Probably a little con that almost no one has heard of (don't feel bad, I hadn't either until it showed up on 'the list of places where Jim Butcher will be this year!') - but a quaint little con that is held at a minor education establishment known as James Madison University. The con is little - the university tucked away in the mountains, is not. JMU, being tucked away on that mountain, gets rather fucking CHILLY in those months where it's not summer. Damn, the WIND!

Before the con, however - there's the drive up there. Not a problem, typical roads that I usually drive. That is, until we get to the part where you twist-and-turn up the mountain, then turn onto this little stretch that puts you onto the interstate - can we say FOG! I mean, I get it that we're at the top of the freakin' mountain, but holy crap! I couldn't see! At least, not until we got onto the Interstate. Suddenly, then it was clear again. Stupid weird-ass weather. (We took a slightly different route back b/c I was NOT going to trek DOWN the mountain in the dark on those little twisty roads - no thank you.

So - Madicon. Lots of nice folks n' stuff. Lots of gaming going on - not my cup of tea, but people are free to game to their heart's content and it won't bother me one bit.

However, there was this guy that I've seen 'round before, I think he writes books n' stuff. He looks kinda like this:

( Who's this guy? )

(( I'm still working out the kinks on using this new digital camera, but I'll figure it out. ))

You can tell it's Jim Butcher b/c that's Shannon Butcher sitting right next to him. They did a panel on writing in Sci-Fi and Fantasy (Shannon writes Fantasy Romance novels). Really good panel, in fact. It was fun.

( Explaining some writing craft stuff )

My only complaint about the panels is that the 'panel room' and the 'dealers room' are the same, so it's very large and while the panel is going on, the noise from the dealer area (and the gaming area through the door) overlaps and it's hard to hear the questions from the audience. But, overall, not bad really.

But - then Jim got to meet rockin'!Greg. (For those who don't know who he is, he's the ex-Army-dude action figure that I transformed into a Greg House-looking action figure based on the concept as created by bmax67.) Though, I'm not sure Greg was quite so pleased to meet Jim as Jim was to meet Greg. But he did allow one photo:

( The one photo )

Does it say something when the author and his wife recognize you from the last three or four cons you've been to where they were? Naaaaah. They came down off the stage after the panel and Shannon says "I thought that was you!" (We'd asked questions in the panel - whether or not they'd read Hugh Laurie's book, which I've just started for the second time and my brain was making comparisons to the snark of Dresden and the snark of Lang - they haven't, but they are definitely going to! And whether or not Susan would return to the Dresden tales - she will.)


FOOD BREAK


After a quick meal break, there was the Dresden Files panel, which was just Jim...

( Listening to the question )

( Thinking about the question )

( Answering the question )

Many of the stories were ones we'd heard from Jim before, some were new. But really, even the old stories - they're still funny every time he tells them. :)

Oh - and apparently, all of the other wizards in Harry Dresden's world are either affluent or smart and thrifty, because they all have money while Harry's scrounging around to find nickles in the couch.

Then it was time for Jim to write his name lots of times on the inside pages of lots of books, which he happily did, chatting with the folks the whole time - because that's what he does. ;)

There are a couple new things he's got coming up: A chap-book told from Thomas' POV and a graphic novel adaptation of Storm Front, as well as a 4-part original Dresden story that takes place just before Storm Front is set - being coordinated by the Dabel Brothers.

Hit the announcements section of the forum over at http://www.jim-butcher.com for details on those.

And, I think that's it. Madicon is actually a 3 day event, but we just drove up for today.

(( I almost titled this 'Stalking Jim Butcher', since that's what we told him we were doing. *g* Maybe I should have, since apparently stalkers get hugs! ))

x-posted to highlander_ii

Tags: [conventions]:celebrities:jim butcher, [conventions]:madicon, [conventions]:madicon:jim butcher