Every year one of our favorite, most exhilarating cons is DragonCon in Atlanta. We meet countless fans, appear on dozens of panels, and exhibit in the dealer’s room. Rebecca and I have been going for nineteen years, by my best estimate.  This year was no exception…but we had a few more tribulations getting to and from the con.

Our friends Chris and Melinda Brown had all of our books and display materials and were driving down from Tennessee.  (Chris was our guitarist on the first Roswell Six CD, and Melinda is one of my test readers on the Dan Shamble series.) Rebecca and I were due to arrive at 3:30 in the afternoon, so we would have plenty of time to unpack all the boxes and set up the booth before the dealer’s room opened on Friday.

Unfortunately, our plane didn’t take off on time. After sitting on the tarmac, we pulled back to the gate because of a “minor hydraulic leak”…and of course we should have known there is no such thing as a “minor” hydraulic leak.  The flight was delayed an hour, then three hours, then four, at which point it was very questionable whether the flight would take off at all, so I frantically rebooked us, getting us the very last two seats on any flight that would get us to Atlanta that night (although it wouldn’t land until 10:30 PM).  Meanwhile, Chris and Melinda arrived and very ably set up out entire booth with our other two booth helpers, Libby and Dave.  (In fact, they probably did it more efficiently than if we were there!)

We got on our Plan B flight…only to have that one sit on the tarmac with a new set of mechanical problems. We did eventually take off, but because of the delay we had only 15 minutes to make our connecting flight in Chicago. Miracle of miracles, we did get on the plane, arrived in Atlanta at 10:30. Our bags didn’t make it, however…they arrived on another flight that landed at 11:15, so I waited at the airport and collected them, while Rebecca went on ahead to rest (but then they wouldn’t let her check in because her name wasn’t on the room, only mine, so I had to talk to the front desk manager, in a rather impatient voice, that Yes, it was OK for my wife to check into our room. argh!). We finally got to our room, frazzled, but intact.

DragonCon was already in full swing even on Thursday night, with many costumes and gamers. The energy in the air was palpable and increasing by the hour.  Next morning, we checked out the wonderful booth Chris, Melinda, Libby, and Dave had set up.  Chris and I drove to Eagle Eye books, one of my favorite independent bookstores in the Atlanta area, and picked up 200 copies each of Clockwork Angels and Death Warmed Over, which we had ordered through them. This was going to be a great weekend for us, with the debut of Clockwork Angels and Death Warmed Over.

Libby is our very own Clockwork Angel

Rebecca and I gave our popular talk “Things I Wish Some Pro Had Told Me” for the writer’s track on Friday afternoon, and then I had several Star Wars panels, zombie panels, humor in horror panels, science fiction panels, autographings. in addition to various editor meetings and plenty of time at the table to meet fans.  We love how excited all the fans are; the dealer’s room is bustling, the panels are packed, and all the common areas of the hotels are crowded with fans in costume and in regular clothes.  At the main Star Wars panel, Rebecca and I were both inducted as honorary members into the Rebel Legion by a group of Australian fans and friends. We were completely surprised and touched.

The Max Lagers Brewery, one of the main hangouts for DragonCon, distributed 4000 special beer coasters with Clockwork Angels printed on one side and Death Warmed Over on the other. I met several of our Superstars students there for a beer on Sunday night.   We had lunch with a group of Australian fans, as well as our friend Amy Baxter (Robert Heinlein’s granddaughter), then breakfast with a larger group of Superstars grads, parties in the evenings, barbecue dinner with Kathleen and Peter David.  (That’s probably not all in the right order, but it’s a blur.)

On Monday afternoon, it was time to fly off, while Chris, Melinda, Libby, and Dave tore down the booth and packed up the remaining books. Rebecca was going home, but I had a side trip to Nashville where I was due to give a formal talk and book signing of Clockwork Angels and Death Warmed Over for the large book distributor Ingram.  The flight to Nashville was short, only 38 minutes.

But I waited for more than an hour in the baggage area without my suitcase. I checked with baggage services only to learn that the battery on an improperly stowed wheelchair in the cargo compartment had burst in flight and doused my suitcase with battery acid. HazMat had taken my suitcase and isolated it. They sent me off to my hotel. “Sorry, we’ll get back to you and let you know if we can salvage anything from your suitcase.”

I had only the grungy t-shirt and jeans I’d been wearing off and on throughout DragonCon, no toiletries, certainly nothing that I could wear for my formal talk at Ingram the next morning.  I went to my hotel, tried to go for a nice dinner but—it being 9 PM on Labor Day—very few restaurants were open and I was stuck with a fast-food burger.  By 10 PM I still hadn’t heard anything about my bag, so I started making phone calls (listening to the phone ring and ring, actually) but I finally got through to find out that HazMat had deemed my entire suitcase destroyed, all my clothes ruined.  “But don’t worry,” the man assured me, “we will reimburse you for the loss.”

That didn’t really help me out for the immediate need of getting clothes for my talk the next day, and he told me to go out and buy a new set of clothes, for which I’d also be reimbursed.  So, in an unfamiliar city at 11:30 PM on a national holiday, I was driving around in search of a place to buy shirt, slacks, shoes, socks, underwear.  I was never so thankful for a 24-hr WalMart—not much luck finding a suit jacket, but I did get a nice shirt and pants, even though (like most guys) I have only a vague idea of what size I wear!

Even worse, although the clothes were replaceable, also in my suitcase were the two engraved induction plaques for the Star Wars Rebel Alliance…and a signed/numbered/slipcased Silver Edition of Clockwork Angels.  That was the biggest bummer, but when I woke up the next morning, the airline had delivered a plastic bag with just a few items they had salvaged from the HazMat teams…and both the engraved plaques and the silver edition had survived. OK, so things were starting to look up.

But all turned out for the best, and the tribulations even gave me a good opening for my talk, “A funny thing happened on the way to Ingram.”  Ingram gave me a terrific welcome with a full auditorium. ECW had provided copies of Clockwork Angels, Kensington had provided copies of Death Warmed Over, and Brilliance Audio had provided copies of the unabridged audios of both.  I delivered a talk about a small-town kid growing up wanting to be a writer, after which I signed books for the attendees.

After the talk, I had lunch with representatives from Ingram, Brilliance, and Kensington, a great meal at a Japanese steakhouse, then off to the airport for my flight home.

It was delayed.

And when I finally did get home, the small tickle in my throat had become a full-blown sore throat, and the following morning I woke up with the flu.  I’m now on my fourth day of over 100°F fever, but I have to rest up and get better before next weekend, when Rebecca and I fly to LA for Comikaze at the LA Convention Center.

Yes, it’s a glamorous life!