Dragon*Con Installment 4: Making New Fans

& Meeting Old Ones

Each time I sell a copy of A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, I create a potential fan, and I received enough fan e-mail and letters to know that the chances of making a fan are pretty high. I had two awesome experiences with fans at Dragon*Con.

First, I sold a book to a boy on either Friday or Saturday of Dragon*Con. He came back to my author booth on Monday and said, “Is the author here?” I said yes, and we started to talk. He told me that he came all the way down to the dealer room just to tell me that he absolutely loved the book—he had read most of it in only two or three days!

Second, a woman approached my table and asked me if I lived in Naples. It turned out that her father had read my book in one sitting and invited me to speak to his classroom! Her mom actually works for my dad. She bought a book from me and let her husband read it, then passed it on to her daughter—the woman who approached my table.


Small, small world…

Tags: DragonCon, Dragon*Con, A Prophecy Forgotten, The Elysian Chronicles

Dragon*Con Installment 3: Making New Friends at Cons

One of the things I love about Sci-Fi/Fantasy Cons is making new friends and then seeing them again at other Cons. I was fortunate enough to meet Rachel and Damian at BabelCon last month. We really hit it off, and I was really excited to find out that both of them would be attending Dragon*Con.

Rachel and I, over e-mail, planned our cherubian costumes for the parade. Then the three of us sat up until 2:00 in the morning in a hotel room on Friday night rolling my first chapter brochures and rubber-banding them to Smarties for the parade the next day. They also entertained me at my dealer table, Damian gave me some good selling advice, and they passed out brochures to people at the Con. These are true friends—the kind of friends who go out of their way to help you, and I can’t believe I only met them a month ago.

Tags: DragonCon, Dragon*Con

Dragon*Con Installment 2: How Far Would You Go…

…To Sell Your Book?

Would you dress up like your heroine and walk down the streets of Atlanta throwing candy attached to your first chapter brochure at the crowd? How about handing out free e-books? And what if your character just happened to be a cherubian (a guardian angel) dressed in a black breastplate and tunic, black boots, and a maroon kilt?

Ah yes, the desire to promote my books has overcome my inhibitions. My friend, Rachel, and I dressed up as Gabriella and joined the Dragon*Con Parade with Sandy Lender, and we marched down the streets of Atlanta in full costume. I threw candy attached to the first chapter of A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles to the crowds, and when we ran out of candy, we asked the crowds who liked to read, and handed those who answered cd’s. I have no idea if it worked or not… I had a great time marching behind all the people dressed as Harry Potter.

Rachel, Me, and Sandy in costume, ready to astound future fans....

Rachel & me, covering both sides of the street.

Here are a few things I learned about making costumes and marching in a parade.

1. Making your own wings takes forever—especially when you craft them with chicken wire, cover them with plaster, paint them, and feather them.
2. Plaster wings are stinking heavy. I had to attach them with a metal harness that attached over my shoulders. My collarbones will never feel the same.
3. No one makes plastic breastplates made for women. I had to buy a Roman breastplate (see below), cut it, and paint it.
4. Marching down the streets of Atlanta in heeled boots is painful.
5. If you make really good wings, everyone will want to take your picture.

Below, I have some more pictures…

The breastplates before I got a hold of them (tee hee)

Here are the be breastplates for scale... (Go Yanks!)

I took feathers from about 5 feather dusters and divided them by size and color.

This is the skeleton--the wires I used to shape the wings.

Tags: DragonCon, Dragon*Con, A Prophecy Forgotten, The Elysian Chronicles, Cherubian, Harry Potter

Dragon*Con Installment 1: My Time at Dragon*Con

Or, Where I’ve Been All Weekend…

From Friday until Monday, I attended Dragon*Con as a guest author and sold my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, down in the Hilton’s basement. Dragon*Con is the biggest Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Gaming/Anime/LARP festival in America, and I must say it was amazing.

First, I drove to my author friend, Tracy Akers’s house in Dade City, FL on Thursday night. That took some doing because Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles was due to ArcheBooks the next day. I finished the manuscript at 7:00pm on Thursday, sent it to my agent, and then skedaddled out the door. I arrived at Tracy’s at 11:00 PM. (At this point, I had had only 8 hours of sleep in 3 days.)

We woke up at 4:00 to drive to Atlanta, GA. (Total sleep: 3 hrs after my shower). Then we set up our tables in the dealer room, and ran around trying to get settled. Sandy Lender, the other author who shared a table with us arrived around 4:00. For four days straight, we sold books. Then Sandy flew home on Monday (smart woman), and Tracy and I drove home on Tuesday. Nine hour drive for me. Ouch!

For the next week—or two, depending—I’m going to post about my experiences at Dragon*Con, so keep checking the blog!

Tags: DragonCon, Dragon*Con, A Prophecy Forgotten, The Elysian Chronicles, Tracy Akers, Sandy Lender

I’ve Been Selected as a Panelist at Dragon*Con!

I cannot believe it! I’ve been selected as a panelist at Dragon*Con, the biggest Science Fiction, Gaming, and Fantasy Festival in the United States of America! To give you a hint of how big this is, Sean Astin (think Goonies, Rudy, Lord of the Rings—He’s Samwise Gamgee for Pete’s sake!) is going to be a guest as well! Move over Lou Ferrigno, I’m now in Sean Astin territory. My other friend, Tracy Akers—the author of The Fire and the Light, is a guest, too.

The whole thing happens in Atlanta, GA, and, well you can see the date in the picture. I’ll be on at least 4 panels, and if I can get over my own fears, I might…well, I’ll let you know if I actually do it, but it involves finding brown angel wings and a breastplate as well as a costume parade through down town Atlanta. (And throwing out free e-books to everyone,) Tee hee!

You can find out more information about Dragon*Con at http://www.dragoncon.org/. Drop me a line if you are going!

(Wow, you can tell I’ve been doing nothing but writing manuscripts for a while. I cannot believe it? Drop me a line of you are going? I’ve stopped using contractions—the telltale sign of a died-in-the-wool writer.)

For more information on my novel, A Prophecy Forgotten: Book I of the Elysian Chronicles, and my upcoming novel, Out of the Shadows: Book II of the Elysian Chronicles, check out my website at http://www.elysianchronicles.com/.

Tags: DragonCon, Dragon*con, Sean Astin