Not every weekend do you get together with 14.5K plus folks who are seriously addicted to anime. Now I admit not knowing much about that fine art, other than an unfortunate encounter with Hentai (think lots of tentacles and young women) at a different convention a few years back. So when I finally got to know there were other types of anime except the aforementioned, I was a happy camper.
As always, there are LOTS of cool costumes, very neat young folks and a dynamite writer's track at A-Kon. This is the second year I've coordinated the Writers' Workshop. Last year we had 6 entries. This year we had 37. Next year we'll be capping the entires so the pubbed authors who donate their time to this project don't need medical assistance by the time they get done line editing the entries.
Like every workshop, there are those just new to the craft all the way to those who can tell a compelling story with only a few changes needed. I was impressed. Everyone was serious about their work and that's awesome. One of those new writers could be a Hugo or a Nebula winner in a few years. I was assisted by the great team of Melanie Fletcher, Tom Knowles and Shanna Swendson. Paying it forward, as we say.
Besides the workshop, Friday evening I retired to the Chapparal Restaurant at the top of the Adams Mark which gives you a fabulous view of Dallas by night. I ate dinner with Tom, his son Jamie and Melanie. We celebrated my ForeWord win with a fine bottle of wine and some of the best food I've had in years.
I also got to hang with Lee & George Martindale this weekend (who plied me with single malt!) along with Bill Fawcett and Teresa Patterson. I'm on the slate for next year at A-Kon and I'm already looking forward to it. They treat me right fine courtesy of the LAB (Little Aussie Bastard) as we lovingly call him. Here's hoping next year he's bipedal again and at his usual rip-roaring best.
1 comment:
I live with two anime enthusiasts: my two teenagers. They live and breathe anime and are so gung-ho about it that I often despair of getting them to do their homework. They are almost as monomaniacal about manga, and I find it all rather tiring and a little worrying, too. In some bookstores, manga are gradually replacing books.
And they say that being around kids makes you feel younger!
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