I'm back from GenCon, and had a great deal of fun. This was my first time, and it boggles me to think that this was a relatively small GenCon. I sold about 40 books (yay!), met a ton of nifty people, and saw all sorts of fun stuff. Sadly, I still haven't picked up a good, small camera, so I have no way to document things like the baby Stormtrooper in the stroller, or the giant d20, or the fact that antonstrout turns into a werejaguar after midnight. I got to participate in my first Eye of Argon reading, which was amusing as heck and left me wanting to write a sequel. (Oh, kelly_swails -- the MST3K version I mentioned is here.) I also did many panels, picked up seven new books to read, and had a generally fun time.

I also heard from a number of people who attended the DAW Preview panel at Worldcon, where I'm told the cover art from The Stepsister Scheme was displayed. I would love to share that with you, but ... well, I haven't actually seen it yet. But we now know it exists! All I have to do is track it down, and then it shall be shared with you all!

It's always strange trying to return to the real world after a convention. I wasn't physically exhausted this time. I actually slept a bit, and felt surprisingly energized by the time I got home on Sunday. Emotionally, on the other hand.... I didn't realize it at first, but the moment something stressful came along, I had zero patience for dealing with it. Contractor issues on the kitchen remodel? I was ready to ream them out over the smallest problems. Even work today has been rougher than usual. I'm having to deliberately hold back from yelling at users and their questions, even though the questions are no stupider than usual. I've done my best to not let myself snap at the kids, but I suspect I've slipped up there once or twice too, which sucks. I need a post-convention quarantine unit.

Will I go again next year? I don't know. It was a lot of fun, and I love getting to see and meet people. And of course, next year I should have goblin miniatures to put out on display. On the other hand, I get the sense the whole writing track was a bit of an afterthought to the convention. In the entire convention center, there wasn't a single book dealer, which meant we were lugging our own stock around. Signings weren't exactly publicized, either. Still, where else could I go to hear someone play the Super Mario Brothers theme on a synthesizer, or participate along with 10,000+ people in a moment of silence for Gary Gygax?

Now let's see here ... who do I have to bribe to get a copy of that cover art?