ConFusion Wrap-Up
ConFusion in Dearborn is one of my favorite conventions. I’ve been attending for years, and it seems to just keep getting better. I missed it last year, because I was doing a Guest of Honor gig at MarsCon, which was also cool. But I was happy to get back to Fusion, too.
And not just because it meant I got to play D&D with a bunch of awesome authors … though that’s definitely a bonus. Here you see the party in miniature, setting out to explore a maze of twisty passageways, all alike. Three guesses as to which mini Sam Sykes was using:
Trouble was, I think we may have entered into an alternate universe where the laws of probability no longer applied. I mean, I can understand bad dice luck. I’ve rolled plenty of poorly timed 1s on the d20. But when our party rolled three 1s in a row during combat, it got weird. And then we rolled a fourth … a fifth … and finally six 1s in a row, which ended with Diana Rowland accidentally slaying the party magic user. Oops!
Saturday was pretty much a nonstop day, from Author D&D to panels to a book launch with ConFusion Guest of Honor Karen Lord, which was awesome. I read and loved her first book, Redemption in Indigo. Well, Karen is as smart and lovely a person as she is a writer, and I came away with autographed copies of The Best of All Possible Worlds and The Galaxy Game, both of which I’m looking forward to reading.
Oh, and I read from and moved some copies of Unbound, too.
The mass autographing went really well, but my favorite part was when Tegan showed up and gave me a beaded Smudge she had made. I love it!
ConFusion attracts a lot of awesome people, and I loved getting to just hang out and chat with people. I knew going in that there wouldn’t be enough time for me to catch up with everyone I wanted to, but I did the best I could, and I had a blast.
Unfortunately, I had to leave early on Sunday. My wife had texted me on Saturday to remind me that we had tickets to the Blue Man Group, which I had somehow managed to not add to my calendar. The show was fun, but I’m bummed to have lost the extra time to hang out.
There’s only one thing to do. I’ll just have to go back again next year to catch up with everyone I missed!
I’ve posted the rest of my photos on Flickr, in the ConFusion 2015 album. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out. I’m still very much an amateur photographer, but I feel like I’m learning a bit more each time.
I hope the rest of you had as good a weekend as I did!
Terry
January 19, 2015 @ 1:11 pm
Thanks for sharing the Con, Jim. I love seeing pics of happy authors being happy. And biting each other.
Any chance of a close-up of that Smudge? I just finished Unbound last night and am in love with Smudge all over again. You about killed me on page 306, though…
Cat Sittingstill
January 19, 2015 @ 2:06 pm
That is an excellent Smudge.
Nancy K
January 19, 2015 @ 2:10 pm
So great to see you! 🙂
Nancy K
January 19, 2015 @ 2:15 pm
Also: I very much enjoyed the “I Suck” panel. I thought you moderated it well, although the panelists seemed to do a good job of moderating themselves, too. You allowed yourselves to be entertained by the inevitable double entendres, but you didn’t completely run yourselves off the rails with them. I also appreciated that you all seemed to know each other well enough to encourage and mock each other, but also disagree with each other constructively. It wasn’t just an hour of, “we all suck and that’s ok (hur hur hur)”, there were some great stories and perspectives. A most excellent panel!
Jim C. Hines
January 19, 2015 @ 2:29 pm
Here you go: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7vHJWTCMAEMrnH.jpg:large
That should open up a pic of the full collection of Smudges.
And thanks! (I had to grab a copy of the book to double-check what I had done to him on page 306.)
Annalee
January 19, 2015 @ 3:10 pm
It was good to see you again, albeit in passing!
ConFusion is such a good con. I like how chill it is, and how many great conversations a person can have just from hanging around the main room.
I’ve heard good things about the “I Suck” panel. I’m sorry I missed it.
Jim C. Hines
January 19, 2015 @ 4:48 pm
Great to see you too, albeit briefly! And thanks – that panel was my suggestion a few years back, so I’m doubly happy when it actually works 🙂
Jim C. Hines
January 19, 2015 @ 4:48 pm
Likewise! It’s one of my favorites, and those are two of the main reasons 🙂
Kim
January 19, 2015 @ 6:24 pm
I’m looking forward to making it back to ConFusion next year when my kid will finally be getting old enough to participate in the KidFusion track. The past couple years we’ve been stuck in the awkward age range where she’s too young for KidFusion but too old to be happy just strapped to our backs while we’re wandering around.
DawnD
January 19, 2015 @ 9:26 pm
So… Smudges for all 10K? 🙂 (would an image work?)
Terry
January 19, 2015 @ 11:04 pm
tee hee I *think* my favorite (if there could be such a thing) is the little blur of red fuzz in the cage on the right.
What’s remarkable is that I’m a lifelong arachniphobe. I have, as a biologist, always recognized their importance and ingenuity, but it’s been really hard to get to the point where I can look at a picture of a real one, close up. *shudder* See? It’s lizard-brain stuff. TOTALLY circumvented by SMUUUUDDDGGGE! lol