Dragon Con, Day Four: Anyone Seen My Dragon? Scaly? Glowing Eyes?

(Sunday)

Today’s the panel on Dragons of Science, Dragons of Fantasy. I arrive early and sit, worrying about something else. What am I going to do with my heavy suitcases tomorrow, after I’ve checked out of the apartment but hours before my train leaves Atlanta? The hotel won’t check them, and I’m sure not going to drag them around all day. (Eventually I learn that they’ll check them for me at the train station.) That worry is supplanted by even greater concern about the approaching Hurricane Dorian. I don’t think it will affect my escape by rail, but who knows? This is a hurricane, and they don’t give much quarter.

Someone stops and asks me if I am cosplaying that guy from Jurassic Park.

The Dragons panel is loads of fun, with good people, ably moderated by Jody Lyn Nye. A big audience, and also an audience with lots of good questions for us. Afterward, a fellow comes up and tells me it was the best panel he’s seen at the con; and if that sort of compliment doesn’t warm your heart, what will? Trouper/Cousin Kitty shares some pictures:

L-R, Jody Lynn Nye, Mark H. Wandry, Robert E. Hampson, Jeffrey A. Carver, Patricia Briggs, Steve Saffel…

Here’s me impersonating someone who knows what he’s talking about…

I unwind by walking through the art show. It feels very different from the art shows at the smaller SF/F cons. The work here is 99% fantasy, almost no science fiction, and half of that is dragons in one form or another. Some of it is excellent! But it starts to feel like much of one theme after a while. At the smaller cons, art shows tend to be gallery-style, sometimes with the artists present and sometimes not. Here, it’s much more of a dealer format, with each artist displaying and selling at a table. The artists probably make more money this way, and I enjoy several conversations with them. Still, I miss the more contemplative experience of art hanging for viewing pleasure, and less blatantly for sale.

There seems to be very little overlap between the artists I find here and those who show at the SF/F cons (where a lot of the work tends to be actual book cover paintings).

After saying good-bye to Kitty, I head out to go “home” and try to do some writing. A nice lady stops me and asks if she can take my picture. Sure, I say; but why? “Because you’re cosplaying Dr. Hammond from Jurassic Park, of course!”

Seriously, people? Where’s the resemblance?