Tales from Comicpalooza

It’s been a while since I blogged, but I have lots of excuses:

1. We moved. We’re back in Houston. All our stuff is in a warehouse in Pasco, WA, waiting for two things – a driver (estimated delay 4-6 weeks), and a delivery address.

2. We’re currently staying with our daughter. All of us. Me, Ardith, both dogs, and both cats. They’re very gracious hosts, but the absence of a yard is tough on the two big hounds.

3. It’s a crazy market for buying a house. We were on our way to see a house when our realtor called us to say that they’d already accepted an offer. The house had been on the market 24 hours. So, we drove around for a while waiting for our next appointment. While there, our realtor got a call saying the house already had “multiple” offers on the table. Three days on the market. Yikes! The struggle continues.

4. Comicpalooza – it’s billed as Texas’ largest pop culture festival. I can’t verify that but can confirm that it’s enormous! It’s held in the George R. Brown Convention Center and my publisher invited me to hang out at the booth Saturday and Sunday. Inklings Publishing had booth #183 of approximately 6.02 x 10^23 booths, most of which were selling Baby Yoda figurines. I got to hang out with other Inklings authors such as @Mack Little and @Fern Brady. It was very cool.

5. We moved. I know I mentioned it before, and maybe I’m whining. Okay, I’m definitely whining, but relocating 6 mammals over 2000 miles is no small task.

Comicpalooza was an eye-opener. First, we sold out of the first print run of my books while there.

Well, we had two leftovers, but that’s darned good, IMHO. Second, my daughter – the second half of ShaChri – cosplayed as Feral Daughter and drove lots of traffic to the booth. She also observed: Cosplayers don’t buy books.

It’s not that they’re illiterate or hate books, it’s just that if you go to the trouble of creating a costume, you’re not going to weigh yourself down with physical books. You’re there to show off and pose for Insta pics. My favorites were Fat Lazy Thor in PJs and Hell Girl. Didn’t know the second was a thing, but she rocked it and had her boy toy buy a book. Lots of Loki Variants in all genders/species, driving me to finish watching the season. Well worth it.

It was cool autographing books for fans and talking to them about the writing process. Also, very cool to see a fan lose their composure when she realized Mack Little was in the booth. I thought I might have to do CPR. Inspiring that type of reaction is every author’s dream. That and having @Steven Spielberg make your book into a movie. (C’mon, man, it’d be even better than Ready Player One.)

I wish I’d had time to do some table-top gaming during the con but will trade that any day for signing books!