As the Labor Day weekend here in the U.S. comes to a close, my wife and I are home from Dragon Con. And what a weekend it’s been!
First things first. We flew into Atlanta on Thursday and checked into the Ritz (I know, I know — it’s not that we’re high-falutin’, this was the only hotel close to the convention that still had vacancies when we booked). Thursday night is always hopping at Dragon Con, but it’s not so crazy that you can’t see the floor of the hotel. If that sounds like an exaggeration, consider that the con usually gets in excess of 70,000 people at its height, which tends to be on Saturday. That’s when the day-trippers descend in hordes on downtown Atlanta. A chance to meet up with our friends Dave and Shannon, plus the opportunity to make some new ones, was a great way to start things off. Sign-in for guests and visiting professionals was smooth and easy as ever, and I was geeking out hard to the fact that my name was only one away from Larry Elmore’s on the list. Larry painted so many of the D&D box covers that I grew up playing in the 80s and 90s.
In terms of costuming, we decided to go with cheap and cheerful. Laura had the genius idea of dressing us both as the murdered Grady twins from “The Shining.” Given my connection to a certain haunted hotel, that seemed like a great idea to me. Plus, the comedy value of one of “the twins” being a great big hairy-arsed bloke made it worth it too. There were a couple of other sets of Grady twins wandering around on Saturday (maybe we just didn’t spot them earlier in the week) but the difference was that ours were the post-murdered Grady twins, covered in blood and gore. We got quite a few laughs and high fives as we wandered around Atlanta and through the hotels. In fact, a freelance journalist/photographer named Jeff Slate asked if he could take photos of us wandering through downtown, for an article that he is planning to write. We were only too happy to oblige.
We finished the night out with our good friends Keith and Dorie, plus a couple of old acquaintances, hoisting a few drinks in the Hyatt bar.
Friday was nice and low-key. After a lunch at Meehan’s Irish pub across the street from our hotel (awesome bangers and mash!) we went to check out the dealers room. We were lucky to get there less than an hour after they opened, and walked straight in. On Saturday the line was clocked at approximately two hours to get through the doors. I only bought one think, a signed first edition of the new Dune novel by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert. I’m a big fan of the series, so I couldn’t pass it up.
Every year we manage to run into one of my favorite authors, military SF and fantasy writer John Ringo. Usually it’s when we’re both grabbing lunch at the Brazilian restaurant, but this time it happened in the dealers’ room…which was damned lucky for me, because I had brought along a copy of his new book, Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. Set in Larry Correia’s Monster Hunter International universe, it’s a cracking read, and one that I finished at the con itself in the small amount of downtime between sleeping and partying. John is a class act. He treats every fan as an individual and always wants to chat. This time he regaled us with ideas for forthcoming stories, including one with Nazis and monsters that sounds like a real corker. Then he kindly signed my book and inscribed it with an in-joke that only readers of Grunge will get. Top man.
On Friday night, I had the chance to watch my friend, master illusionist Aiden Sinclair at work. I first met Aiden at the Stanley Hotel. While I’m doing the ghost tours, Aiden performs an incredible theatrical seance titled Illusions of the Past. It’s built around artifacts from the Jack the Ripper murders, the RMS Titanic, and the Stanley Hotel itself. I have never actually seen the show performed at the hotel itself, because I am always busy giving night-time tours. He very graciously invited us to come and see the show from the second row. Aiden interweaves a masterful character-drive narrative with jaw-dropping illusions and lessons in the art of the seance. It’s a phenomenal show, no pun intended, and if you ever get the chance to see it, I cannot recommend it enough. For my part, I give myself props for not screaming “BURN THE WITCH!” every time he pulled off something that seemed genuinely magical.
After Illusions, a bunch of us paranormal enthusiasts went out for dinner at the Hyatt. It was great to meet some new friends and catch up with some old ones too. After enjoying the good company, Laura and I went off to people-watch in the Marriott and Hyatt bars. The people-watching is incredible at Dragon Con. Just Google something along the lines of “Dragon Con costumes” and you’ll see what I mean. Some of the artistry and sheer creativity is staggering, with so much time and effort poured into many of the creations, whereas others were slapped together in a few minutes in order to get a cheap laugh — and they did. As long as I live, I’ll never forget the guy with the sign that simply said, “Dicks out for the Lord,” or, come to think of it, the extremely camp Ghostbusters who were twerking it up with a pair of the many T-Rexes we saw wandering around this weekend. As attending professionals, we were also given access to the art gallery, which was a distinct pleasure to wander around at leisure, taking in a different expression of the same talent.
One of the things that always strikes me at Dragon Con is body-shaming…namely, the almost total lack of it. One doesn’t have to look too far to find a 300-lb Superman, or a 250-lb Rey, to name just two. Considering just how cruel some people can be, you’d be forgiven for thinking that people with much bigger or smaller body types might get laughed at or made to feel uncomfortable at Dragon Con. The reverse is actually true, in my experience. We saw countless ripped, muscle-bound athletic guys and lithe, slender women sharing a drink and a laugh with people who were about as far away from them on the physical spectrum as it was possible to get (including this 270-lb guy wearing a bloody dress). They were all united in their love of all thinks nerdy and geeky, and that’s exactly the way it should have been. It’s such a far cry from the days when being a nerd would get you beaten up and mocked in the school yard. Long may it continue.
While most people were watching the parade on Saturday morning (see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi_qaN8DZzM) we took the opportunity of meeting Nick Groff and Katrina Weidman, the stars of Paranormal Lockdown. It’s always a relief when a celebrity turns out to be every bit as nice in real life as they are on the telly, and these guys were no exception. We chatted about 30 East Drive in Pontefract. Nick and Katrina moved in on the Monday after I moved out, and said they got some very compelling results, which will air on the Paranormal Lockdown Halloween special. I gave them both a signed copy of my book The Haunting of Asylum 49, and I left with a full-blown Katrina crush.
My good friend Shannon Byers had some fellow panelists show up super late to her panel, so I and our mutual friend Kyl T. Cobb (author and demonologist) volunteered to help out. The subject was supposed to be the use of social media in the paranormal field, but in reality we ranged pretty far and wide (including down in the gutter, which should come as no surprise to anybody who knows Shannon, Kyl, and myself).
I had my first official panel of the weekend at 5:30, along with several other authors. We discussed the role of Asylums in horror fiction. It was an interesting and lively debate, with some good questions raised by the audience. I always wince when a panelist uses the word “crazy” in reference to a mentally ill individual, and I had the opportunity to speak about the good work that is done by many hard-working individuals in the field of mental healthcare. Afterward, I was approached by a gentleman who was a behavioral psychiatrist, who wanted to thank me for drawing a little of the subject matter away from the many heinous acts committed by 19th and 20th century doctors, and standing up for those who are only trying to do what is right for their patients. It made me very happy to hear that perspective from a fellow clinician.
While on the subject of mental illness, my own depression came roaring back with a vengeance on Saturday night. I have spent many years of my life battling “the black dog.” Some days are easier than others, but all are a challenge. I recognize it for what it is, a clinical issue that is rooted in my brain chemistry. I have a wonderful life, and yet there are days when simply getting out of bed are a genuine struggle. There are also those on which I can be surrounded by people and yet feel totally and utterly alone, even when I am in the middle of a crowd. This happens to me quite often at conventions, and I tend to react by getting even more quiet and broody than the norm. It bit me hard on Saturday night, in the middle of the packed-to-the-gills Marriott, and so rather than go for a drink (I’ve never been one to tackle my problems with alcohol, as I learned fairly early on that it only makes things worse) I went for an early night instead…particularly as I ran into this chap, who made me feel lucky to have escaped with my head…
Sunday morning was, sadly, our last day there. I had a 10 o’clock book signing in the International South Hall at the Marriott. Attendance was relatively small, not least because there was little to no publicity for the signing (none of us were big name authors) but it was a great opportunity to meet and network with fellow writers, share some laughs, and also sell and sign a few books. One wrote Roman fantasy fiction, another military fiction, and a third supernatural love stories. It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning.
After lunch at Meehan’s with Keith and Dori, we went for one last turn around the hotels, checking out the latest batch of costumes and marveling at the sheer volume of creativity and enthusiasm on display, and then it was back to the airport for a flight home to Denver. Yet again, Dragon Con managed to totally and utterly blow my mind…
