In the interest full disclosure, I was having a hard time mustering up much enthusiasm for RavenCon this year. Life’s been very busy these last couple of months, given social obligations, blistering volunteer schedules, regular kid activities, and still being relatively new at this job. Cons, while wonderful in their busy cornucopia of activity and interaction, are also exhausting (especially if you trend introvert as I do), and going in, I was already pretty tired.

Still, it’s the hometown convention (which we’d like to see continue to exist, and are thus invested in its success) and we have lots of friends there, across the spectrum of attendees, staff, and guests that we don’t get to see terribly often, so we went as we always do, even if we had to ditch the last day due to pre-existing commitments.

And I’m kind of glad we did.

Again, as always, there are way more interesting things to see and do than one has time to take part in, but I managed to catch a couple of interesting panels and readings, several performances and concerts, logged an hour or two in the game room, had some encouraging discussions regarding an interesting side venture in the industry I’m getting involved with, had some interesting pick-up conversations at the bar, and got to spend some downtime just hanging out with friends watching people (often dressed as stormtroopers and fey creatures) pass by our perch in the lobby.

If I had to pick a highlight, I’d have to rank the private reading that my dear convention friend Paula S. Jordan did for a select group of us on Saturday morning (we were helping her prep for her “official” reading on Sunday by playing test audience and checking times) as probably my favorite hour of the weekend. She presented exerprts of her short story “Two Look at Two”, which appeared in the April 2011 issue of Analog, and of “Vooorh”, its sequel novella, which will see publication soon is published in the July/August 2014 Analog. Both are adapted from her novel in progress, and together present an engaging story of first contact between humans and alens (and also features a border collie). Paula knows her way around a story; drawing much pathos and drama out of a low-key meeting between humans and aliens, who find a small bit of common ground between them, despite their marked differences, leading, as the larger story progresses, into greater understanding and perhaps friendship. Paula posesses great skill in presenting her stories in a public forum as well; using her gentle and expressive voice to draw the audience further into the narrative; she’s as great a teller of stories as she is a writer of them. If you get a chance to catch a reading, I highly recommend it – and say “hello!” for me. Also, check out Paula’s recent piece “Building Aliens” at Fantasy Cafe as part of “women in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Month!

Other stuff to speak of* – hanging with friends Elizabeth, Tonya, Paula, Bert, Danny, Jonah, Dan, Scott, Rob, Anita, Mike, Charlene, and many others, catching Danny and Jonah’s always engaging musical performances (highlight there? My kid’s unintentional stint as harmony vocalist for Jonah, which led to a little bit of embarassment, though she’s got nothing to be embarassed about, because she was rather awesome), wrestling with psychic sauropods in the game room, having a great chat about video games and the video game industry with novelist and lead content developer for Elder Scrolls Online T. Eric Bakutis, readings by local con mainstays Pamela K. Kinney and Gail Z. Martin, playing an enjoyable demo of In the City: Origins from Sherwood Games, and finally getting to experience the “Gothic Chamber Metal” of Valentine Wolfe, who are intimidatingly skilled musicians and very cool people.

One final thing to mention about this year’s ravencon programming, if anyone from the con is listening – This year’s Children’s programming track was absolutely wonderful – the kids all had a grand time, and they were kept busy and engaged. We, as parents and attendees really appreciated both the attention to the convention needs of our younger kids, and the opportunity you gave us to have a little time to enjoy the convention offerings for ourselves for a little while. If we didn’t thank everyone involved in person, here’s another virtual “Thank You” to all of you running the childrens’ track!

It was a good, and exhausting time. As much fun as I had, I kind of need a break, which probably won’t really be coming any time soon, given the many events on the plate for this week and the traveling I’ve got lined up for next. Oh well; such is the life of a socially active nerd. I’ll deal, and probably live.

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*- this is known as “the paragraph where I drop all the names.” Sorry if I forgot to drop yours. Feel free to use the comments to yell at me about it if I did, and to correct any oversight.