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The Shore Leave post-mortem thread

K

KLauderdale

Writer
Red Shirt
It's still going on, but . . .

1) The recession has hit: fewer attendees; and the olives in my martini, which used to be the size of my thumbs, are now on the size of my pinkie tips.

2) People will talk more about the KRAD roast, but I'm sure everyone will agree that Kirsten Beyer brought the house down. She's 8.5 months pregnant, and couldn't attend in person, so she sent a video. It's just the camera trained on her while her husband tries to find one of Keith's books for her to read aloud from. Her mounting frustration / boredom is priceless.

3) The weather has been awesome.
 
Committee says they're happy with the attendance although I don't have the final numbers. The coffee shop is worse than usual with selections and higher prices. The best news was that the vending machines switched from Pepsi to Coke. Personally, been having a great time with my fellow authors.
 
Yeah, I decided, too, that they need to replace the drink fridge in the coffee shop.

So how was the rest of the con? We left this morning almost literally at the crack of dawn. I was surprised at the amount of traffic at 6:30 -- says this small town girl.
 
Home safe and sound here as well. Had a good time at the con, even though the hotel decided not to AC the hallways--every time I went to my room it was like walking through a sauna.

Bob Greenberger said:
Committee says they're happy with the attendance although I don't have the final numbers. The coffee shop is worse than usual with selections and higher prices.
Click to expand...

If you have the time next year, walk across the street to Wegmans. It's got better food for less money. We took Mack over there for lunch on Saturday and had a good meal.
 
It certainly felt a lot smaller than previous cons, but I chalked it up more to a lack of big-name guests than anything. My vendor buddies tell me that people are still spending money in the dealer room, and the one dealer I noticed was absent was due to simple unavailability rather than the economy.

I have noticed that the Hunt Valley Marriott's quality has lessened a bit. Two breakfasts in a row were wrong, with the second one including free dirty dishes! Yay!

I loved the Pocket panels - I agree with you - Kirsten killed with her video. I wanna know - when will the DVD be available to purchase? I wanted to hear the dialog from the TAS short, but couldn't over the howling laughter!
 
^That sounds ominous :shifty:. What kind of shenanigan's did you get up to Mr. Leisner :vulcan:?
 
I spent the entire roast thinking that I really don't want to be infamous enough for them to pull this on me, but a morbid part of my curiosity was piqued as to what they would say.

It was either that, or go down to the bar and drink. And drinking during the roast was way more fun. ;)

I'm with Bill, though. Best Shore Leave in a very long time. Even though I didn't have a new book to pimp except Wounds, it was a great show spent in the proverbial (only sometimes) embrace of people who've become like family to me in many ways. Next year, fun. One novel and one anthology to pimp, maybe more if I make another anthology this year, and the book launching my original universe will finally make it out.

And I got sucked into the Saturday night poker game. Life, as they say, is good. :)
 
So was there anything revealed about the new books, that wasn't said on Trekmovie.com?
 
Random Shore Leave Thoughts:

-It was only my 2nd Shore Leave, but it was even better than my first one.

-WTF is up with hotels and "soft" beds? Some of us LIKE a firm mattress, not a pile of mush. I walked around in pain for days due to crummy too-soft hotel beds. :p

-Food Prices. Hunt Valley Marriott seems to think it's an important hotel and charges for food accordingly. I've been to Europe and been gouged less for food. :p So I ate off-premises almost all of the time. The drinks cooler in the little snack bar didn't cool the drinks at all, so I didn't buy any. Happily, at least one of the vending machines sold cold water (and it was cheaper and a larger size than at the snack bar.)

-The weather. Ah, perfect. Just perfect! Given that as I sit typing, it's 93 outside of my house. Alas. I want to go back to Baltimore.

-The Roast. Hilarious. Kirsten was so funny. And over the course of the weekend, "The Roast" seemed to keep going on and on. :D

-The Roast again. I keep thinking, "Man if my mods did that to me, I'd be so hosed!" :D

-The dealer room was better than the first time I went (2 years ago.)

-The new book presentation went way too quickly. I could barely take notes.

-Friendliness. The authors were their usual friendly selves. I could blame it all on general drunkenness perhaps, but early Friday night, they weren't *quite* inebriated yet.

-Ann Crispin's Writing Workshop. I did the Saturday one, and cursed the fact that I would miss out on the Sunday one.

Finances and life permitting, I'll be back next year!

So how was the rest of the con? We left this morning almost literally at the crack of dawn. I was surprised at the amount of traffic at 6:30 -- says this small town girl.
Click to expand...

That was traffic?
 
T'Bonz said:
-Friendliness. The authors were their usual friendly selves. I could blame it all on general drunkenness perhaps, but early Friday night, they weren't *quite* inebriated yet.
Click to expand...

That depends on how early you ran into either Mack or me. And whether or not you ran into Dave on Saturday. How'd Dayton put it? "Death on a Triscuit"?
 
Well you and I (I think!) started at the roast as by the time the Meet-n-Greet was going, neither were feeling any pain. I must admit, a roast is normally funny but double that after a drink or two. :D

I don't know Mack as well as some of the others, so wasn't in his vicinity to know if he was sober or not.

It's probably a safe bet that the longer the day went on, the less sober people were. ;)
 
I didn't know what to expect from the roast, and I loved it. Kirsten's video was definitely a highlight. And a KRAD muppet double?! Brilliant!
 
T'Bonz said:
-Friendliness. The authors were their usual friendly selves. I could blame it all on general drunkenness perhaps, but early Friday night, they weren't *quite* inebriated yet.
Click to expand...
Friday night I was snookered from about 7:15pm until I finally collapsed on the bathroom floor in my hotel room around 4am.

TerriO said:
That depends on how early you ran into either Mack or me. And whether or not you ran into Dave on Saturday. How'd Dayton put it? "Death on a Triscuit"?
Click to expand...
:guffaw:

T'Bonz said:
I don't know Mack as well as some of the others, so wasn't in his vicinity to know if he was sober or not.
Click to expand...
Friday = not sober.
Saturday = hung over
Sunday = sober and exhausted
 
David Mack said:
T'Bonz said:
-Friendliness. The authors were their usual friendly selves. I could blame it all on general drunkenness perhaps, but early Friday night, they weren't *quite* inebriated yet.
Click to expand...
Friday night I was snookered from about 7:15pm until I finally collapsed on the bathroom floor in my hotel room around 4am.

TerriO said:
That depends on how early you ran into either Mack or me. And whether or not you ran into Dave on Saturday. How'd Dayton put it? "Death on a Triscuit"?
Click to expand...
:guffaw:

T'Bonz said:
I don't know Mack as well as some of the others, so wasn't in his vicinity to know if he was sober or not.
Click to expand...
Friday = not sober.
Saturday = hung over
Sunday = sober and exhausted
Click to expand...

Hung over but hanging in gamely and still being nice to fans and signing autographs all day Saturday. That's class.
And to not just David Mack, but all of the authors, and Margaret Clark and Marco Palmieri, thanks for being there and indulging your fans for the weekend. We do appreciate it.
 
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