Convention Report -- AggieCon 38

[alfreda89]

We survived.

bevhale, 1minnesotagirl and I made it to AggieCon alive. We couldn't grab lunch conveniently, so I had to drag Bev out of the dealers' room to feed her and to do panels. 1MG was great about finishing the dealer's room setup. At first we crammed everything on one table. Then I said it was okay they hadn't given me a table, but they had to take it off the contract.

This was apparently a fate worse than death -- they gave me back a table, shrinking the autographing tables down to one. (I know about changing contracts -- If I was staff, I would have arm-wrestled someone for a table, myself.) Bev had everything MM could bear to part with, and was overjoyed because it was leaving the house. (As you may have guessed, MM is a completest about his books and games. So prying anything out of his grasp is a struggle.) But she made many people happy, and I even sold some old Dragon magazines and a Scientific from the 80s. (Julia was sweet, and didn't SAY this, but I suspect it was the possibly the year she or her husband were born, and that's why she wanted it. It was W's, not mine, so it wasn't devastating.)

Person buying game in original box in mint condition: "This stuff is way under-priced."
Bev (something along the lines of): "Would you like to pay me more for it? You can pay me XX right now, or more later."
Buyer: "XX now."

I mean, we had EMPTY CARD BOXES from a Zodiac game, and people bought some of them!

As the Dragon with a bookcase Tee shirt says: "You horde what YOU want".

We were coherent on panels, we didn't have to do our readings because no one came, we were so heavily booked on Saturday we dropped panels to go eat dinner. I felt guilty, but not overwhelmingly guilty, because I had warned them that I HAD to have two hours for lunch AND dinner. (This was because the MSC on weekends does not have anything other than a tiny, packed sandwich shop in the building. And you need a car to reach food -- even the hotel was not in comfortable walking distance.)

There was supposed to be a shuttle, but their idea of a shuttle was 7-10 in the AM, and 7-10 PM at night. So there was no going back to the room to rest, change clothes, drop off books or computer, etc. etc. I drove in College Station, because Bev's directional sense breaks down in Aggieland. (Much as mine does in San Francisco. I know -- an ocean, what's the problem? But you can't always see the ocean, hence the problem right now. I'm wrong-way peachfuzz...) She drove the highway stint, and 1MG didn't have to drive. Next time we will rotate positions in the car, since road noise made it hard for us to hear each other. We had an extra double bed, but clouds_loom and her partner couldn't make it this weekend.

I signed stock for Edge Books and for fans, and read articles by DeCamp and Cherryh in old Space Gamers magazines. Someone told me how to sell the mags on-line, so I will either get an Ebay number, or help 1MG sell them for me.

Folks there seemed to be having a good time. I was so whipped I didn't do any parties, so having dinner with Maureen McHugh and her spouse "Bob" (whose name will not be revealed, in case he doesn't want it all over the Internet) was our extent with visiting with them. They have moved to Austin, and are not that far away. So I hope we can get together on some small noshing expedition. I've started "Mothers and Other Monsters" and it's great so far. Visited with Teresa Patterson and Barbara and Tom Knowles Saturday night, at the wonderful but extortionate Cafe Excell, and had AWESOME mexican food with marthawells and her partner Troyce, and also AT Campbell from FACT.

I hear the media star, Richard Hatch, has mellowed a lot since his firebrand days, and was charming fans all over the place. He was always with a half-dozen people or so at his table, so I did not go up and say Hi and I wrote 3 B:G scripts back in the late seventies, and if they'd been filmed, I think the show might have renewed. (Yes -- I think I can do a thoughtful and tense/action-filled script better than Glen Larson. He does great imitation-of-film series -- I write great characters and plots.)

Bev & I represented Yard Dog, when Odd was needed, and were helped by riesheridanreudaly and Gloria Oliver. I thought I saw Jeff Turner on a panel when I looked into a room, but we never found him anywhere else. juliabk shared a panel with me, and I never saw her again, blast it! The con was more spread out than ever this year, and this made it hard to find people. Not as many places to sit and talk as they used to have -- and no one created a salon at the hotel that I heard about. We could sit up and talk late when we all were in the MSC.

1MG helped with the masquerade and Miss AggieCon event (a small child won this year, leading one redheaded student to say "You can't win against cute kids." We didn't tell him "or dogs".)

We had to walk in from student parking in Oklahona. It wasn't the most fun thing to do, and I usually was in the best shape to do it, 1MG having brought only sandals and Bev running on fumes. But with panels running back-to-back and trying to get out to eat, the sari never came out of the suitcase.

Statement of the weekend: Joe Lansdale doesn't see why people like Live Journal, what a waste of time and so on. Clearly, he thinks we should be writing. I do prefer LJ to blogs, however, as a break -- lower blood pressure. ;^)

So -- the rating this year? This was a three stars out of five year. Because the committee generally offers you a bed and a table, this can be a relaxed convention to sell books at. The panels were not as strong as my last visit, nor as well attended. But this is a student-run convention, so quality waxes and wanes as time goes on. I understand this -- classes have to come first, but I always remind the con runners that this can and should go on their resumes. The kids are still great, and they make things fun. They do great tee shirts with all the pros listed on the back, like the rock star tour shirts.

I go to AggieCon because the SF club is one of those thorns in the university's side that they cannot pull out. It's good for A&M to be so ruffled, so I support the group by attending when I can. Also, I get to see friends and make new ones. But -- this convention has become harder for me since the writers were moved out of the MSC, and we no longer get parking passes for the closer parker garage. If my health doesn't improve a lot by this time next year, I won't go unless bevhale wants to go again -- preferably with MM and W in tow. It just takes too much out of us. I was sorry not to see Ardath Mayhar, but I understood why.

But if you're nearby, then go for lots of media, games, several new rock bands -- and always, ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW!

Comments

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Next year, at least, walking shouldn't be so much of an issue for you. The university is renovating Rudder Tower and the con is going to have to move off-campus. They don't know yet where they'll end up, but they hope to stay in the area; there's been an explosion of new-hotel-building in the last few years, so perhaps they'll be able to find a place with enough function space (always the hard thing with a con -- we take up function space out of all proportion to our size).

I was delighted to find the third book of Nick O'Donohoe's Crossroads trilogy on Bev's table! I used to have all 3 books, but I lent them to a school friend of Blair's who then dropped off the face of the earth, taking my books with her. I'd already replaced the first book, so now I only have 1 to go.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Next year, at least, walking shouldn't be so much of an issue for you. The university is renovating Rudder Tower and the con is going to have to move off-campus. They don't know yet where they'll end up, but they hope to stay in the area; there's been an explosion of new-hotel-building in the last few years, so perhaps they'll be able to find a place with enough function space (always the hard thing with a con -- we take up function space out of all proportion to our size).

That was too involved to go into, but yes, next year may be better for me -- or maybe I'll be in remission, and feel better! So it's Rudder for renovations -- people kept saying the MSC, and wasn't that just done not long ago?

I was delighted to find the third book of Nick O'Donohoe's Crossroads trilogy on Bev's table! I used to have all 3 books, but I lent them to a school friend of Blair's who then dropped off the face of the earth, taking my books with her. I'd already replaced the first book, so now I only have 1 to go.

I'm sure they are happy it has a nice new home!

[madmoravian.livejournal.com]

An off-campus Aggiecon? Wow. They need to invite Harlan again.

It will be an interesting event off-campus. The poor con staff. It won't be terribly pleasant for them.