Back from Necro, which was a fun regional SF convention with a distinct literary bent. Spent time chatting with Tim Zahn and his wife, Anna, and verbally fencing on panels with Lloyd Kaufman of “Troma” films, who I think believed I was a stick in the mud or something; I’m not sure. At any rate, the fans were great, the programming was very entertaining, and I sure hope the town of Tampa doesn’t go the way of the last town where I attended a regional SF con: Crescent Cit Con in New Orleans.
Good to be home. Kath deftly handled several small crises while I was away, probably better than I would have had I been here. And this evening Caroline–who’d had trouble going to sleep the past few days–clambered up into my lap and promptly corked off with her hand resting atop mine.
The girls go trick or treating tomorrow. They’re going as the Muppet Wizard of Oz, with Caroline as Dorothy and Ariel as Miss Piggy dressed as Glinda.
PAD
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Yeah my daughter sleeps better when we are all under one roof as well. She is going as the toothfairy, missing 2 teeth has made her love the gold dollar coins she gets per tooth.
Wow, you and Tim Zahn. That would place my two favorite sci-fi writers in the same room.
PAD, are you ever going to write a Star Wars novel?
You been invited to attend PhilCon, Peter?
Ah, I wish I could have made it, but I had no desire to wait in line for hours to get gas for my car. Palm Beach County is sloooowly coming online after Hurricane Wilma.
Brian
Peter’s sister here… Wizard of Oz must be a family theme this year. Sarah is going as the Wicked Witch of the East before the house fell on her (a witch costume with stripped legs and ruby slippers) and Emily is going as the house (a box that I made into a house with her head coming out of the roof with a chimney with smoke tied to her head and a “twister” taped to the roof) Happy Halloween everyone!
Peter,
Looking forward to Wizard World in Dallas this weekend. Any special plans while you are here in Big D?
About what did you “fence” with Lloyd Kaufman? I’m not a big fan of Troma films — too deliberately stupid and lowbrow for me — but I do respect a movie company that’s stayed in business since the ’80s with movies whose total budgets are often less than mainstream movies pay for catering. (I also recommend Kaufman’s book ALL I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MAKING MOVIES I LEARNED FROM THE TOXIC AVENGER. This covers everything from why Troma got off the ground (they had videos available when video stores would buy anything available), to which three mainstream movies are more offensive than anything Troma’s made, to how to film a head exploding or being crushed.)
But how did the Buffy Horror Karaoke Show go? 😉
“About what did you “fence” with Lloyd Kaufman?”
You know, I’m really not sure. I think he and George Lowe (the voice of “Space Ghost” on “Coast to Coast”) were kind of cheesed off that most of the questions on our mutual panel were being directed to me, and I kept giving fairly straight forward answers while they kept screwing around and making remarks that they clearly thought were much funnier than the audience did. So both Lloyd and George kept making jibes at me until finally I fired back with some remarks, which caught them off guard because, well, they don’t know me very well. But I’ve nothing against either of them. It was just a weird vibe.
PAD
Peter’s brother Wally here. My older son, Mike, is going as a 14 y/o boy in a dark hooded sweatshirt, black jeans, black sneakers and a Jason hockey mask. His outfit is topped off with a glow-in-the-dark butcher knife!
Matthew is doing as a grim reaper with beautiful cloak made by mom and his face painted. He will be carrying a black, plastic scythe.
Happy Candy Day!
Wally
welcome back PAD
and i dont know if your going to do a star wars novel but i wish you would
the novel series needs a fresh take IMO
Lloyd Kaufman? I hate that guy! I used to work for Trauma, and everybody there was a pain in my butt!
Welcome back
Today I dressed up as the Ninth Doctor from Doctor Who. thinking about submitting a picture of it to the official site.
Also, can’t wait to see you PAD at United Fan Con. I hope you’ll mention it here since it would be nice to see a some fellow folks from here there.
Man, I wish our household had Kath’s costuming skills — something like a Muppet Wizard of Oz would be really cool.
Katherine went for something simple (being, after all, only 14 months old) — a leopard costume, including a headpiece that Lisa’s been saving for 25 years. I’m not sure she fully understood what the point of the whole thing was, but she seemed to enjoy herself well enough. A nice night.
And welcome back to PAD!
TWL
Wow, wish I could’ve been there to meet PAD and Tim Zahn. I agree with Kurt, they’re hands-down two of the best authors in my book. PAD, any comments on any of Zahn’s works, or chances of collaborating with him?
Chris
Hmm, sounds like a strange reason/vibe for conflict. I suspect the Troma folks are so used to being self-deprecating that they’re afraid of being too serious. Still, weird.
Well, I worked as an intern for Troma and I must say they were quite cool with me, including Mr. Kaufman, who was always polite and friendly.
So, ok, maybe he acted as a jerk at the con, but I thought I should write this to keep some balance.
Saw George Lowe once at a con, and he seem to be the kind of guy you could be easily offended at if you didn’t know him or his ‘style’ well. Methinks (mehopes?) that it was just a case of everybody not knowing each other well enough the first time out. None of the three of you strikes me as the kind of person to pull ego bull on the others… but then, what do I know?
In defense of George Lowe, he is a bit of a wiseass, but mostly a good-natured one. His talk-show version of Space Ghost is very much like him. I saw him do a hilarious hour in a crowded room at Dragon*Con, mostly rapping about the fact that Cartoon Network is mostly done with Space Ghost and therefore done with him as a voice actor. (He may be so closely identified with that part that he’s having trouble getting work. So yeah, maybe he’s a bit grouchy these days too.)
As for Kaufman, I never met him, but he promotes himself much more loudly than Stan Lee, and without the self-effacing charm. Remember the Troma infomercial he ran about a decade ago on TV, pushing a cheap Toxic Avenger fan club kit? (Didn’t even try to sell videos of his movies!)
Frankly, Mr. D, I’m guessing (without being at Necro or witnessing the panel) that the fans concentrated on asking you questions because they were pretty sure you’d give them answers. Not clever disses or plugs for the latest cheesy video release. That’s the importance of your being earnest.
We thought you were a great guest too!
Full disclosure time: I’m with Stone Hill. I’m the filk guy.
For what it’s worth, I like the three of you for different reasons. Kaufman is passionate about film, and chooses to be as much of one of his own creations as the Toxic Avenger in order to promote independent filmmaking. When I greeted him in the hall, he was actually quite gracious.
George Lowe is a Radio Guy who does a lot of voice work. I have worked with Radio People in the past as well, and am working to get into it myself. He had a really good solo panel on Saturday at noon, precisely because he is a Radio Guy–even though, or perhaps because, he’s completely nuts, or at least acts that way on stage. When he’s just Working a Crowd, he does have a real knack. I suspect that skill becomes a hindrance when trying to answer semi-serious questions.
You were a hit because you care about the craft of storytelling, and because you communicate well. You hold conversations instead of performing. And we hope you’ll come back again for more conversations.
It was great to meet you at Necronomicon – I am still kicking myself for not having my books with me when you were autographing on Saturday. I also attended the humor panel (and who schedules such a panel for 10 a.m. the day after the first night of the con?!? Ha!) and found your comments interesting.
I noted on that panel that the other panelists interrupted you often with their own “witty” rejoinders, and I was impressed at how graciously you let it slide time after time.
Thanks for coming to Necro; I hope to see you there again soon 🙂