FanX 2017

Posted by Rampant Coyote on March 20, 2017

Friday and Saturday, I was at FanX, the sister-convention for Salt Lake Comic Con. FanX is a little smaller and more focused on the celebrity visits. We had some great ones this year. Sadly, Stan Lee had the flu and couldn’t make it, but he did Skype in for his panel. Hopefully he’ll be able to make Comic Con this fall, as he’s planning to retire from hitting the cons after this year. He’s only 94 years old, so I don’t see why he’s retiring yet, but ah, well… 🙂

I got to see (and get a picture with) Zachary Levi of Chuck, Tangled, etc, Weird Al Yankovic, Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul of the Highlander film and TV series, a panel full of New York Times bestselling authors, and a discussion about the “dark side of the paranormal” about some of the perils and more terrifying things faced during ghost investigations in Utah.

And of course, I was out on the floor selling books. As usual, we’d combined forces with several Utah authors, especially those published by Xchyler Publishing. It got a little crowded at times.  You can see me here with the first anthology that included one of my stories (Terra Mechanica), and one of the most recent (Cirsova #4).  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any physical copies of Altered States II: A Cyberpunk Anthology on-hand. I am nearly out of copies of Cirsova, but I’m looking forward to getting #5 in a few weeks!

When I wasn’t doing all of that (as if I had more time!), I did a little bit of shopping, although I only saw a fraction of the exhibitor floor. I also chatted with other authors, which is always fun.

And then there are the costumes… One of the cool things about these cons is the cosplayers-they are part of the fun. It’s funny referring to characters in the plural, like, “Look at the Spider-Men,” or, “Hey, it’s a Peggy Carter.” Some of the costumes are really amazing. It’s also fun seeing panelists and authors in costumes. On Saturday, Dan Wells wore a Captain America costume, making a point on a panel of how taking oneself seriously as an author has different meanings for different people, as he was wearing Captain America pajamas. Shannen Crane Camp cosplayed as Elizabeth Comstock, and I was lucky enough to be there when she wandered by our booth. Her brother is off to the left as Booker. Their cosplay was awesome, and it’s always great to see Shannen again. If you have any doubt at all of her geek cred, just look her up at Comic Con or FanX. She goes all out, every time. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her face-to-face when she’s not in costume, come to think of it…

It was exhausting, even for being only two days long, but it was lots of fun. It’s funny for me how as a kid I wanted to go to these (much lower-key) conventions when I lived in the DC area, but I couldn’t afford it. Then I moved to Utah, and there was not much happening on the local scene forever. And then suddenly, it exploded, and while FanX and Comic Con are kinda huge, in a lot of ways going to these or the other conventions feels a little like a giant family reunion.

BTW… on the author / story front: I’ve started putting together a mailing list for just my fiction. It’s totally separate from the gaming email list. If you want to keep up to date on what I’m releasing next or what special deals are available, please sign up. At some point in the not-too-distant future, I plan to have full-on books released, but  in the meantime I’ll keep you posted on what stories are coming out where. You can sign up here:

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