Up, bit of a swim, bit of a hot tub, half a marvelous egg white omelet, two cups of tea, and attired in my specially acquired cream & blue day dress I hit the ground running. Ok, this is me ~ so I was more tottering along slowly absorbed by the madness of the crowds. (The AB, city creature, is always complaining about how slow I walk.)
I arrived in the front of the convention center where I made my way to GRT where I was met by a nice little man, my handler. I know, doesn’t that make me sound awfully important? Or do I mean impotent? Anyway, he escorted me up to the room for my panel early where I sat and sipped tea, met the lovely Derek (5AB Room King), his room minions, and Dina “Lady Steam” Kampmeyer my adorable moderator.
Witty Women In Steampunk Panel
The Witty Women In Steampunk Panel was Thursday at 10 am. I do apologize, Gentle Attendees, for I am not at my best first thing in the morning.
It was a lovely panel. Nice to be sitting with friends, old and new including Robin Blackburn (The League of S.T.E.A.M.), Anina Bennett (Boilerplate), Kaja Foglio (Girl Genius), and Robin Thorsen (the Guild). We discussed literature, fashion, romance, adventure & more.
I might have gone on a little rant about corsets and proper fit. Sigh. Sorry about that. If you want to know more about corsets how they should fit, what to look for, and so forth I have a whole blog post about them over on Retro Rack. Speaking of which, Dark Garden in some simulations zeitgeist thing gave my books a shout out right around the same time I talked about them on that panel. Weird.
After the panel, I dashed down to the Exhibition Hall to explore and find the Hachette booth. I had swag to sign! They were already swarmed, but I carved out some space to quickly dash through the 100 E&E copies there for the Secret Swag Give Away. Little Brown also had a lovely temporary tattoo in honor of the new YA series.
I hung out with the Alexia standee for a while, met a few lovely fans and two of my author chums, Mike Lee and Myke Cole.
I made the acquaintance of Barbara Vey who wrote a bit about the encounter for Publisher’s Weekly on line.
After that, it was lunch with JoYoun my manga editor, we also kidnapped Kurt (Yen publisher) because he hadn’t eaten properly all day and I worry about correct food consumption. I remember my Comic Con survival tips! One must eat properly. We had a pleasant meal at the hotel well away from the crowds most dominated by JoYoun and I discussing our mutual love of food. While we were off enjoying ourselves the Hachette both gave away buttons for my manga, pamphlets for the Timeless iPhone app, and the Best Swag Evah (an ARC of E&E). All of the ARCs was gone by 2pm! I was floored to hear this, my readers really mobilized to get there quickly. I thought they might just run out by the end of the convention, but under 2 hours? Remarkable.
That afternoon the AB and I wandered around the shop floor. We met up with authors Mark O’Bannon and Jimmy Diggs (of Star Trek fame). They are what I would refer to as the Old Guard. Cool guys, we infiltrated the green room, and chatted about their prospective steampunkish web series.
For dinner the AB and I crept off for a proper little date. We had a lovely meal and a spectacular glass of wine.
Then, the word was Random House party was the place to be. We tapped Kristin for the when and were (reason number 133 to have a great agent) and I quickly modified my blue & cream for evening, with a change of jewelry and jacket. Kristin all in a flury to try to get into the Firefly Panel tomorrow. Not normally a fan girl, my agent, so this was rather adorable to see. We’d have to move my lunchtime meeting but I was willing to try. Anything for Firefly!
It was a wander through the Gaslight District, lines and crowds already gathering. It was rather exciting, particularly when I encountered the Course for the Force barge.
At the party we met all the usual suspects from Random House editors to Mysterious Galaxy minions, as well as a charming couple all the way from Sweden who knew of me and my Swedish publisher Styx. Scott Sigler was there, as was John Picacio, and, rather neatly, my lunch date for the next day, who was happy to move our meeting earlier so Kristin and I could try for the Firefly Panel at noon. A lovely evening indeed.
GAIL’S DAILY DOSE
Your Infusion of Cute . . .
Your Writerly Tinctures . . .
My agent talks about the promotional value of Comic Con.
Book News:
Quote of the Day:
In describing the Ambassadress Mrs Fanshawe (inspiration for Alexia in the Parasol Protectorate Abroad books).
“She had a chest like and opera singer, a single wedge of heavily trussed and boned undergarmentry from which the rest of her body tapered gradually.”
~ From William Boyd’s A Good Man in Africa
BOOK DE JOUR!
Soulless: Parasol Protectorate Book 1
PICK YOUR VENDOR!
Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.
- First, she has no soul.
- Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead.
- Third, she is being rudely attacked by a vampire to whom she has not been properly introduced!
Where to go from there?
From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire, and the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
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just a question – what does GRT mean/stand for? Thanks!
Guest Relations Team (I think).