Cross-genre conferencing

I went to ApolloCon this past weekend.

ApolloCon is a speculative fiction fan conference, and a totally different creature from the romance writing conferences I’ve been to. For one thing, it’s a FAN conference. I haven’t been to any romance readers’ conferences yet. I’m given to understand that the Romantic Times conference is becoming less of a reader’s conference and more of a writer’s. There is another reader’s conference I’ve heard about, but still haven’t made it. But, since my book crosses genres between romance and science fiction, I want to pick up fans from Both sides of the street. I’ve always been a “Yes” woman, not as someone who always says yes to the higher-ups, but when I’m asked questions like “Do you want vanilla or chocolate?” my answer is generally “Yes.” I want Both. I see no need to limit myself. (Except maybe by taking a small taste of both.)

So I loaded up my car with books and my page proofs that came in for Heart’s Blood (my next book) and an ice chest with plenty of Coke Zeros, and drove almost all the way across Houston to the con hotel through the horrendous Houston traffic. And I had a blast. The thing about SF/F cons is that they’re not just books. There’s an Art track, and a Music track, and a Film/TV/Anime track, and a room just for playing board games, or live-action games. There’s even sort of a science track. Yes, people do sometimes wear peculiar costumes–but there’s a costume contest, to see who made the best costume! And I’ve heard what people wear at the RT conference. The Jedi Knight costume was really cool. And LOTS of guys wear kilts. Most of them are gray-haired/bearded grandpa types, but not all of them.

I got to argue with people over whether the new Star Trek movie was any good or not. (Who CARES if they had stupid science? Karl Urban is playing Dr. McCoy!!! And Simon Pegg makes a fabulous Scotty!) I got to listen to some really cool fiddle playing with a lecture about the difference between classical violin vs. Irish vs. Scottish vs. American folk violin and other musical stuff. I got to listen in to a couple of artists in a discussion about SF covers and romance covers and how they create them. Did you know artists use “pen names” too? Bill Hodgeson (or was it Hodgman?) has four that he uses for different kinds of covers, many of them romance. This was a conversation they were having after the panel was over.

I came home with a totally cool dragon picture for a bargain. I picked up a few free books. I met some new fun people (a cop from San Antonio who writes horror and crime noir…). I went to room parties and had ice cream and Cheetos (not at the same time). And when I got tired–I arrived VERY tired–I got to go back to my room and enjoy my sinking spell. I took naps.

I think it was good for me. Not just in the “marketing the books” kind of way, but in the getting inspired and hanging with people who like the stuff I like and coming home refreshed and ready to go back to work. Yeah, I’m still tired, (I had to drive back across Houston again to get home to my island–not quite as stressful on Sunday, but still…) but the brain got its well refilled. I got more pages written today than I have in a week. I am happy.

What about y’all? Did you discover something recently that you maybe didn’t expect to enjoy–but did anyway? Or how are you refreshing and rebooting yourselves?