John Ringo FenCon 2013

Years ago, a friend ask if I had read any John Ringo. I truthfully told him I hadn’t although I had seen his books on the shelves.  As my friend looked over my shelves of books and saw a lot of military sci fi, he said I would probably like Ringo.  I kind of blew my friend off.  Over the years, I’ve had lots of people tell me how great an author was.  After investing the time to read the recommended book, I found it wasn’t for me.

So I must admit to being embarrassed when I finally picked up A Hymn Before Battle and really enjoying it. I was so impressed I bought the next four in the series before I even finished the first book.

Then I was frustrated that John Ringo didn’t attend at WorldCon. He went to DragonCon instead. Well, you can’t have every author show at WorldCon. The frustration faded when I realized he was going to be at FenCon; a smaller local convention.

When John arrived he immediately started talking to the fans in line. He spend time with everyone. It was a nice insight to his other books and his upcoming books.  As I passed over my read copies, he signed and told me he felt Gust Front was so good, he didn’t know how to write the next one in the series.  He felt he accomplished some operatic greatness in that book and the next one would only pale.

An unusual admission but I think that says something about the author. Maybe that is what makes me enjoy his books.

AH

Stanley Love at FenCon

I can’t really say I attended FenCon. It’s a local SciFi literary convention. And while I really enjoy sci fi, these people make me feel like I don’t read enough or know enough about sci fi.  They are much more hardcore than I am; which is great. It's awesome people still work hard to put on these shows.

So I went to the show. I walked around a bit. Saw a lot of the same faces I have been seeing for the 20 years (yes, we are all getting older) and did some work and then left.

At FenCon; I got an autograph from NASA Astronaut Stanley Love. I have seen him at some Houston conventions but I never took the time to get his autograph.

His signing started and about 10 people were in line.  I knew they were would be the types that wanted to talk and get to ask their question that they knew was never asked before.  Hey, these are my people and I know how they think. I’m like that too.

So I wondered off and entertained myself for about 30 minutes. I can back the line was gone. I walked up and shook hands. He asked if I wanted a photo signed and I said yes. He asked my name and I gave it.

I asked if he was driving back that night.   He said yes. I assumed since he’s been at several Houston shows, he lived in Houston. He said he wanted to try to spend a little time with the family before Monday.  I totally understand. In fact, after I got his autograph I went home and just relaxed before I had to go back to work.

Autograph or blogger,  just because he rides a space shuttle for work doesn’t mean we aren’t all the same.

AH