When I attended MarsCon in 2023, I was a regular fan who lined up with other paid attendees to collect my badge at registration. Not only was it my first time visiting MarsCon, but it was the first SFF fan con I’d ever attended. I learned they’re very, very different from writing conferences, and it was also the catalyst for the small avalanche (for me, at least) of con invitations that I’ve received since. This year, I attended as an official guest.
I guess… an “Additional Guest”. Details.
Shoutout to Joel Lyons and his excellent convention staff for the invite and hospitality. While MarsCon wasn’t the first convention where I sat on panels, it is (for the time being) my home con.
I was in great company with a number of other guests from my publisher, Chris Kennedy Publishing, including Chris Kennedy himself, Kevin Ikenberry, Kacey Ezell, Marisa Wolf, Melissa Olthoff, David Shadoin, Mike Morton, Jason Cordova, Robert Hampson, and my latest project supervisor, Jon R. Osborne (that’s just the CKP roster, and maybe not even all of them… you can check out the official list here if you want to know more).
Panels ranged from killing zombies to the weird west (which I moderated, and was called out first for not using the microphone and second for not answering my own questions) to a panel on isekai, about which I know nothing. You know you’re speaking from a place of confidence when the first words out of your mouth on a panel are “I got nothing, BUT”. I hope the audience and anime fans forgave me for my ignorance. Speaking for myself, I learned a ton and had a blast.
By far the best part of MarsCon was the CKP Year Ahead panel, where Chris spotlights all of the upcoming projects for the year. We officially announced completion of the first book of my upcoming trilogy (Reka’s Grasp, book one of the Black God Trilogy, coming soon!) and I got to talk a bit about my project and how grateful I am to be working with Oz in this IP.
As usual, there were late nights, large amounts of caffeine, great talks, and I even got an invitation to a new anthology, writing in a new (to-me) IP! Official announcement coming… many months in the future from now, but stay tuned!
Those of you who get my newsletter know this update is much delayed because, shortly after MarsCon, the tiny human in my house decided to swallow a coin and spend two days in the hospital under observation shortly. All is well—but man, I’m never bored.
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Next year’s Writer Guest of Honor is Christopher Ruocchio, author of the Sun Eater books. Will I see you there?