Horrorfind 2006 Report, Saturday
Posted on August 18, 2006
Shrews and I crawled out of bed at about 10:30 and rushed downstairs for what we thought was a complimentary breakfast, but was actually a ten dollar breakfast. Oops! Pretty good meal, though, with Shrews getting a great story idea and immediately writing close to 30,000 words in his head while my brain kept saying Bacon, bacon, bacon!
Next up was a trip across the street to the con, loaded down with books we hoped to sell. First stop was JF Gonzalez and Brian Keene’s reading, where they unveiled the opening for the upcoming Clickers II. Great reading, with JF saying “Fuck” more than most would think humanly possible.
Afterward, we ran into Nikki again, who was happy to report she had managed to squeeze in a reading for Shrews on Sunday morning. She also told us how John Urbancik managed to get drunk enough to read the tribal tattoo that covered the length of her left arm. I made an attempt, but made it as far as one letter before I was told I was waaaay off. Oh, well.
Ran through the dealers’ room to find a present for Shawna, and quickly realized I was gonna have a hard time finding one. Decided to come back later.
At 3PM, I went up with Shrews and we sandwiched Brian in as we tried to sell books. I smiled from ear to ear as Brian started selling my books for me, suggesting a copy of A Trip to Rundberg to anybody buying The Rising or City of the Dead. “It’s better than Walking Dead,” he would say, and I would try not to laugh. Finally, with two books left, Dan and Susan showed up, and I conned them into helping me accomplish my first sell out. I now had a few books left back at the hotel for my reading. Plus, I could afford to eat dinner, which was a plus.
After a wonderful dinner that Paul bought for a bunch of us, Shrews and I collapsed for a bit back at the hotel. He talked to his wife, and I talked to Shawna. I’m pretty useless without Shawna when one of us is away. It’s either cute or disgusting. I’m really not sure which.
After hiking back down to the con, Shrews and I had a run-in with a convention staffer because he wouldn’t let us in. About four seconds later, we realized it was because we’d forgotten our guest badges back at the hotel. Sadly, we were already late for a reading, and the hotel trip would take another twenty minutes or so…
…so we snuck in through the back.
The Drew and Lu show was incredible, a spectacle that can only be called a reading in the most basic of terms. Drew Williams and Stephen Lukac (pronounce Lou Kotch) wove a tale of demonic possession, jazz hands, the word “fuck,” free beer, and mad libs. Bonus points for dropping in a reference to The Shield and calling the Kraken a “Giant Sea-Pussy.”
Later, the parties would begin.
After a brief time in front of the hotel, I followed Keene, his wonderful wife Cassi, Wenchie, and John Urbancik up to JF Gonzalez’s room, where I met his wonderful wife. Much talking and drinking commenced, with me handling two beers, a margarita, and more straight Maker’s Mark and Patron than should be considered legal. There was a discussion of a writer who once took four hits of acid and proceeded to type four hours worth of complete gibberish. Strangely, Keene repeated this story immediately after it was told, which led to a few hours of repeating the story whenever there was a lull in the conversation. Slowly, more people trickled in: Mary SanGiovanni, Marcy Italiano and her husband G, and Matt Schwartz, the genious behind Shocklines.com (where you can buy all of my books).
After much merriment, we decided to leave JF and his wife alone. Mary, John, and I (along with some others), shuffled down to the first floor and the release party for Matthew Warner’s Eyes Everywhere. Somehow, we were able to tear the party down to a bunch of writers trading punches (I’m told I started this, but I suspect it’s bullshit). If nothing else, it led to such great statements as “Mary, punch Shrews in the stomach!” and “Pretend I called your mother a whore!” At one point, while Mary was punching back and forth with a wonderful woman named Kelly (She’d come with her parents, how cute?), I leaned over to Shrews and said “Y’know, you can’t buy entertainment like this.”
And on that note, I shuffled across the highway and back to bed. It was 4AM.
Coming Monday… The Exciting Conclusion!
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