September 13, 2011

DragonCon – recap by Shawntelle! + Giveaway!

DragonCon is described as "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!" And now that I’ve attended it for the first time, I must admit that it’s quite true.
I arrived a day late on Saturday morning, but I still had plenty of time to enjoy the conference. My day began early Saturday morning with only 3 hours of sleep, thanks to my 3 AM arrival and an insane morning person habit, with a trip out to register for the conference. My roomate, romance author Cate Rowan, was so understanding of my very late arrival to our room. Thanks Cate!
Registration begins at 8 AM every morning. I left my room at 7:30 thinking I could get a half way decent spot in the line. When I left the Marriott Marquis and arrived at the Sheraton, I got a lovely surprise–the line started at registration and wrapped all the way around the building. It just kept going and going. I’d waited in long lines at amusement parks, but this one was way different. Most parks don’t have folks in costume waiting in line. DragonCon had official begun for me. (Even though I’d already seen people in costumes when I’d arrived early Saturday morning.)
I waited for about fifteen minutes before a man with DragonCon came down the line talking about the registration process. If anyone had preregistered and had the blue card, they could go to a different line. I bet you can see where this is going. I had preregistered (and left my card at home), but either way, I was in the wrong line. Naturally, my first thought was that I was going from a long line into another epically long line, but to my amazement, the preregistration line was so, so short. Matter of fact, by the time registration opened, I rolled through preregistration in just a few minutes. So important factoid here, if you are attending DragonCon, it is so worth it to preregister!
After registering, I was famished, so I decided to figure out how to find a place to eat. Luckily for me, just as I was leaving registration I met three other nice ladies who also had plans to eat. (See picture to the left.) Amber, Rhonda, and Lisa took me to Sear where we ate the buffet breakfast. We had a pleasant conversation about the celebrities at DragonCon and what I should expect. They were so nice and made the start to my day wonderful. After that, my Saturday went great (even with the lack of sleep)! I hung out with young adult author Cole Gibsen and saw the Walk of Fame with the celebrities giving autographs. I saw Michael Rosenbaum from Smallville, actor Wil Wheaton, and so many more! I visited the dealer rooms where I encountered several awesome author booths: Sherrilyn Kenyon’s booth, Laurell K. Hamilton’s, and two group booths containing great urban fantasy/fantasy authors.
Here were the authors I found at the Tairen’s Lair: C.L. Wilson, Jade Lee, Anna Destefano, David B. Coe, Rob Thurman, Misty Massey, Seressia Glass, Deidre Knight, Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, and Jennifer St. Giles. (Wow! This first list is a sure sign you can come to DragonCon to meet and greet your favorite romance authors.)

In another booth I found: Kaylan Doyle, Rachel Caine, Lucienne Diver, Samantha Sommersby, and Michelle Young.

As you can see in the pictures, those ladies (and David Coe) did a fabulous job showcasing their books. It’s a great opportunity for readers to learn about their favorite authors and get their hands on some cool swag, including some Death Mints I got from Rachel Caine.
I did go to a few panels. I listened to young adult author Beth Revis and several others talk about the hero archtype in the Harry Potter series. Even though the line was long, I also got an unforgettable opportunity to watch the True Blood panel featuring Jim Parrak, Denis O’Hare, Kristin Bauer (Pam), the Sookie Stackhouse series author Charlaine Harris, and Joe Maganiello (Alcide). Joe definitely made it worth the panel! Charlaine arrived in Victorian garb and did a fabulous job of answering questions about the series as well as the ties to the HBO series.
Thanks to DragonCon television, which is available in the main conference hotels, I was also able to watch the Star Trek New Generation panel. It was hilarious! Wil Wheaton and Brent Spinner had banter thoroughout and made the whole panel so entertaining. The panel also included Gates McFadden and Garrett Wang.
After watching that panel, I had dinner and took some time to hang out and take pictures. As you can see by the photos there is no end to the fun with DragonCon. You can see Japanese anime characters one minute to Ming the Merciless the next.
Sunday started out early–again–with breakfast before I did more browsing. I sat in on a few great panels, including one with several NYT bestselling authors: Kevin J. Anderson, Terry Brooks, Charlaine Harris, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and finally Jonathan Maberry. Their panel included some great advice on their process and how they writing career began. It was a blast since I met Sherrilyn Kenyon up close to thank her for the panel and I even got a picture with Charlaine Harris! (Fan girl squee!)
A few hours later, it was time for the What’s Coming from Del Rey panel. My first DragonCon panel experience. The other panelists included: Betsy Mitchell, editor-in-chief of Del Rey, Del Rey editor at large Shelly Shapiro, author Elizabeth Moon, and myself. It was so much fun to talk to the audience about COVETED and show them the cover art. My cover isn’t official yet, but audience members got a sneak peak. Naturally I was nervous the whole time, but it was so much fun to learn about some of the fantastic sci-fi fantasy titles coming out from Elizabeth Moon, Naomi Novik, Kevin Hearne, Terry Brooks, Stacia Kane, and Star Wars awesomeness like the upcoming Vader book. And what can’t be more cooler than a Star Wars Craft book? (I have no shame in saying I’d love to make a Jabba the Hutt body pillow.)
Now that DragonCon is over, I’m still in recovery. But I’ll have so many memories of the great costumes I saw as well as the great people I met. I’ll most certainly do DragonCon again in 2012!

Want to see more pictures? Head over to my website at shawntellemadison.com. You can also learn more about my book COVETED, coming out April 24th, 2012, from Ballantine. Or add it to your GoodReads book list.
Question for you – does this sound like an event you’d like to attend? Comment below! Thanks for reading, Shawntelle

Reminder 5 commenters win a free book every week – winners announced on Sunday – Good luck!