Dayton's Blog: A pimple on the ass of the Internet.

This past weekend brought with it our annual pilgrimage to Baltimore for the Shore Leave convention. In addition to the usual assortment of guests, panel discussions, book signings, and sundry other "official" programming events, the con is one of few chances we have during the year to connect in person with friends and colleagues. That last part is really just a lame way of saying it's an excuse to get drunk with friends.

( Let me tell you about Shore Leave.... )

We received the tentative panel/activities schedule for this weekend's Shore Leave convention. Looks like I'll be mildly busy throughout the weekend, but nothing too crazy. For those interested:

Friday

7pm-8:30pm - Charity Roast of Keith Decandido (kradical). The first-evah such activity at Shore Leave, join us as we skewer each other and, of course, Keith. In addition to Kevin and myself, the "roasters" include Kirsten Beyer, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Bob Greenberger, Glenn Hauman, David Mack, and Marco Palmieri. As for what Kevin and I plan to say, well...we'll either bust some guts, or else they'll run us out of town with pitchforks. Either way, it beats sitting at home watching TV. - Hunt Room

10pm-??? - Meet the Pros. The big author book/program/body part signing party - Hunt/Valley Foyer

Saturday

1pm-2pm - Space Grunts: The Anthology - With Scott Pearson (scottpearson) and John Coffren. We'll be talking about the cute little anthology I put together earlier in the year, since we have a few participants on hand to yammer about it. - Salon E

4pm-5pm - Mere Anarchy: The Anthology - With Mike Barr, Howard Weinstein, Christopher Bennett, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Kevin Dilmore, Dave Galanter. We'll ruminate about the mini-series, as well as read a chapter (or a portion thereof) from our respective contributions. - Salon B

Sunday

10am-11am - Mirror Universe: Shards and Shadows Anthology. With Marco Palmieri, Margaret Clark, Peter David, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Michael Jan Friedman, Jim Johnson, David Mack (infinitydog), and Kevin Dilmore. After the panelists finish introducing themselves, there should just be enough time left over to take a couple of questions. - Salon E

12pm-1pm - Classic Trek: What Gene Knew. With David Mack, Kevin Dilmore, and Margaret Clark. - Hunt Room

1pm-2pm - Post Destiny: Now What Does the Federation Do? With Margaret Clark, David Mack, and Christopher Bennett. Now that Dave Mack has beaten the Star Trek universe all to shit, what's left? Apparently, plans are afoot. Come and find out for yourself! - Hunt Room

It dawned on me as I transcribed some notes Kevin and I took about this that I keep forgetting to mention it here.

This year's Shore Leave convention will feature something new: a comedy roast. Cooked up by myself, Kevin Dilmore, and infinitydog along with the able assistance of a few folks who are better off remaining anonymous at this stage, said roast is to be a fun way of honoring -- to say nothing of mericlessly ripping on -- one of our favorite Trek scribes, with proceeds being donated to the American Red Cross (which has a long association with the con) in the roastee's name. For our first attempt, the decision on a roastee was as inevitable as it was quick: Keith R.A. DeCandido (kradical). He'll be our target for 45 mins or so, after which he'll have his chance to fire back. If it goes off the way we hope it will, I expect the event to be the thing everybody's talking about for the rest of the weekend....for good or bad.

Acting as Master of Ceremonies will be the one and only Bob Greenberger. Roasters will include Kirsten Beyer, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, David Mack, Marco Palmieri, as well as myself and Kevin Dilmore, tag-teaming (no, *not* tea-bagging) all comers.

As the information on the SL website says: "Warning: This event will contain crude language, vulgar jokes, and visual gags guaranteed to offend just about everyone. There might be a disturbing puppet involved."

That's right, bitches. A puppet. Consider yourself warned.

Check out all the details, as well as a downloadable flyer with at least one bit of disturbing imagery, HERE.

Yeah. This is gonna be fun.

I screwed around and put this off, and by now everybody in the known universe has commented on their experiences at last weekend's Shore Leave convention. I tried writing a detailed recap, but it was in essence a repeat of what other folks had already said. Therefore, I'll boil my weekend down to the important points:

I say "updated" with all due caution, as the schedule continues to evolve. I think this is pretty close to the real deal, though:

Friday, July 11th:
"Pocket Books Preview" - 9pm-10pm - Hunt (Not a participant; just in the peanut gallery)
"Meet the Pros" mass author signing - 10pm-12am - Hunt/Valley Foyer

Saturday, July 12th:
"The Sky's the Limit: 20+ Years of ST:TNG" - 12pm-1pm - Salon A
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Post-mortem" - 2pm-3pm - Salon E

Sunday, July 13th:
"The 4400 Goes to Book!" - 11am-12pm - Location TBD
"Star Trek: Corps of Engineers/e-Book Post-mortem" - 12pm-1pm - Salon B (I think I'm on this panel)
"The Bionic Woman: Past and Present" - 2pm-3pm - Salon F

There will also be other panels and such that I'll be checking out, and there may be one or two other activities for which I'm scheduled that haven't yet made the list.

And, of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the bar.

Got info about the still in-flux schedule for Shore Leave 30, which is only ONE WEEK AWAY! As things stand now, this is when/where I'm slated to be:

Friday, July 11th:
"Pocket Books Preview" - 9pm-10pm - Hunt (Not a participant; just in the peanut gallery)
"Meet the Pros" mass author signing - 10pm-12am - Hunt/Valley Foyer

Saturday, July 12th:
"The Sky's the Limit: 20+ Years of ST:TNG" - 12pm-1pm - Salon A
"Star Trek e-Book Post-Mortem" - 1pm-2pm - Salon E
"Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Post-Mortem" - 2pm-3pm - Salon E

Sunday, July 13th:
"Star Trek: Corps of Engineers" - 12pm-1pm - Salon B (I think I'm on this panel)
"Vanguard: Summon the Harbinger of Whirlwind" - 1pm-2pm - Salon F

I'm also liable to check out the goings-on in other panels, and there may be one or two other activities for which I'm scheduled that haven't yet made the list.

Then there's the bar. There's always the bar. It tasks me, and I shall have it.

Our "vacation" ended yesterday with our arrival home, so I'm behind on getting e-Mail read/answered, checking to see what's up on the LJ f-list, and providing my report on the happenings at this year's Shore Leave convention. 

All in all, a fun trip. I always enjoy catching up with friends, and putting new faces to names from online, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Even though we don't fly out until tomorrow morning, we're actually leaving this evening and staying at a hotel near the airport in order to catch our early morning flight.

As I'm putting the finishing touches on my packing, I remembered a message board post from a few years ago regarding Shore Leave that grew out of a larger conversation where the general gist detailed "the fans taking over" and making their wants and desires known to Trek authors for future stories.

(Though I'm too lazy to go dig for the original thread, I recall psiqueue being the main instigator. Hmmmm....)

This somehow morphed into a playful discussion of possible "Us vs. Them" scenarios that might take place at the con. With apologies to H.G. Wells, here was my original contribution:

-----

"No one would have believed that during the second weekend of July, we Trek authors were being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than the average fan's and yet as passionate as our own; that as we busied ourselves about our various drunken ramblings we were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a teen-aged boy with a magnifying glass might scrutinize the centerfold of a men's magazine spirited from the secret box underneath his father's bed, and about which the father believed the mother possessed no knowledge.

With infinite complacency, we Trek authors moved to and fro across the interior of the Hunt Valley Marriott bar about our little affairs, serene in our assurance of our empire over Trek fiction. None of us gave a thought to the other fans of Trek as sources of danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of competition from them as impossible or improbable.

Yet across the bar from where we Trek authors gathered, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded us with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us."

-----

And with that, I sign off. I'm not taking a computer with me, so I'll only have limited access to e-Mail whenever I can grab Bubba's keyboard for a minute here and there. For those of you attending the con...see you tomorrow night! For those not going...well, feel free to chat amongst yourselves until I get back sometime Tuesday afternoon.

Peace out!

In addition to the schedule I already posted here, Kevin called me this morning to alert me to a new panel that's been added to the con schedule. I'm now told that the topic will be the Star Trek: Vanguard series, and will most likely feature as panelists series creators Marco Palmieri and Dave Mack (infinitydog), as well as Kevin and myself.

My understanding is that it's set for Sunday from 1pm-2pm, in a location TBD. This means I have a three-hour block of panels in the middle of the day. Who's volunteering to bring me Mountain Dew--and maybe some chicken fingers--at some point during the proceedings?

Hello? Anyone? Bueller?

The folks at Shore Leave have sent out the first go at a schedule for the weekend's activities, and while there's still some shuffling and whatnot going on, here's a look at where I think I'm supposed to be at various times:

Friday
8pm-9pm, Hunt Room: "Pocket Books Preview." I'll be playing the part of the guy pressing the space bar on the PC running the PowerPoint presentation.

10pm-??, Hunt/Valley Foyer: "Meet the Pros Party." Signing books along with all of the other writer and science guests.

Saturday
12pm-1pm, Salon A: "TNG 20th Anniversary Authors' Perspectives." Given the number of alleged panel participants, we may all just manage to introduce ourselves before the hour's up.

1pm-2pm, Salon A: "e-Books: Mere Anarchy." With Mike Barr, Christopher Bennett, Keith DeCandido, Dave Galanter, and Howie Weinstein. Where we talk about the six e-Book series from last year that was part of Pocket's celebration of the original Star Trek's 40th anniversary. Kevin and I weren't originally slated to be on this panel, but have requested to be added to the list. Failing that, we'll at least be heckling in the audience.

Sunday
11am-12pm, Salon B: "Mirror Universe #1: Glass Empires." With Greg Cox, Kevin Dilmore, and Dave Mack. I had to ask to be added to this panel, too. Apparently the scheduling gods don't like me much this year.

12pm-1pm, Salon B: "S.C.E.: Corps of Engineers." With Christopher Bennett, Keith DeCandido, Kevin Dilmore, Allyn Gibson, Glenn Hauman, Bill Leisner, Dave Mack, and Terri Osborne. Another one of those deals where there's likely to be more panelists than audience members, but we'll enjoy ourselves, anyway.

There originally was a Heroes panel that Kevin would moderate and which would include a few of us, but I don't see it on the schedule (Kevin's checking into that). Additionally, I plan to drop in on several other panels just to see what's going on (can't miss the "Strange New Worlds Extravaganza," for example), and I'm hearing a few rumblings about being invited/cajoled/forced at gunpoint to participate in other activities. All in all, it should be a fun weekend.

Yo!

For those of you planning to attend Shore Leave, here's something to ponder: Kevin and I were contacted by one of the con committee members regarding panel programming. They're apparently still working to fill a few slots, and we were asked if we wanted an hour for ourselves, or if we had any suggestions for possible panel topics.

Now, I know that there will be panels for various Pocket Star Trek-related topics, so I'll admit I'm drawing a bit of a blank here. While I don't see Kevin and/or myself taking an hour just to pimp ourselves or one of our projects, I'm still interested in seeing if there's something folks planning to attend the con might want to see. This goes for my fellow writer-folk who will already be participating in panel programming as well as those who'd be in the audience and have an idea they'd like to see considered. It could be a reading, discussion of some writing/Trek/whatever-related topic, what have you. Doesn't have to be limited to something that just Kevin and/or I would do....we can come up with something and get additional participants. 

Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas? Bueller?