FenCon AAR...

Welp, my first con of the year is in the books. First, kudos to Todd and the crew who did an excellent job of getting everything together. There were a few minor issues, but no con is ever perfect.

The Doubletree wasn't bad, but the lack of food service at lunch was...not fun. We were pretty much forced to go offsite to find something, but it worked for the size of the con. Spaces were adequate, and Todd and the crew had them properly mic'ed so everyone could hear the speakers. The silent auction had not completed before I left, so I'm not sure how well then did, but the dealer's room looked like it was getting pretty good business.

I took Kevin Ikenberry's writing class (yes, it had homework), and enjoyed it. Kevin is a good instructor, and most of all is PATIENT with the questions... :-)

There were various writers doing readings all weekend, so folks got a chance to hear their favorites and maybe got a chance to chat with them.

The con was well organized for those of us on panels, with adequate bio breaks!!! YAY! There were 15 panels on Friday, with a wide selection of subjects. We did Firearms for Writers, with Jack Campbell, RJ. Hanson, Ian McMurtrie, Alex Wakal, and for my sins, me as moderator...

We dispelled a few myths, I hope, talked about the difference between clips and magazines (with examples), and talked about how to research weapons for writing.

Saturday was 40+ panels, heavy on the science aspects, and some...odd panels...

Raconteur Press had a panel in the morning, announcing that John Van Stry would be publishing a new series with them, and Wally Waltner will be doing a new series with them also.

We did the obligatory No S**t There I was panel late Saturday night, and it was well received. Jack Campbell, RJ Henson, Alex Waikel, and I got stuck moderating again... sigh...

There were another 29 panels on Sunday, and we got to kick it off with a panel SpaceX vs The Government. Myself, Bill Frank from NASA Houston, who is a chief training officer, and Ken Ruffin, president of the National Space Society of North Texas (NSS-NT) spent an hour discussing the various iterations of 'teams', companies, and one offs that have gotten us to where we are today. And we didn't get into politics even once!!!

That was followed by a panel Under Pressure: Conquering Oceans Beyond Earth. We had the same panelists, plus William Ledbetter who works in the aerospace industry, in addition to writing hard SF. And yes, I was the moderator again (Are you sensing a trend here like I am?). Lots of technical discussion, some of the 'how to' that is on the horizon, and a healthy dose of beats the hell out of me... LOL

Got a chance to see a lot of the usual suspects, and it was great to see them, and no, I'm not trying to name everybody, because I'll sure as hell miss a bunch. I will say it was a real pleasure to finally meet Jack Campbell and spend a bit of time chatting with him, and spend time with 'our' crowd, Ian, Jonna, Cedar, Ted/Laura, Lisa, Peter/Dot, Alex/Liota, Monalisa/Rick, Tully, Julie Frost, Mike, Nic, Becky//Mike, and Wally/Mechelle.

You can go HERE and get bios on the folks and others from the FenCon site.

I bailed early due to back issues, so I was home before closing ceremonies, but it was a good con, and I did enjoy it in spite of my back.