By Amber Royer We writers have our routines and methods of fueling creativity. Sometimes it’s a place where we feel particularly productive, or a time of day when we are most alert. Chocolate and coffee are both associated with writing, and creating in general. Have you ever wondered why? Creativity is a balance of daydreaming/mental wandering and sheer dogged focus. Most writers are good at the first half of that. But a lot of us can use any help we can get on achieving the mental focus required to barrel through a draft, and to hold all the details in our heads required to edit that draft into something coherent. And if we see that something is working for our peers, we’re more likely to give it a try. So all those mugs that say things like, “I turn coffee into books,” can be inspiring. Coffee, of course, is known to boost energy and keep you focused. (It does this by blocking the adenosine receptors that tell you you’re getting sleepy and that your concentration is ebbing.) And the routine of making it, or going to a favorite shop to order it can signal to your brain that NOW is the time when it is supposed to crank out words. (Which means that even if you have to switch to decaf, a regular coffee shop writing meet-up can still work wonders for your word count.) Recent studies have also shown that people who eat chocolate at least once a week perform significantly better cognitively. Is this why so many writers reach for it while struggling to find the right words? Or is the benefit a side effect of the psychological associations that chocolate has? It’s impossible to tell, and I’m not sure it matters. After all, marketeers have done an excellent job of selling us on the idea that chocolate equals romance, intrigue, euphoria, and decadence . . . which can spark inspiration for a variety of scenes in a novel manuscript. However it works, chocolate does seem to have a positive effect on writing productivity. According to the Washington Post, a study at the Luxembourg Institute of Health found that, “Eating chocolate was significantly associated with superior ‘visual-spatial memory and [organization], working memory, scanning and tracking, abstract reasoning, and the mini-mental state examination’ . . . these functions translate to every day tasks, ‘such as remembering a phone number, or your shopping list, or being able to do two things at once, like talking and driving at the same time.’" Another thing known to keep you mentally sharp (while increasing your vocabulary and reducing your overall stress levels)? Writing. It’s kind of a loop. Which may explain how I wound up fueled by coffee, writing an entire trilogy about chocolate. There’s a lot of influences that went into the novels, but the whole coffee shop-writing scene definitely had an impact. The Chocoverse is comic space opera set in a future where there’s about to be a galactic war over who gets to control the production of chocolate. So far, Earth has a monopoly. My protagonist, a failed telonevela star turned culinary arts student, has other ideas. The trilogy includes all my favorite tropes – love triangles, found family, bad-boy heroes, heroines with steep arcs, unusual and artificial intelligences, secrets uncovered, space pirates, over-the-top slapstick humor – within the assumption that the region known as the chocolate belt (roughly 20 degrees North and South of the Equator) has become Earth’s economic center. And that when Earth made its first First Contact, things went wrong, and we didn’t wind up at the center of a Federation, like Star Trek promised us, but rather, are on the outskirts of galactic life, dealing with the fact that our assumptions about a grand future were wrong. But the big themes are really about over coming prejudice, hope paid forward, and the power of love, even without shared cultural context. Welcome to the Chocoverse! I hope you enjoy – either with or without a nice cup of mocha. ---- Amber Royer is the author of the high-energy comic space opera Chocoverse Trilogy. Book 3, Fake Chocolate, was just released April 14. Binge the whole trilogy, starting with a dose of Free Chocolate now! Free Chocolate Book Trailer Pure Chocolate Book Trailer Already caught up? Here’s the synopsis for Fake Chocolate: When disease ravages Earth's cacao plantations, Bo Benitez returns home to help with the media spin to hide that chocolate is in danger of being lost forever. HGB has come up with a new product - one which doesn't appease the cocoa-addicted murderous, shark-toothed aliens threatening to invade the planet. Someone has to smooth things out. Just when Bo starts to make headway, someone tries to kidnap her. While trying to avoid more would-be-kidnappers, Bo finds out that HGB is developing a cure for withdrawal from the Invincible Heart. Will she let her need to be physically whole again tie her to HGB and its enigmatic CEO? When she gets a key piece of evidence that would unravel secrets from three different planets, she has tough choices to make about the future of her world and its place in the galaxy. Follow Amber: Website, Instagram, TikTok: AmberRoyerAuthor Longer Bio: Amber Royer writes the CHOCOVERSE comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series (available from Angry Robot Books and Golden Tip Press). She is also co-author of the cookbook There are Herbs in My Chocolate, which combines culinary herbs and chocolate in over 60 sweet and savory recipes, and had a long-running column for Dave’s Garden, where she covered gardening and crafting. She blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate related over at www.amberroyer.com. She also teaches creative writing in person in North Texas for both UT Arlington Continuing Education and Writing Workshops Dallas. If you are very nice to her, she might make you cupcakes. By David Doub What got you into writing? I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a kid. Honestly, I think it was reading the Ramona Quimbly books that helped me see myself in literature. She was spunky, but easily embarrassed, smart but not always focused – just like me. It was a revelation to realize that a real person was out there writing those books. When I was in the fourth grade, I had a teacher encourage me to become one of those people writing books. That’s why I’m so big on encouraging young writers. I teach kid’s writing camps in the summer, and you would not believe the creativity of some of those kiddos – especially the very young ones. I can dump out a tub of Legos and say, build a set, make a storyboard, then write a story, and the only hard thing is getting them to move from one activity to the next. I tried that exercise with adults once – they just looked at me like, Huh? You want me to what? But my experience also brings out how important it is for people to see themselves in literature. My friend’s teen daughter came with us this past weekend to help with filming the Fake Chocolate book trailer, and she said she likes to read, but the minute the character is described it throws her out of the story, because it’s always someone who looks nothing like her. Sci-fi in particular has very few Latina protagonists – but I have a number of friends who are super into Sci-fi even though they don’t see themselves reflected there. I was talking with one of my best friends late one night about what she loves about the Marvel Universe, and Star Trek, and Avatar the Last Airbender (seriously, we went on the Paramont Studio Tour together last time we were in California just to see the Star Trek stuff) – and our shared fangirling was part of the influence behind the Chocoverse. I even gave the character my friend’s last name. She told me all she wants is the hashtag #BenitezGirlsRock . Use it liberally, por favor. What was the start of the Chocoverse Trilogy? Why Chocolate? The first book in the trilogy is Free Chocolate. Imagine a future where the aliens make first contact. Only, the guys who show up are commodities brokers intent on taking samples. They get coffee cherries and sugar cane. Pero like . . . they make a translation mistake and miss chocolate. Chocolate becomes the only thing Earth has to trade with the galaxy, which makes Earth’s economy extremely unstable. Fast forward a hundred years, and the whole situation has come to a breaking point. Little does Earth know, but there’s an alien coalition debating whether to declare war to open Earth’s borders to force trade. And there’s internal war brewing over misuse of power in the company that controls Earth’s mega-secure cacao plantations. And there’s secrets. And history between planets and peoples. And there’s a failed telenovela star, who suffered scandal and tried to isolate herself by enrolling in culinary arts program on a backwater planet far far away. Except – Bo’s still a bit naive and optimistic, despite everything, and is convinced that if she takes a gig with the big, cold company, she can steal a cacao pod, share it with a select group of aliens, and by ending the monopoly on chocolate, bring balance to her world. Sound like the setup for a telenovela in itself? Yeah. That’s intentional. As to the chocolate? I’d done a couple of cruise lectures about cooking/gardening for Royal Caribbean and wound up visiting a cacao plantation the day after I’d done a craft chocolate tasting aboard the ship. The different takes on chocolate from my audience – some of whom were horrified by the flavors in dark chocolate and broke into my “ooops I ran out of the expensive stuff, here’s some milk chocolate from the store” bag, and some who were converted to looking for flavor notes in dark chocolate for life – juxtaposed against watching a demo the farmers did on hand-grinding cacao – it was something I wanted to explore more. There’s a lot to chocolate as a plant, as a superfood, as an economic indicator. The fascination colored the series, especially as I started interacting with craft chocolate makers, chocolate sourcers and farmers. Personally, I find Humor the hardest to write. I am curious how you view writing Humor and how do you approach it? There has to be a balance to it. Humor only works if there’s something at stake for the characters, and something more serious you are trying to say underneath it. My novels are very much about overcoming prejudice and finding mercy, peace and hope. That could easily come across as preachy or cloying. The humor – some of which comes along with some really dark moments – cuts the sweetness. Strange Alliances said I indulged in, “rather canny writing which balances raucous humour with downright nastiness.” Yeah. They get me. At a con this summer, the guy who introduced me for my reading said my premise sounded like a 4-AM bar bet (fair, no?) but with thoughtful underpinnings. He asked how I’d pulled that off. It’s research. You have to know the real-world facts of anything you introduce. Yeah, I know, I play fast and loose with the genetic possibilities of aliens actually being able to have kids with Earthlings, and with the medical stuff that happens to poor Bo – but as inaccurate as that stuff is, it’s calculated, because it’s EXACTLY how it would be done in a novela or a space opera series. And that’s what makes it funny. I think I did a better job of explaining the tropes I was doing a send-up of in Books 2 and 3, to help audiences who aren’t familiar with soap opera get the jokes. People who hadn’t watched those kinds of shows before came away a bit confused as to what the book was trying to do. At one point when we were discussing how to get a wider audience for the second book, my agent asked if I was planning on making Bo my ‘verse’s Deadpool to be able to better set up the jokes, but I finally decided that since she didn’t break the fourth wall in the first book, it would be weird if she did it later on. She comes close, though. What are some of the most common questions aspiring writers ask and what seems to help them the most? How do I finish a novel? This is probably the most common question I get, from both teens and adults. There seems to be a barrier at 2,000 words where the new wears off, and people start to realize that maybe the shiny in their heads reads like mud on the page. So they start a new project, because that’s easier. And the new’s back. Until they hit 2,000 words again. But you know what? There’s never going to be an idea alone that will get you past that barrier. I think outlining helps, and other prep steps like character interviews, maps, and writing out how the history/tech/etc. works in the world. But you can get caught in that step and never actually do the writing. There is no shortcut – you have to write your first novel. It will be a learning experience. Most likely, it will be awful. But it will teach you how all the moving parts of a novel work. And once you finish it, you will realize that yes, you can do this. And then, you will have a manuscript on which to practice all the other writing advice people will give you as you edit that raw draft into something better. How much is your writing influenced by the south and North Texas in general? The DFW Metroplex is a heavily multicultural area, which I feel is reflected in the worlds I create. It is also a great area for fandoms, as we have FenCon and Fan Expo Dallas. I wind up making a lot of fan-ish references in the Chocoverse books. It is part of the in-verse shtick that the wide variety of aliens Earth encounters after first contact view Earth Sci-Fi as quirky cult classics – and that some of the same movies popular now are getting their 374th sequel. We also have DallasChocolate.org, which holds a huge chocolate festival each year – and a hugely talented group of local chocolate makers and chocolatiers. You can guess how big of an influence that has been. Are they any good resources in Texas you have found that have helped you and others in your writing? Check out Writer’s Organizations ‘Round Dallas. WORD has a calendar of local writing events and a map of writing organizations. There are so many groups catering to all genres and writing levels. Personally, I teach for both Writing Workshops Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington Continuing Education Department, and would love to hear from interested students. Are there creators in Texas that you are enjoying their work? What other creators are you enjoying? These three are local: Rhonda Eudaley also does space opera. My favorite work by her is Tarbox Station. Bill Ledbetter has a novel out called Level 5. (I think there’s a sequel either out or in the works.) It’s a lot more serious that what I do, but it has a ton of interesting things to say about AIs. A Lee Martinez does fun sci-fi and fantasy. I’m a fan of anything involving robots and love things with mystery/thriller elements, so I recommend checking out his The Automatic Detective. What upcoming writings do you have coming up that you can share with us? The Chocoverse Trilogy is done with Fake Chocolate, which just launched April 14. So for those of you who like to wait for a series to be done so you can binge read all at once: now’s the time to get your chocolate fix on. Seriously. People tell me my books make them hungry. You want to at least have some hot cocoa or something in the house. If you want a sample story, I have one called Sublingual Breakdown available now through Bookfunnel that you can download. My project for the summer involves a time traveling bachelorette party. If I can actually manage to write a time travel book that holds together logic-wise, it’s going to be amazing. Is White Chocolate really Chocolate? Yes and no. Yes, in the same way that bacon and pepperoni are really pork. If you’re avoiding pork, you’re not just going to eat rendered bacon fat, because it comes from the same source as pork chops, right? White chocolate is made of cocoa butter, which is pressed out of the cacao beans and separated from the solids that make up the percentage of cacao you see marked on many chocolate bars. I consider it chocolate, and use it in There Are Herbs in My Chocolate as the chocolate component in several chocolate/culinary herb paired recipes. (Try the White Chocolate Grilled Sourdough with Chimichurri Sauce. It will change your life!) If you open up a bag of pure cocoa butter and take a whiff, your brain definitely registers chocolate notes – because you can’t completely separate the fat from the cacao. And this question itself is a slippery slope. I mean, is a Hershey Bar chocolate? After all, milk chocolate is only required by law to contain 10% cocoa solids. Which is a far cry from the 70%-85% bars that craft chocolate makers have on offer to show off single origin cacao beans. But some people are going to prefer a 10% bar. Who am I to tell them that it isn’t chocolate? Or that their preference isn’t valid? People start to debate what is and isn’t chocolate when you hit the percentage of their favorite bar. But that leads me to the no answer. TECHNICALLY white chocolate isn’t chocolate, because it doesn’t have a percentage to put it on the scale of chocolate types. Still, the USDA regulates it along with other chocolate products. Personally, I like caramelized white chocolate (sometimes called blonde chocolate) better than traditional white chocolate. It has elements that taste similar to dulce de leche, which adds depth to the sweetness, while at the same time keeping the chocolaty notes. ---- Amber Royer is the author of the high-energy comic space opera Chocoverse Trilogy. Book 3, Fake Chocolate, was just released April 14. Binge the whole trilogy, starting with a dose of Free Chocolate now! Free Chocolate Book Trailer Pure Chocolate Book Trailer Already caught up? Here’s the synopsis for Fake Chocolate: When disease ravages Earth's cacao plantations, Bo Benitez returns home to help with the media spin to hide that chocolate is in danger of being lost forever. HGB has come up with a new product - one which doesn't appease the cocoa-addicted murderous, shark-toothed aliens threatening to invade the planet. Someone has to smooth things out. Just when Bo starts to make headway, someone tries to kidnap her. While trying to avoid more would-be-kidnappers, Bo finds out that HGB is developing a cure for withdrawal from the Invincible Heart. Will she let her need to be physically whole again tie her to HGB and its enigmatic CEO? When she gets a key piece of evidence that would unravel secrets from three different planets, she has tough choices to make about the future of her world and its place in the galaxy. Follow Amber: Website, Instagram, TikTok: AmberRoyerAuthor Longer Bio: Amber Royer writes the CHOCOVERSE comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series (available from Angry Robot Books and Golden Tip Press). She is also co-author of the cookbook There are Herbs in My Chocolate, which combines culinary herbs and chocolate in over 60 sweet and savory recipes, and had a long-running column for Dave’s Garden, where she covered gardening and crafting. She blogs about creative writing technique and all things chocolate related over at www.amberroyer.com. She also teaches creative writing in person in North Texas for both UT Arlington Continuing Education and Writing Workshops Dallas. If you are very nice to her, she might make you cupcakes. By David Doub Please describe your background from Funimation to E-Sports to HomeCon I've grown up as a fan of entertainment and believe, like many others, that it shapes who we are as a person. This brought me to working at Funimation for about 10 years in marketing and events, social media, and business development. In the past few years, I've transitioned to esports as a new challenge in another emerging market. Eventually I became VP of Events at Envy Gaming in an effort to build out new local experiences for fans and launched the first ever home game in esports history showcasing the Dallas Fuel to 9,000 attendees over the weekend at Allen Event Center. Now, I’m taking on a side-project putting together a first-of-its-kind online fan convention called HomeCon. Could you describe what exactly is HomeCon? HomeCon connects individuals who are respectfully staying at home to an online event community that’s bringing a brand new face to the world of pop culture conventions. Attendees will have the opportunity to attend live virtual panels with the stars of their favorite shows via Twitch.tv/homeconofficial —and they will be able to book video chats with celebs in intimate one-on-one video settings. How did HomeCon come about? Paul Amos reached out to me about 2 weeks ago about an idea he and Lost Girl cohort Rachel Skarsten had discussed about providing some sort of experience for fans to see and meet their favorite actors during this social distancing era. Having worked with both of them in the past during my stint at Funimation and considering my experience with fan engagement and events, Paul thought I’d be a good fit to brainstorm and develop this new way of connecting fans with talent. What is your involvement with HomeCon? I’ve done a little bit of everything. Event strategy, live production, business development such as securing a Twitch partnership in under a week, and helping to build a team of amazing people with incredibly diverse skill sets to get HomeCon off the ground. I’m also hosting a handful of the panels with talent from Lost Girl, The Expanse, Shadowhunters, and Lucifer. What were some of the challenges in getting an event like HomeCon starter so quickly? Time, technology, and communication. Trying to get this out the door as fast as possible to satisfy the needs of fans who are lacking this type of engagement due to conventions around the world getting cancelled has been a challenge. No single platform or service really satisfies all the needs fans have to get the best experience, so we’ve had to work with multiple partners like Twitch, Zoom, and Acuity Scheduling. Getting the word out to these groups of people, finding the right talent, and making sure everyone understands how the event will work has been no easy task. Where do you see HomeCon gong in the future? Is this a one-time thing for a unique time or is their plans to grow it? The future of conventions and events will be impacted by this COVID-19 pandemic forever. While what we’re exactly doing with HomeCon may evolve, we think this could be a long-term recurring event with many different iterations that address the needs of the various fandoms. What are some of your favorite parts of HomeCon? Rallying together as a team has been amazing. This has been a truly humbling experience to see how passionate everyone is-- actors, fandom, and production team alike. There’s absolutely no way this could have been possible without the unique combination of individuals and incredible support we’ve received. Who are your personal favorite guests for HomeCon? Who are you geeking out over? Being on the hosting and production end of this, I try to be as professional as possible in every interaction - or else I wouldn’t get to do this again. Though, my personal favorite franchise over the past few years has been The Expanse. What are some of your personal favorite conventions? Every convention has its moments. I like them for very different reasons and my preferences have changed as my life and priorities change. Last year was actually the smallest amount of conventions I’ve attended in the past decade, due to focusing on producing our own events for Envy Gaming. Though, I still managed to make it out to some of the big ones like E3, DragonCon, PAX East/West, Anime Expo, and BlizzCon. I can definitely appreciate a more intimate convention also. Any cons want to invite me out as a guest? What are some of your favorite convention memories? Too many to really recall. With going to maybe 10-15 cons a year for about a decade, I could do an entire interview just on this. Being a nerd during these challenging times, is there anything you’d like to say to all your fellow nerds out there? Just keep doing what you love. While we can’t congregate physically, there are endless options to share and experience our fandom digitally. But be cordial online and let other people enjoy what they love too. https://linktr.ee/homeconofficial By Melissa D. McGinnis
How did you get into the nerdy realms? What were some of your earliest nerdy memories? I feel like I’ve always been a nerdy and done nerdy stuff but my first real memory is my dad getting me comics for the first time. That is when I became obsessed with superheroes. X-men are my favorite but I can do any marvel character. What genre(s) do you write? What is/are the title(s) of your book(s)? LGBT+ based novels. I have always wanted to give a voice to those who feel like they don’t have one. My books are Drag Queen Zombies, Toys In The Attic, Superteen, Liar Liar Fangs On Fire, Monsters, Smile, Survivor, Polaroid and short stories all available on Amazon.com What did you get into first, cosplay or vending at events? What are some of the different bits of satisfaction you get from these? The first even I ever did was called the East Texas Book Bash. I literally had two books and nothing else. I was terrified and just sat there waiting for people to come up for my books and buy them. I didn’t really make money until the last 30 mins. But it made me want to do more. It is satisfying and to know that I am out there representing the LGBT+ Community. What is your favorite con story? So it was recent at All-Con. I had this kid , probably about 12 or 13, and he was starring at me and had walked by like three times before he stopped and bought buttons. They had flags and rainbows on them but he said he had to hide them from his mom because she didn’t know he was gay. It just made me feel so strongly about what I was doing and who I was and how it made a mark on people. He needs acceptance and love. That’s all he needs and not to hide. What are some of your favorite events? I loved Kilgore Geekend, East Texas Book Bash, Athens Comic Co and Tyler Comic Con Who are some of your favorite local authors? What are other local authors doing that you really appreciate and/or admire? There are two that I met that are wonderful people. C.J. Peterson and Courtney Shockey. Not only are they good authors but they are good people that have help me out. With the crossover of Cosplay and Modeling with the increased focus of Body Positivity, who do view how Cosplay has dealt with this subject? I feel like it has done its best. It doesn’t limit people but it can’t control the world and their opinions. In mine, I love to see Body Positive people rock the same thing a “Skinny” person is wearing. What is your opinion on the aggressive growth of all the nerd conventions and events in North and East Texas? It is wonderful. People need more places to nerd out and be themselves. Some people can’t afford to go to huge cons so little ones are there place to be. Who are some of your favorite local non-author vendors? What are some clever vendors out there local that you think, “I wish I thought of that!”? A Non-Author I really like is Dandelion Creations. She does soap and perfume and all kinds of smell good stuff and of course Bath Bombs. I am a sucker for a Bath Bomb. And to the second question there was one guy with a giant glass case featuring his books with lights and stuff and I was like that’s so cool and inventive. Any final thoughts? Be you because being you is beautiful. Muah. By Melissa Jones McGinnis
How did you get into the nerdy realms? What were some of your earliest nerdy memories? In truth, I think I was born a nerd and/or geek. I’ve always been a bit bookish, prone to reading things about history, geography and a host of other subjects from a very young age. Born disabled, I learned to read at age 3, probably out of necessity. But this fed my imagination and allowed me a very real (to me anyway) escape from the bonds of a body that wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do. I wrote my first short story when I was 9 years old. Honestly, that’s one of my first nerdy memories. That or the Superman lunchbox I had in Kindergarten. I remember seeing Superman II in theaters. I remember seeing the original Star Wars in theaters (I was barely 3 when it came out, yet I can remember it clear as day. One of the last real memories I have of that period of my life.) I eat, sleep and breathe geekdom. From G1 Transformers and GI Joe to the Syndicated Star Trek Original Series, these shows were my escape. I turned 46 March of 2020 and I still enjoy those shows… What genre(s) do you write? What is/are the title(s) of your book(s)? I’m known for my fiction. I somewhat “created” my genre. I refer to them collectively as “Detective Thrillers”. My Mendez Series is an ongoing series of detective books, set in and around my native East Texas area. Each book is a bit different, combining elements of a true “Whodunit?”, a Suspense tale, the conventional Thriller and a good old fashioned Mystery at time. Each book is different. In one book, you don’t know who the killer is until right at the very end. In another, not only do you know, you actually spend half the book in the killer’s POV. So, given the way the series varies, I lump them together as “Detective Thrillers.” I also have a YA Suspense story called Sutter’s Cave. Most recently, I compiled a collection of letters my grandfather wrote when he was in WW2 and released them in a book. I added a bit of history in the beginning for context but the focus of the book is the collection of thoughts written by my grandfather from the European theater. What did you get into first, cosplay or vending at events? What are some of the different bits of satisfaction you get from these? I attended my first Con in 2014. It was just as an attendee. Just wandering around, looking at everything, star struck by all the celebrities. That kind of thing. But I immediately knew it would be a good place to sell my books. I’m a nerd. I’m a geek. I love books. As I looked around at what they were buying, I noticed books were among the top things they were buying. Sure, they bought swords, t-shirts, comics, prints, and took the obligatory photo op. But there was a market for books, so I jumped on it in 2015. As of 2020, I’ve become somewhat of a regular on the scene. I have an established (if growing) following and that’s a nice thing. It’s always wonderful to see the same faces eager to see what I’ve been up to since the last event. It’s a very humbling feeling, if I’m being honest. What is your favorite con story? I have so many wonderful con stories, but my favorite one is somewhat negative in a way. I can look back on it and laugh now, but it was a learning experience. Long story short, I started going to the cons in 2014, as I said above. By 2016, I had decided I wanted to try cosplay. I am not a builder. Not “crafty” so I knew I was going to buy something rather than try to make it. Being a lover of MANY “fandoms”, It was difficult, but I finally decided to go in Star Trek TNG cosplay. I bought an Admiral’s coat, Fleet Admiral Rank Pips, the whole thing. I looked pretty good, all things considered. I wound up getting my friends to go with me, also in cosplay. At one point, they were waiting in line for a picture with someone from one of the rare fandoms I know nothing about. So, I was off to the side, in my wheelchair, just holding everyone’s stuff while they waited in line. Suddenly, this tall, gangly, young guy walked up to me, scowling like I’d just kicked his mother in the head or something. The closer he got, the more pursed his lips became. As he reached me, he looked me up and down and scoffed, “Admiral?” Even though I admit I was a tad nervous, I tried to diffuse the situation. I smiled, pointed to my collar and said, “Fleet Admiral!” Still agitated, he said, “Bit presumptuous ain’t it?” Still smiling, I said, “Well, no.” I pointed to my wheelchair and said, “Here’s my ship.” Then I pointed to my friends and said, “There’s my crew.” Still mad, he paused for a minute and finally walked away. My entire countenance fell. My day had been ruined. Or had it? Because, you see, before the kid was even out of earshot, a young girl walked up to me. She was maybe 17. Wearing a Star Trek TNG uniform and Lieutenant pips. And a battery operated tribble that shook and giggled when you squeezed it. Smiling, she saluted and said, “Hi Admiral!” I saluted back and said, “Nice to see you, Lieutenant!” We talked for a few seconds and she asked me if she could take a picture with me. I told her she could if she let me hold the tribble. She agreed. In a moment, what WAS the worst day of my con experience became one of my favorite days even years later. Within seconds, I found the lowest of the low and the highest of the high. And it’s all due to the perceptions of others. But I did learn a great lesson that day. Not everyone is nice. And that’s okay. For every person like that guy there are three like the young girl that made my day so great. What are some of your favorite events? Kilgore Geekend is my home. I look forward to it every year. I schedule my year around it. If anything else is scheduled on that weekend, it won’t happen. My people are there. Another great one is Tyler Comic Con. I’ve been going to both of them since the beginning. I’ve only missed one or two years, due to health problems. And only when I absolutely could not go. Who are some of your favorite local authors? What are other local authors doing that you really appreciate and/or admire? CJ Peterson and LM Mann are kind of my road buddies. My fellow Sabine ISD Alum Sandra Biersdorfer too. We go a lot of places together. Also, Mike Clifton and Mike Wigington. We’ve done a lot of the same events recently. They are constant faces in my world. I must also mention Anne Belle and Paul Petty. CL Parks and Patty Wiseman are each a literary force to be reckoned with in their respective genres. Honestly, I’ve been around this business for a long time. I’ve seen authors come and go. But if I were to try and list every author that I enjoy or every author that is talented or gifted or really good at XYZ, we’d be here a very long time. With the crossover of Cosplay and Modeling with the increased focus of Body Positivity, who do view how Cosplay has dealt with this subject? I don’t really know if I have a thought on it, to be honest. I’m not a cosplay person per se. I’m an author who has done cosplay once or twice. There are people some might think do cosplay an injustice by doing this or that. Others might think I’m a disservice to cosplay because I’m in a wheelchair and cosplayed a Star Trek TNG Admiral. I think people need to be able to express themselves. My books are not for everyone. The same could be said for certain cosplayers. Some go more risqué than others for example. Some events might cater to a more risqué audience and not want persons more tamed in their costuming. You’re always going to be “Too” something for some people. Whether you’re a writer, artist, cosplayer or any other creative person, just remember these words…. “Those aren’t your people.” What is your opinion on the aggressive growth of all the nerd conventions and events in North and East Texas? For me personally, I’d go to a new one every week if they were near to me. That being said, I worried for a while about the saturation in the Ark-La-Tex area. Unfortunately, cons have come and gone and new cons have started in their place and died after just a year or two. The reality is there’s only so much money in a person’s pocket at any given event. If we had more opportunities locally, there’d be more opportunities to get our various products in the hands of people. But, in order to accomplish that, you’d just about have to be a millionaire. The reality is smaller cons are rarely profitable, in the sense of making enough money to put another one on next month. Still. I see all these small East Texas Towns around here and I just feel like we need to bring these small communities together by having vendor fairs and cons in areas where they don’t have to drive an hour or three. Who are some of your favorite local non-author vendors? What are some clever vendors out there local that you think, “I wish I thought of that!”? I can’t name anyone by name, but I enjoy these events tremendously. I tend to migrate toward the t-shirt vendors myself, but I have met a tone of artists out there. I learn something new at each event. Whether it’s taking payments via paypal (something I had not done before) or having author merch available to support my books. Like I said, I’ve been around a while, so I’ve tried a lot, but the biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s always something to learn. If we ever get back to a level of public safety where these events can continue, I promise you I will learn something new each time. I believe Bruce Lee said it best, when discussing his martial arts philosophy. “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is uniquely your own.” I’ve built my career on that philosophy and the great advice of others over the years. Any final thoughts? Whether we are authors, cosplayers, artists, voice actors or any other participant in events, we are family. Without regard for race, religion, creed, color, birth gender, gender identity or level of ability, we are one family. In a world that chastises people who CHOOSE to be one way or the other, we are uniquely positioned to be the leaders of tomorrow by respecting the differences of others. Find somebody different from you. And make them your friend. One pebble may be miniscule, but even the tiniest pebble can create ripples in the largest ocean. Here’s to the waves we will make in years to come. Love you al |
AuthorNorth Texas Nerd is a site for news, reviews, interviews, and opinions about all pop culture and geeky things happening and being made in North Texas. Archives
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