I know I haven’t made any posts about ProgStock for the past couple of years, relying instead on my programs and t-shirts and online reviews to preserve my memories of those festivals. But one week ago today, I witnessed a musical performance so singular in all my experience, there’s no way I can let it go without comment.

The ensemble in question ( Read more... )

Well, I never listed my loot, did I?

And 2024 was a pretty good haul, I must say. I’ve already alluded to any number of purchases in my previous posts, so now to itemize and organize them properly. We’ll start with … BOOKS.

“Griffin Ranger 3: Isthmus” and “Griffin Ranger 4: Second Sight” by Roz Gibson. Her series is up to four now, and I got ‘em ( Read more... )

I wore the same t-shirt on both Thursday and Sunday.

The reasons for this were twofold. First of all, Thursday was not the first full day of the con, and with Friday and Saturday falling between them, I figured there weren’t too many folks who were likely to point and declare, “Ew, he’s wearing the same shirt again!” Secondly and more to the point ( Read more... )

Looking over the last entry, it doesn’t seem possible that Saturday could possibly match Friday - and yet I’d hazard that the two gave each other a run for the money!

For starters, there was the starter: the Supersponsor Brunch, which these days kicks off at 10:30am rather than the 12:00 Luncheon it used to be. Was that delectable salmon from last ( Read more... )

It didn’t really hit me until looking back after the event what a packed day Friday was this year.

For breakfast, Cedric and I wanted to try a small coffee shop directly under our hotel that we’d passed every time we’d walked from the AC to AC. *bada-tish!* As with our Fancypants Popcorn experience the morning before, we encountered an ( Read more... )

I’ve already touched upon some of Thursday’s key events - namely, getting chased off the DLCC roof before that day’s capstone fireworks display (man, did that sky to the south over the skyscrapers look ominous as that storm moved in) - but there were other noteworthy moments as well. Breakfast, for starters. Last year, we had trouble finding ( Read more... )

I miss seeing Ursula Vernon at Anthrocon.

I believe the last time she attended was 2022, the first con after the pandemic, making 2023 the first AC she skipped since 2006. Hitting up her table and perusing her Art Show offerings had long been a highlight of each year’s con for me, and she was one of the last of the “old-timer” artists still making ( Read more... )

Has it really been twenty years? The calendar says yes, so who am I to argue?

I'm not sure what Josh would have made of the current state of our world, two decades on. I remember him writing in support of our invasion of Iraq in 2003 - a detail I alluded to in my tribute novel "The Waiting Room" - on the grounds that the Iraqi people had suffered ( Read more... )

One thing Anthrocon has started doing in recent years that I find helpful is listing all of the dealers confirmed for that year’s Dealer’s Room on their website ahead of the con. This provides me with a nice advance heads-up of who I can expect to see there and how I might want to throw my money around, depending on what those dealers have at their ( Read more... )

Typing up that last post made me realize how much of a con like AC can revolve around food and drink. But there’s lots more to such a weekend-long event … isn’t there?

I’ve already covered my preparations and outward trip rather comprehensively, and also our first night when we discovered Bridges and Bourbon, so let’s fast forward beyond that to ( Read more... )