There’s nothing like a well-run ‘con, and veterans of the circuit know the feel of competence, from the preliminary materials and communications to the execution of the event on site. Chief character of this con? The Biltmore Graduate hotel. Still proudly wearing the Biltmore name, this fine building shares con duty with the Omni Hotel here in Providence, Rhode Island. There’s even a Time Machine.

Bright and early, a strong crowd gathered for New York State of Mind: Lovecraft’s New York Period, a panel assembled, far as I can tell, to give a platform to David Goodwin and his book Midnight Rambles: Lovecraft in Gotham. Goodwin and his fellow panelists discussed New York City’s influence on Lovecraft, not shying away from that author’s oft-discussed racism and how his exposure to a variety of immigrants from around the world changed the writer.

The “New York State of Mind” panel

Author readings are a regular part of each day of the con. In this community of fans of weird fiction, a strong population of writers, ranging from professional to self-published, work in this genre. One notable author, Scott R. Jones, read from his just published a hot second ago novel, Drill.

Later in the day, Michael Moorcock, No Gods, No Masters drew my eye (it can’t be all Lovecraft all the time even here, can it?), where knowledgeable panelists reviewed his “work, legacy, and political activism” and it was here I heard the legend who invented Elric yet draws breath on our mortal earth. Who knew?

Author Jones from his table in the Vendor’s Hall

There’s nothing like being here, where on Friday one also could enjoy a panel about Lovecraftian mythos on heavy metal, a review of an early adapter of Lovecraft, Shigeru Mizuki, who A) is a big deal, and B) manga-fied “The Dunwich Horror” in the 1940’s.

Or one might witness the solo performance by Robert Lloyd Perry of “A Warning to the Curious,” said to be inspired by “the author’s holidays on the east coast of England” in which someone gets haunted and hunted (sounds like a bad combo).

The fun goes into the evening with a “Eldritch Ball” to which your intrepid reporter does not have tickets.

Ah, the Biltmore, I mean Graduate

As far as cons go, Necronomicon is well-organized. Signage is limited, however, and as a pal from the ‘con circuit, a bookseller hunting for signatures on books observed, no signing events scheduled. And the fun of it is, THE FUN OF IT IS, it isn’t even Saturday yet!