Okay—Here’s my first Comic-Con report beginning with dinner on Wednesday night.



Samantha Sommersby, who lives in San Diego, gathered together Marjorie Liu, Carrie Vaughn, her friend Max Campanella, my friends Ron Jessee and Louis Perez and moi at a trendy little restaurant called Parallel 33 in Hillcrest. We chatted, drank, ate and talked about Comic-Con. It was really a nice way to relax our way into the fray.





Thursday was our panel -- Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance: Sub-Genres Readers Love. The above-mentioned authors were joined by Laurell K., Laura Anne Gillman and moderator, MaryElizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy. She did a splendiferous job of giving us all airtime. the crowd was enthusiastic and boisterous. It was the best time I've ever had on a panel.







And at the signing after, I believe we lesser mortals actually held our own pretty well with the illustrious LKH. While EVERYONE in line had a Hamilton book, most also stopped to pick up one or two or three of ours. The signing went from the one hour originally scheduled to almost two full hours.

Which leads me into what I wanted to say about Laurell K. Hamilton. I saw this at RT as well. She will stay as long as there are people in line waiting for her. She’s gracious and accommodating to fans. She was gracious and accommodating to panel members. I understand she had two other signings at the Con and stayed long past the appointed time. She’s a pro in every since of the word.

Friday was my day to wander around and catch panels and skim the exhibitors’ hall. I’ve never seen so many people packed into such a relatively small area. I understand ComicCon is the biggest convention San Diego hosts (estimated attendees 120 – 140,000. Sell outs all four days) but they have it down. They’re second only to Disneyland in the people moving business. And, blessed be, even managed to keep the temperature at a very comfortable 70 or so degrees. Never once felt too cold or too hot. It was great. And I managed to pick up a few things that may show up as prizes in our next contest—like severed fingers, for instance. Almost as good as the Devil Duck.

Saturday got to meet my agent, Scott Miller of Trident Media, in person for the first time. Turns out he’s a comic book fan. Who would have guessed? We discussed, among other things, how Anna would make a great graphic novel character.

Also over the course of the Con, met with several Penguin people including Susan Allison, who is the Editorial Director of Berkley, Tina Anderson, Marketing Director, Anne Sowards, Senior Editor, Erica Colon, marketing (I’m sorry I didn’t get her exact title.) It was nice to meet the people who put Anna on the map. Also, Christina Radish of MediaBlvd Magazine who made me realize what truly hard work it is interviewing stars.

Saturday was also Joss Whedon day—but I’ll save that story until I get the pictures. Let me just say, it was a thrill!!!!

Sunday I was at the Penguin/Mysterious Galaxy booth for my signing. I am happy to report that we sold out all of my books! ☺

So, sports fans, that’s my Comic-Con experience in brief. I’d love to be invited back. I’d go in a heartbeat. If any of you have stories to share, about this Con or earlier ones, please do. The history of the Con is interesting, too, in that the very first couple were held in a basement with 300 attendees. Who could have envisioned what it would become.  ¶ posted by Jeanne Stein @ 10:43 AM