Want to Party? World Fantasy Convention Review

The last time I attended the World Fantasy Convention was in 1999 in Providence, Rhode Island at the Covention Center. I met many people whom I still keep in contact today and came away with good information for my then manuscript. This year's fantasy convention was different: instead of attending panels all day long, I attended parties and two panels. For me, the parties had more information than attending the panels.

Held from October 30 to November 2, in Washington, D.C. at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the World Fantasy Convention's theme this year was Dark Fantasy: Honorable Traditions.

Across from the World Fantasy Convention's registration table was a convention for physicians and scientists in addictive medicine. First, fantasy attendees wondered what's addictive medicine and second, should we tell the doctors about our addiction to the dark and fantastical.

I attended two good panels but will profile one here. My friend
and I wondered what Tag Team Wrestling with Taste was all about so we decided to attend. Lance Storm from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) sat on the panel. I'm unfamiliar with the wrestling world; however, Mr. Storm spoke clearly about the similarities between wrestling and writing. Both require believable characters, plots and story lines. If all three devices fail, then the entertainment falls flat. Mr. Storm pointed out he spoke to the writers on changing plot in order to make his character's motives more believable. (I didn't know there were
writers for wrestling. You see what you learn at panels?)

Mr. Storm has a book club at his website (www.storm wrestling.com). Anyone is welcomed to join this book club. The only qualification is you read a book and submit your review
to him. Mr. Storm contacts the author and sends the feedback. He's trying to get more involved with authors so they can get regular feedback on their novels. Mr. Storm said the difference between wrestling and writing is the wrestler gets immediate feedback on his work while the author has to wait. If the author has a website readers provide feedback. It takes time, however, for most writers to get feedback, if at all. It sounds like Mr. Storm is providing a valuable service to the writing community.
Most parties were held Saturday, started in the late afternoon
and ended in the wee hours of Sunday morning. I attended Strange Horizons Tea Party and picked up one of their flyers. I met Dora Goss, whom I consider part of my support group and who has published many short stories (visit her website at http://people.bu.edu/tgoss).

The small press held a party later that evening as well as Tor
(it was the publisher's birthday). Basically, I party-hopped all evening Saturday, picked up flyers, bought sample copies at the small press party for future market considerations and got good info on what editors wanted.

The World Fantasy parties were a great source of information and fun. Keep up the good work!

Regina is a fiction writer who lives in Exeter, Rhode Island with her cat, Isis. In her spare time, Regina is a preserve monitor for The Nature Conservancy, a mushroom hunter, and voracious reader. Her fantasy short story, Thunderbird, was accepted at the 2002 Readercon Conference Workshop. She recently photographed author, Joel S. Ross, for his suspense novel, "An Eye for An Eye", published by Leisure Books due to hit bookstores in May 2004. You can send information on conferences, retreats or workshops with two months' advance notice at regall649@msn.com.