In which trek cons

We did something different this past weekend. Well, for us it was different. For plenty of other people, it was just one more is a long list of similar events.

I requested Neatnik's Friday school work on Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon, I sat with the kid and she made her way through just about all of it. The only bit she didn't completely finish is a book report on Who Was Helen Keller?No worries, though.

Friday morning, we arose very early, finished loading up the car and drove to MarsCon, our first fan convention. The guest of honor was Jim Butcher, author of The Dresden Files, one of my all-time favorite series. Jim's wife, Shannon, was co-guest of honor, but her books are outside my area of interest.

If MarsCon didn't have a family track of programming, we wouldn't have been able to attend. This convention, though, does offer stuff for the kids and Neatnik enjoyed the whole five hour block of activities aimed at tweens.

It would be really hard to deliver a play-by-play of the weekend, but here are some of the highlights (and a few lowlights):

• The book reading. Jim read the first three chapters of the upcoming thirteenth Harry Dresden book, including Ghost Story.He would have read the fourth chapter but the session started late due to the need to import more chairs from various locations around the hotel in order to accommodate the number of people trying to sardine themselves into the room. I asked the con organizer at the door why such a small room was allocated for the reading and he said, "We didn't realize how many people would want to attend this event."
  
  I refrained from eye rolling or other expressions of disbelief. The guy was just trying to do a job. Seriously, though, you thought that sixty chairs would be enough when the entire freaking 160-room hotel was SOLD OUT and you were advising people to seek alternate sleeping locations as far back as November?!
  
  The rest of Jim's appearances were moved to the ballroom.



• The book signing. The line for autographs began forming more than an hour before Jim and Shannon were scheduled to start signing their work on Saturday afternoon. Shannon was scheduled for another event after her signing. There were quite a few people in line who had not yet gotten her Jane Hancock when it was time for her to go to her discussion panel. Shannon truly rose to the occasion, handling things with grace and aplomb: she worked her way along the line, signing books as she went. Classy lady.



• Jim's Interview and Q&A session. Both Codex Aleraand The Dresden Fileswere discussed and then Jim answered questions from the floor. We learned where Harry Dresden got his name, why The Codex Alera was written, and that Ghost Story's release date has been pushed back to the end of July.
  
  Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger.
  
  I was able to ask a question, "What did Margaret LaFey have on the Leanansidhe in order convince her to become Harry's godmother?" Jim's response? in a sing-song voice: "I'm not gonna tell you!" This was both a highlight and a lowlight.
  
  The con did a pretty good job of limiting minors to inappropriate stuff. There were a few people dressed in character that were pushing the PG limit a bit but I was mostly able to steer Neatnik clear of them. The Rocky Horror Picture Show viewing was late at night and the fetish discussion was 21-and up, ID required. Why, then, did the Q&A moderator, Mike Pederson, feel it was okay to drop the F-bomb during the Q&A? This was a definite lowlight. There were clearly more minors in the room than just Neatnik, who was sitting on the floor with me in front of the first row of chairs. Definite lowlight and shame on him.
  
  Luckily for me, Neatnik had chosen that moment to be whimpering in my ear that this was boring and it went over her head. Or so I hope: I can't very well ask her about it without drawing more attention to it. Again, definite lowlight, that.



• Dinner with Jim. Yep. Not only were we part of the 50 or so folks with reservations for the dinner, Jim sat down two chairs over from me. I immediately switched seats with the Neatnik so that she would not talk the poor guy's arm off. That was my job.
  
  Just kidding. Table talk consisted of discussing Harry Dresden and a variety of movies. Jim's a huge movie buff and very nearly as geeky as Number Guy and I are so it was lots of fun.
  
  Since I was sitting closer than Number Guy was, I posed one of Number Guy's pet theories concerning Waldo Butters. While Jim neither confirmed nor denied the theory, there was that sneaky little smile...

That's what we did with our weekend. Today, we shall be getting ready for the week to come: the new semester starts tomorrow bright and early and I have a few things left to do before I am ready for my new students; Neatnik is currently typing up a book report; and I have to roust Number Guy so that he can unload the suitcases and stuff from the minivan.

Don't look at me like that: it is nearly noon and I've been up kid-wrangling for hours already.