Moving, conventions, and springtime joy

My last adventure for our Charleston stay was a definite success. Hours searching for + finding fossils on a barrier island, then a sunset boat ride home accompanied by dolphins is hard to top. Probably good I didn’t do that any earlier in our stay here, because I would have been trying to justify a way to jump on that boat every couple of days…

But alas, we're on the move this week – after 5ish months here area (and not nearly enough beach time, though Jeremy would disagree), we're off for our next seasonal destination.

With a very important stop along the way – because first: FantaSci! I've talked about FantaSci on the blog before – it's a smaller con in the Raleigh-Durham area, and has a huge impact because it's run (and attended) by brilliant people. This is my fourth time attending, and it's such a blast every time. This time is a little extra special because 1) the theme is dragons (yesssss) and 2) I'm a special guest!

The combination of these two things means I'm giddy in the extreme because dragons are basically my first love -- Anne McCaffrey's dragons in particular are a huge reason why I'm a writer. If you haven't heard the story before, the streamlined version is: Dragonriders of Pern → Marisa writes hundreds of pages of a fanfiction novel as a preteen → Marisa finds online Pern fandom → Marisa writes fanfic for 20+years (in that span, meets + writes with Kacey Ezell) → Kacey invites Marisa to co-write Assassin → more and more writing ensues.

All because a 10 year old picked up The White Dragon, fell madly in love, and never recovered. So given my origin story, I'm pretty dang excited both to be a special guest for the first time – AND get to talk about dragons. It's definitely a career-to-date highlight.

At the end of the post is my panel schedule for FantaSci, and I am pumped about all of it. One particular one that might not be self-explanatory is the Phoenix Feast. This is a revamped version of the Four Horsemen Dining Out FantaSci has hosted each year – we're going a lot looser this year, and dare I say? Shenaniganier.

It's still a celebration of the 4HU + the incredible fans of the shared universe. But the rules are going to be a bit sillier, the script a bit looser, and the Madams Vice a bit…Madams Vicier? Sure. Basically Melissa Olthoff and I cackled quite a bit in sketching out the evening, Joel Lyons (con chair who has a fictionalized version of himself written in the the 4HU in several places, most recently The Lyons' Pride by Chris Kennedy and yours truly), will be a host par excellence, and we've enlisted another known shenaniganator for the festivities… It's going to be a good time, is the point. As it's a full catered dinner, the ticket for the Phoenix Feast is an extra cost, and is sold out. HOWEVER, usually a last minute ticket or two come available at the con, so if you're joining us at FantaSci, and love having a good time, you miiiight wanna check it out and cackle alongside us for a bit.

After FantaSci we're off to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, for a spring/summer/fall surrounded by dogs. I'm pretty excited for hiking, rockhounding, and dogs, so stay tuned for more adventures amidst the editing/writing cycle that is my current life!

FantaSci Schedule:

Friday:

4:00: Noir in SF and Fantasy (M)

5:00: Discussion on the Coolness of Dragons

8:00: NSFW Romance (M)

9:00: Jolene's Dating Game

Saturday:

11:00-1:00: CKP Year Ahead

(you can find Jeremy at "So You Married an Author..." at 12:00)

2:00-4:00: Baen Roadshow

6:00-8:00: Phoenix Feast

9:00: Karaoke

Sunday:

11:00 Authors and Their Pets