So, as you all know I was in Los Angeles for a combination business/pleasure trip with Rhys Ford and Bru Baker. We went to World Fantasy Con 2019 and ate a LOT of spicy pork products (aka Porkapalooza2019). Which was work and which was pleasure? That would be telling!
However, if you are in LA sometime then definitely hit up Neri’s Restaurant. The owners are welcoming, the food is amazing, and the crispy pata deserves some sort of category of its own as ‘uberfood’.
I’m not kidding! If I could only eat at one restaurant in my life EVER, it would be Neri’s…even if it meant I could only eat there once a year.
World Fantasy Con was less spicy (although the daily food truck was always fun), but just as much fun. I had a great time meeting other fantasy fans, readers, and authors.
I got to be on a magic system 101 panel moderated by Barbara Hambly (you have no idea how excited I was!), moderate a panel on writers’ groups and workshops, and express my very strong views about how fantasy has ALWAYS had romance in it along with Rhys Ford, Bru Baker, Peter Blaisdell, and Mary Anne Mohanraj. I thought it was a great panel and that everyone, both audience and panelists, had fun and learned something new.
Plus, we were so cool!
In conclusion? Your fantasy always had romance in it. So did your SF. Live with it. Learn to love it.
As for my fellow DSP authors. Rhys ran an absolutely brilliant couple of panels on sensitivity readers and on gender in fantasy/sf. I thought they were both very insightful and helpful for anyone who wants to write a character that might not be in their demographic venn diagram - if you see what I mean.
Bru Baker, rocking the blonde streak, also took part in a few really helpful ‘writer’s track’ panels, including one on how social media influences authors and their writing. I found it very helpful. Social media is the air that we breathe these days, but it is always good to step back and look at how we’re using it as opposed to how it uses us.
Bru always did a reading on Friday from her paranormal romance novel Camp H.O.W.L that you can watch.
I really had a great time!
Although I would love to do some sort of online con sometime :D Just because there are panels I’d love to do with people/listen to. Like…worldbuilding with Rhys Ford and Bru Baker (they are both rigorous world builders but apply that knowledge very differently), or a New York: the Place, the Dream, the Pain in the Ass to get right panel with C.S. Poe (she was not there in body, but she was with us in LA in spirit and food envy!), and other ideas that I will have to actually write down before I forget them.
Back to your usual layout next week! For now this and a few cool odds and ends will have to tide you over ;)
Congrats! He read an extract from his new novel (a WIP) out at WFC ahead of Bru’s reading and it was really interesting. It’s an Audible exclusive, I believe, so I look forward to hearing more.
It is worth reiterating! This is SO GOOD.
I am not from, adjacent, or near to the South. However, this cracked me up for reasons I cannot explain.
I was sold on just the name of the show.
Well, this is one way to find new music…(not complaining).
The forbidden sandwich. I mean, all sandwiches are forbidden unless expressly told otherwise, but this looks tasty.