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Necronomicon Report: They Stir

Necronomicon Report: They Stir

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Opening ceremonies, featuring our emissaries from space and the sea

With organ and dance, in august surroundings (in August, no less), we celebrated the sixth Necronomicon’s beginning here in Providence, Rhode Island. This every-two-years con gave every appearance of being organized, thoughtful, and creative, and their Thursday game is strong. Very strong. Opening ceremonies took place in the First Baptist church, an amazing space for this event as it comes equipped with a kick-ass organ. Summoning Cthulhu, an ebon-winged bird figure flew (with their feet, no wire work or actual magic here) to the organ and then blew the doors off the place, which was handy because it was a bit hot.

We had more music during the hour of the event, interspersed with brief words of welcome, a poem, and the visit of a number of emissaries from the depths of space and/or the deeps of the sea. By mystical control of the elements, a thunderstorm blew through Providence at just the right moment, followed by scarlet illumination by the lights of emergency vehicles rolling past. And the sirens, oh, the sirens, their shriek will forever fill my ears….

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Necronomicon Coming

Necronomicon Coming

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Not the book of cosmically horrible… stuff, we’ll say “stuff” and let that be that, shall we? Not the Necronomicon of dread lore and Lovecraftian literary shenanigans. No, Necronomicon, as in a ‘con, Providence, Rhode Island, beginning August 15. Following in the upswell of interest in Lovecraft — or, more accurately, an uptick in cultural stuff (there’s that word again!) that relates to Lovecraft — the organizers of this event have reanimated it, and from all the early signs they’ve done a great job. It’s got a serious academic track record (adroitly renamed to protect the dignity of academic vitas), a gala ball or somesuch grand event, and other elements beyond description and if you’re interested visit the website already.

Who am I? Writer, academic, gamer, internet bon vivant1, and for a few volunteer shifts I’ll be keeping an eye on the gaming track at the ‘con.2 Watch this space for updates as the ‘con commences 8/15/24.

1 — I officially distance myself from any real claim of bon or vivant in the context of the internet.
2 — Yeah, I noticed this ‘con far too late to submit a paper to present to the academic track, or to even get on the reading schedule.

Goth Chick News: Buckle Up – We’re Going to the Fan Expo

Goth Chick News: Buckle Up – We’re Going to the Fan Expo

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Way back in 2010, Black Gate photog Chris Z suggested we check out the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con. This was by no means a new event in our fair city. In fact, the Chicago Comic Con was first held at the Playboy Towers Hotel (yes, that Playboy) in 1972. Wizard World, original publishers of the famous Wizard Magazine, purchased the event in 1996, giving it nationwide publicity and eventually expanded to host similar events in nearly twenty cities.

By 2011 it was the largest convention of its kind in Chicago, and though it wasn’t strictly in the idiom of GCN, the show runners were gracious and granted us press passes that year. It turned out to be one of our favorite events and we have covered it every year since.

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Rules for Me and Thee, It Turns Out

Rules for Me and Thee, It Turns Out

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Good afterevenmorn!

My social timelines have been abuzz… alright, they were abuzz a couple of weeks ago, I’m slow… with the news that a certain writer is a wee bit miffed that their attempts to be included in the programming at Worldcon this year had been left unanswered, resulting in their exclusion in the programming. Which on the surface, is not a great look for Worldcon.

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Goth Chick News – It’s Never Too Early to Talk About Halloween

Goth Chick News – It’s Never Too Early to Talk About Halloween

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Let me start by saying yes, I know it’s only June, aka ‘summer’…

But here in the subterranean office of Goth Chick News we literally only hit pause on Halloween for the last two weeks of December, and then grudgingly. Aside from that we are either thinking about, planning for, or attending Halloween activities and we are definitely not alone.

For example, we were crushed this year to miss out on our annual February sabbatical to the Halloween and Attractions Show industry convention in St. Louis, which is the normal kickoff event of the Goth Chick year. Our incredible friends at Transworld who run that event also hold another event closer to home, and this is where Black Gate photog Chris Z and I spent last Saturday.

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Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: Welcome to Kanawha Spa – The Wolfe Pack 2024 Greenbrier Weekend

Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone: Welcome to Kanawha Spa – The Wolfe Pack 2024 Greenbrier Weekend

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So, last month, I joined fellow Wolfe Pack members for a long weekend at The Greenbrier Resort, in West Virginia. It was the fifth trip there for the group, though my first. It’s only a four hour-plus drive, which isn’t much for a Midwestern guy who also lived in Colorado and Texas.

Too Many Cooks is the fifth Nero Wolfe novel. I think it’s better than the four prior ones, and it’s the first where the series really starts to take off. It was followed by Some Buried Caesar. I think those two together, mark the beginning of excellence for the Wolfe Corpus.

Wolfe and Archie travel to Kanawha Spa, where a chef is murdered. Kanawha is the Greenbrier, which is why the Wolfe Pack sojourns there. It’s a VERY fancy resort, known for it’s golf courses (it was on the PGA tour before a flood wrecked things a bit), and for having a Cold War bunker for White House officials. It was never used, but you can take a tour of it now (I did not).

Here’s the Toast to Nero Wolfe I gave at the first dinner.

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GEN CON WRITERS’ SYMPOSIUM AUG 1-4, 2024: SPECIAL GUESTS AND PROGRAM RELEASE

GEN CON WRITERS’ SYMPOSIUM AUG 1-4, 2024: SPECIAL GUESTS AND PROGRAM RELEASE

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Gen Con Writers’ Symposium

This post announces our 2024 Special Guests and reveals the Program. May 19th is the official registration day, but attendees can wishlist their events now!

Gen Con is the largest tabletop gaming convention in North America. In 2023, they welcomed over 70,000 unique visitors and offered over 19,000 events. By its nature, Gen Con attracts a large number of attendees who enjoy speculative fiction across formats. Gen Con 2024 will be held August 1-4 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Gen Con Writers’ Symposium is a semi-independent event hosted by Gen Con. It’s focused on writers of games and speculative fiction of all experience levels, but with as much fun and interest for gamers, readers, and fans. All registration is handled through the Gen Con website.  In the past 28 years, the Writers’ Symposium has grown from a small set of panels over a day or two of the convention to one of the largest convention-hosted writing tracks in North America, offering hundreds of hours of programming from 70+ authors, editors, agents, and publishers to nearly 3000 unique visitors per year on average.  We’ll be on the second floor of the Indianapolis Downtown Marriott (i.e., not the adjacent JW Marriott ). Head to our event at 350 W Maryland St, Indianapolis, IN 46225. The Black Gate Convention report for last year’s symposium gives a good flavor of what to expect, and the planning committee’s website at genconwriters.org has all the details.

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Goth Chick News: Saying Farewell to Another ‘Season’ at Days of the Dead

Goth Chick News: Saying Farewell to Another ‘Season’ at Days of the Dead

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That time of year has once again rolled around and another official spooky season is in the rearview mirror. Black Gate photog Chris Z has thrown a tarp over the Hummer and sent his kilt to the dry cleaners. We’ve emptied the final airplane-sized bottles of Fireball and filed our last expense report with BG’s financial fun police. As it has been for the past 11 years, the weekend before Thanksgiving means we attend the final convention of our annual show circuit, Days of the Dead.

It certainly doesn’t feel like that long since we attended our first DotD convention at its sophomore outing in the Chicago suburbs. I readily admit that Chicago isn’t Los Angeles or even New Orleans when it comes to subcultures, though the elements that do exist are certainly worth wading into if you know where to look. But when DotD came to Chicago for the first time in 2011, its home was the Schaumburg Marriott of all places.

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Gen Con Writers’ Symposium 2023 – Final Thoughts from the Chair

Gen Con Writers’ Symposium 2023 – Final Thoughts from the Chair

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 Gen Con Writers’ Symposium 2023 – Overview

Chairing the 2023 Writers’ Symposium was an honor and privilege. The organizing committee set out to double our attendance while growing the community and growing representation & scope. We more than doubled ticket sales (vs 2022) and grew our unique-ticket-purchasers by 50%.  Being our second year post-covid, we created a strong foundation for success in 2024 and beyond.

Gen Con is a massive gaming event, the largest gaming convention in North America. This year they have over 70,000 attendees (nearly a record, and wonderful growth from last year’s 50,000). One in every thirty (3.5%) attendees purchased tickets for the Writers’ Symposium. We offered 70 Free Seminars, 60 Workshops, 20+ Signings, 65+ Presenters; these were organized into different categories (tracks, categorized sessions) to promote longer stays.  We also featured the track Game Narrative (storytelling in video and tabletop games) led by Toiya Kristen Finley to better integrate with the larger event.

We had ~2,500 unique ticket sales, another ~500 walk-ins, and the average attendee purchased 2.5 tickets (up from ~1.5 last yr., indicating our move to “tracks” worked).

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Goth Chick News: The FAN EXPO Chicago Was Epic

Goth Chick News: The FAN EXPO Chicago Was Epic

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For the past 13 years, Black Gate photog Chris Z and I have been regulars at the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, one of the largest conventions we cover each year. However, in August 2021 Wizard World announced they would be selling the convention events business to FAN EXPO HQ, making them the largest comic convention organization across the globe according to Newsarama. Schedule conflicts conspired against us in 2022, but this year we were excited to learn FAN EXPO HQ was extending us press passes so we could finally check out what had changed since the event was sold.

Before I tell you about the awesomeness of this four-day convention, causing widespread FOMO, I’ll let you know that FAN EXPO will be coming to thirteen cities in the US and Canada over the next year, before making its way back to Chicago next August; meaning if you’re in the US there’s likely an upcoming event near you. You can find all those details here.

Now let’s wade in.

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