Neither snow nor rain nor multiple traffic jams could keep me away from Philcon 87 (November 22-24, 2024). I took a half day from work on Friday and despite a treacherous drive, arrived at the Hilton Doubletree in Cherry Hill, NJ in reasonable time.

Since I had no panels on Friday, I took the opportunity to wander around the hotel, chat with friends, and peruse the dealer room. As always, it was wonderful to see my friends Jacob Jones-Goldstein and Nicholas Leamy from Delaware small press Oddity Prodigy Productions.

A few days before the con, Jake accepted my story “Isaac Geary’s Instant Utopia” for their upcoming science fiction anthology, Bright Mirror, a collection of utopian science fiction.

Continuing my tour of the dealer room, I stopped to chat with longtime friends Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Mike McPhail, and Keith DeCandido. However, I was disappointed to find a few dealers missing, including one gentleman who carries a large inventory of vintage paperbacks. Nevertheless, there were plenty of other classic treasures awaiting me including a dealer who is renown for selling mint condition hardbacks, many of which are first editions and autographed by the author.

On this occasion, he was selling many titles at 50% off. I was able to score a limited edition, signed copy of Harlan Ellison’s Spider Kiss in hardback for $40 and hardback copies of Ellison’s Angry Candy and The Collected Works of C.J. Cherryh for $17 each.

In the hotel lobby, I caught up with editor and publisher, Ann Stolinsky of Celestial Echo Press (an imprint of Gemini Wordsmiths).  Ann and Ruth Littner co-own the business and earlier in the year, Ann accepted my story “A Thorne in Time” for their time travel anthology, Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel. The book was scheduled to be launched at 6PM on Saturday night in the con suite at Philcon.

But Ann and I had arranged to meet on Friday so I could pick up my dozen author copies and since neither of us had dinner plans, we ate together at the hotel restaurant.

After that, I retreated to my room for a few hours to rest until the Meet the Pros party at 9PM.  This is a social event that takes place in the side hallway outside of the art show. It’s the best opportunity to catch up with friends. It was a joy to chat with Bram Stoker-nominated writer Carol Gyzander and fellow Lehigh Valley writer Christopher D. Ochs. As the evening progressed, I found myself sitting with friends (and Shore Leave volunteers) Anne Hande and co-con chair Inge Heyer along with a new friend I’d met over Facebook, Rebecca Marcus. Rebecca has been in SF fandom for a long time, but we somehow managed to miss one another until now. Events like this, where old friends reunite and new friends are made, are one of the main reasons I attend cons.

Saturday morning started with a 10AM panel, “Music and the Writing Process,” moderated by David Simms. Fellow panelists included Keith DeCandido, Susan Shwartz, and Wayland Smith. We only had an audience of three, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying a lively chat about the music we listen to while writing, which artists inspire us, and who we’d like to create the soundtracks to our stories.

At noon, I joined Randee Dawn and Michael Ventrella to read excerpts from our books to a full house. I chose a scene from my second paranormal mystery novel, By Your Side. The audience was engaged with every reading and we had a lively discussion afterward. I’d known Michael for several years, but this was my first time meeting Randee. We’ve since become Facebook friends. Special thanks to Michael Ventrella for taking my picture at the reading (below).

At 1PM,  it was my turn at the autograph table downstairs beside the Shore Leave team. The author autograph sessions are usually slow so I spent the time chatting with Inge, Anne, and Anne’s hubby, Rick. Always a grand time!

I was then free for the next four hours until the launch for Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel at 6PM. So, of course, I bought more books in the dealer room then went back to my room and crashed for a bit.

I arrived at the con suite a few minutes early to join Ann Stolinsky and about a dozen of my fellow contributors to Ruth and Ann’s Guide to Time Travel. Over the course of the next hour and a half, the Volume I authors, myself included, signed about twenty copies before reading four-minute excerpts from their stories. In addition to the writers I already knew, such as Carol Gyzander, Ef Deal, Gary Zenker, and Joanne McLaughlin, it was nice to finally meet Teel James Glenn and Jon McGoran (who I’d only known from social media) as well as Ken Altabef, Stephen W. Chappell, David C. Strickler, Gordon Linzner, and James Ryan.

Readings were followed by finger food and cake (which for me also became finger food).  Much gratitude to Ann Stolinsky for organizing one of the best book launches I ever experienced.

My evening wasn’t over yet. It was time for me to moderate a panel! At 9AM, I joined David Simms, Carol Gyzander, Eric Avedissian, and Amy Grech for “I’ll Write Any Horror Story, but I Won’t Write That!” where we discussed what tropes and subgenres in horror we enjoyed writing, what we didn’t, and which writers inspired us. Audience engagement was enthusiastic and we actually ran ten minutes overtime!

After that, it was time to go back to my room and crash (actually, I watched Die Hard II on TNT before going to sleep).

Sunday morning saw me packing up, loading the car, and hanging out with the Shore Leave folks for a few hours until my 1PM panel, “What’s Happened to the Traditional Ghost Story?” moderated by Melanie Moyer and starring Ty Drago, Nghi Vo, James L. Cambias, and myself. As with all of my panels this weekend, my last one of the con did not fail to produce a lively discussion among the panelists and the audience about what makes a good ghost story, what ruins a good ghost story, and other related topics.

After that, it was time to go. I said goodbye to all of my friends but did not leave without buying one last book. This time, it was The Best of Michael Swanwick, Volume II.  Michael is a forty-year luminary of the science fiction world with multiple awards for his amazing work and a regular guest at Philcon.

As it happens, Michael and his wife Marianne Porter also host a Philcon after party at their house a few blocks from my childhood home in Philadelphia. I attended for the first time in 2022 where I also met another legendary writer for the first time, Samuel “Chip” Delaney.

This year, Michael graciously signed my book with a delightful inscription.

In addition to myself, Randee Dawn, Ken Altabef, Alex Shvartsman, Sally Grotta, Anna Kashina, Tom Doyle, Barbara Purdom, Ian Strock, Chris Edwards (who took this wonderful picture below of Michael and Chip) and several other Philcon guests were in attendance.

All told, this was by far my best Philcon yet and I look forward to next year!