I spent this past weekend at the World Horror Convention in Chicago (which wasn’t far for me to go since I’m already IN Chicago to begin with).
It was the best thing I’ve ever done. Unlike the Sci-Fi conventions that are for the fans of Sci-Fi writing and movies and TV shows. This convention was for the writers of horror. Although I don’t really read much horror, writing is writing and most of the genre labels put on things are done by the clerks at bookstores who couldn’t tell a horror novel from a crime novel anyway.
But it was the coolest thing ever. I met my favoritest author, Neil Gaiman (link to his Blog on your left). I turned into a babbling, geeked out, teenaged fangirl in his presence. I so wanted to be able to say something intelligent in front of him but all that came out was, “I love reading your website… (imagine snort noise here)” UGH!!! It was like I was 16 again and meeting Duran Duran.
But, I did find a bunch of books written by Edward Lee. For those who don’t know, my dad’s name was Edward Lee. However, this particular Edward Lee is not my father and, as far as I can tell, he’s no relation either. But it was cool to see a book with my Dad’s name on it sitting on the dealer’s tables. Apparently he writes pretty gory and graphic horror novels. Which is also something my Dad wouldn’t read much less write. Dad was into tales of true crime…. kinda like reading the newspaper. I’m going to have to check out Amazon and pick up one of his books. Although, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to read it. I was traumatized after reading “The Mangler” by Stephen King. I couldn’t sleep for weeks! Since then I’ve avoided the horror section completely. I did pick up a collection of short stories by Caitlin Kiernan and I’m hoping to start on that soon. But I’ve got to complete “The Bourne Identity” first since that’s a book I borrowed from a friend and I really must return it. If you haven’t discovered it yet, check it out. The movie hits theaters June 14th and they’ll probably ruin it.
Anyway, at the World Horror Convention Caitlin Kiernan won two Inernational Horror Guild Awards. One for Best Short Story and one for Best Novel. So I thought her stuff might be a good place to start. Then again if she’s in the same category as Stephen King I might be traumatized for the rest of my life. But, I feel a need to read some horror. I also picked up a Lemony Snickett book. I’m betting that might be the better place to begin since they are books for kids 10 and up, that might be a good baby step for me.
I had a lot of fun at the convention. Sat in on an amazing seminar for writers run by Mort Castle. Gary Braunbeck made a guest appearance and said some very nice things to all of us about the stuff we read to the group. I am now on a quest for a book of his as well. I also sat in on a panel with the prosecuting attorney for the John Wayne Gacey trial. He talked all about the evidence they found to convict Gacey and Gacey’s state of mind as he helped the police locate all the bodies under his house. There was a slide show, and there was a picture from Gacey’s private collection of photos of him with the then First Lady Rosalyn Carter. Which at the time had propelled the Secret Service into a tizzy wondering how Gacey was able to get into an event she was at. It was incredibly interesting and I learned a lot.
I also sat in on a reading done by a professional storyteller. Apparently there are storyteller gatherings and fairs and stuff and she goes to these things and performs and her reading/storytelling was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it. She told a great, fun story about a possessed vending machine and I forget who wrote it, but it was fantastic.
If you haven’t buzzed over to www.snottybitch.com yet you really should, I’ve got some fun stuff there you might enjoy (or then again, you might not but I’m going to shamelessly promote the place anyway). I’m particularly proud of my “Tales from the DarkSide or Confessions of a Coffee Addict” story/essay or whatever you want to call it. I hope you can find it, they’ve switched to a Blogger format that might not work very well.
My lunch hour is about to come to an end, so I’ll stop now and perhaps come back later.
I don't know if you're brilliant or twisted
