Victory at Gen Con 2023

Indianapolis. Land of narrow streets, randomly closed lanes, Gen Con, the Indy 500, and homeless people who are surprisingly pleasant and don’t constantly hound you for handouts.

There’s this monument at the center of it all, a massive obelisk standing 284 feet in height, erected in honor of war veterans. It’s called the “Soldiers and Sailors Monument”. (To the the veterans out there: Thank you for your service.)

The top was designed separately from the rest of the obelisk, called “The Crowning Figure”. In my opinion, an obvious choice for the topper would have been a great soldier or general. But, as often happens with these monumental projects, a high profile artist stepped in and we got something else instead.

She is, of course, the Goddess Nike, holding the Torch of Prometheus and the Sword of Justice (Just like Columbia often does). The bird perched atop her head not only represents Winged Victory, but it is also an awakened hakini crown. It seems Nike oversees all the goings-on in the city, harboring her secrets high above.

The Indianapolis P.R. teams and local leadership try to hide the occult ties to the statue and simply call her “Victory”, which is just as well.

Because there were plenty of victories over the course of this weekend for me and my friends.

But we don’t owe these victories to Nike.

We had a well-oiled pro TTRPG team in my group. We had a Magic: The Gathering champion. We had a pro author. And we had… well, me, who was mainly there for the Writer’s Symposium. Mr. Happy-to-be-there, I guess you could call me.

It was us and 95,000 other attendees, and it was like a busy airport at all hours: everyone’s in a constant rush, and the sheer square-footage of this place is something that must be experienced to be believed.

In such a place it’s easy to feel like cattle, reduced to a number. Just another face in the crowd getting directed by an endless series of hall monitors. I’ve never been to a con with more than 5,000 people in attendance, so this experience was almost too much for me. And I certainly didn’t expect to get noticed.

Here’s my book haul:

I recognized Nathan Marchand from his YouTube channel, and it was a blast getting to chat with him. He’s one of the friendliest guys you could ever meet, so I bought what books of his I could carry. If you’ve never read him, he recommends you start with “The Worlds of Nathan Marchand”, which is a collection of short stories.

The Shadowrun book was a freebie that came in a grab bag. I normally don’t go for licensed books (because IMO working with a license limits the writer’s creativity, and plots tend to play it safe rather than push the boundaries of fiction), but this was fine since I always had a soft spot for the Shadowrun universe. I flipped through this book and the prose is solid. Mel Odom seems like a good, experienced writer, so I’m glad to add it to my collection.

Then came Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman‘s latest book, Dragons of Fate, along with Michael Williams, who wrote the opening. I didn’t intend on getting another book based on a licensed property, but when I happened across a pop-up event where all three of these writers were meeting and greeting fans–and signing books–I couldn’t resist.

Up to that point in my life, I’d never met anyone you could call “famous” (unless you count a particular Japanese artist, but that’s a story for another time). So I knew if I passed up this opportunity, I’d regret it.

Needless to say, it was a huge milestone to meet the folks behind so many of the wonderful fantasy books I’d grown up around. They were all smiles, pleasant, and it was an experience I’m still pinching myself to believe even happened.

As the 4-day mega con wound on, I fell into the routine of attending the writing panels, taking diligent notes and learning what I could, asking good questions, and chatting with random writers, editors, agents, and con-goers in the hallways.

Meanwhile, my friends were sweeping this con. The TTRPG group I was with won several contests and events.

My Magic: The Gathering buddy won every single MTG event he had entered, including the biggest and second-biggest events of the entire con, taking home northward of $16,000 in prizes and money with him. (Not an easy feat when you’re up against 95,000 of the world’s geekiest geeks – This guy helped me playtest the Trading Card Game I spent the last two years working on, so it’s in good hands.)

If that weren’t enough, my pro writer friend was asked to stand-in on a no-show writing panel. He presented and fielded the congoer questions well.

Turns out all my friends were more legendary than I thought. Some of them were even asked for autographs.

These are the kinds of guys who help each other out on everything. They believe a rising tide raises all ships, and we all want to see each other succeed. We have more than camaraderie with each other – We are a brotherhood, a fraternity, a fellowship.

As Friday came to its end, it felt like I was the only one who had no victories to report. Which was fine. I wasn’t expecting anything special to happen to me, especially at such a busy and crowded place.

But then on Saturday, something unusual did happen.

A Baen Books editor was sitting on a panel – one I’d seen in several of the other panels I’d attended, and he seemed impressed with my note-taking diligence and questions. During this particular panel, he’d mentioned something about a Howard Andrew Jones book signing. Having previously seen Jones in some video interviews, I decided I wanted to meet him. So after the panel ended, I asked the editor when and where the signing would be.

It just so happened the editor was about to leave for the signing himself, so he asked me to accompany him.

He said (in his eloquent and grand voice) that I’d found myself in the company of a bonafide editor with Baen books. A unique opportunity. He told me I have ten minutes to chat with him and ask any questions I’d like.

No pressure.

You hear about these scenarios from other authors, stories about how they got their start. But you never expect it to happen to you. Especially at a con with 95,000 people.

But here I was in the middle of one of the most important discussions of my life, my heart pumping from the unexpected opportunity, and all-the-while having to contend with a crowd like this swarming about us:

I kept up with him as best I could and discussed my situation, where I am in my career, what my plans are, and listened carefully to his advice. He didn’t ask for a manuscript or an elevator pitch, but he did encourage me to enter an upcoming Baen short story contest and said he would watch for my entry. He also handed me his business card, which is the most valuable and meaningful thing I’d gotten at this con.

When we arrived at the book signing, there were a few other pro authors present, and a photographer was snapping promotional photos. I got to chat and and shake hands with all of these folks, and they were very kind to me. They signed everything for me that they could.

I got Howard Andrew Jones‘ latest book, Lord of a Shattered Land. And I also snagged The Desert of Souls, which, from my understanding, is underrated and never got its fair shake due to mishandling by Barnes & Nobles (since the cover “looks too much like Prince of Persia“).

They were all made aware of my first attempt to submit a short story to Cirsova magazine by the editor, so they wished me luck on my endeavor and said they all looked forward to seeing what I had to offer the writing world in the near future.

Howard told me to “Find a way or make one”, and I’ll do just that.

Hearing of my interest in Sword & Sorcery, he suggested I grab this as well (which he also signed):

Tales from the Magician’s Skull is one of the premier Sword & Sorcery magazines still in print, and I’d heard this is the best place to find what the “bleeding edge” of Sword & Sorcery is all about.

This is the latest issue. And as you can see, my copy is already well-read.

In the early-to-mid 90’s, I used to love reading these types of magazines. They called them “slicks”, and there was a wide variety available, even at Barnes and Nobles among the typical magazines. I miss those days. They’d have a tongue-in-cheek “From the Editor” section at the front, some nice artwork accompanying the stories, and usually a Q&A from the fans in the back, similar to what you see on the last page of comic books.

This magazine recalls that time period perfectly, witty banter courtesy of The Immortal Skull Himself, who signs his sections “–So Sayeth the Skull!” (who I’m not entirely convinced isn’t a ghostly entity who possesses Jones from time-to-time to take his turn at the keyboard).

After all was done and the dust had settled, I sat down in the hall and kept eyeing that business card, stars in my eyes.

I’ve been feeling especially inspired and energized since that encounter, feeling the drive to knock people’s socks off with my writing. I’m thankful they were so kind to me and willing to share their valuable time, help, and advice.

All the writers I met were gracious. Like with my fellowship of friends, they help raise the tide. “Writers helping writers” was the theme of the Symposium this year, and I felt it.

P.S.> I’m winning that contest if it’s the last thing I do.