(NOTE: I wanted to have this posted yesterday, but the home computer froze and no libraries were open due to Labor Day. I will do my best to finish writing about Gen-Con this week).

It’s been over a week since my first post about Gen-Con. Now three weeks have passed since the convention. My apologies, True Believers. I was busy with a big writing project for Remedy Live, an internet radio station based in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Now, back to Gen-Con.

I neglected to mention that I saw my old college buddy Aaron “Ned” Brosman during the first day. He runs a gaming shop in Huntington, Indiana, and was at Gen-Con conducting Dungeons and Dragons events.

The second day was a bit of a blur. It played out much like the first, except there were more people. My first customer was a cosplayer named Deidra (if I got your name wrong, I’m sorry! Everyone’s names are running together), who was dressed as River Song from Doctor Who. I liked her outfit so much, I took a picture with her:

I snapped a few other photos of other cool cosplayers I saw while I was there, most of which you’ll see once I post a full photo gallery. Here’s are a few of my favorites from that morning:

The first highlight of Friday was meeting Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played the original Uhura on Star Trek: The Original Series. Meeting Wil Wheaton the day before was a big deal, but it was the original Star Trek that not only introduced me to science fiction, it was one of my first inspirations to become a writer, so meeting someone from that show was a HUGE deal to me. What was amazing, though, is I hardly had to wait in line! For whatever reason, the line to see Mr. Wheaton was long, so everyone who wanted to see Ms. Nichols was moved up. I only had to wait five minutes! Just like I did with Wil, I gave Ms. Nichols signed copies of my books. Here’s a picture of me with Nichelle:

I returned to my booth and continued to sell books.

During that time, Lee, my neighbor across the aisle, introduced me to several members of a local indie band called Five Year Mission. They are a Star Trek tribute band endeavoring to write a song for every episode of the original series over the course of five albums. I talked with Mike Rittenhouse (who also runs a comic shop called Hero House) and Chris Spurgin, who were going throughout the exhibitors’ hall passing out flyers for their show that night. Mike convinced me to skip the free screenwriting seminar I had signed up for to attend their show. I told him I would buy one of their CDs if I liked what I heard.

Later that afternoon, I took a break and attended a writing seminar hosted by Michael A. Stackpole, a prolific sci-fi/fantasy author most famous for writing Star Wars novels. I had attended one of his seminars the day before. The first one was on digital publishing. This one was on plotting. Here’s a photo of the two of us:

I returned to my booth to close shop, and while I was leaving, I talked to a couple of the guys from Who North America, a company based in Indianapolis that sells and distributes Doctor Who merchandise. I took a few pictures with the reps there, who were dressed as the Brigadier and the Third Doctor.

I spent some time meeting and photographing cosplayers (which you’ll see in the full gallery) and exploring the Westin Hotel, where Five Year Mission was to perform. There were also anime events and a film festival going on there.

The band’s show started at 8:30. Lee was also in attendance. Their were a few dozen people in the room. I was amazed to learn that these guys are very talented nerds. Only the drummer stays at his post the whole time. The other four members switch instruments between songs (guitar, bass, keyboards, and vocals). They also play clips from each of the episodes the songs are for, which was entertaining. I was happy that they played songs for a few of my favorite episodes of the show.

Their finale was hilarious. It was a song for “Arena,” a famous show where Capt. Kirk fights a lizard-like alien called a Gorn. They band asked the audience, “Who here is good at hand-to-hand combat?” There was an awkward pause. “We don’t really good. Just good enough o beat up Mike. But you have to let him win.” I almost held up my hand, but I wasn’t sure what they were going to do. They selected a young guy who was already wearing green and tossed him a Gorn mask. They played the song and once they got to an instrumental part toward the end, Mike jumped down and had a mock fight with him. I took several pictures. Once it was over, they let the “Gorn” have a free T-shirt.

You can bet I bought a CD after the show.

Here’s a picture of me and band:

I walked back to the Indiana Convention Center to head back to the parking garage, but was suddenly pulled aside by an energetic girl was trying to put a group together to play a game called “Are You a Werewolf?” If you’ve ever played “Mafia,” it’s the same thing except with werewolves. It was amusing to watch people (over-) psychoanalyze their friends and complete strangers for a while.

After getting lost (again) upon leaving the parking garage, I made it back to Josh’s house well past midnight.

TO BE CONTINUED IN DAY 3!