Libertycon 37: After Action Report
"AAR," said the pirate.
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“How do, everyone!” he says forcing all energy and enthusiasm he can muster.
Monday was travel day, so I’m writing this on the Tuesday after we got back all sorts o’ tired. Unfortunately, I’m gonna have to power through, so let’s get into it.
Thursday: Travel Day
For us, the trip down starts getting problematic on the southern half of the WV turnpike. People just don’t know how to handle that stretch of road and they freak out in the two long tunnels. I don’t get it. Although it was thick, we managed to get through that section without much issue. Typically, I-81 southbound is generally a nice route till we get to around Bristol, then it thickens up. Not this time. Oh no. It was thick and stupid from the instant we got on at Wytheville all the way. And of course we got on the road 2.5 hours later than I wanted, so we were going to hit the heart of Knoxville at the height of rush hour. The darling bride just about had it by the time we passed Bristol and was watching Knoxville get darker and darker red on the maps, and we started dreading what was to come. So we did a trick we learned once to deal with Atlanta: we got off onto the side highways and backroads.
Even though it’s longer and slower, our sanity is preserved by far less traffic and derpiness. But the scary part is we rerouted from Sevierville to Lenoir City. Normally detouring through the Gatlinburg area is a nightmare, but it was in better shape than Knoxville, as we learned from other con goers who got caught in it. A half hour longer than expected, but we were a lot more calm by the time we hit the highway. So now you know. Going Sevierville to Marysville to Lenoir City if Knoxsville is blocked up is a valid alternative. It may not be shorter, but it will save your sanity.
We stayed at the Staybridge and boy are we glad. Our King Suite was far more than we expected and was just knocked out by the quality of their beds! Normally sleeping on all hotel beds is like sleeping on plywood as compared to concrete. Our foam mattress toppers we normally carry made it ALMOST as comfortable as our beds at home.
As we were settling in to the room, I ran into an exhausted Wayland Smith in the hall and I made small talk. Really cool guy I had no idea he was such an experienced pro. Make note people. Sometimes just a kind word and spreading a little happiness go a long way and this is how you network make friends.
Once settled, we had ourselves a little cocktail party with Michael LaVoice and his lovely wife, Shril, with Janet and Roger Cardens of Halfling and the Spaceman podcast fame. A wonderful time was had by all. We got to bed early and our Libertycon experience was off to a good start!
Friday: …And So It Begins!
Another positive of using the Staybridge is the included breakfast. (Although we had to break down and use the Marriott’s restaurant for dinner, it helped save on foodcosts with that.) Met some con goers who were just attendees and that made it a nice breakfast.
We arrived early and immediately ran into Julian Thompson, our Rogue Redneck from Louisiana who I think could cook anything. We got to catch up a little in person and was heartened to know some things had been turning for the better with him. He gave me some genuine Mardi Gras beads to go with my Lilo and Stitch shirt I was wearing.
I ran into a few more people, and then ran into a publisher that I’d submitted a short story to for an anthology that was rumored to have given him fits trying to decide what stories to pick. So I asked him and he said that yes, it was one of the stories and essentially I was #11 on his list. I never wanted to be the guy to be hoping someone missed the contract request before, but here I am, on the wait list hoping someone misses the deadline, cuz Imma pounce on that one if I get the chance.
But here’s what got me floating on air from then on out. He asked me, unprompted, threatened or provoked “When’re you sending in your manuscript to us?”
Wait what?!? “Ummmm… I didn’t know I was, but I have one I’m working on that I can send out.”
“Good! Get it to me and we can take a look at it. No promises on publishing, but I want to see what you got.”
“You bet!”
I’ve been using clouds for shoes ever since since this is one of the publishers I WANT to work with! I should note that I came up to him later as I realized I needed more specifics on a couple points to make sure what I sent him was what they were looking for, since in a roundabout squint-to-see-it sort of way, he’s “commissioning” this work. The result of that helped me realize I needed to alter several things to make it work, but more on that later. Oh, and my summer just got really busy in a good and different way.
It was really great to see Julian Thompson who volunteered to be the LC photographer and did just a great job. The rogue redneck gave me some mardi gras beads that people always asked me what I did to get. In response if Julian was nearby I said, you wouldn’t believe it, and blew Julian kisses. It was stupid and fun, getting good laughs. I am that kind of moron.
Others I got to see and chat with included
, of Mirthquake fame, and Jonna from Raconteur Press and several others I’m blanking on.
My first event was reading at 1pm and I got the full hour! That was awesome, but I ran out of time just a page and a half from the end of “Back in the Saddle”, my story in the Deadly Flames anthology. For being opposite David Weber’s reading, I consider it a resounding success with an audience of 5. Apparently people enjoy my “Tales From The Dream Nebula” universe. More on that later too.
My autograph session was kinda dead, but had J.T. Arralle join me for a while and we got to catch up and have some great discussions.
That evening, we did something I never do: went to Kareoke. Why don’t I go? Not a fan of live music because I have very refined pitch, and it just hurts so bad to hear songs sung badly. It’s why I don’t go to concerts pretty much ever. Give me studio albums where they can sing till they get it right, or use autotune to clean up fails. We did this to support our friend
. The darling bride, came up with a great idea to act like a crazed fanclub at a concert. She made a sign and we all bought shirts with his merch, and got others to join in the fun. So Charli Cox and her husband all got some of his merch, and many other friends of his from various groups like Outlaw Writer, J.T. Pittman and others cheered him on as he sang his heart out. Then he saw the shirts and started laughing, shouting “THAT’S where those sales went!”It’s good when you can make a friend’s con. (Thanks to Shirl LaVoice for getting some of these pics.)
I should give a shout out to
for doing a bangin’ cover of “Baby Got Back” with surprise guest star, a Twerkasaurus Rex. Sorry, I didn’t get a picture of that.The walk home was on the brutal end unfortunately. The convention center we learned locks its outer doors at 10pm and seals up at midnight. So twice we had to schlep back to our hotel in the 80+ degree night with humidity so thick, you could practically swim. And boy were our dogs a-barkin! Thus concluded our Friday.
Saturday: Panels and Vending
First off, you’ll have to forgive me on starting to have all the people I met begin to blur together. Ultimately, the day was almost overwhelming. We had too much to do, we were already worn out. BAM had volunteered to help at the art show and it was just running running. I got to a couple panels I wanted to see, but one in particular, I was disappointed. On the subject of “When the Lights Go Out”, really, the panel missed the mark. Over half of the time was spent on the academics of past blackouts. We did get some surprising info on the danger solar energy creates for grids thanks to overproduction and synchronization that disrupts standard, stable generation methods from coal to nuclear power. Trust me folks, solar is going to do far worse than what happened in the Iberian Peninsula a few months ago. That and since my wife is in the industry, other than learning about “the duck” that is getting worse every year, we never got to the meat of the subject: what that means. I did force in a statement/question at the very end to at least put the idea out there, but they needed less academic history and a lot more practical information about what happens and talk about recovery. That was the info I wanted to hear about. It also needed to be 2 hours long. But that’s a rare miss for a panel.
All my schedule was packed into the evening and I had my first panel on Dystopias that evening, moderated by
. A lady that apparently has quite a reputation for combustible panels on the subject as she has gotten into arguments/fights with panelists on this subject if someone dares to try and blackpill people. At the start of the panel she got a package delivery, something that has become a bit of con lore. The first time it happened a few years ago, it was a box of axes. This time… nerf pistols which she promptly unboxed and had at the ready.Well, I run more of a dark maroon on what the world is facing, and darn near got shot. Honestly it was a great panel and we had a good time despite not meshing totally. I too am not going to blackpill. I just see us having to face a much longer period of suffering and global disruption than she does. We differ on that point, but generally agree otherwise. Had a great talk with her after.
At dinner, I finally had a chance to get together for a short bit with David Sherrer of Chenoweth Games to talk about a game prototype I was putting together. It was really a hard thing to make that connection. In a half hour I saw what I’d been doing wrong, and how to correct some things. I was depressed that I wasn’t able to cobble together a working prototype in time. Now I hope to do it by Basedcon in September, but we’ll see. This summer got a lot busier, and I have 8 weeks to pull this off. That said “Movie Mogul” is gonna be a cool game if I manage it.
Then we had our vending time from 8pm-11pm. We didn’t expect much, but BOY! Were we wrong!
FYI, we are vending at the WV Renaissance Festival every weekend of June except for Libertycon. This year’s been very rough, and we were blown away when in the 3 hours we were at Libertycon we sold more books and stuffies than we did any of the full days we had done at the event. (It’s not totally the WFRF’s fault. It’s the uncertainty in the economy doing the most damage, and I have fingers to point on who’s responsible for sucking the disposable income out of the public’s pocket over the last 4.5 years… 30 years really.)
We got to have great conversations with people as they went by. But by 11pm, because of Friday’s exhaustion, as much as we wanted to get up to the room parties, we just couldn’t. We dragged our tired keisters back to the hotel, this time able to stay in the air conditioned conference center and crashed. Hard.
Sunday: The Busy Wrap-Up and Extra Bonus
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, the best business and opportunities come off the scheduled programming. But more on that later.
I went to the Kaffeklatch for the first time and it was fun. I got to talk with Jamie Holmes with Alpha Mercs,
, Jesse Barnett, and get more details on the novel I’m going to be writing for that publisher. In effect a really good time. It was terribly crowded, but I think that’s mostly when people were trying to get to the Guests of Honor and other “dignitaries”. Those tables were full, and people kept crowding around the coffee.We got a chance to go to the Raconteur Press panel. It was a lot of fun, and we got a free book download from fellow publisher Jumpmaster Press, and a 3d printed duck as the RacPress crew are wont to throw at you.
While I was waiting to get to my last panel, all of a sudden I hear a shout from across the hallway. I look up and it’s
Hillbilly from 3 Ravens Publishing. “I just sold some of your books for you!” he yells. Turns out a woman saw one of the books bought the previous night in the gaming room, (A place I didn’t get to spend NEARLY enough time in) and she went on a hunt for us. That meant a fast run back to the hotel to get her the books she wanted. I met up with her in the gaming room and got ready to sell the two books she wanted, but then revealed the third book to her and she wanted it, but couldn’t afford it.Then something surprising happened. One of our dedicated con gamers,
bought the book for her and refused me giving him the change! It’s not often you see such quick generosity and he deserves to be called out for it. I know he’d rather have done it anonymously, but this is the stuff that makes con lore and his reputation as a great guy deserves to be spread about. Good on you, sir. You made a lady very happy.My last panel was on Fantasy Worldbuilding, and I sure felt like the dumbest guy on there. Moderated by Rob Howell with Tony Andarian, Tim Akers, D.J. Butler and Charles E. Gannon (A guest of honor). It was quite a good time to be up there with these established authors and editors.
And thus, the con concluded and we wanted to go to dinner but the restaurant was closed for another hour. So we hung out with the LaVoices, JT Arralle and JT Pittmann, in the hotel bar till the restaurant opened. There, another business opportunity began to form up and I can’t say anything about it yet, but if it comes to fruition, some big positive changes that could expand the reach and start fortifying Resonant Media Arts in many ways would occur. I’m hopeful, but this is still all in the preliminary phases. So that’s all I’m going to say for now. Again, the biggest businesses happen off program, and this is why you want to go to cons physically.
We went back to the hotel after dinner (The Marriott’s restaurant staff were excellent, btw and their small buffet was a Godsend, despite being a little expensive.) and spent the rest of the night having a few drinks with the same people we started the con with, over drinks and JT Arralle came along.
Monday: The Surprising Drive Home
Now, I didn’t add in something that happened over the previous few days sort of as an interlude to this all. I’m going to keep the name of the other person out of it, but he’ll know who he is. It may come as no surprise that not everyone on the internet gets along. I’m more of a prickly pear rather than a peach, and I accept my curmudgeonly nature. Well, I ran afoul of someone else online in a large group that became a blowup. I shall generously say we had a volatile difference of opinion and thought. For the sake of the server it was on, I left, and then made sure to disassociate as to not provoke or be provoked. He did likewise and I respect that.
Turns out he was at the con in the same hotel. As we were waiting for the elevator one of the days, he saw my nametag and then said. “M.D.?”
“Yeah,” I said, trepedaciously.
“I’m that asshole, <John Doe>, and I want to apologize.”
I mean, what do you say to that, right? A sincere apology followed and it turned out that he was being played by someone else out there that was getting off on causing problems for people and feeding bad information, apparently, about me and my wife. A lot of things had hit the poor guy and I feel for him. It hurts to get played in so many ways. I have monumental respect for the personal bravery and integrity he had to even say that to me. Most would have just scurried away and we’d have kept our distance for good.
Over the course of the con, we bumped into each other a few more times and we learned a bit more of the scenario. So I’m going to talk to the mods running it, (turns out they already wanted to bring me back in, and that’s on my post-con to-do list) and rejoin. But an anonymous thank you and much respect for a man who showed such character. He deserves to be recognized for that.
And then, we finally got on the road. We love the Staybridge, and hope to book it again for next year’s Libertycon.
So why does it get surprising? Just as we were leaving the hotel we get a call from my Mother In Law, letting us know my Brother In Law is in the Bristol area with our niece and nephew. We hardly shy away from seeing the kiddos, so we get a call from the BIL as we were stopping for lunch at a Culvers in Knoxville and set up to meet in Sevierville and do a little shopping. I love chef grade cookware stores and got some nice added items. I also discovered I can’t wear off the rack cowboy boots. They’re not constructed for my instep. Because of that we got home very late in the night and that.
And that’s the AAR from Libertycon 37, 2025. We are fried because this bloody heatwave is just a monster. Bracing for impact, because we go back to the WV Ren Festival for the last weekend of June and hope to keep cool.
Anyway, that’s enough for now. We loved seeing all you wonderful people at the con. Miss you already because that’s how cons work and hope we’ll be there next year.
Till next time, vaya con Dios.
