HI! So I got in from Shore Leave around 4-ish, checked a few things, and then crashed for a few hours. I think I'll crash for a few more, but I thought I'd post first and make it known that I did not get murdered or raped in any way. Well, perhaps a little more of my always-decreasing faith in the human race died a horribly bloody death, and some of the things that I saw left my eyeballs feeling horribly violated and scarred, but my figurative rectal cherry remains unpopped and I don't have any new orifices in places they don't belong, like over my left breast or in between my ribs. So that's good.

I'd write at length about the con, but I'm saving the majority of that for the official Scary-Crayon Shore Leave Report. (Ohhh man... you definitely want to stay tuned for that one. I expect to have it up around Tuesday evening/eeeeaaaaarly Wednesday morning, but maybe that's too optimistic. We'll see.) Thanks to the giant crayon I touted for most of the con, the word of SC did get spread fairly far and wide -- quite a few people stopped to ask me what the deal with it was, at which point I gave my little spiel. Mercedes McNab even asked me about it during her panel, which was kinda neat. I neglected to actually announce the entire URL -- so I wonder how many people will miss the site because they lack the hyphen -- but if they can't find it and key "scary crayon" into Google they should have no trouble at all finding the place. Assuming that they care to find it, that is. I'm interested in seeing how many folks from Shore Leave actually make it over (and like what they see), so if you heard out about the place from me and my giant crayon, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to say hello. Hope you like what we have on SC so far (poke around in the archives a bit!) and hope you don't totally hate the site after I cruelly rip into Shore Leave. 😉

Since I doubt that I'll get into it much in the article (but it'll definitely get a mention), I will mention another thing about the con that got me -- the lack of originality or individuality or whatever you want to call it among the folks there. For example, I went to the Art Workshop on Friday and it was basically folks sitting around all-but-tracing magazine covers and whatnot at the direction of the "instructor", who ran the thing like it was a grade-school art class on the first day. I stayed for a while and did a couple of sketches of Wolverine from a cover with Hugh Jackman on it, and the lady pretty much criticized me because I wasn't really trying to copy the picture -- the first drawing was my anime-influenced style, and the second, while closer to the picture, had a few differences that she took pains to point out. And admittedly, I don't copy pictures extremely well, largely because I don't like copying pictures. There's no fucking need to; the picture's already right there. Same with the photo-realistic (or close to it) art style she was pushing -- if I wanted the picture to look like a photo, I'd take a fucking picture with my camera. And even with my toony drawings, I'm not copying pictures -- I tend to do them off my head, with maybe a few pics of the character around for a clothing reference (and even there I take liberties as I choose). While my art is influenced by anime, I'm not trying to mimic any particular artist when I draw, except perhaps for myself (considering the different ways I've drawn pictures).

Anyway, that's just one thing, but the mentality behind that seemed spread throughout most of the con. I met quite a few people there, but most of them seemed more/less possessed of the exact same personality. There were ten billion folks (exaggeration; there weren't that many people at the con) dressed as Klingons and wearing other Star Trek-related costumes, whereas I got more than a few "you fucking freak" looks for my crayon. And many folks aspiring to write Star Trek novels, as opposed to novels set in their own universe and with their own unique "voice". I stopped in on the Ann Crispin reading -- she's written Trek novels, I think, but these were selections from an original one -- and even her original writing was hackneyed and, uh, not good. Oooh, you have a defrocked priestess and an alien creature with no sex. Ooooh! I would've been pissed if I'd shelled out the $60 for her writing workship (but I wouldn't have done that, because I would've read her writing first). Apparently if one registered early and mailed in a manuscript, she'd give it a critique, but given the quality of her writing I can't imagine her saying anything interesting -- if I'd sent one in, she probably would've said (after harpooning the prose for not reading like that of other popular SF authors), "This story needs more stock SF characters. Why not make the researchers aliens?" They don't need to be aliens; my writing (and yours) doesn't need to read like everyone else's -- fuck that, it shouldn't -- and you're not being graded on your artwork by some halfwit elementary school art teacher, so draw your pics however you damned well please. Which isn't to say that you should shun good suggestions, but you get my meaning.

Still, it was an interesting experience, though I'm not sure it's one I'd soon repeat (but keep me posted, Luna-C people; I'd probably be more inclined to attend another SF con if I could get in free as talent ;)). Many thanks to De and Em for bringing me along for the ride! Hope I wasn't too much of a downer. And shout-outs to all of the folks I met at the con! I'd name you, but I don't remember all of your names and I don't want to upset/disappoint the folks whose names I can't recall. 😛 Liz gets named, though, since in addition to commenting in the blog and e-mailing in the past, she's probably the only legitimate "fan" of SC that I met (other than De). I'd expected to find at least one or two people who'd heard of the site or read it, but that wasn't the case. Anyway, 'twas nice to meet you, Liz. Thanks for reading SC and all. 🙂 Hope you (et al.) aren't offended by this post and my upcoming BRUTAL con critique.

Anyway, thus ends this lengthy post. So yeah, I'm back! Con report coming soon. w00t!