Flame Con

August 16-17, 2019
The Times Square Sheraton
New York, NY

 

 

Overview:

This was my fourth time at Flame Con. In 2018 they moved to yet another new venue, leaving Brooklyn for Times Square. Tables sold out in a matter of hours and I was initially on the waitlist, but I eventually got in. The show kicked off with Fire Starter on Friday night, which Dierre and I attended. It poured while we were walking in, and we got soaked in the process. Lugging all of my stuff in on Saturday morning was a sweaty mess of an experience, but thankfully I had Dierre there to help me carry it. My friend Lindsay also came to help out for both days. I gave out a lot of Kickstarter rewards for backers who were able to pick them up, but also sold a bunch of copies of Dream Crasher, Vol. 1. Dierre stayed home on Sunday, and my friend Emily stopped by to help out a little bit. I ended up doing really well on sales for both days. I also enjoyed catching up with a lot of people, from vendors, to attendees, to volunteers and former co-workers. Lindsay stayed to help me break it all down on Sunday and carry everything back to Brooklyn. Overall, it was another great Flame Con that reminded me why it is consistently one of my favorite shows.

 

Ben Beaury, who gave us our fantastic cover quote, holding a copy of Dream Crasher.

 

Highlights:

•  Fire Starter was a great show as usual, but I was caught off-guard by the tickets not being included with the vendor badges this year. That, on top of getting drenched in the rain on my way in and the $25 drink minimum, I was a little put off. But I had a great night in spite of that. I caught up with some friends among the Geeks OUT crew as well as a few other creators.

•  I got to catch up with Jeff, whom I know from college, and the rest Kinsoul Studio crew that I met at last years Flame Con. They recently ran a successful Kickstarter for their latest game Steepsers.

•  It was nice seeing and catching up with some of my favorite creators and Flame Con alumni like Jennie Wood, Joe Corallo, John Jennison, Alexa Cassaro, and Cameron Wallace.

•  A former co-worker stopped by with his partner and a friend. Whom, and from which job, I won’t say. But it was nice seeing him. Getting some juicy bits of the latest workplace drama was an added bonus.

•  I got a ton of compliments on my Support Black Women Who Write Weird Shit t-shirt. Shout out to Teri for make them.

•  The Kickstarter Comics crew put out a call for anyone interested in getting professional headshots. I took them up on the offer and got some great headshots out of it.

•  Lindsay, Dierre, and I got to meet up with my college friend Jaime on Saturday night.

•  Fellow Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writer Rachel Gutin stopped by and we chatted for a bit. Both of us had just attended Reader Con together in July.

• It was really nice getting to spend two days with Lindsay and catching up. She really enjoyed the bagging process and took over most of that for me, which was awesome. I’m usually multi-tasking when I do it at shows by myself, so having one less thing to do made a big difference.

• I picked up the first chapter of the beautiful horror comic Novengard by Michelle M. Abreu and cannot wait to read it. I also got the second volume of the post-apocalyptic webcomic series Stand Still, Stay Silent.

 

Dierre with one of the Fire Starter drag queens sporting an IT inspired look.

 

Would I go back?

This is my fourth Flame Con; the answer is a definitive yes. There’s going to be challenges getting in, as the shows success has brought lots of attention to it. There are plenty of people with names bigger than my own who want it. Plenty more who deserve a chance and finding a receptive audience for their queer content. Hopefully a fair system can be worked out.

 

And finally…

Obligatory Convention Selfie