One of the things that is really cool about WorldCon is that you are exposed to so many authors. While it’s huge for a literacy convention its small compared San Diego ComicCon.
You have the chance to talk to authors and listen to them and with the wide variety of panels; you get them in and out of their comfort zones and get to see them as people instead of ‘authors’.
In 2008 I went to Denvention (in Denver) with a bunch of friends. After spending some time together we quickly went our ways and sat in different panels. WorldCon usually has lots of panels occurring simultaneously. There is always a panel to peek your interest.
I attended a panel with Tanya Huff on it. She was not on my radar. I never heard of her even though she had dozens of books published and a large following. The panel was about military sci fi and that’s a sub-genre I really enjoy.
She and the other authors talked about their experiences serving in the military. Tanya’s was a little different as she is Canadian and she was in the Canadian Navy. I found her interesting and well-spoken and funny. She then made a comment I found paradigm shifting.
