BayCon, trailers and a free e-book

BayCon was last weekend in Santa Clara (read San Jose), CA. It had some competition this year in the form of two more local conventions of a similar nature, which definitely had an impact on attendance. I've never seen the dealers room so small, either.

The panels, though long (90 mins. a piece!), were great. I moderated two on Friday and sat on two more on Sunday. I brought my fiancé, Kevin, this year. He's by far a mundane, but this was his first convention. We went easy on him. ;) We both had loads of fun with my con friends old and new alike. The dance on Saturday night was uber lame, but I guess if you're 20-something and LIKE to jump up and down and flap your arms to techno, it was passable. I couldn't tell you as I couldn't stand hangin' in for more than two songs. I gave the masquerade a miss as well, opting instead to go off the reservation for dinner with buddies Bob Brown, Irene Radford, Jeff Lemkin, Dan Pietrasik (Yes, he won my flash contest, and no, it wasn't fixed. I wasn't the judge, remember?) and newbie writer Arley, who is astoundingly prolific and charming. Then we hung out in the lobby bar with Dani Kollin and a flock of new friends.

The parties, probably because of the aforementioned low attendance were also lame. We just cruised the party floor Friday and Saturday keeping our ears open for good conversation but finding none, alas.

I did meet Shahid of Phoenix Picks in the dealers room. Now he's not just some dude. Very nice man. I enjoyed chatting with him. Which brings us to his June picks. He also gave me the first two issues of the new mag, Galaxy's Edge edited by Mike Resnick. Mike's history of science fiction magazines at the beginning of the first issue is very entertaining. I'll review the mag in the next couple of weeks here.

Phoenix Pick's free e-book for June is L. Neil Smith's The Crystal Empire.
Use coupon code 9991642, which will be good from June 2nd-June 30.

About the book:
Earth is ruled by three mighty empires: The Saracen-Jewish Empire led by
the Caliph of Rome, the Mughal-Arab Empire, ferocious in its determination
to destroy its neighbor, and the great Sino-Aztec's Crystal Empire, led by
a living God.

Little is known about the Crystal Empire, which spans most of western
America. But it is the most powerful force surviving on Earth and its
might is unchallenged.

One man, however, will change that. Sedrich Sedrichsohn, a legendary
fallen fighter, has a chance at redemption and nothing will stand in his
way to reclaim his life and his purpose, even if he must fight the Sun-God
himself.

 The last episode of the first season of The Minister of Chance is here! Let me entice you with the following trailer.



I'd love to give you a review of the new Star Trek movie, but I was at BayCon all weekend and still haven't seen it. And, besides, you probably have. Instead, here's a trailer for a Will Smith (and son, Jaden) SF flick coming out this Friday.