ECCC or Emerald City Comicon 2017 was amazing though a bit crowded! They apparently set records with 90,000+ in attendance on Saturday, which is crazy crowded to me. Due to my schedule, I only attended on Saturday (when my panel was), but I had a blast hanging out with my author friend Jesikah Sundin and chainmailling friend Elise.
Jesikah is not only a great writer, but she’s also a great seamstress who made me a killer Legend of Zelda skirt for ECCC. I wore it with my Zelda scarf and my normal “I’m-so-not-awake!” stare. It was a popular look for the con (the stare, not the skirt/scarf combo–that was unique to me).
Aforementioned Zelda skirt & scarf
While Jesikah and I waited for ECCC to officially begin, we ran into the cutest family cosplaying Mario.
Jesikah and I also posed for a picture in the atrium as we waited.
Once the dealer’s room and artist alley opened, we stopped in to Clockwork Dragon to say hello to fellow authors Jeff Cook and Lee French. We also stopped by the Bards’ Tower to say hello to SFWA president Cat Rambo as well as Quincy J. Allen. I totally missed that several other friends at the tower. *waves*
I also got to finally chat with Jody Lynn Nye in person! We’ve been Facebook friends for a bit, but hadn’t actually met. Her books were some of the first science fiction/fantasy I ever read, so it was a great joy to chat with her. We had quite the conversation about the Apple IIGS, D&D back in the day, writing, and politics.
After stopping off at University Bookstore to chat with Dwayne and buy a few books, we went to a panel on Women in Fantasy, one of whose panelists was Robin Hobb. (Managed to get one of her books signed afterward as well!)
We had a short break for lunch and then went to one of the best panels I’ve ever attended–this one entitled The Death of Belief: American Gods’ Impact on Modern Fantasy. The panelists were Brom, Richard Kadrey, Dave Bara, Seanan McGuire, and Will James. This panel managed to talk about the topic while rarely talking about the Neil Gaiman’s American Gods at all. The discussion of religion and how it both impacts and is impacted by speculative fiction was amazing. Seanan has an extensive collegiate background in myths and fairy tales, so her contribution to this panel is mostly what made it so good (that and she has a wickedly sarcastic sense of humor…for example, when introducing themselves, Dave Bara originally pronounced Seanan’s first name as “See-nan,” which is entirely incorrect. Despite her correcting him, he continued to say it wrong, so when she said his name, she pronounced DAVE as “Dahv.” He kept looking at her oddly as if he couldn’t figure out why she was saying his name that way. This interchange wasn’t lost on the audience.)
At one point, I hung out in the freeplay gaming area in hopes of playing some Magic, but apparently I was too girly for the group of guys playing. They were all of 19 and it showed in their insecurities. 😉 We did run into one of the best cosplays of Carl from Walking Dead that I’ve ever seen. Of course I had to pose ridiculously with the group.
That Carl on the right! Holy smokes!
Before too long, it was time for our panel on Jessica Jones and writing PTSD. My co-panelists, G. G. Silverman,Jesikah Sundin, and Bridget A. Natale, were great, and as usual, our panel was packed to standing room only.
In order, L to R: G.G. Silverman, Jesikah Sundin, Bridget A. Natale, Raven Oak
Part of the audience–hard to see folks lining the walls.
We had many, many people come up to us after the panel to thank us for providing a safe space in which to discuss such difficult topics. Several people felt it was the first time they’d been able to really talk about their PTSD or abusive background. We were glad to share with the group and hope that shows like Jessica Jones continue to be made, giving all of us a voice.
I recorded the audio from our panel and hope to have it up on my YouTube channel soon, so if you’re interested in our discussion on Jessica Jones & Writing PTSD, keep an eye on my channel or this site.
