It’s been a year of many conventions, and I’m not done yet. Today is the beginning of BizarroCon 2015 at the McMenamins Edgefield. The Edgefield is a cool historic place that was the county “poor farm” in the days of my grandparents.
The McMenamins company has turned it into a whimsical, sprawling entertainment complex with hotel rooms, restaurants and bars, a golf course and assorted other fun stuff.
As a genre, Bizarro is slightly different from what I normally write, though I believe there’s a lot of crossover between Bizarro and the weirder end of the Weird. Some of my favorite publishers like Word Horde and Lazy Fascist Press have one foot in each territory, as I see it.
Though the con will be underway Thursday afternoon, I won’t be showing up until later Thursday night. I’ll be delivering Michael Cisco from the airport.
Friday will be a long day of workshops and other entertainments. Early in the morning I’ll be participating in a “Perfecting Your Pitch” workshop led by Ross E. Lockhart, and after lunch I’ll be in the “Chunk-Style Plotting” workshop led by John Skipp.
Saturday I’m taking part in the Word Horde Reading Block (2:30-4PM) along with Ross Lockhart, Nathan Carson, Nikki Guerlain, Edward Morris and M.P. Johnson.
Sunday I’m on the “Varieties of Weirdness” panel (in which I hope to touch on the crossover I perceive between Bizarro and Weird fiction) along with Ross again, G. Arthur Brown, Garrett Cook, Cameron Pierce and Rios De La Luz. This panel will be recorded, with the approval of all participants, for inclusion in a future edition of Scott Nicolay’s excellent podcast series The Outer Dark.
Last year I only attended BizarroCon for a single day, but I had such fun I wanted to be part of all three days this year. If you’ll be there, I look forward to seeing you. Lots of fun to be had!
GriffinWords 