A week ago, I had the privilege of having a table for the triumphant return of the Atlanta Sci-Fi and Fantasy Expo. After 5 years of being gone (literally the last one got cancelled right as COVID hit the world), it was awesome to not only have it back but to see how everyone else were happy to have it back as well.
You see, this event is a labor of love for the organizers. They put in way too many hours for an even which is free to anyone who wants to attend. You just have to show up, and you get the opportunity to walk among the dozens and dozens of tables where authors, artists, crafters, and anything else inbetween are set up to sell their wares. You can show up and sit in on any number of panels where the topics range from discussions of 30 year old tv shows to costuming to discussion about film and television in Georgia. A place where you can come and play Heroclix or Magic or maybe even find some like minded folks to run a D&D game.
And this goes on all day on Saturday and all day on Sunday.
For me, I shared a table with Robert Jeffrey (former TesseraGuild contributer and my cowriter on The Crossing). Which worked out great as we really hadn’t had a chance to chat and catch up aside from some back and forth on Messenger. We were able to discuss some story ideas, upcoming/current projects, and just reconnect.
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In addition, we ended up running a couple of panels throughout the weekend. The first was a retrospective on the old Science Fiction show: Sliders.
Now, anyone who has met Robert understands his obsession with the show. And as for me, up there with time travel stories, multiverse stories might be a close second. We both have made it no secret that The Crossing is our love letter to the show (with our own unique twists).
The panel went well as we got a handful of attendees who asked some questions and offered their own favorite episodes as well as their interpretations on the various themes of the show.
The final consensus from the panel was that we would all love to see a reboot of some sort, though, we weren’t sure if it should take more of a Black Mirror style look at these parallel worlds or stick to the way it was with a mix of serious and goofy.
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On Sunday Robert, myself, and William Satterwhite participated in a panel talking about Self-Publishing and Freelancing. While we might not have all the answers, I thought we had a good discussion on the good and bad of both. Afterwards we got to have a conversation with a father and his teenage son who is wanting to begin his own creative journey. The whole conversation reminded me of that even if I don’t know all the secrets, I am light years ahead of where I was twenty years ago. And I’m sure it will be the same with this young man.
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The Sunday traffic was a bit lighter than Saturday, but the conversations were just as good with the people who stopped by. I also had a chance to remember my pitches for the various comics and novels (which are always a work in progress). Regardless, when the two days came to an end, I was extremely happy I was able to participate again, and I’m looking forward to next year (assuming the Powers That Be are out of their comas by such a time!).
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John McGuire is the writer of the sci-fi novel: The Echo Effect.
He is also the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!
Click here to join John’s mailing list and receive preview chapters of upcoming novels, behind the scenes looks at new comics, and free short stories.
His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow Empire, Tales from Vigilante City, Beyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.
He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com
