Picture progress notice: I’m going to be spending the better part of the weekend processing images. If all goes well, then next week will be a series of gallery posts, from each day of the convention.
I know I’ve “bragged” about how very little advertised as convention programming genuinely appeals to me to a point where I really wish to participate in a panel or a show, or anything that requires waiting in a long and time-sucking line. The fact is, I still glance at guest lists and panels regardless, it’s just that I ultimately don’t bother with them once the convention begins. I’d rather wander around and take pictures and chance into running into friends and acquaintances as opposed to waiting in lines. It’s not to say that I’m not interested in them, it’s more the fact that the reward of seeing or meeting doesn’t outweigh my love for flexibility.
I broke this trend this year, ironically, in spite of my most recent manifesto about how convention programming doesn’t appeal to me, when I went to go meet an author whose works I’ve really enjoyed over the last few years, Jonathan Maberry.
Often times, I take a different route around the hotels, because the obvious walkways between them all are usually crammed-packed full of people, and all it really takes is one stroller, toddler, cane-aided walker or a wheelchair to bring the flow of people to a crawl. That being said, I have absolutely no qualms with taking any of the routes that make me have to dare step into the outside air, cross Courtland or Peachtree Center Avenue, especially if it gets me to Point B quicker than the common routes.
It turned out that going outside to from the Hilton back to the Marriott put me right in front of one of the Walk of Fame sections of the conventions, and a sign simply labeled “author signings” piqued my interest. And it just so happened that Jonathan Maberry was doing a meet and greet, and there weren’t a ton of people in line at the time, so I figured why not?
One of my reluctances when it comes to meeting any sort of “celebrity” is that their public persona is unappealing, and it gives me the opportunity to associate them with a less than savory opinion. Cases in point in my past are actors like David Carradine and Felicia Day, who weren’t exactly gracious individuals to either me, or friends of mine. We’ll leave it at that, but basically I’m often times concerned that people whose works I’ve liked, might be unappealing people when met in person.
Thankfully, Jonathan Maberry was absolutely none of that. Gracious, friendly and so easy to speak with, he took a few minutes to chat with me about some of the ironic coincidences revolving around his latest Joe Ledger novel Code Zero, how it culminated at Dragon*Con, and how the Ebola virus was actually in Atlanta at the CDC for the last two months, and me asking him if any girls attempted to costume as his interpretation of his latest antagonist.
If there was ever an opportunity to have broken my D*C meta, it couldn’t have been much better than meeting an author whose works I enjoy, and actually turning out that he’s an awesome person to his fans. Much appreciated, Jonathan!
