Tag Archives: David Price

Jun 13 2012

Horror Writers to Invade Strawberry Fest (updated 6/13/12)

The New England Horror Writers’ Association (NEHW) will be appearing at the South Windsor Strawberry Festival & Craft Fair on Saturday, June 16 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Published writers and illustrators will be on hand to sell books, magazines, and prints.

Scheduled to appear at the event is Robert J. Duperre, author of The Gate and Dead of Winter, among other titles. This is Duperre’s first NEHW appearance. He will be available to sign books and answer questions throughout the day.

Also on hand will be Stacey Longo, who has had over 15 short stories published in anthologies and magazines, including Epitaphs, Malicious Deviance, Shroud, and Shock Totem. Other writers on hand will be Kristi Petersen Schoonover (Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole: Tales from Haunted Disney World, In Poe’s Shadow), Rob Watts (Huldufolk) and David Price (Tales from the Grave).

Also appearing will be illustrator Jesse Young. This is also Young’s first appearance at a NEHW event. He has illustrated the cover art for a number of DuPerre’s novels.

The festival and craft fair is being head at Nevers Road Park, which is across from the South Windsor Police Station. The admission is free. Check out the festival’s website, www.berryfest.org, for more information about entertainment and other vendors.

May 20 2012

Pictures of the NEHW at the Foxboro Jaycees Craft Fair

The NEHW banner strung between our two tents. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo writing out all the names of the authors appearing at the craft show

Author Stacey Longo writing out all the names of the authors appearing at the craft show. Photo by Jason Harris.

Epitaphs and The Soul Collector displayed at the Foxboro craft show. Photo by Jason Harris.

Epitaphs and The Soul Collector displayed at the Foxboro craft show. Photo by Jason Harris.

Authors Scott Goudsward, Morven Westfield, and Tracy L. Carbone.

Authors Scott Goudsward, Morven Westfield, and Tracy L. Carbone. Photo by Jason Harris.

The NEHW at the Foxboro Jaycees craft show.

NEHW member Sarah Gomes checking her cellphone during the craft fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW member Sarah Gomes checking her cellphone during the craft fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Shock Totem magazine displayed at the Foxboro craft fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Shock Totem magazine displayed at the Foxboro craft fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Scott Goudsward chokes author David Price after his latest book sale while author Tracy L. Carbone looks on. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Scott Goudsward chokes author David Price after his latest book sale while author Tracy L. Carbone looks on. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo is mad that Scott got to David first. Photo by Jason Harris.

Author Stacey Longo is mad that Scott got to David first. Photo by Jason Harris.

NEHW table at the Foxboro craft fair.

 

 

May 17 2012

NEHW at the Foxboro Jaycees Spring Fair this Saturday

The weather is going to be perfect this Saturday for the Foxboro Jaycees Spring Fair on the Common.

According to the forecast, it will be in the 70s and what better way then to come check out the New England Horror Writers, who will be selling and signing books, at an outdoor craft fair. Along with our books, there will be other vendors selling items like handcrafted jewelry, original artwork, doll cloths, handbags, and many other gifts.

If you are a reader and love meeting authors, you will want to stop by the NEHW tents. Yes, you read that right. We will have two tents right next to each other where you can meet authors, Tracy L. Carbone, Scott Goudsward, Stacey Longo, David Price, Rob Watts, Morven Westfield, and K. Allen Wood.

At this event, there will be three authors with stories in Epitaphs and the anthology’s editor. Epitaphs is the New England Horror Writers’ first anthology. Goudsward, Longo, and Wood all have stories in this collection while Carbone was its editor. The anthology is $12 and the authors’ signatures are free.Cover of the New England Horror Writers' first anthology, Epitaphs.

Along with Epitaphs, these writers will have other books on hand that they have written or it contains a story written by them.

If a story collection is not want you are into, but folklore is then Watt’s book, Huldufolk, may be your cup of tea. His book is based on Icelandic folklore. Along with the book, he is giving away a copy of The Traffic Lights CD, the fictional band in Watts’ book, with each book purchase. Watts composed the music himself.

Wood will have copies of his magazine, Shock Totem, on hand. Each issue contains stories, interviews, and reviews.

In you love vampires, Westfield will be the person to talk to since she will have two vampire books on hand, Darksome Thirst and Old Power Returns, which take place in Framingham, Massachusetts.

You can also find out about Price’s first published story in Tales from the Grave, which will be on hand.

The Spring Fair happens from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Foxboro Common.

Apr 26 2012

An Outing to Boston Comic Con

An Outing to Boston Comic Con

By David Price

I had no intention to attend Boston Comic Con this year. My son’s girlfriend, Amy, had brought it up a few weeks ago, but no plans were made to go. On Friday night, however, she was over visiting and brought it up again. My son, Devon, had no desire to go either, so she was doing her best to convince him. Now, I haven’t been to a comic con in many years, but the prospect of going piqued my interest. I pulled up the website and checked out the details. There was going to be 74 featured guest artists there. 74! Wow, these things have gotten much bigger since the last time I went.

I use to collect comics. I stopped pretty much cold turkey back in the nineties, when all those endless crossovers became big. They drove me nuts, interrupting the ongoing story lines of your favorite series and also forcing you to buy books you didn’t want, just to keep up. It was a sales gimmick that I quickly grew to despise and drove me away from comics completely. I’m still a fan, of sorts. I see every comic book based movie that hits the screen and I’ve been pretty happy with Hollywood’s attempts to bring some of my old favorites to life. I still have probably thirty boxes of comics in storage. It’s like the fan in me is in hibernation, I guess, like my collection.

So when I looked over that list of 74 artists, I didn’t recognize quite a few of them. I’m guessing there are many who have entered the business since my comic collecting days. But still, there were a few that really caught my eye, like Bernie Wrightson, for instance. Wrightson is an artist I have admired since I started reading and collecting comic books. You see, what first drew me into comics were horror comics. I was reading them for a couple years before I even noticed the super hero books. Maybe it was growing up watching Creature Feature on Channel 56, but I’ve always had this fascination with monsters. Wrightson was of course, an illustrator on many of the horror comics that I grew up loving. These had titles like, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Tales of the Unexpected, and Vampirella. Did I mention he was the co-creator of Swamp Thing? Yeah, that too.

Wrightson didn’t stop with comic books, though. He did an illustrated version of Frankenstein, which is absolutely beautiful. Later in his career, he went on to do some illustration for my favorite author, Stephen King. Mr. Wrightson illustrated The Cycle of the Werewolf, The Stand, and even did some work on the Dark Tower series. Needless to say, I was excited at the chance to meet him.

Also on the list of artists, I noticed the name Bill Sienkiewicz. Wow! There was another guy who had impressed the hell out of me with his art. You see, Sienkiewicz brought a style unlike any other I had ever seen when he entered the comic book industry. In 1984, Sienkiewicz took over as the artist for the X-Men spinoff, New Mutants and brought an expressionistic style that was mind-blowing. I’m not sure it was for everyone, but I know he gained quite a bit of recognition and managed to work with some of comicbook greats at that time like Frank Miller and Alan Moore.

There were a couple other names that stood out to me like Bob Layton of Iron Man, Kevin Eastman of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Simon Bisley whose work I remember from Judge Dredd and Lobo. It was enough for me to want to go. To top it all off, my twelve-year-old daughter, who to my knowledge has never read a comic book, begged to go. Between my son’s girlfriend and my daughter, they managed to convince Devon to give it a try. I was happy to drive, so the plans were made. My daughter invited her cousin, Roberta, so she would have someone the same age to tag along with her.

Saturday morning, I picked up Amy and brought her back to the house. She was carrying this trash bag full of costumes because apparently the three girls were determined to dress up. They had the idea that people went in costume to these cons and they wanted to participate. I certainly wasn’t going to put a costume on, but I didn’t mind if they did. There wasn’t a lot of planning involved here, so my daughter Kay ended up as Alice in Wonderland, Roberta was a sort of Victorian age vampire, and Amy wore a Pink Floyd shirt and flag as a cape. With the girls dressed up and ready to go, we headed off to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

The first problem encountered is that the Hynes is near Fenway Park, and the Yankees were playing the Red Sox that day. Finding parking was an adventure. As we passed the Convention center looking for a parking garage, we saw this ridiculously long line outside of the building. That couldn’t be the line to get in, we said. Spotting several people in line dressed as comic book characters confirmed our worst fears, though.

The line moved quickly, however, and we probably only waited thirty to forty minutes to get in the building. None of us were prepared for what we found inside. It was wall to wall with people. You really couldn’t get anywhere without fighting your way through the zombie-like horde of comic book fans. At first, this really bothered my daughter. She complained to me quite a bit. I reminded her that she begged me to bring them. After a while, we all just got used to it.

Devon and his girlfriend went right over to the Newbury Comics table to check out The Walking Dead books. My family is a fan of the show, but none of us have read the books. He grabbed the first few, which was okay with me, since I wanted to read them, too. Amy grabbed a few things that she was really excited about, including a Doctor Who book as a thank you present to me. We stopped at an artist who did a portrait of my daughter and niece in anime style. This put them both in happier moods. When we hit the back row, I saw the line for Bernie Wrightson. I stepped up and he asked if I had anything to sign. I knew I had forgotten something. Oh well, he had some prints from his work on Frankenstein, so I bought one of those. More importantly, I got a picture with him.

Bernie Wrightson and David Price at Boston Comic Con.

We fought our way through the mob and did our best to take in the whole thing. I had just about given up on finding Bill Sienkiewicz when we finally stumbled upon him. I got another cool picture and my daughter got an autographed Cat Woman print. We tried to find another vendor called Madknits, who had these handmade stuffed little monsters, on the way out, but after bumping our way up and down a bunch of aisles, we gave up and decided to call it a day. The kids were hot, tired, and feeling a bit claustrophobic.

All in all, Boston Comic Con was very cool, but it definitely needs to find a bigger venue. The Boston Convention and Exhibition center on the waterfront is much bigger and more suited to something that attracts as many people as comic con does. They should probably consider upgrading, even though I heard that this was an upgrade from previous years. We all had fun, which was the most important thing. Well done, Boston Comic Con.

Apr 20 2012

The Experience of a Tool Concert

By David Price

I took my 16-year-old son, Devon, to his first concert last year. Personally, I’ve been to hundreds, so I wanted to introduce him to something that has meant so much to me for most of my life. My favorite band since the late nineties has been Tool. Back when we were still going on all the Cub and Boy Scout camping trips, a Tool CD would always be playing on the car stereo. It obviously rubbed off on him since he has turned into a loyal Tool fan as well. I wanted to make Tool his first concert, but there was one problem. Tool only releases new albums once every five years or so. This has led to speculation that there won’t be a new Tool album. Another issue is, since the last Tool album came out in 2006, Maynard James Keenan, their singer and frontman has become involved in several other projects, including two bands and, more recently, starting his own vineyard. Arguably, he probably doesn’t even need Tool anymore, although I am sure that is where his greatest success lies.

Last year, one of Maynard’s other projects, A Perfect Circle, came to the Boston area. Not knowing if my son would get the chance to ever see Tool, I purchased tickets and took Devon to his first concert at  The Bank of America Pavilion, a great place to see a show. I never hesitate to get tickets for someone I wish to see if they are playing there.

We had a great time that night. We sat at “reserved” small tables that seat four. A married couple sat with us, and they were very nice to Devon and excited he was getting a chance to see his first concert. The husband even tried to convince my son that he was going to be a bigger fan of A Perfect Circle than of Tool by the time the show was over.

Devon knew nothing about A Perfect Circle before we went to the show, other than Maynard sang for them. He had never heard any of their music. By the time the show was over, though, he was a big fan, although the guy we sat with was reaching a little. He still loves Tool the most.

Along came December and I received an email alert from Live Nation that Tool tickets were going on sale that Saturday. This was a huge surprise to me. I had heard nothing about an upcoming tour, so I had to read the email several times then had to go to the Tool website before I believed it. I had thought maybe it was just a Tool cover band. It turned out that it was true, so I sat by the computer when tickets went on sale. This is a maddening experience. You search for tickets at the moment they go on sale. You get to choose how many and at what price range, then you have to type out some nonsense words to prove that you are a real person. Usually you are told there are no tickets available and have to refresh your web page several times before you finally get some. I was lucky enough to not have to suffer very long, and after just a couple refreshes, I nabbed three tickets for myself, my brother, and my son.

Having seen Tool a half a dozen times myself already, I knew this was going to be a completely different experience than A Perfect Circle. I had to prepare Devon for a Tool concert. I told him that, if it was anything like the previous ones I had attended; it would be very different from his first concert experience. Now, A Perfect Circle sounded great live, but there was no real stage show to speak of. They just stood up there and played. At the other Tool shows I have seen, they had a lot going on. There have always been intense light shows, and weird videos playing along with their songs. One year they even had two people in skintight body suits hanging suspended over the stage and doing some kind of bizarre air ballet. Devon needed to be ready for the strange and unusual at Tool’s show.

Maynard and his pals did not disappoint me. We had a straight on view of the stage where we were seated. It was perfect for viewing one of the most elaborate laser and light shows I have seen in a long time. There were large video screens behind the stage that showed images of angels, giant eyes, swirling spirals, grasping hands and many other religious, magical and profane symbols. At times, it was just like looking into a giant kaleidoscope. The dazzling lights, brilliant lasers and disturbing images induced a kind of hypnotic feeling.  The only other band I can think of that achieves a similar live effect is Pink Floyd, the most psychedelic act I have ever seen.

The problem with seeing Tool is that you are never going to see them play all of your favorites on any given night. The average length of one of their songs is probably seven minutes, with several pushing ten or eleven minutes. That being said, they still did a great job of playing many of their favorites like “Stinkfist,” “Aenema,” “Schism,” and “Lateralus,” as well as mixing in a couple deeper tracks, like “Pushit.” In a weird way, I find Tool’s music meditative. It’s easy to get lost in it, and I am sure many Tool fans would agree.

You can’t please all of the people all of the time, though. My son would have liked to have heard one of his favorite songs, “Right in Two.” I missed “Rosetta Stoned” and I know my brother wanted to hear “Eulogy.”  That’s the beauty of Tool, though. The last album, I saw them on three different legs of the tour. Each time they had a different setlist, so if you wanted to hear everything, you just had to go a few times. As far as I’m concerned, it was well worth it. I have never left a Tool show disappointed, except for the fact that it was over too soon. There is supposedly going to be a new album. If that is true, then I believe this was sort of a getting to know each other again sort of mini tour for the band members. Gloriously, a new album will follow and I assume a much larger supporting tour. Wonder how many more times we will see Tool in the near future? As many as possible.

Apr 11 2012

The Journey to an Author’s First Autograph

The Journey to an Author’s First Autograph

by David Price

In March, I finally got to see my name in print. I have a story in the book, Tales from the Grave: An Anthology of True Ghost Stories. This is a big turning point for me. I joined the New England Horror Writers last August. Since then, I have attended some of the events from time to time, but only as a spectator, never as a participant. I like the people who I have met so far in the NEHW, and I was really looking forward to the day I could hang out with them at one of these conventions or fairs. That day was finally here when I was published in that anthology of ghost stories.

The story itself is called “Tucker’s Court” and it is about the house I grew up in, from the age of nine to twenty-five. My family moved in with my father’s parents when I was a kid, because their health was failing. Both of my grandparents died while I was living with them. There was always a presence in that house after that and many odd things happened to me. Maybe it wasn’t your typical horror movie kind of haunting, but to me it seemed worthy of a story. To my great pleasure, it was accepted by editor Rod Nojek and I made the transition from writer to author. Baby steps, first, you could say.

Naturally after I got the word that the book was in paperback, I emailed NEHW’s Director of Publicity Jason Harris and got my name on the list for the next event, which was the 39th Heritage Craft Fair in Framingham, Massachusetts, on March 24.  I had a couple weeks, so I thought I had plenty of time to get some books to sell at the fair. I placed my order with the publisher, only to be told that the books would not arrive in time. This was very disappointing and I immediately emailed Jason again, to let him know that my participation was in doubt. He told me to tell the publisher that I needed the books for an event and ask for rush delivery. I tried that, to no avail. The books were not going to arrive in time.

Two days before the fair, I went online to see if there was any chance of getting a few books on time from Amazon. It turned out I could get them with the rush delivery option, if I ordered in the next forty minutes. As an added bonus, since the books sell for less than ten dollars, they were included in Amazon’s “Buy four books for the price of three” promotion. So I ordered four books and the website told me I could get free rush delivery if I was an Amazon Prime member. Free one month trial, it told me. What the heck, now I’m an Amazon Prime member, too. I was meaning to sign up for that anyway.

Now, before I place d the order, it said that they were guaranteed to arrive by Friday. After I placed it, however, it said that they were estimated to arrive on Friday. Maybe it’s the English major in me, but there’s a big difference between guaranteed and estimated. A guarantee means that yes, it will be there, you can count on it. An estimate falls more into the, well; you’ve got a fifty-fifty shot. That’s not too bad, right?  That made me nervous. My nerves were not calmed when 6 p.m. passed and the UPS truck failed to arrive. That truck drives down my street every night between 6 and 6:15 p.m. I checked the Amazon website and it said the package was out for delivery. What happened then? 7 p.m. passed and still, no package. I pretty much gave up at that point, figuring the driver somehow missed me. But, to my surprise, at 7:15 p.m. the UPS guy showed up on my doorstep with a package that contained the four books with my very first published story in them. Yes!

Author David Price signing first autograph. Photo by Pauline Price.

I woke up the next morning and headed out to the fair with my wife, Pauline and my daughter, Kayleigh.  Pauline probably won’t be able to come to many of these things with me, since she usually works on Saturdays, but we had a wedding to go to later that afternoon so she had the day off. After an hour or so drive, we got to the fair and Stacey Longo had a bookstand I could use to put my books on. I was so proud. It might sound silly, but every step towards my dream of a writing career is exciting, even the small ones.

The Heritage Craft fair was held at the Keefe Technical School, in Framingham.  That place is huge! I was expecting, I don’t know, a gymnasium maybe, but this was set up in a seemingly endless corridor. There was room for vendors on each side of the corridor to face each other, with a walkway for the patrons down the middle. The NEHW had its banner hung proudly at the site and I had a book for sale. How cool is that?

The day was made even more enjoyable by the other NEHW members in attendance. These included, the aforementioned Stacey, Morven Westfield, K. Allen Wood and Rob Watts. Morven is, I assume, from Framingham, since her two books, Darksome Thirst and The Old Power Returns were set in Framingham. As the day went on, this became something of a running joke. My wife works in a retail store and she clearly had more experience with customers then the authors who attended. She did her best at greeting all the people walking by and managed to draw quite a few in by telling them that we had some horror stories available that were actually set in Framingham. This was great for Morven’s sales.

It was an interesting day. We had some moderate interest at times and I managed to sell my first two books. When you sell at one of these events and the author is present, they want you to sign the book. Seems obvious, right? Well, I had the nerve-wracking experience of having to autograph my two books. My hands were shaking the whole time. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, I know, but it was to me. It was pretty cool. I also remembered that authors usually write some quick one liner that goes with the story. Since I have shadow people in my story I think I wrote something like “Watch out for the shadows!” If you were at the event and purchased one of my books, you should know those are the first two autographs I ever gave. Hold on to them, they’ll be worth something, some day.

In addition to Morven’s plethora of sales, I believe Ken Wood, who is the publisher of Shock Totem magazine had a decent day in sales as well. Rob Watts was selling his book, Huldufolk, at the fair. It means “Hidden People” in Icelandic and he was even including a free CD that went along with it from The Traffic Lights, the band that is mentioned in the story. I picked up a copy of Rob’s book and one of Stacey’s anthologies before we had to leave for the wedding. It was a fun and slightly nerve-wracking day. It was a great experience. Any fledgling authors out there could do themselves a world of good joining an organization like the New England Horror Writers, which offers a great support system filled with amazing people. It also provides plenty of opportunities to sell your stuff at events including fairs and conventions. Join the NEHW now, you won’t be sorry.

Apr 1 2012

Pictures from the Last Two NEHW Events

The NEHW Table at the Heritage Craft Fair at the Keefe Technical School in Framingham, MA. Photo by Jason Harris

The other NEHW table at the Framingham event. Photo by Jason Harris

From left to right: (front row) Kristi Petersen Schoonover and Stacey Longo, (back row) Rob Watts, Jason Harris, and David Price. Photo by Kayleigh Price.

Author David Price signing his first autograph at the Keefe Technical School in Framingham. Photo by Pauline Price.

Author Morven Westfield holding her books at the Heritage Craft Fair. Photo by Pauline Price.

Author K. Allen Wood in Framingham. Photo by Pauline Price.

Author K. Allen Wood autographs a story for a fan as Sarah Gomes looks on in Framingham. Photo by Pauline Price.

Our space at the Hanover Craft Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

A close-up view of the Hanover NEHW table. Photo by Jason Harris.

Mar 29 2012

Spring Craft Fair to Benefit Food Shelf

The NEHW will be at the Spring Craft Fair this Saturday in Hanover, Massachusetts.

NEHW members Stacey Longo, David Price, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and Rob Watts will be at the event selling and signing their books.

Fair organizers will be raffling off items donated from local businesses to help raise money for the Hanover Food Pantry. There will also be a silent auction for a three-month membership to the YMCA.

The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is at Riley Hall located at 17 Silver Street in Hanover.

Mar 19 2012

The NEHW will be at the 39th Heritage Craft Fair this Saturday (updated 3/21)

The NEHW will be at the 39th Heritage Craft Fair this Saturday.

There will be a number of members selling and signing their books. Come and meet Stacey Longo, David Price, Rob Watts, Morven Westfield, and K. Allen Wood.

The fair is held at the Keefe Technical School from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s sponsored by the Heritage Chorale. According to the fair’s website, the fair “provides income to support our musical mission, from booth rental fees, sale of food and  beverages, and modest admission fees. This popular fair features more than 100 crafters selling their own creations including glassware, clothing, toys, jewelry, woodworking, leather goods, quilts, metalwork, paintings, and many other arts and crafts.”

According to the fair’s flyer, there will also be food at the event . The price of admission is $3 and $2.50 for seniors.

The fair’s location is 750 Winter St. in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Feb 26 2012

Timing Not Perfect for Boskone 49

Timing Not Perfect for Boskone 49

By David Price

Would you have the wedding rehearsal after the wedding? No, I didn’t think so. So I am a little confused as to why the sci-fi convention Boskone would be held about a month after the much larger spectacle of Arisia, in the exact same hotel, no less. This would be like going to watch the Super Bowl on the jumbotron of the stadium it was played in a month after it was over and everyone else had left. That would be something of a letdown, right? Oh sure, the vendors would still be open and you could pay ten bucks for a beer if you really wanted to, but it’s not the same thing. Now, by contrast, if they had played the first Giants/Patriots Super Bowl on the jumbotron in the stadium a couple days before this year’s, that might have been cool. It would have been a primer for what was coming.

Photo by David Price

All right, admittedly, every time I have been to some sort of fan convention in the last six months, it has been a first time for me. But maybe, just maybe, that means my opinions should matter, just a little, if some of these cons want to actually attract newbies. Boskone is very much like a primer or practice run for something as grandiose as Arisia. I’m not saying that both shouldn’t exist together in the same world, but I can’t help but feel that Boskone should be held before Arisia, not after. Just four weeks before Boskone was held, I was completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of Arisia. Held at the Westin Boston Waterfont, Arisia seemed to make use of every single conference room in the hotel. To be honest, I’m surprised the Westin had enough space available to accommodate the seemingly hundreds of events that Arisia had going. As I walked around with my eleven year old daughter at Boskone, I found myself asking, where’s the rest of it?

Also, what’s with almost all of the vendors selling books? Nothing against books, per se, but don’t sci- fi fans also like to wear cool geeky t-shirts, watch movies, and own toy props from their favorite series? There hasn’t been as much of that as I expected, at either Boskone or Arisia, to be honest. Arisia had a better mix, to be sure, but still fell short of my expectations when it came to vendors. My daughter was drawn to a woman who sold stuffed animals of every imaginable species. She even had dodo birds! My daughter, Kayleigh, asked for a monkey backpack. Since she was nice enough to accompany me to something that she had no idea if she would enjoy, I bought it for her.

Kayleigh’s squid. Photo by David Price.

We sat down and watched the Higgins Armory put on a display of medieval sword fighting for a while. This was cool for me, because I actually took those classes at the Higgins Armory about ten years ago, so watching it brought me back to the fun I had learning that style. It wasn’t the most exciting thing for an eleven year old girl, however, so we eventually moved on. The most fun we had together was at the art show. I was happy to see how all the artwork appealed to my daughter, since I have loved fantasy art for as long as I can remember. I wish we had more money on hand, because there was a piece Kayleigh really admired, but I couldn’t afford it. We must have walked through the art show a half-dozen times and I saw something new each time. Knowing what I know now, I’ll be more ready for it next time.

I will say this about Boskone, it has a much more personal atmosphere than Arisia. There were reserved tables all over the place for groups to get together and game, chat, hang out or whatever. But since I am not a member of any of those groups, that part of the con was lost on me. As Kayleigh’s enthusiasm started to wane, I finally talked her into checking out the kids section that they called Dragon’s Lair. She didn’t want to at first, since it seemed to have mostly younger kids in there. She gave in at last, because the children in Dragon’s Lair were obviously having fun. While Kayleigh was in the kids’ section, I spent some time going through a display that advertised many of the upcoming cons. I’ll give many of them a try this year, and I have a feeling I will have a much better idea of the what will appeal to me after all is said and one. 2012 is going to be an interesting year. After goofing around in there for a little while, Kayleigh came out with a balloon animal squid. That was pretty cool, since a giant squid attacks my hero and his friends in my first novel.

A lich. Photo by David Price.

Before we left, Kayleigh insisted I buy something for myself as well, especially since we couldn’t afford the art we had been admiring. I finally settled on a small statue that truly embodies my two favorite genres; horror and fantasy. The statue is of a lich. If you are unfamiliar with the term, consider it an undead sorcerer. There is just something about it that is inspirational to me. I guess when I look at it; I imagine that it is what my muse probably looks like, when I am writing my particular brand of monster fantasy. Anyway, Boskone 2012 was also Boskone 49. I imagine the organizers are planning something big for the fiftieth anniversary of Boskone next year. Maybe that’s why this one seemed a little small to me. Perhaps they are saving up the big guns for next year. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.