Sci-Fi Valley Con, Day 2
All right...the cons are coming back!
Day 2 of Sci-Fi Valley Con is in the books! A very strong day, for sales, pretty regular crowds, and a decent feeling of action once more.
I took another look around the convention center to see what was there...I will say first, a lovely craft table, with this piece of good advice. The downstairs was for some of the larger vendors and artisans, as well as the spot for the photo ops and star sightings.
Snape has a table! Saw this gentleman at last convention and got to talk with him. Really nice guy; I've been getting some interesting takes on how the con is going, again, because this normally runs in June. This fall, a few things to contend with but I don't think so much. Reason I say, the leaf peeper festival and some football game near here are not exactly what most of these folks probably go for.
Then I did see an AEW fan...interesting only him, because a fair number of wrestling fans come to these things.
Artist's name is Gus Mauk...well done! But now, let's get down to business...
When the Ghostbusters are on the case, we're good. I saw about six or seven of them today. This day was for the costume contest, so that, plus the charity auction for Extra Mile made it a strong turnout.
Saw these young ladies yesterday in different outfits...glad they are happy to do this. I find it cool to see folks living it out, and that's all ages! We had to wait till Halloween...
Harley Quinn was back again, with a couple of friends...a nice team-up. Harley has been the favorite female character, mostly the Suicide Squad Harley, but there were some variations. A couple of Jokers as well, though I did not get them.
The little one was connected to a Harley yesterday (her mom, why not?), and her friend is playing a male character, Shoyo Hinata from the Haikyuu! series. Looks pretty interesting, so I'm gonna check it out. Nice kids.
FURRIES! And this knightly gentleman. I had seen a few ears and tails, mostly for the cat people variety, but here were the furries. My friend Gwen is one as an alter ego; she'll love these.
I will assume this is Legolas? Sure looks like him, although I'm not sure of the lady who is with him. As much as LOTR is a huge influence on me, I cannot recall that he ever got married.
THEY'RE BACK! The marauders we saw in 2019, and who caused such a buzz on my social media, were back...really cool costumes, which they built. Giving the armor and costumers out front a run for their money.
A jawa...hadn't seen one of those in a very long time.
The Imperial Officer and his Roomba.
Harvey Dent; very nice Two Face.
Saw a couple of these, again very well done. So anyway, back to the book thing. Had some very good conversations with people, and the more you talk, the more you can get beyond the elevator pitch.
I sold well! I have not had as good a day as this, and with a bit of luck I may break even. The interest was very much for the combination of Searching for Roy Buchanan and Call it Love, which you can get from me, or at SunburyPress.com, Amazon and other outlets, hint hint...but the vibe was also really positive toward my other books.
Got buys for Parasite Girls, my first work, which was pretty cool. I also participated in a collection of think pieces called After the Pandemic, which you can get through Sunbury. This led to good discussion about the pandemic.
I didn't tell you about yesterday...the lady who runs a fantastic chocolatier booth was in Vienna when Chernoybl hit. She said, this is nothing compared to what she went through. What a story...ten days where Europe was totally on edge, and wondering what the hell was coming. Food had to be thrown away, rinsed, cleaned, etc. Sandboxes in kids' playgrounds had to be removed and replaced. You can only imagine.
Today, there's optimism. I did not run into any people who thought Covid-19 wasn't real, or at least they didn't say it. The feeling is, we are weathering this, we'll get out of it, but we need due diligence.
Of course, we're doing a big even in the pandemic. Masks are a must, but not everyone uses them, social distancing is not always noted, but you hope things go all right. I think they will. I'm feeling the place is in good shape, and well looked after.
This lady purchased Parasite Girls. Go to @torpe_7 on Instagram. Christina is a really nice person, and she painted her jacket with numerous works (this is the back)...impressive. We had a good talk about following our muses, and what we do.
So yes...my friends all did well, and concerns that tomorrow will be a good way to finish out strong. The question of whether the con should go back to June is uncertain. But anyway, we had a good day, it felt good to speak with people who were serious about their reading, their art, and their cosplay...work and play are not words that we use, we do both.
Got back, and there is only one way to celebrate in Alttona...
