Black Gate

Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I am writing this the day after returning from my favorite genre literary convention ever with a report. Can*Con is the kind of SFF convention I will try very hard to never miss. I went to my first in 2011 (I think? It’s been so long), when I was a little baby writer with one self-published anthology and a couple of sketches to my name. Despite having no clout, no idea what I was doing, and absolutely no connections to anyone or anything in the scene at all, I was warmly welcomed and made to feel like I was an actual real writer with something of value to offer the world.

This is going to sound really corny, but for the anxiety-ridden, personally struggling young me, that was an enormous deal.

I have not missed a Can*Con since.

I figured since not everyone can make it, be they countries or provinces away, and the costs of… well… everything making travelling often prohibited, I thought I’d bring the experience to you. As best I can, anyway. However well I make my report, it’s not the same thing as the experience.

Sorry.

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I’m two hours out from Cross Plains, Texas, and my thoughts are, much like the proceeding 20 hours, ruminating over the pair of fantasy authors named Howard that died far too young that led me on this trek.

I’m on my way to Howard Days 2025, the two-day celebration of the life and work of the godfather of sword-and-sorcery himself, Robert E. Howard. It’s been mecca for his fans and successors for almost four decades, and every sword-and-sorcery devotee I know hopes to make pilgrimage at least once.

The other is Howard Andrew Jones, who passed away from cancer this past January, and whose absence still festers like an open wound. Recently, it’s because we’d made plans to both attend our first Howard Days last year, and I’d had to pull out at the last moment. He’s described it as a spiritual experience, and I promised to meet him back this year at Howard Days this year. I don’t give oaths to lightly, or break promises to friends.

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By Black Gate Photog Chris Z

So, sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…..

It was just another typical Friday night in the Goth Chick News bunker filling out expense reports for her Gothness when a call came in over “Zuni” (Goth Chick’s version of “Alexa”). It was the “Big Cheese” John O informing me that since GC is out on assignment (attending Gothicon… don’t laugh it’s a real thing) I would need to fill in on a ghostly adventure traveling to an exotic locale. Before I could even react, a puff of air, a prick on my neck and darkness.

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Good afterevenmorn, Readers!

I have been out of the writing world loop for a bit, being wrapped up in my own personal stuff (it’s a terrible combination of absolutely no time whatsoever, “out of sight, out of mind,” and having my head in the clouds as I’m neck deep in the first draft of a book), so I’m quite late to the party. Apparently, World Con has once again landed itself in some controversy.

Let me fill you in if you are like I was just two days ago; utterly clueless about it all.

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Though Black Gate photog Chris Z and I have affectionately referred to ourselves as “horror nerds” almost from the beginning of working together, I was never quite sure if the term “nerd” was offensive to others. Therefore, in making a small nod to Big Cheese John O’s constant plea to not embarrass him, we only said “nerd” (and “geek” for that matter) in private or in hushed tones.

Then suddenly, either due to the term being liberally employed on the Netflix hit Stranger Things, or because compared to the rest of the world right now “nerds” are downright endearing, being one is akin to being a cool kid. So it’s no surprise that I absolutely loved the mailing insert that accompanied our Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo passes this year.

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