Conventions

LibertyCon 2023 AAR: The Best Of Times

/ G. Scott Huggins / Leave a comment

LibertyCon is absolutely my favorite con of all time. And the reason is simple: they know who I am and they care that I’m there.

So, on Thursday, I made the difficult, but all-things-considered wise decision to avoid air travel and drive from Wisconsin to Chattanooga, TN, which is an 11-hour drive. This was because a) I was bringing, and would be returning with, books and swag, and b) I was going, for the first time, to the annual LibertyCon shoot, facilitated by J.F. Holmes. I’d really like to thank him for running an awesome shoot and being so welcoming to newbies like myself. I was also very happy to meet Brian Griffin, who rode to the shoot with me and kindly trained me on the proper use of a .45 ACP.

This shoot was a writer’s/history nerd’s dream come true. I got to shoot more guns than I can remember, including a lever-action .45-70, a 1917 Enfield, a 1942 M-1 carbine, and a Savage Arms 7.62×51 rifle. I discovered that I am actually capable of consistently hitting a man-sized target at 50 yards, which I thought was decent for the first time I ever touched a rifle. I managed half the shots inside the 9-ring at 300 yards with the Savage, and felt pretty good about that, too, though most of the credit must go to the rifle’s owner, a gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment, but who was a trainer on Parris Island for five years, and whose instruction I am deeply grateful for. I did rather less well with the pistols, and I now understand why people who have never touched a gun before can, in fact, miss at insanely short ranges with such weapons.

The rest of the Con… it’s hard to explain. But things happened that I’ve been waiting all my life for. Just a few of them:

People showed up with my books. That they wanted ME to sign. They had read them.
People talked up my books to other people. Because they had loved them.
People came to the table where I was selling my books, and they stood in a line. A LINE! (Two people still counts as a line!)
People told me they had read my Baen Award stories and enjoyed them.
Publishers invited me to play in their universes. And they said good things about me, and so did other authors, authors like Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell.

I really… I actually have fans.

Okay, but to get more specific: On Friday, I had a panel about Heroic Fantasy vs. Sword and Sorcery where I disagreed with everybody. Needless to say, I was right, and there was a lot of confusion about whether it was Heroic Fantasy or Epic Fantasy, but regardless: The Epic of Gilgamesh is sword and sorcery, not epic fantasy, and so is Beowulf. At least that’s what people said.

Saturday was the Big Day. Had a great advance reading of ALL CREATURES IN HIS THRALL, followed by holding a sotto voce conversation with Larry Correia throughout the Baen Roadshow. Fun fact: despite them being VASTLY different universes, Larry and I came up with extremely similar magic systems in the Responsibility and Son of the Black Sword books. And we never had a single conversation on magic. Weird. Finished up discussing Chicks In Tank Tops.

Sunday, D.J. Butler was kind enough to invite me to City Cafe’s very last breakfast service with the Chileses and Sean Patrick Hazlitt. And during autograph signing I learned that I REALLY need to find a way to accept Visa. Sorry, fans I made go running after cash! I learned my lesson.

AAR: LTUE 40: Life, the Universe, and Everything

/ G. Scott Huggins / 2 Comments

Me, M.A. Nichols, and Janci Patterson heading up the “Copying Someone else’s Process” panel without a moderator.

Well, it was an awesome convention these last two days. Let me rephrase that: it was an awesome “KHAAAAN!-vention.” Yes, I got to unleash my history nerd and fantasy nerd simultaneously and open the convention with a panel on the rise and fall of Genghis Khan’s empire. I learn so much about my own profession every time I do that, though it saddens me that in all my research, while I uncovered the names of many of the Khan’s personal enemies and rivals, I was unable to uncover even one whose name was Khiruq, Khurkh, Qirkh, or anything similarly suitable.

Highlights of the convention included getting to know much-more-famous author M Todd Gallowglass and attend his private writing workshop, which he hosts at random places and times throughout the convention (look for the weird flyers!) As well, I got to meet Jody Lynn Nye courtesy of Writers of the Future, and serve as a mentor to some writers even younger than me. I may share some of the thoughts that came to me in future blog posts. And for any new followers who may look at this blog after having heard or met me, I encourage you to click on the writing tag if you’d like to see my elaboration on any of those points.

I sold half my stock of ALL THINGS HUGE AND HIDEOUS at the con, and got to sit on two more panels devoted to writing process and asteroid colonization. All in all, it was a wonderfully successful con, and i look forward to coming back.

And as a final note, I would like to extend my public thanks to Joe Ficklin, a chair emeritus of LTUE and Provo resident. When I was too late to book a hotel room, he opened his home to me, and was kind enough on top of that to give me rides to and from the con each day, as well as ferrying me to and from the airport. As well, he headed up the filking each night, and I enjoyed getting to learn some of the old classics of fandom. It wouldn’t have been the same without him.

FantaSci AAR: Anatomy Of A Novel Release

/ G. Scott Huggins / Leave a comment

Okay, this is late for an AAR from FantaSci. I know, it was two whole weeks ago, but let’s just say that the two worst times for any writer whose day job is teaching are the end of May and the beginning of September. Now that the feverish activity surrounding the last two weeks of school are out of the way, I can pretend I have a blog again.

The people at FantaSci were awesome, and I’d like to especially thank my editor, Rob Howell, who shoehorned me onto panels and shared his reading time, because up until we knew that my novel was releasing here, I wasn’t really officially part of the con.

I’m so honored to be part of Chris Kennedy Publishing and New Mythology Press; these guys really made me feel at home. And for the first time in my life, I had fans — like, actual, honest-to-God FANS — stop me in the hall and ask me to sign copies of a book. MY book. With, like, my actual name on the cover! And they bought copies! Of my book!

Here’s my book, which I have hardly mentioned on this blog.

So, I got to hang out with Larry Correia, who was nice enough to blurb this novel, and he is one of the most helpful senior authors I have ever met. Friday was my reading, and while it was understandably not well-attended, neither was anyone else’s, let’s be honest.

The highlight of my con was undoubtedly the Baen Roadshow, because 1) my picture was up there TWICE as the only mortal to have yet achieved the honor of winning both Baen Awards, and 2) Toni Weisskopf, the publisher of Baen, used the opportunity to mock the difference between Fantasy Scott and Science-Fiction Scott pictures. Hey, what can I say: those Jim Baen Memorial pictures of previous winners were intimidating. They were wearing ties and I lost my cool.

Fantasy Scott



Science-Fiction Scott

But people kept coming up to me and congratulating me on my wins. Like it meant something! See, the thing is, if you tell your “normal” friends or co-workers, “I won a SFF writing award,” they’ll go, “Oh. That’s nice. Congratulations.” But, really, it’s not part of their world, and it’s kind of like telling them that your club curling team won the state championship. Okay. That is a thing that some people — odd people — do.
But at FantaSci, people are INTO club curling! I mean, SFF. And they GOT why it was a big deal!

Also on Saturday, I was on a panel with Rob Howell and Barbara Evers discussing what made magic and magic users work. Probably do another blog entry on that. And then I also got to hang out with Robert “Speaker” Hampson, who kindly gave my kids little stuffed Wroguls (NOT octopuses) and whose book about these awesome aliens DO NO HARM I heartily recommend!

AmazingCon (Virtual) Reading And Panel!

/ G. Scott Huggins / Leave a comment

Hey, Science-Fiction and Fantasy Fans!

Well, 2020 is certainly going to go down in history as the worst year for Cons until we have an actual nuclear exchange (and that’s still a possibility in what do you think? October? Let’s say October). I myself was slated to attend LibertyCon in Chattanooga in June before that got cancelled by the venue. For all of you who are missing the F/SF con experience, there are many cons that are moving online. Introducing…

AmazingCon
A Different Con For A Different World


I will be appearing at AmazingCon doing a reading from All Things Huge And Hideous on Friday, June 12th, at 3 pm, and also taking questions, and will also be appearing on a Worldbuilding Panel on Saturday, June 13th at 4 pm.

I’d really love to see as many of you come as can, you can register by clicking on the con banner above, which will take you right to the website!

Oh, and here’s the best part: it’s PAY WHAT YOU WANT!! Donations are VERY much appreciated, but not required!

Many other awesome authors are doing readings and panels on a variety of subjects! Please enjoy some fantasy and science-fiction with us!

DragonCon AAR: Legends and Dragons and Book Sales.

/ G. Scott Huggins / Leave a comment

DragonCon was beyond awesome this year. Here are some of the highlights:

Thursday, I met with my publisher, Jason Rennie, and we helped to set up Bard’s Tower, a well-known bookselling staple of DragonCon (and others). Alexi was awesome, allowing Superversive Press to sell our books through the Tower.
I mean, okay, they were going to have featured signings, and I was going to have a chance to sell my book to passers-by, but hey, you gotta start somewhere.

Friday, we opened. In between the aforementioned selling copies of my book, among others, I ducked out to sit on panels about Arthur and the Round Table, and Cordwainer Smith, one of my favorite Golden Age authors. Four people bought books, the first of them being the awesome Dave Butler, award-winning author of the Witchy War series. I picked up his first book in the series, WITCHY EYE, as a prize last DragonCon. This year, I managed to pick up the third from the Baen Roadshow, who was giving away books to all active-duty military, teachers, and librarians. Thanks, Baen Books!

Butler DragonCon

I also met Brad Torgersen for the first time. Brad was nice enough to agree to blurb ALL THINGS HUGE AND HIDEOUS earlier this year, and is just a great guy to meet in person

Saturday was a big day at the Tower. It began with a new experience for me: it was the day I got to collaborate on the upcoming redesign of the cover for ALL THINGS HUGE AND HIDEOUS. By the end of the day, I had sold 90% of my books, including a copy that I gave away to Jim Butcher (mostly so I could say I did).

All-Things-Huge-and-Hideous-Kindle

Then I was able to reconnect with my Clarion mentor Tim Powers, who introduced me to a fellow Writers of the Future place-winner, Carrie Callahan, who I now consider a friend. Late that night in the Speaker’s Speakeasy, we both enjoyed an hour’s conversation with Larry Niven, who is certainly one of the greatest influences on my own work. That was amazing.

Finally, Sunday I managed to sell out. My last book went to an awesome lady who cosplays Dark Helmet, and thought the book was a riot. She actually came back and said that she’d found it hilarious and even brought a veterinarian friend with her. I also got to see Brad Torgersen win his Dragon Award for A STAR-WHEELED SKY. And Brad was later kind enough to spread the word about THE GIRL WHO WASN’T THERE! So DragonCon ends with a Dragon Award Winner recommending my books!

The Girl Who Wasn't There - KDP Cover

All in all, it was a wonderful con, and God has truly blessed me in giving me this chance to meet and work with such fine people.

Dragon Con Schedule!

/ G. Scott Huggins / Leave a comment

Greetings, loyal readers! A week from now, I’ll be in Atlanta! Please stop by and say hello at my panel:

Title: Bringing More Seats To The Round Table: Diversity In Medieval Stories
Description: Arthurian legend was great for slaying dragons and creating Damsels In Distress. But we want the damsel picks up a sword and save everyone else. Join our panel of authors as they discuss the White Knight trope, fix Arthur’s round table and share their favorite non-traditional medieval era tales.
Time: Fri 01:00 pm Location: Augusta – Sheraton (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: Milton J Davis, E.K. Johnston, Tony A Ballard-Smoot, Esther Friesner, G. Scott Huggins)

Unfortunately, I have just learned that my second panel, ALL THE SUBS, is scheduled to begin 25 minutes before my flight leaves on Monday, and I will NOT be able to attend unless it is rescheduled.

Title: All the Subs
Description: Fantasy is filled with all kinds of stories, but sometimes a trend pops up that turns into a sub-genre. Supervise? Gamelit? LitRPG? Cozy? Noir? There are so many, & a few that don’t really fit in any…yet.
Time: Mon 01:00 pm Location: Embassy EF – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)
(Tentative Panelists: L. Jagi Lamplighter, James A. Hunter, Aaron Crash, G. Scott Huggins, Cat Rambo, K. M. Herkes)

Finally, I will be at Bard’s Tower in the Dealer Room, helping to sell many fine books including, of course, ALL THINGS HUGE AND HIDEOUS. Please stop by and say hi!

All-Things-Huge-and-Hideous-Kindle