First report from Marscon, 1 of 3

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Here are some of the first shots from Friday at Marscon.

So far it's going well, meeting some fun and great people, although the hotel restaurant is extremely awful and gets as big a thumbs down as I can give it.

There are lots of fun characters here, and a little bit of something for everyone. People dressed in costume, gamers, artists, writers, readers and the like.

Lots of people I've met from other conventions in the Twin Cities, from Diversicon, CONvergence and others, but also some new faces as well, and everyone is quite friendly with interesting takes on all sorts of topics from movies to books and television shows.

My first panel went well.

I stayed for the next panel in the room, a discussion of the Amazons and warrior women through myth and history. It ran the gamut, from Greek myth to Wonder Woman and Xena, to lesser know characters, and even the influence of the Asian traditions of warrior women on the way the West has depicted their own heroic figures.

I also had a chance to see some of the planners of the Arcana convention, a convention for fans of horror and dark fantasy that takes place in October.

They were getting ready to show the MN premiere of The Host later this evening. Yay!

I then went to dinner with the writers Catherine Lundoff, Rebecca Marjesdatter, Jason Wittman and Matt Coes.

The service was a terrible, terrible, terrible experience, but we had good conversations in spite of the utter, impossibly bad service.

They had some great thoughts, support and advice regarding my upcoming book On The Other Side of the Eye coming out this August.

It was really wonderful hearing about everyone's latest projects and comparing notes on recent films and books that we'd been reading and seeing.

I'll be adding some new things to my reading list very shortly.

After that it was a quick look around at the rest of the Con, including the party rooms. Among the standouts this year so far were the Klingon party room and the Alien Social Services room where they were holding a raffle to adopt an alien.

Well, the ones from another planet, I should clarify.

There was even a room for karaoke where you could sing the classics or even Weird Al Yankovic tunes.

One room was also offering free massages as well. Yay!

I spent some time hanging out in the Consuite where they serve the great snacks and free drinks ranging from Starbucks frappucinos to sodas and other refreshing beverages.

The Consuite was being run by a friendly man named Chris, and we met some first time con goers who were also offering to volunteer. It was great to meet them.

Fresh fruit and vegetables were available for the health conscious, as were the requisite chips and snack food.

I also stopped in by the art gallery, and it's got a very compelling array of artists on display.

There are a few clunkers, but easily, the good outnumbered the bad here, and it's hard to resist temptation to pick up new art for the house. I think Chamindika Wanduragala really needs to get her work out here to these conventions- it would go over quite well. Actually, there are a number of artists I know who it would be great to see here, but that's just my bias.

Ultimately, I finished off the evening lounging in Krushenko's, run by Eric Heideman and friends, the famed party room of just about every MN and WI science fiction convention out here.

Now, I've got to go prepare for my main presentations tomorrow. Or catch some sleep.

Whichever comes first! See you tomorrow, if you can make it!