like Milo does.

“Thank you so much for coming all this way!  You’re obviously not here by accident, so let’s get to it!”

One full hour later (the con changed the format so we really get a full hour) completing both my presentation and the dozens of very good questions  (barring, well… never mind), I’m shaking hands, signing & selling books, suddenly the room’s empty.   I look at Daughter #1.

“That went very well, father.”

“Yeah.”

Later this evening, people from the panel stopped me in the halls of the Columbus Convention Center saying, “Thanks so much!  I’m going to start on my book tomorrow!”

Being an asshole, I do what I do:

“Why not tonight?”

 

Fantastic panel, fantastic group; thanks be to God!

Making an End

PowerPoint slides for Ohayocon 2017:  complete.

Script for Ohayocon 2017 talk* about Creative Writing & Self-Publishing:  complete (and revised after I found out yesterday that I’ve about ten more minutes!)

Outline for my long-delayed music video, ‘Lightning Across Clearest Blue:’  complete and in the hands of my collaborators.  It’s now up to those “visual” artists to turn my lifeless outline into something that get us about 250k pageviews.

Wait….  Wasn’t I working on another book, too?  Custard…?  No, it was Cursed… Livers?  I cannot recall….

 

*They’ve put me in a convention center room that likely seats 200.  On a Friday afternoon, far from the main action of the Con, with a hyper-specialized topic.  I’m anticipating 2-3 attendees.  Five, tops.  Oh, well:  that much sooner to the bar, I suppose.

“Plots have I laid!”

Whew!  Finished the ‘script’ that I’ll be using with my Powerpoint slides in twelve days at my presentation on Creative Writing & Self-Publishing at Ohayocon.  I’ve much ground to cover, and – since I’ll be a little drunk – cannot allow myself to get side-tracked, so I’ll have a written script in-hand to keep me on the rails.  I’ll likely as not tweak it a little, but that’s one less thing to fret over.

Have to work a short shift tomorrow (ironically with the woman who’ll be starring in the music video I need to finish) so perhaps I can take all my hand-written direction notes for what I’m provisionally calling “Lightning Across Clearest Blue” and type them up and get them to the rest of the team.

What?  Work on ‘Cursed Hearts’?  Never heard of it.

Continue reading ““Plots have I laid!”” →

Ohayocon 2016

WTF has WordPress done now?  Changed their input window for no tanjed reason; likely some unemployable nephew.  Assholes.

Anyway.  Ohayocon was qualified fun:  the local hotel was undergoing remodeling – which was a huge bother – the staff was over-the-top-helpful this time, only 5 of the 6 panels I went to sucked ass*, and my girls – off on their own – did not get molested.  And, back in the room, post-chemo wife was chill.

In the Dealers Room, found some Aria swag for myself and a gift each for my two pharmacist sempais.  And several gifts for my sick wife.  Took only a few pix, see below, but many conversations.  I do so love our animecon kononia!  Some great after-con talks, too:  hi, Beck! (get those lymph nodes checked out!)

*Hosting a panel is so simple; I thought.

Note to those making a panel:  Powerpoint, stick to your topic, crush trolls, answer questions.

This ain’t rocket science, boys.  Sheesh.

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Keeping Content-free for Weeks!

Next week is busy:  wife’s last in-patient chemo, girls busy with school and swimming, and, at the end of the week:  Ohayocon!  Since 2011 it’s been a great family outing for us:  we stay in a hotel in downtown Columbus that’s attached to the Convention Center, get our cosplay on, and have fun!

This year…not so much.  There’s an alpaca panel at 1400 on Friday that Daughter #1 wants to see, so that means I pull them both from school at lunch.  Another three hours of an hundred-year old Prussian education system designed to produce docile technicians, or fun with the family?  Tough call.  Daughter #1 has at three cosplays she’s bringing.  I wasn’t really planning on anything, but my wife suggested that since this year’s theme is ‘science,’ just put on a lab coat and go.  Of course, that got me thinking… so I’ll add my white wig (last year I was Ginko from Mushishi) and perch my steampunk welder’s goggles atop it.  Add a pocket-protector, and I’m good!

That’s Friday.  Saturday AM I’ll release the kids and drive a few miles north to get the missus.  Right now the plan is to take her back to the hotel room to rest and hang out – rather than driving 45 minutes back home.  With her red/white cell count, there’s absolutely no way she can go to the con:  a head cold would be enough to give her pneumonia and kill her.  Too bad, really:  hairless after the chemo, she’d make a fantastic One Punch Man!

After that, as I told a co-worker, I’m setting the hard end date for Crosses & Doublecrosses for Easter.  If it’s not done by then, I abandon it.  The first thing I’m going to do is write down all I’ve seen; there’s quite a bit of material, actually, probably around 18k words.  Trying to fit them into a coherent story has been killing me.  So, I’ll just worry about that later.  My New Zealand illustrator has showed me some colored pages for Henge’s Big Day!  They are wonderful!  I encourage all of you to patronize her site and get some portraits of you, your kids, and your pets done!

Busy week ahead.