Kristin McFarland, George RR Martin, Emmie Mears

Capclave, Dodos, and Emmies

This weekend marks my second year at a second convention. A couple years ago, I’d never been to any. Now I’m becoming a repeat attender. I like that.

If you haven’t heard of it, Capclave is a small science fiction/fantasy convention in Maryland that focuses on the short form. This year’s guest of honor was George R.R. Martin — I’ll leave you to your squeeing.

Because last week was very busy and full of things to talk about, I’ll keep this post shortish. What you can expect from me in the coming week or so are posts about: harassment at cons (and what Capclave is doing right), some follow-up thoughts on my Diversity in Fiction panel (I was very thankful to be put on that panel with Day Al-Mohamed, John Edward Lawson, and Sharyn November — great humans all), and a conglomerate blog post putting together some query advice for new writers, much of which I tweeted today under the #QueryQuest hashtag.

For today, I thought I’d squee, because there was a lot to squee about!

First of all, you’ll all know the name Kristin McFarland if you’ve been around here at all. Kristin and I met via WordPress about two years ago, and we bonded over a shared tragic life experience. Since then, I’ve talked to her almost every single day in some form, whether that be Twitter, Gchat, email, Facebook, or texting. She flew in last week for Capclave, and it was the first time we’d ever gotten to meet in person. That’s the thing about the internet — sometimes it gives you things you weren’t expecting. Finding a friend, a true friend (a bosom friend!) is one of those unexpected things. After her week here, I can honestly say that she’s even more of a wonderful person face-to-face than she is through the interwebz, and that’s saying a lot. Her presence sets a high bar in general.

Emmie Mears, Kristin McFarland, Capclave
Me and Kristin at the convention hotel!

Kristin got to spend some time with our new resident Tiny Cat, Tara. We were even side by side for Monday’s Magetech game (we were so tired and punch drunk, that the first eight minutes are kiiiinda Kristin and me giggling while everyone else stares at us like we’re nuts…), which was awesome!

We started Capclave with a really nice luncheon with localish authors from my writing group. My first panel was Friday night, so I spent the first hour or so of the convention sitting in the hall and staring at nothing, because that’s how I prepare for having people stare at me.

Capclave, Emmie Mears, diversity, diversity in science fiction, john edward lawson, sharyn november, day al-mohamed
Diversity in Fiction panel at Capclave with me, John Edward Lawson, Sharyn November, and Day Al-Mohamed (who is behind the heads!)

 

As far as first panels ever go, this one was such a pleasure to be part of (thanks, Bill!). Not only were the panelists fantastic, but the audience was pretty full and very engaged, which I really appreciated. I’ll write more about it later, but I will say that Day decided to quote something I said in a later panel, and I’m still tickled to death (and a little awed) at THAT experience. The quote in question is that I said villains ought to be characters you can walk all the way around. Yay, three dimensions!

The rest of the weekend was also great, from GRRM readings to excessive amounts of whisky. Here’s a final picture before I go!

Kristin McFarland, George RR Martin, Emmie Mears
Me, Kristin, and ERMAHGRRM.
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