Top five things I’ve learned at the Balticon fantasy and science fiction convention this weekend:

1. There are gourd societies that focus on the art potential of dried gourds. Photos to come.
2. There is a natural, barefoot movement among many Con goers which seems very free-spirited and casual…until you see a guy going in to use the restroom. I’d be packing flip-flops for that.
3. If you don’t own a black t-shirt with some kind of witty sci-fi saying printed on it you’re probably not here.
4. Corsets are in. So are kilts.
5. You can visit the various suites and parties and quite probably make it the whole weekend on the food and drink you find there…if you can survive on Sunny-D, M&Ms, mini-bagels, and veggie trays. I couldn’t, but I did discover mini M&Ms in my travels. Who knew?

I participated on my second panel today, this one discussing the influences of the greats in the field. Actually, a lot of names came up that we don’t automatically think of when we discuss fantasy and sci fi. The panel included Michael Swanwick, John Anealio, Myke Cole, TJ Perkins, and yours truly. In addition to Tolkien and Kipling (yes, I’m mentioning them both again), I put in a plug for Barbara Tuchmann. No, she wasn’t a fantasist, but she was an exceptional writer and had the ability to sketch out a character (in her case, an actual person in history) in just a couple of sentences. I love her style.

We spent a little time debating the two central schools in fantasy of either carrying in Tolkien’s tradition or rebelling against it. I count myself among the former, while names like China Mieville and George RR Martin were held up as examples of writers rejecting Tolkien’s heritage. We all agreed there was no right answer to this. I’m a firm believer in variety. Some days I want to challenge myself with a daunting tome on ancient Greece and the next I’ll get lost in the antics of Sherman’s Lagoon http://www.slagoon.com/ (a comic strip for those not familiar with it).

Oh, so about the scary, pregnant clown. I saw one. She had painted her face white with a large, red mouth filled with jagged teeth. Unsettling to say the least. I suspect/hope this is from some graphic novel or computer game, but perhaps it’s just her thing. There are a lot of costumes on display here, some of them quite disturbing in the amount of blood and gore they depict. Then there are others that are truly magnificent. I’m walking around as button-down shirt guy feeling a bit like Brad Majors in Rocky Horror 🙂

I did my first panel this morning with writers Elizabeth Moon, James Knapp, Stephanie Burke, Gail Z. Martin, and agent Joshua Bilmes on series and how to end a book while setting it up for the next one. Had a lot of fun. Managed to generate a little heat when I expressed my annoyance with all things prequel. Not everyone agrees. I would much rather go forward with a series or a world than go back and delve into why things are they way they are. I haven’t really found that formula compelling in fiction, at least in the material I’ve read and seen. The second batch of Star Wars movies leap to mind. I never, ever wanted or needed to know Darth Vader was a little brat or a whiny teenager. He was the perfect two-dimensional villain the way he was presented. Less is more and all that.

After the panel, I wandered the dealers’ room and took a bunch of photos, but forgot the cord that connects to my laptop so I won’t be able to post until I get home. Some cool stuff though. Lots of steampunk attire here as well as leather works. Fair amount of lace items and pewter figurines as well. There’s a gaming component and even homemade movies. The world premiere of Ninjas versus Vampires debuted last night. Not sure what it was about though 🙂

Here at Balticon with Myke Cole chatting with Scott Sigler and Paolo Bacigalupi among others, like the police lieutenant providing security for the Con. Nice guy. Big guy. His stories are by far the best. Checked out the Green Room for authors and the like and it was well-stocked with all kinds of goodies. I think I know where I’ll be hanging out between panels.

I’m on a panel tomorrow about setting up endings of books to lead into the next one. Not quite sure what the thrust of this will be, but I’m game. I remember having several discussions with my editor about the cliff-hanger ending to the last book. We debated the pros and cons of it and ultimately I got to keep my cliff-hanger. As an author I enjoyed leaving it that way. As a reader I usually like them, too. I enjoy the anticipation of finding out what happens next. A tease is good as long as it eventually pays off with a strong reveal. I think a few of the reveals in the upcoming Ashes should fulfill that nicely.

It was a long, but fun and productive week. I meet Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, which was a real treat, as well as a lot of publishing friends I only get to see about once or twice a year at shows like BEA. The general mood in publishing seems to be one of cloudy with a chance of sun. The whole ebook revolution is changing the landscape fairly dramatically and it’s not yet clear just how things are going to settle out. It used to be you’d come out with a hard cover and follow that up in a year or so in either trade paper or mass market, but now that the ebook is here at that lower price point does that old formula still work?

As the pub date for Ashes of a Black Frost is only a few months away I’m more than a little curious to see how the numbers break down between hard cover and ebook. I was talking with the folks at S&S and they’re intrigued, too, but very excited about the new opportunities ebooks present.