April 9, 2020
As I’m writing this, it is almost April and I have been in my house for two weeks straight. Isolation isn’t hitting me as hard as it’s probably hitting many folks. I’ve been working from home for years, so I’m used to seeing the inside of my house for days at a time. But I’m feeling the stress related to…
December 20, 2019
In March of 2019 I attended my first convention in Japan, and it was a whopper: Anime Japan in Tokyo! It was my hastily decided resolution for 2019 to do some ambitious cosplay because I felt like there was something special about Japan — cosplayers are pretty hardcore here, and I wanted to challenge myself to cosplay with what I…
November 14, 2019
On the weekend of October 18-20, 2019, a brand new event was birthed! Multiverse Con, almost two years in the making, finally happened! Multiverse was created with the idea that each of us is our own universe, bringing uniqueness to our fandom, that there is room in the multiverse for all of us. We wanted to make sure the convention…
November 11, 2019
They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Kate Heartfield, whose novel, Armed in Her Fashion, just won…
October 10, 2019
I write a lot about conventions — preparing, attending, volunteering. For this month’s column, I thought folks might find it interesting to peek into the backstage of how a con gets made. Multiverse Con is coming up next week, so the timing is really perfect. I run the WRITE Track for that convention and in this video, I talk about…
September 12, 2019
Labor Day weekend means Dragon Con! I don’t generally do Dragon Con like other folks do. It’s a working con for me, and I’m on staff of the Writers Track, so it’s really rare that you’ll ever find me at any of the panels for the big stars, like David Tennant or John Barrowman. I spend most of my time…
June 13, 2019
I consider myself a convention veteran. I’ve been doing multiple conventions each year for well over a decade. But regardless of how many cons I’ve been to, going to a new-to-me con can be a bit daunting. As with any new environment, I wonder if I will know anyone, whether people will be friendly, whether I’ll fit in. From April…
May 30, 2019
On March 23 and 24, I experienced the wonder of Anime Japan, where 146,500 people flocked to Tokyo Big Sight to celebrate an industry loved the world over. A four-day event, Anime Japan is geared towards professionals as well as fans. The first days of the convention (Thursday and Friday) are reserved for attendees who work in the business, then…
January 30, 2019
Back in the US, I was a frequent convention-goer and panelist, trying to get fellow geeks excited about writing! Since moving to Japan in 2016, I’ve gone through con withdrawals. And it’s not that Japan doesn’t have its fair share of conventions – it just never occurred to me to try to attend because I’m busy teaching. I’ve neglected my…
December 24, 2018
They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Allan C. R. Cornelius, who is giving Speculative Chic the…