FenCon XXI AAR

My first time on the other side of the tables

This year’s FenCon was a bit more ‘interesting’ than usual for me.

I was planning on attending when Crystal Schuh Gayle asked if I wanted to get a table this time.

I’d been very low key pondering the idea, but that question combined with the very reasonable rate when compared to the pair of memberships I was planning on picking up anyway made it a possibility.

Then I made the mistake of telling Crystal that, and word got back to John Van Stry that I ‘was going’. He then decides to get one himself, ‘since he’d have someone to talk to’…

Which resulted in me getting off the fence on the side of ‘let’s see what happens’.

So FenCon XXI goes down in the books as my first con as a dealer AND an attending pro.

Insert random incoherent screaming here

Time passes and and I end up with most of a book order, a bunch of fun 3d printed stuff (lots of gaming supplies), and a stack of VERY rush ordered bookmarks. The Roommate helps me get everything loaded, and his Lady assisted in the sorting and pricing of the various 3d stuff.

Since I was also the only member of Raconteur Press who was planning on ‘working’¹ at FenCon, I also collected a box of Press Books and promo stuff, JIC.

We arrived on Thursday, a bit late to do the traditional BarCon thing, and were ready to get started bright and early on Friday morning.

The start of the con was slightly more chaotic than usual, but it was handled well by folks involved. We got set up ahead of JVS at the next table over as he was driving in², and I set up an ambush. This year, he was leaving with one of MY books for a change!

muahahaha

John gets set up, and asks if I play guitar after I deliver my book, with a bookmark (above).

I failed either a ‘sense motive’ check or a ‘detect traps’ check, not sure which, and respond with a simple ‘no’

John laughs, and reaches back to grab a custom guitar he’s hand built with his lion logo on it.

“Then you can hang it on the wall, here…”

HeadDesk

I’m honored, but damn…

I’d like to claim that the shock was why I missed my first panel, but that was hours later, and I just had the day wrong in my head.

Wallbanger Creative and RJ Hanson covered for me and I DIDN’T get to tell any of my good Critical Failure stories. Well, I think I told Rob Howell and a couple of folks, but not in the panel.

Which set a theme for the panels I was on, someone missed every one, for a variety of reasons. Ah well, Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome doesn’t just apply in combat, and we carried on fairly well.

BarCon on Friday was good, as was having breakfast with the RacPress folks each morning. Face to face with them is always a good time, even if I wound up with a couple of new projects for the next few weeks. Sat ended relatively early for me, and Sun we drove back to OKC.

From a sales standpoint, I did OK. My minimum markers of not making a fool of myself unintentionally and covering the upgrade to the table were easily handled. I’ll have to go back in and cook the books to see exactly how well I did, but it should end up somewhere between OK, and Pretty Good. I’m not adverse to dealing again.

The GM’ing on the Fly and How to destroy a Writer’s Group in 6 Easy Steps panels both went well from where I was sitting, and I’d like to formally thank the other panelists for bringing a variety of points of view without bringing the conflicts that have seemed inevitable over the last several years. I’d much rather ‘argue’ in the bar than fight in the halls.

I established that panels are something I can do as both a participant and a mod, but I want to keep the numbers down in reasonable levels.

Oh, and Kevin J Anderson posted a picture with me on X!

Kevin J Anderson@TheKJA

my table in the FenCon Convention dealers' room. Sales went very well today.

3:34 AM · Feb 22, 2026 · 462 Views

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2 Replies · 30 Likes

If you zoom in and look WAY in the back / right, I’m the folliclly challenged bloke talking to RJ Hanson (in his fun ‘Writer Character Sheet’ t-shirt).

I did grab and get KJA to sign a copy of his Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina antho, from before the coming of the Haus of Maus…

Overall, FenCon XXI was a good con for me.

1. I know that the Networking we all do IS work, but other than that most of the RacPress folks were there to hang out with folks we don’t see in person often.

2. When most folks say they were a bit late because they ‘had to finish a chapter’ they were reading it. Not John…