Wednesday, September 08, 2004
First things first: Due to Dragon*Con and the fact that it left both me and Spooky crud-stricken, the latest batch of eBay packages have not gone out. For this we apologize. They will be mailed tomorrow. We thank everyone for his and her patience.
Second things secondly: Yesterday was the official release date of Murder of Angels. Sales are good, but I have a favor to ask. So many of you have taken the time to send me your thoughts on the book, or to post them to your blogs or to my phorum. I would be very appreciative if you would please repost those comments as reader reviews on Amazon. I'm hoping to get a number of positive reviews before the usual trolling shit weasels show up to drag things down. The more positive reviews there are, the less damage the negative reviews can do. Thank you.
Also. I have four more pages of Leh'agvoi's Nar'eth manga that I've not had time to post. I hope to get them up this evening.
I think I might have made it through the worst of this cold, but Spooky's about where I was yesterday. With luck, by tomorrow we'll both be better tomorrow (WHAT???!!!). Neither of us has time for this dren.
And I suppose I owe you all an account of the con, hmmmm? I'm so lousy at this sort of thing. It's like trying to write a synopsis, all plot ("a what and a what and a what") and no substance. No style. No characterization. But I'll give it a shot anyway.
Friday: I wasn't scheduled for anything until Friday evening, and, of course, I was running late. We made it to the Hyatt about 5 p.m., and I rushed down to VIP registration while Spooky looked for a place to park. I was delighted to see that Penguin had purchased a full-page ad for Murder of Angels in the Souvenir Book. And that the layout people had placed it on the page opposite my bio. Drad. In fact, I was so excited that I sat my purse/backpack down on a countertop and walked off without it. I didn't realize I'd done this until several hours later. Though I feared I'd soon be bidding for it on eBay, someone found it and was kind enough to take it to lost and found. It had my passport. It had all my credit cards. It had my social security card. It had my lipstick. Losing it would have been a certified disaster. Anyway, after losing my bag, I did the "Welcome to the Journey" panel for the Gothic Journey track. After that, I had some especially lame writing panel, "Connecting the Dots," in which I was actually expected to describe the process by which I make a story from such elements as plot, character, mood, setting, and so forth. I'm getting really, really tired of these panels. I can't do this. No honest writer can do this, because writing is not a "connect the dots" book. You don't set your pen down here and move easily along from point to point to point. It just doesn't work that way, and I said so (again). Also, I was truly and openly appalled at one of the panelist's assertion that "unlike literary fiction, genre fiction must offer a resolution." This comment is both trite and wrongheaded, but it also stands as a good example of what's wrong with the writing panels at Dragon*Con. After the two panels, I loitered in the hallway outside Greenbriar for a bit with Sissy, Kat, Jean-Paul, and crew, and Rogue (of The Cruxshadows). Voltaire (the only man I flirt with on a regular basis) and William Faith (of Faith and the Muse) stopped to say hello. Then some security Nazi wookie guy growled at us all for blocking the hallway, and I spent the next hour and a half (with the help of Sissy) searching in vain for the missing purse. That was Friday night.
I'm already bored to frelling death with this. Okay, let's try something different. Here's a list, post-Friday night, of my favorite moments/things @ Dragon*Con '04:
01. Getting to see Harlan for the first time since 2001. I have to say, that is the most violent kiss I've ever gotten. Oh, and learning of the rumours that he and I were once lovers. I collect these rumours. I can now put Harlan on the shelf where I keep the rumours that I have bedded (or been bedded by) Poppy, Neil, and Clive.
02. Having William Faith dedicate "Annwyn, Beneath the Waves" to me during Faith and the Muse's acoustic set on saturday afternoon.
03. Crashing the superb "Goth: 1980-2004" panel on Saturday (which also included Rogue, Voltaire, Storm Constantine, and the very delightful and talented Anne Sudworth).
04. Modeling Desire's Doc Marten's for Maureen (these will be auctioned at Fiddler's Green, proceeds to go to the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund) late on Saturday.
05. Reading passages from Murder of Angels at my Saturday reading.
06. Having dinner late on Sat. with the Tampa crew, even if we didn't get sushi.
07. Letting Nar'eth out of her cage for the fifth time, even though it meant getting up at 7 a.m. on Sunday, after going to bed at two, and even though this was possibly the most grueling make-up session I've ever endured (four very long hours).
08. My very well-attended Sunday afternoon reading, where I read all 10,000+ words of "La Peau Verte." It was surely one of the best readings I've ever given, and I realized that "La Peau Verte" is one of the best short stories I've ever written.
09. Meeting Sa'jathan and his terribly cute son and being given the fundamentals of the Nebari alphabet and numeric system, which he has been working on.
10. Me and Spooky having dinner on Sunday night with Ted Naifeh and his "extremely clever and attractive" girlfriend, Kelly.
11. Posing as Nar'eth for about a thousand photos.
12. Being backstage for the Sunday night Faith and the Muse/Voltaire/Cruxshadows show. Spectacular!
13. All the beautiful, brilliant costumes, which will drive me to fine-tune Nar'eth even further.
14. The "Farscape Fan" fans.
15. Having someone named Gregory recognize Nar'eth as Nar'eth, instead of as Caitl?n-in-costume.
There are many other things, but I feel too icky to list any more. And there were the downsides, too. Like catching this cold. And having to listen to people mispronounce "Cr?xshadows" until I thought I'd scream. And losing my Hello Kitty purse (though I had it back by Saturday). And being 45 minutes late for my signing on Sunday (because the make-up took forever). And not getting to see a lot people I'd meant to hook up with, such as Berni Wrightson, Charlie Vess, and Bill Stout. And not having time to see any of the Farscape cast or the Firefly panels. But, all in all, it was a wonderful con, and my thanks to Spooky and Jennifer for getting me through it.
I'll try to post some photos tomorrow.
Can I stop being sick now? Please?
1:16 PM
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