I posted another version of this a few weeks ago, but since the convention is coming up in just a couple of weeks I wanted to remind people. Hopefully I'll see lots of you there at the meet & greet.
As many of you know, I'm a writer and editor, but for the last five years I've also volunteered to run the program at Lunacon, the New York regional science fiction convention, run by a nonprofit group called the Lunarians. The convention features about 400 hours of literary, media, science, art, gaming, music, and other programming over the weekend of March 16-18. It also has a world class art show, 24-hour gaming and anime rooms, and a hopping bar where you can meet about 200 writers, artists, and editors who you didn't catch up with during the day.
And because there's so much overlap between genre fans, genre professionals, and Kossacks, this year there is a DKos meet and greet on the actual program schedule.
I've diaried about literary conventions before if you're not familiar with them, but suffice it to say that nonprofit conventions like Lunacon are a very different animal than the for-profit conventions you see on TV where lots of people are running around in Klingon costumes. That's not to say there won't be some Trek related panels on the program - but there's a lot more for political, literary, or art junkies. This year is the 50th anniversary of the convention, and my last year running the program (a former student of mine is taking it over next year and I'll have to find another way of avoiding deadlines) so there's a lot going on.
You can see the list of programs here, or look at the full grid (with hotlinks to the description on each item) for each of the convention's three days here. You can also see a hotlinked list of program participants and tracks. (The program database and interface were designed by Kossack Tita Weng, who generously volunteered her time with over 14,000 lines of coding. The con chair is Kossack APK - all names mentioned with permission).
If you want to attend the convention, admission for the whole weekend is $50 at the door. (Pre-registration is now closed.) The main hotel (the famous Escher Hilton) is sold out, but there are still some rooms available at the overflow hotel. If you call the Westchester Marriott Tarrytown (914-631-2200) and tell them you are with Lunacon, they will give you a $124 room rate. This is only valid for reservations made before March 7th though.
The DailyKos meet & greet is at 10:00 p.m. on Friday night of the convention (just after the Meet the Pros), and I'll be hosting it.
This year's author guest of honor is Christopher Moore, and the artist guest of honor is Dave Seeley, but you're also likely to find many of your favorite writers, artists and editors there. All of the professionals are there as volunteers, so the conference has a feel of being both business and pleasure. (The guests of honor get their rooms and travel comped, but all of the other pros pay for everything except their admission and a discounted guest.)
I hope to see a bunch of you there. (And I've already heard from a fair number of Kossacks who are attending.) Hopefully, someone will be liveblogging at the convention. (There's free wireless in the hotel lobby, as well as in the gazebo area where the meet & greet will be held.) I'll contribute comments, but probably won't be able to write as much as I like while helping put out fires as a volunteer and participating in the program as a writer and editor. And of course, feel free to drop by my reading, or one of the demos of the RPG I wrote.
For those who follow my Kossack's Guide to Publishing, there's a new entry in the works, which I'll try to post tomorrow or Monday. Lots of book deadlines have been keeping me from writing many entries lately, but I have a significant amount of grading and other work to avoid this week....