Baby's First Horror Convention

On Saturday I tagged along with boneshard up to Gettysburg for Horrorfind Weekend. I was so nervous about going that I almost canceled, but I really wanted to see what a convention like this was like. I was expecting Arisia- or Philcon levels of people and dealers and costumes and celebs. Unfortunately, it was more like a crowded swap meet. There were some cool things in the dealer room, but honestly, the best dealer set-up was the Steampunk vendor (what does Steampunk have to do with horror??). boneshard was captivated by another vendor's wares which included flatware with pewter bones and baby arms for the handles. I kind of liked her bracelet of pewter wisdom teeth.

The celebrity room was kind of sad. Ted Raimi was dressed up in a suit which was wearing him. He looked like a little kid going to someone's wedding or funeral. Jake Busey had a million watt smile. Gary Busey looked like he'd been fished out of a gutter that morning. Dee Wallace Stone was very sweet when I told her how much I love her work. I also got to meet Terrance Zdunich and tell him how much I loved "Repo! The Genetic Opera" and compliment his singing voice. He was an absolute sweetheart. I talked myself out of getting Kristy Swanson's signature on a stake as I'm not that much of a collector. A lot of the movie celebrity stations were unmanned, though, so I missed seeing lots of folks. To be honest, the celebrity room had sort of a petting-zoo feel to it: the celebrities looked sort of sad, but resigned, to their lot in life.

boneshard made a bee-line for the author row where we both picked up some Joe R. Lansdale (of "Bubba Ho-Tep" fame) books. One of the guys on Night of the Living Podcast has been raving about Lansdale for a while and he kindly suggested the two best books for a newbie to his work (The Bottoms and a collection of short stories). It turned out that the authors were the best part of this con for me, even though I only know two of them through movies made of their work: Lansdale's "Bubba Ho-Tep" and Jack Ketchum's "The Girl Next Door". We attend an author panel and spent ninety minutes listening to the guys discuss not apologizing for their art and their views on the industry and hacks within the industry.

We ducked out for a quick dinner and came back to the site to discover that the line to get into the theater for the costume contest was the length of a football field. The staffers keeping the line... in line told us that the theater was already filled to capacity and we weren't getting in. The hell? We decided to bail for home. All of the sudden there was a flurry of activity at the front of line. Cheering and camera flashes. It was Bruce Campbell. He walked the line, apologizing to the crowd for "traveling so far and paying for a con we couldn't get into." Such a cool guy. We spent a little while at the back of the theater peering through the window and naming off as many character costumes as we could figure out and then headed home through the more scenic and "Jeepers Creepers"-esque parts of Pennsylvania. Fitting for a horror con day, really.

boneshard assures me that Monster Mania on the 18th will be much better.