Yes, I’m going to I-Con again. Haven’t missed one yet, it’s my hometown convention. No, I’m not on any programming this year, even though I volunteered to be a speaker back in the beginning of the year, just as I have every year for the last ten years or so. Yes, both authors and comics tracks. No, as of right now I’m not even going to have a guest pass, because apparently they stopped handing those out last week, much to the surprise of Aaron Rosenberg, who’s actually staying at my mother’s house with me. As things stand, I’ll have to pay full price, because I was foolishly expecting to get in in some form or another.
Yes, I’m ticked off about it. I get this way when I remember that I still haven’t been reimbursed for buying ad space in the Comic Buyers’ Guide for I-Con VI, when I was on the con committee. Never mind the year I single-handedly saved their movie previews panel.
I’ve been to every one of these things so far, and it’s really beginning to bug me. I know, the con has the institutional memory of a tapeworm due to the four-year turnover of staff, but it really is beginning to grate on my nerves. It’s things like this that bring to mind Greg Cox’s brilliant summation of the I-Con experience from a while back: “They reinvent the wheel every year, and only occasionally get it round.”
But there’s one event I will be sure to attend: the Destinies Mystery Guest Show, Friday night at 11:30 on WUSB 90.1 FM, streaming at http://www.wusb.fm. Howard Margolin has been hosting the show for over two decades now, and he remembers people. And that’s why I go back every year, jam myself into a recording booth smaller than my dining room with more people than show up at Thanksgiving, and have fun. Because he remembers. (If you want to listen to Destinies old shows, click here.)
And yeah, I’ll be showing up at the I-Con 25th Anniversary panel on Saturday afternoon. I mean, who else would tell the story of the Great Paper Airplane Blizzard of I-Con IV…? And at some point, I need Stan Sakai’s autograph on a special project.
But beyond that, I don’t know where I’ll be. Maybe drinking a toast to Andrew, or ferrying people between buildings and hotels, or saying hi to folks in the dealers room, etc. etc. etc. Brandy’s convinced I’m going to be following the Robinsons around like a puppy. Keep an eye out for me, I’m still tall and easy to spot in a crowd.
Tally ho.
(Oh, and special thanks to Mike Dauenheimer, who has been the only person to date to respond to me from I-Con for any of my queries. See you Saturday.)
Sorry, amigo. I did try. I’ll try again when we check in, too–perhaps something’s changed, or we’ll simply get a different person (the airline-desk rule–if you don’t like the answer you get, try someone else).