Steam Powered Con

My dear friends decided they would take me to a convention with them. CV Walter was going to be on panels, and Jonna Hayden working her costume witchery. “I can fetch water and food,” I said.

Two panels on Friday later…

First of all, I’ve never been in Louisiana for any length of time before. The food down here in Lafayette LA is amazing. I’m sampling things and compiling flavor notes in my head… but that’s not what brings you here to this blog. My blog is where that sort of thing goes.

The Louisiana World Steampunk Exposition is a lovely convention. Steampunk is a genre with a powerful sense of style, and getting to dress up is just a lot of fun. It’s also a chance to sit on a panel with a Mad Engineer in the form of Bart Kemper, and expound on this science of steam, why it was so common, and dangerous, and when water isn’t just water, bad things can happen. I followed that up with a panel with CV Walter talking about monsters, and moving beyond Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein to explore the lesser known monsters of mythology and folklore. Also, how to create your own monsters using an understanding of psychology and the natural world around us.

That was just Friday. Saturday promises to be just as much fun. Plus, I get to go to a ball!

If you want to play along with the con fun, Jonna, CV Walter (Kortnee Bryant) and I are running the second Three Moms of the Apocalypse postcard anthology. The first one, which was done during MarsCon, led to the book Postcards from Mars. This one will be Steam-Powered Postcards.

Deadline for your submission should be Monday at Midnight. We’re looking for complete stories with a beginning, a middle, and an end. At only 50 words, every word counts! It’s a little like poetry in careful word choice.

And I am going to wander off to have some more fun… Since I’m not working this weekend. I’m playing dress-up and eating amazing food and hanging out with friends. I highly recommend all of those things.