I've never been to a Con but I'm going to this one. Jim Butcher and David Weber are a couple of my favorite authors. If you want something Free Sameth check out Baen books website with dozens of free older books such as At Basilisk Station or In Death Ground or Off Armageddon Reef. See if you like David Weber. The whole Con thing seems to me to meet the authors but more to meet and have fun and exchange ideas with people who like the same books as you. You might make a few friends or get a new insight into the story or share your theories.

Eh. Save your breath. I'm going.

I've heard of David Weber, but frankly, I've got about 50 books sitting on my shelf that need my attention. That's why I'm not taking requests right now.

A lot of folks at the con "meet" the authors, but not personally - that's what the panel discussions and such are geared toward.  Jim, however, is one of those guests who goes out of his way to make people feel like they've gotten their fair share of his attention, though.  He's very gracious about it.

I certainly hope so! I've spoken briefly with him on the boards and he seems pretty nice.

No. I'm sorry. I got frustrated because I didn't think my ride up there was going to have time to get me up there and was hoping that I could just get it and go.

But I talked it over with my ride. It's doable and I'm happy. Not too excited about the convention itself, but I guess I will make do.

I'm definitely going Saturday. Sunday is a bit tentative. Anyone wanna meet?

(In my defense, you could walk in certain parts of the Anime convention without a badge/ticket. You needed it for the panels, the video room, the game room, and the vendor room. So it was fairly open to non-paying members. There were autograph sessions that were in these open areas and I couldn't remember if they checked your badge. THAT was what I was asking about.)

Don't be so tragic, man. Think of it as going to a bar to see your favorite band - there's a cover charge AND a drink minimum on top of the show ticket in many bars. I know I went to a number of shows that way and drank the nastiest, cheapest beer I could because my finances were tight... but it was worth it. Did that to see Warren Zevon in a little club; I was about ten feet away from the dude. Worth every penny, despite the fact that I quite literally missed meals over the following week-plus.

You just have to ask yourself if it's worth it to you. Who knows? You might even have fun at the con itself!

The difference being that at least you got a show. The way I imagine it is that I stand in line to get a day pass. Pay $20, go to the signing, wait in another line. Get to talk to Jim for about a second before I'm ushered away. So at least in your situation, you got to hear them play. (Am I right?)

So basically I get to pay $20 to stand in two lines, plus annoy my parents to take me to Richardson (since I don't have a car) for an autograph and maybe a second of talking to Jim? As much as I like his writing, I can't honestly say it's worth it. And if they have to cancel for some unforeseen reason? Well, I guess I'm screwed. Chances are that they wouldn't give me a refund because there were be other things to do there, sure, but then to me the $20 and time would be wasted. (I am a bit of a pessimist, but I see this as a way of being realistic.)

I wouldn't mind going to the convention, but I'm not sure I would have time for it. Besides, there's not really much there that I'm interested in. I've heard of two or three other authors off that list and have read none of them. I don't relish the thought of paying the money for this, but if I could go and hang out with some of the board members before or after meeting Jim, it would be a little more worth it.

If I could be assured that Jim is going to come back for another signing (like say somewhere that doesn't cost any money...don't the bookstores let you get a signature for free?) then I would just skip this, but in the past, I've seen author's itinerary for tours and most don't say Texas on them and even when they do, they're usually in Houston. So, yeah...I am a bit upset about it.

Does anyone know if I'll be able to meet Jim during his autograph sessions without paying for a badge? I really want to go and get one of my hardbacks signed and chat with Jim, but I don't have that much money to pay just to meet him, nor do I want to spend that much time at the con. (Yeah, basically I'd be going just to meet him.)

And I'm worried that if I don't go next weekend that I'll miss my chance and he won't get back around to the DFW area for quite a while.

Most of my American comic collections are superheroes:
Iron Man
Spider-Man
Batman
Fantastic Four
The Tick
Teen Titans
X-Men

But I've got like two or three non-superhero ones such as Bone. Bone (for those of you uncultured bastards who don't know) is a fantasy series by Jeff Smith about three cartoon-looking characters getting kicked out of their village and end up in a battle between the humans and the rat creatures. Very good stuff. It has some "OH SH!T!" moments and some funny moments. I also read a few Star Wars books, but nothing that lacks Boba or Jango Fett.

But typically if I'm going to buy American, then it's usually got a super powered person in it...or someone who fights using technology (Batman or Iron Man.)

And I've got quite a collection of manga. About 120 volumes. Mostly what's referred to as "Shonen," which appeals to the younger male audience...I've got a series about bounty hunters, a series about American Football, etc.

Mostly I read action related comics, both American and Japanese. My excuse is that if I wanted something deep, I'd pick up a novel. Comics/manga being a visual medium, I want something to happen.

Dresden Files, though I prefer the novels, fit my criteria, except I really don't pick up many comic adaptions of books or movies. I made an exception because I like The Dresden Files enough.


Edit: I'd like to say: most of what I've read of Fantastic Four and X-men is the Ultimate line.

You might want to check out Spider-Man: The Other. I just got done reading it a couple of hours ago. It's not Morlun heavy, but it's a bit of a sequel to Darkest Hour as far as Morlun is related. And it gives you an idea of how big of a bastard Morlun is.

I haven't read the Spidey comics that first have Morlun that Spider-man barely escapes from (which is described in The Darkest Hour), but I recommend The Other.

Okay, I'm writing a book based on one of my comics and a couple of characters are aliens (space, not illegal.) So my question is: how do I mention they are talking in another language? Due to how the story is told, the other language will be "translated" to English. So they're talking in their language, but you read it as English. When I do it in my comics, I put the words in "<", but I didn't know if I could do that for a book.

man, I had a thought, Male writers must get laid, they are used to rejection, perhaps not.
Good for you Samath!

The odds of a male writer getting laid are about the same as the odds of getting an acception letter.