Sunday, November 05, 2006

World Fantasy Con Update

This was a great convention. Of course the fact that it was held in Texas and honored Robert E. Howard had something to do with that. I encountered Howard first in an issue of Fantastic Universe, and even though the story was one of those pastiches by L. Sprague de Camp and Bjorn Nyberg, I knew it was something special. I read all the REH stories I could find after that.

The con followed its theme very well, and there were a number of panels devoted to Howard and his work. Glenn Lord was here, and I saw the interview with him (excellent) as well as three panels about Howard, all of which were top-notch. The other panels I attended were also good, and my own panel on 19th Century Heroes was well attended and a lot of fun. One woman came up to the panelists when it was over and said, "This was the best panel I've been to at this convention." The guy who sat and slept and snored through the whole thing probably agreed with her.

The book bag was the best I've received at any convention, ever. I'll be using it a lot in the years to come. The books inside weren't bad, either, but the prize was Cross Plains Universe. I'm really pleased to be in this one with some fine writers, some of whom are well known and some of whom should be. Maybe this book will help make them better known.

It's always a pleasure to spend some time with people like James Reasoner, whom I see all too seldom, Joe Lansdale, Scott Cupp, Henry Melton, Willie Siros, Jayme Blaschke, Neal Barrett, and others. They should have this convention in Texas every year.

I got only two videos, but they're good ones. Scroll down to watch.

1 comment:

Patrick Shawn Bagley said...

I love those fairly recent collections of Howard's work as he wrote it, without the tampering of de Camp, Nyberg or Lin Carter.