World Fantasy 2023 in Review

World Fantasy Convention 2023 was held at the Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri from 10/26 to 10/29

Having never attended a writerly convention, nor met anyone from the business, I was something of a nervous wreck as the date of the Convention grew closer. My mood was not helped by the near ten hour drive in which I had nothing but time to stew on my nervous energy. As I walked into the Crown Center in Kansas City, alone and afraid, I was certain that I had made a mistake in coming.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Never in my life have I met such a large number of accommodating and kind people. I met Moses Ose Utomi on the escalator, I gave him a respectful nod, which he returned before taking me aside to ask about what I had going on. As soon as he heard I was in the Query Trenches he gave me his email and offered to lend me some advice since he had so recently gone through that process himself.

David Hopkins, author of The Dryad’s Crown sat down with me for near on two hours explaining to me what he had gone through before self-publishing his novel as well letting me take so much of his time to explain An Aspect of Fear. Then he offered to look over my query letter and try to help me in any way he could. Of course that was all between frenzied cheering as the Texas Rangers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 1 of the World Series.

In what was certainly the most nerve wracking and rewarding part of the convention, Marina Lostetter and Andrea Stewart took me out to lunch to explain the business, work on my pitch, and get slightly off topic talking about mine and Andrea’s children. I paced on the second floor of the Crown Center for near twenty minutes trying to work up the courage to approach the pair having their morning coffee. I had wanted to find some time to take them both out to lunch and this was the perfect opportunity to ask. The question was well-rehearsed, and I knew to get in and out quickly so as to not come off overbearing. Shoving down my reservations I walked up to them, handed them each my card with obviously shaky hands, offered to take them out and if they were interested to shoot me a message. Then I walked away, though it felt a bit more like running away.

I was certain I had screwed that up terribly and ruined my chance to make a good impression. I had well resigned myself to that fact when a few hours later I caught Marina’s eye through a crowd and she started flagging me down. As she was asking if I wanted to do lunch or dinner it was all I could do not to jump up and down with excitement. Which of course I promptly did as soon as Marina and Andrea left and rounded the corner.

We got tacos(And a protein bowl). Of course being the class act she is, Andrea refused to let me pay.

There is so much more I could go into, being interviewed for the FutureBestSellers Podcast(Thanks Phill and J.H.!), meeting the wonderful and charming Aparna Verma and Lucienne Diver, and beyond. But for the sake of brevity I will leave you with Philip Drayer Duncan’s two rules of conventions. They served me well, and they will do the same for you.

1. Don’t be an asshole.

2. Never criticize, condemn, or complain.

A special thank you to all of the following people who made this a week to remember.

Ginny Smith/Ginny Patrick, Mark Freeman, Andrea Stewart, Marina Lostetter, Jonathan Miles, D.G. Valdron, Eleanor(Whose last name is escaping me), Kij Johnson, Leon Pernciaro, Jennifer Hudak, David Hopkins, Josh Rountree, William Ledbetter, Phillip Drayer Duncan, J.H. Fleming, Tracy Morris, David Timothy Newman, Moses Ose Utomi, Usman Malik, Lucienne Diver, and Aparna Verma.