Waypoint 12 - "Music City Reprised"
Hypericon VI
June 4 - 6, 2010
Days Inn Stadium
211 North 1st Street
Nashville, TN 37213
Attending were:
Publishers represented were Kerlak Publishing, MeadowHawk Publishing, and SamsDotPublishing
Thanks to all who attend and to everyone who help make this event a success!
 Date: June 4-6, 2010
Location: Hypericon 6 in Nashville, TN
Occasion: Waypoint 12 - Having a blast at Hypericon!
By H David Blalock
There are a few cons I attend that I have a special liking for. Hypericon
is one of those. It is a relatively small con, but the people you meet
there are friendly and personable, the staff is more than patient and
competent, and the con itself has an overall down-home kind of feel to
it that leaves you feeling like you just visited your favorite aunt and
uncle when you're headed home afterward.
The foremost reason I
attend cons is networking, which is fun, but I spend a lot of time on
my feet, pressing flesh and not actually seeing the con itself. I made
it a point to go out of my way this time, fall off my
career-advancement ambitions, and become a fanboy because the Guest of
Honor at this Hypericon was Ramsey Campbell.
Photo courtesy of Debra Kuhn
Mr.
Campbell is one of the authors who inspired me to become a writer. His
work and that of his pre-cursors (like Bierce, Lovecraft, Machen, even
Conan Doyle and Burroughs) and contemporaries helped me define how I
wanted to write horror. I have always maintained that what we cannot
see is always more terrifying than what we can, and Mr. Campbell's
brand of psychological horror epitomizes that. I spent a great deal of
time speaking with him about a wide variety of subjects and found him
to be a most gracious gentlemen and a great conversationalist. He was
attending with his lovely wife Jenny, who I mistook for his daughter,
to her delight. I will always remember fondly the moments I had with
them.
Photo courtesy of Debra Kuhn
I reconnected with my good friend Stephen Zimmer,
author of the Rising Dawn and Fires in Eden fantasy series. He was
debuting his latest book The Storm Guardians and I got to attend the
official launch. I wish him all the best in his series. I will post a
review of The Storm Guardians soon.
Among the friends I met
there was Sam Flegal. He was there with his wife and 4-month old baby
girl. Congrats again on an adorable little one, Sam. You have a lovely
family.
Jennifer Mulvihill was there with her daughter and two
of her girl's friends. Jennifer is a ray of sunshine wherever she goes,
but I was especially honored to get to hear her sing at the karaoke
session. Someday she needs to cut a CD. She has a great voice.
Allan
Gilbreath and Kimberly Richardson manned the Kerlak Publishing table.
Always fun to meet with Allan, although I would have preferred him to
have those Squirrels of Mass Distraction for sale. Kimberly is the
editor of the upcoming Dreams of Steam anthology and nearly as animated
as Allan when it comes to life in general. I swear, between the two of
them, there was enough energy in the room to light a small town.
Elizabeth
Donald was another source of energy only barely contained behind her
table (The Literary Underground). Elizabeth has the kind of outgoing
personality that delights everyone around her, and when she gets
together with Sara Harvey, the sparks fly. One of the most memorable
panels was composed of Elizabeth, Sara, Eric Wilson, and Stephen
Zimmer. Believe me, you had to be there to appreciate it.
Finally,
I got to start the meetings for the production of the short film based
on my novel Ascendant, with Sven Grunland and Matthew Perry of Cineline
Productions, and Stephen Zimmer, who will be directing. It was a lot of
fun getting to know how movies are put together from scratch, and I
really look forward to working with these guys. There was even some
talk of producing some shorts based on stories in my Eclectic Dreams
collection. More as that develops.
All in all, Hypericon 2010
was one of the most memorable cons I have attended. I will definitely
be back to the Nashville area next year for the next one.
-- Taken from the Facebook Blog of H. David Blalock, author of Ascendant
|
Top of Page
Page last updated July 28, 2010 | Original content © 2009-2010
|
|
