The Chronicles of Crosarth – A Steampunk Adventure

So I’m in the middle of prepping for two events: UWEC Barron County GEEKCon on April 25th and No Brand Con the weekend after from May 1-3. And yeah, it’s as exhausting as it sounds like.

The con prep for UWEC Barron County GEEKCon is pretty easy at least. I’m going to do a stripped down table setup there as an experiment, to see how well it works. It’s just a one day con up at UWEC Barron County in Rice Lake, WI, so the stakes aren’t super high if it doesn’t work out. I’ve never done this event (though I’ve done its sister event down here in Eau Claire several times), so it’s all a question mark to begin with. But it’s a little one day con at a college, and I usually have a really good time at those, so we’ll find out I guess.

What’s really occupied my time though is prep for No Brand Con, but if you know anything about me that should not be shocking. I’m a co-founder of that event, and have been one of the most public faces over our more than twenty years of existing. What makes this year even more challenging is that this really is our attempt to revive the event and bring it back to some of its former glory.

I’ve taken on some responsibilities with this year that I normally wouldn’t have in the past, but I’m super excited about the con. No matter what happens, I’m confident that the con will be a very, very, very good time for everyone who comes. Our prereg numbers were right within our targets, and I’m super excited. Like I haven’t felt this excited about a con I was helping run in at least a decade, and I’m practically buzzing sometimes.

Here’s the thing though, even when everything is going right, running an event like this is incredibly stressful. I am looking forward not just to the con, but maybe also the weekend after the con. I was, at least, smart enough to take the Monday after the con off of work.

Now, obviously I’m not tabling at No Brand Con, since I’m the one in charge of the vendor room and artist alley, and that would be a massive conflict of interest. Ethan is though, so copies of the new Peregrine Lake book will be available for sale there for anyone interested. I won’t have my novels on hand, but if you ask nice enough, maybe I’ll meet you in the Tony Caponey’s parking lot at midnight and we can make a deal. ?

So yeah, if you want to know why I’m exhausted right now, that’s why. And there’s more work to do right now…

View Comments

So say you’re sitting down to dinner after a long day of travel. You’re in the dining room of one of the historic inns in the Indiana State Park system — let’s say, the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park on the shores of Lake James. You order food, sit back, and then realize something important.

There’s a good chance your waiter is a Nazi.

You see, he’s wearing an iron cross necklace. And while it’s true that this symbol isn’t exclusively associated with white supremacists, in the context of an American wearing that symbol today there are very few cases where it isn’t. Like yeah, it’s associated with biker culture here too, but nine times out of ten when I’ve seen someone with this symbol on them (and it wasn’t a He-Man reference)… they’ve been a Nazi.

So you’re sitting there, and he brings you your dinner, and in your head you’re asking yourself “Is this a Nazi?” He compliments your outfit. He asks if you’re staying in the hotel tonight. He’s overall being pleasant. But, like, in the back of your head you have to keep asking yourself if you’re safe here.

And it sucks, because this place has been a haven for you for over a decade. You stop here a couple of times a year even though it’s far from where you live. You’ve told all your friends and family about it. It’s been a part of your personal story for a long time. And now? Now it feels different.

And for the record, I did tip him. Did the normal 20%. Because I might be wrong. He might not be a Nazi.

But I’m never going to find out.

View Comments

This morning I went down to Collector’s Con here in Eau Claire. It’s a fun little con, and I stopped by last year too. I thought about selling there (since I’m at, like, literally every other con in town) but a week after Evercon was just too much to plan for.

I’ve done two cons in a row before, and it almost burnt me out. I need at least a weekend off between.

This is convention season though, and events are packed tightly together. Maybe too tightly together. Because, as I literally just said, I was at Evercon in Wausau last weekend. That same weekend I had friends at Anime Milwaukee. Oh, and I also had friends at MarsCon (the Minnesota one). The region had a long running Gaming Con, Anime Con, and Scifi Con happening simultaneously.

And here’s the thing — those are all cons I would go to… and that I’d want to sell at. I mean, sure, AMKE has a highly competitive artist alley and my odds of getting in there are nil, but it’d be nice to, like, have a shot, y’know? And I’m trying to get into scifi cons, but there just aren’t that many anymore. With all three on the same weekend, I had to make a choice.

There was a point in time where con organizers went out of there way to make sure they didn’t conflict with other events. Hell, we used to worry about being a few weeks away from another con. When events ended up on the same weekend, it was an anomaly. Now? Well, let’s just say these three cons will all be on the same weekend next year too.

It’s just… it’s just frustrating.

Like all three of these events have organizers who I am sure care deeply about the community they serve. Like I genuinely want all of these cons to succeed, but I feel like they’re not thinking about the other cons in the region. Like the stronger the entire scene is, the stronger they become. When the Wisconsin con scene was at its strongest a decade ago, it was because all of the events were working together.

I just really hope 2028 won’t see this pattern repeat. Because, y’know, I’d like to go to MarsCon or AMKE again some day.

But maybe that’s just me.

View Comments