Back from NeCon

NeCon is 28 years old, and I've gone at least 10 times. I love it. It's this intimate horror convention on the campus of Roger Williams College in Rhode Island where 200 horror writers, editors and agents gather to tell each other tall tales of ghosts and publishing (and the ghosts of publishing, because the horror market has died and risen from the dead a number of times in the two decades I've been selling in it).

I am always inspired here, and I love to see my old friends return (some with new friends - three relationships have been established at this convention between fellow NeCon participants. Forget Match.com).

This time I took my 15 year-old son who suprprised me at the end of this school year by informing me that the reason he wasn't studying as hard as he should for his finals (he did fine) was because he had been gripped by the writing demon. When I sarcastically asked him (he says I am the most sarcastic mom he knows, and I wouldn't have it any other way) how many pages he'd written (expecting 10 or 20 as the answer), he blew me away when he said "I'm about half way through. About 220."

It was then that I told him he was coming to Necon with me so he could torture other writers with the plot for his dark fantasy novel.

And he did.

But he also loved it. Chris Golden brought his 14 year-old son Nicholas and there were 4 young ladies between 14 and 20 whose dad was a book-seller, so my son was in his glory. He even did a stand-up comedy routine about horror and fantasy in front of 200 adults. I was very proud of him.

I'm afraid I have passed the torch, although he does insist that he will continue to build robots for fun and profit.