What's the best part about prepping for author panels at cons? Having a legitimate excuse to re-read your favorite books for the gillionth time, of course!
I'm an author guest at JordonCon 10 (Seancon 2, The Return) April 20-22 in Atlanta and this is the first year I'll be in attendance. That alone is kind of mind-boggling considering it celebrates some of my absolute favorite authors in the genre (Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, Pat Rothfuss, etc). Look for me Friday night where I'll be working in the Writers Workshop, and Saturday/Sunday I've got panels on the Writers Track and the Sanderson Track. Here's my full schedule:
Friday, 8:30 PM: Writers Workshop, Conference Center
Saturday, 10:00 AM: Myths and Monsters, Maplewood A
Saturday 11:30 AM: [YA] The Hidden World of Magic (focus on YA), Conference Center
Sunday, 11:30 AM: Character Spotlight: Dalinar, Oakwood A B
Sunday, 1:00 PM: Live Reading from A God of Gods: Dreams of Chaos Book 3
I didn't start my first read of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan until a few months after his death. At that time, there were still three future books in the series waiting to be finished and published by Brandon Sanderson over the next 5 years. That meant two things for me: 1. That I was just about to discover Sanderson's brilliance for the first time, and 2. that I had plenty of time to re-read the entire existing series a few times between releases. During these re-reads, I discovered that I think I'm secretly an Aiel, as an Aes Sedai I'd probably have joined the Browns (can't take the library out of the girl). But if I could choose any of the gifts of the series, it would be those of the Ogier. We're essentially building our own stedding now on a property we call the Hundred Acre Wood.
The long wait between books also gave me the chance to begin exploring Sanderson's Cosmere, the incredibly complex and rich universe in which most of his books take place. (Speaking of long waits between books - I'd be okay if you just dropped me into cryo-sleep and only pulled me out when a new Stormlight Archive (SA) book releases. K, thx.) And since one of my favorite characters ever written is Dalinar Kholin from the SA, I'm super-stoked about the Sunday panel that focuses on him. Dalinar becomes one of the most tragic figures of the series in a revelation during Oathbringer that still hits me like a gut punch every time I read it, so I expect this discussion to be phenomenal.
Let the countdown officially begin to April 20th! Sound off in the comments if you'll be at JordanCon. And if not, there's always next year ;-)