Tag Archives: conventions

Nov 6 2011

The SouthCoast Toy and Comic Show Write-Up

The Happenings and Pictures from the SouthCoast Toy and Comic Show

by Jason Harris

There was no sleeping in this morning. No enjoying the extra hour of sleep gained from falling back a hour for Daylight Savings Time. The day started at 5 a.m. Sunday morning for Author Stacey Longo and myself. We left around 5:40 to get the SouthCoast Toy and Comic Show in Fairhaven, MA. On our drive to the show, we came across this site.

Smoke over Interstate 695

We arrived at the Seaport Inn and Marina without any problem. Once there, Longo performed her magic and had the table set-up in no time. This picture is of the second version of the NEHW table. There were two more set-ups as different authors arrived. Thanks to Longo, Dave Goudsward, Kasey Shoemaker, and Rob Watts for participating in today’s event. Thanks goes out to Nathan Wrann and Kristi Petersen Schoonover for having their books and dvds at the table.

The Toy and Comic show had many draws today from George “The Animal” Steele, Brian Harnois, Penny Dreadful and Gaoru, Uncle Fright, and Thom Christopher (Hawk on Buck Rogers). There were also sideshow performers and paranormal researchers.

Along with the stars and guests to see and meet, there were also convention attendees who came in costume.

Books were sold and some great networking opportunities were made. The show was a lot of fun and I know the NEHW will be back at this show in the future.

It was nice meeting Rick Silva of Dandelion Studios today. He will have a table at Anthocon next weekend.

Watts, Longo, and Goudsward will be attending Anthocon next weekend in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Be sure to look for their books at the NEHW table at the convention.

Enjoy the following pictures from the SouthCoast Toy and Comic Show.

George “The Animal” Steele

Zehara Nachash, sideshow performer

Longo and Watts talking.

Jason Deveau as Captain America and Panda Valentine as Peggy Carter

Jedi Adam Joyce, of Cambridge, MA., with lightsaber

Jessica Rabbit and friend

Eric Shafer, of Waltham, MA.

Harris, Longo, Shoemaker, Watts, and Goudsward

Darth Vader

Stormtrooper

Raymond Ramos, of New Bedford, as Blade

Mark Tauares as Superman and his son, Myles, as a stormtrooper.

Oct 17 2011

Panels, Winners and more pictures at Rock and Shock

The most successful NEHW panel was the Women in Horror panel. It was moderated by Trisha Wooldridge and the panelists were Tracy Carbone, Stacey Longo, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and Kelli Jones. When I talk about success, I am talking about the attendance level. This panel had the most people in attendance and it was at the perfect time slot of 1 p.m. on Saturday.

The other three panels were Small Press and Magazines on Friday at 6 p.m., The Writers Studio on Saturday at 12 p.m., and E-Publishing Workshop on Sunday at 1 p.m. All the panels were informative and successful. An unsuccessful panel would have been a panel with no audience. Since this was the first year for the NEHW panels, it will just grow as the convention grows and continue to get better and better year after year.

Necon E-books panel: (from left to right) Kelli Jones, Matt Bechtel, Bob Booth, and Jack Haringa

The NEHW booth had a raffle and the prize was a coffin full of books. A coffin looking box, not an actual coffin. The winner was Kelly Williams, of Enfield, Connecticut. Her name was drawn out of the raffle container Sunday afternoon.

The raffle prize and winner's name

Here are some more pictures of convention attendees, celebrities, and other things at Rock and Shock.

Woman with werewolf baby

Ken Sagoes a.k.a. Roland Kincaid in Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Monster Golf at Rock and Shock

Roddy Piper talking with a fan

Derek Mears a.k.a Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th (2009)

 

Oct 4 2011

Get in on the Ground Floor at First Annual AnthoCon November 11-13

 by Kristi Petersen Schoonover

 

Contrary to what everyone in the publishing industry has been saying for years, the short story isn’t dead. In fact, it never was. And now that “short-and-sweet” is the accelerating trend, there’s room for one special horror conference to celebrate it all: the First Annual AnthoCon: The Anthology 2011 Conference, coming to Portsmouth, New Hampshire November 11-12, 2011.

Presented by Shroud Publishing, The Anthology 2011 Conference will “showcase the imaginative talent in speculative fiction and art, with an additional focus on the convergence of images and literature,” according to the AnthoCon website.

Like other cons, well-known writers will be on hand, among them Christopher Golden (Of Saints and Shadows), who will offer a reading and signing; Jonathan Maberry, who read from one of his new novels; and Jennifer Pelland, who will read from her debut novel, Machine. There will be an extensive dealer area which will feature books, films, artwork, comics, and more. There will also be a Juried Art Exhibit to include such shelf familiars as Ogmios (The Witches’ Almanac), Morbideus Goodell (Apex Digest, Maberry’s Vampire and Cryptopaedia), and Michael Bailey (who is also the editor of Pellucid Lunacy, an anthology of psychological horror and several novels).

“[AnthoCon] has some amazing authors, publishers and film people attending,” said Tracy L. Carbone, editor of Epitaphs, New England Horror Writers Association’s first official anthology, which will debut at the conference. “It should prove to be the best new Con for horror folks out there.”

But what makes AnthoCon unique is its focus on the nine panels’ concentration on education for both writers and horror fans. For example, Reaching through the Veil will examine the channeling of myth, religion, spirituality and the collective unconscious in imaginative fiction; Getting Your Short Story Published with the Small Press will offer insight on finding, submitting, and selling your short story; Evil Jester Press Presents “Help! Wanted: Tales of On-The-Job Terror” will dissect the process of producing an anthology. Horror names Biran Keene, Rick Hautala, Cat Valente, Maberry, Joseph Nassise, Pelland, and Golden will present I’ve Made It This Far, Now What?, using their paths to literary success to illumine what the process could be like for those in attendance. Topics also go deeper with Writing Programs: from the MFA to Private Workshops. And Eric Red (The Hitcher, Near Dark) will present a lecture and workshop The Elements of Writing Horror and Thrillers for Films.

Aside from guests, vendors, and panelists, the event promises to draw a unique crowd to include film and book reviewers and magazine editors—like Peter Schwotzer, the man at the helm of Literary Mayhem (http://literarymayhem.com/) who also reviews anthologies, lit-zines and books for Famous Monsters of Filmland and IMDB.

“I’m going mainly to meet a lot of authors I’ve met over the past couple of years in person. We correspond by e-mails, phone, Twitter, Facebook, etc., but it will be nice to meet face to face,” Schwotzer said. “All of the authors have been so kind and generous to me, it still boggles my mind that I actually correspond with my literary heroes.”

If that weren’t enough, AnthoCon’s location—Portsmouth, New Hampshire—is not only America’s third-oldest city, it’s the type of classic spooky New England Seacoast that has inspired countless creepy tales over the years: the perfect place to hold such a conference.

With so much to offer that seems to be different from what’s offered at other cons, this promises to be a great inauguration with long-lasting recurring potential—writer or fan, artist or reviewer, don’t miss out.

AnthoCon 2011 will be held at the Best Western Wynwood Hotel & Suites at 580 US Route 1 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13, 2011. For complete information on AnthoCon, including schedules, costs, who’ll be there and how to go, visit http://www.anthocon.com.