Report from the Field — Nanocon Mk. V March 24, 2018

Today, I attended my first science fiction convention as a book seller. It was a super experience. But before we get to that, let’s recap.

Landscape of Darkness: A Novelette of the Space Patrol has been in print since January 15^th, 2018. Since then it has been featured on the Rodney’s Saga Blog and had a wonderful “coming out party” book signing at the Rectangle Gallery in Centralia. It’s scheduled for a reading  as part of the New Fictioneers program at PulpFest 2018 in July. It’s received several Five Star Reviews on Amazon. People are calling for more Sam Mercury stories. I couldn’t be more pleased!

Now, back to Nanocon. Going to the Longview convention was a last minute decision. A friend, Tom Gondolfi, was in charge of the vendor room and alerted me to the fact there was still space. It’s a small, relatively local convention so a good place to get my feet wet as a vendor. So, with only one book to sell, I ventured out.

The day was quite remarkable, not just for sales (enough to break even for my entry fees), but also for the flow of events. A wonderful older gentleman, who’s a fan, drove out to buy a few signed copies for family members. Then, my book cheered a mother who was in a bad emotional spot (and by the end of the day she’d a lucky break to her finances and ended the convention on a high note.)

I spent the day talking to interesting sci-fi fans, lovely independent authors and artists AND I met Greg and Astrid Bear and they bought my book! *geeking out a bit here* Moreover, after speaking with them for a few minutes, Greg invited me to join a panel discussion on Golden Age Science Fiction writers, which I did with no notes or preparations whatsoever and held my own, talking about my favorite pulp writers — Henry Kuttner, C. L. Moore, Judith Merril, Murray Leinster, Leigh Brackett, Edmond Hamilton, Fredric Brown, E. E. “Doc” Smith…well, you get the idea. It was great fun and he later complimented me on my command of the subject. Greg Bear, you see, is an award-winning science fiction writer who knew many of the writers from the pulp days. His wife, Astrid, is the daughter of Poul William Anderson, an award-winning science fiction writer from those Golden Age days. The couple kindly shared some interesting tidbits about the great pulp writers and artists, particularly Hannes Bok and Virgil Finlay. At the end of the day Astrid asked me if they’d see me at WorldCon. I think I tittered. I certainly made some kind of verbal sign that I’d like to be there. It’s all a bit foggy but I’d certainly love to go.

Suffice to say that it was a very good day and that Landscape for Darkness has been well and truly launched!

I’m very pleased.