Home from DragonCon

I'm home from Dragon*Con. Am tired, as would be expected, but it was worth it. Still, we crammed a lot into three days. I spoke on five panels, played Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Simi" in the parade, and changed in and out of a lot of costumes.

The panels at Dragon*Con were great- better, I think, than most of the romance industry conventions I've spoken at. The audiences were large and engaged and asked really good, on-topic questions. And I got to learn some stuff myself - from my highly esteemed co-panelists. Cherie Priest cracked me up the most on Vampires vs. Zombies. (She took the side of vampires. I was zombies. Definitely a worthy opponent.)

I also got to panel with (among others) Heather Brewer, Richelle Mead, Stacia Kane, Susan Sizemore, Carol Nelson Douglas, Caitlin Kittredge, Jackie Kessler and Mark Henry. The Urban Fantasy people are so much fun. Definitely my kind of writer peeps.

Here I am at the "Blood and Fur" panel with Richelle Mead and Heather Brewer. YA Vamp authors unite! :)





The panels were all really well attended, which I love!





So anyway - moving on to costumes. Day one I did a steampunk inspired outfit. Dress is from Lip Service, waist cincher handmade and bought off Etsy. I did the wristbands myself from leather and stuff I found at Michael's. Steampunk goggles are from Gothic Rennisance. The clockwork butterfly necklace is also from a vendor off Etsy. It was super cool. Oh and the Victorian lace-up boots were actually from Payless!





Leanna was a beautiful Victorian lady in honor of her new book, "The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker", which was just released.





Costume #2 was me as "Simi" the demon from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series. Sherrilyn asked Jacob and I to be in the parade as the official Simi and Acheron (her Dark Hunter hero) We got to ride in a Shelby Mustang in front of thousands of people. It was quite an experience!







Jacob dressed as Michael Jackon on day #1. The geeks at the con were slightly confused, but the people of Atlanta loved him!







That night, we met up with Liz, Cheri and Chris for a Time Traveller's ball.




Check out Liz's hair and top hat!




There were a lot of fabulous costumes at the Time Traveller's Ball. Some pretty, some disturbing.









One of my favorite panels at the Con was with Malcolm McDowell of Clockwork Orange fame. Actually just before the panel we found ourselves sitting one couch over from him! He was just hanging out. I wanted to go up and say hi but I felt too nervous and also didn't want to be intrusive. His panel was great though - learned a lot about the behind the scenes of one of my favorite Kubrick films.





Later - when I find someone with a good pic, I will upload the piece de resistance - my Zombie Bo Peep costume. It is a work of art, let me tell you. Very disturbing art! I got a lot of attention from it, which was fun!

:)
Marianne