mrockwell: (Default)
mrockwell ([personal profile] mrockwell) wrote2007-04-14 09:04 pm

Hobnobbing at the AZ Book Festival

Writing

*Submission, Outercast, 4/12
*Submission, Amalgamae, 4/12

Today I went to the AZ Book Festival. I met up with Jeff Mariotte, a fellow IAMTW member who was kind enough to chat with me for awhile about the business. Then I sat in on Jim Butcher's Q & A session, which was very entertaining. I neglected to get a picture at the time, so I had to snap one while he was signing books, and the battery kept going out on my camera, so I'm sure he thought I was some sort of stalker or something, poor guy.



Afterwards I sat in on a panel with Jane Yolen, Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, Diana Gabaldon and Jeff Mariotte on writing historical fiction.



I actually wound up later following Will and Emma out of the festival to one of the parking lots, so I had to introduce myself and do the fangirl thing, but they were very gracious. They even tried to recruit me for SFWA and, upon finding out I qualify to be an active member (I'm already a lowly associate member), encouraged me to look past the "Old Boys' Club" mentality many of the senior members have and to become active in the group, since they are sorely in need of the young up-and-comers to keep the organization from becoming obsolete. They are planning on doing several local cons this year, so hopefully I'll be able to chat with them again.

Then there was a short panel on epic fantasy (ironic, no?) with three guys whom I didn't recognize and whose names I didn't catch (sorry!), Michelle Welch and Melanie Rawn. That was a treat, as astute readers may realize that one of the characters in Legacy of Wolves is actually named after one of Melanie's characters.



I didn't stick around for the Star Wars panel (Alan Dean Foster was there), because it was hot and I needed to get home to the kids. But all in all it was pretty neat, and I will definitely try to do it again next year.

Everything Else

I think I got sunburned. Ouch.

[identity profile] mysanal.livejournal.com 2007-04-17 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey! You remembered a camera! ;-D

I was lucky enough to meet Jeff Mariotte at the ComicCon earlier this year. He's pretty cool. It was a bit of a shock for me to realize I already had some of his work (Angel comics)!

Emma ROCKS! I've not had a chance to meet Will yet, but I was lucky enough to meet Emma in Bisbee when she was singing for a local event. She's a blast! I really hope to meet her again at one of the cons this year.

The 3 guys on your panel were Derek Benz, J. S. Lewis, and (the ridiculously cute) James A. Owen (I call him Johnny Storm ;->).

I couldn't stay for those panels, so I'm glad you took pics. I would like to have seen Alan Dean Foster - I met him 20+ years ago at a con I worked.