Conference Report:
Boskone42, Boston Sheraton, MA
Shadow Chaser

Dates: February 18-20, 2005

Guest of Honor: Orson Scott Card

Other Guests: Alan Pollack, Mike Glyer, Urban Tapestry
(note: There were a lot more guests that those listed, but these are the major players.)





Me, Shadow Chaser, with one of my most favorite authors Orson Scott Card. The guy is wicked tall ...
Boskone42 was quite the interesting experience.  Having never been to a sci-fi / fantasy convention, but having read about badly dressed Klingons or Borg / Seven-of-Nine wannabes wandering around mixed with Imperial Stormtroopers and Stargate personnel — a few Darth Mauls and Obi-Wans thrown in, I was fully prepared to confront them head on.

With my camera of course.

But Boskone42 was not what I had expected.  It was more of a laid-back, enjoyable, almost too quite convention.  It was a convention where sci-fi and fantasy lovers mingled and talked about the different aspects of roleplaying, characters.  No egos wandering around here, it was just quite, plain, nice…and though there was at least one Jedi wannabe wandering around — no horribly dressed Klingons.  It was more quite fashionably dressed vampires and nymphs wandering around.

Of course, the sci-fi aspect of Boskone42 was quite dimmed over it’s sister Fantasy department, but nonetheless I enjoyed my three days at the Boston Sheraton.

Silly me didn’t think to buy an advance pass and instead shelled out $50 at the door, but there was one reason I went.  It was to see my all-time favorite author, Orson Scott Card (both Card and Mike Stackpole rank high on my list and occasionally vye against each other for the position of number one in my head).  So I went in there, dragging my ever faithful roommate and best friend along (though she only went for Friday).

And so starts my con report:

* * * * *

Friday, February 18, 2005

I was jumpy all day, because I wanted to go to the con really badly.  Except the con didn’t officially open until 4 p.m.  That’s one thing that made me happy.  AnimeBoston 2004 opened early Friday morning so I missed a few classes to go to it.  Boskone42 opened right after my classes were over.




Steph, Me, and Scott Card. He's such a loveable guy, very friendly and appreciative of his readers!

Unfortunately, my roomie was also doing a FilmI project over the weekend so delayed me getting to the con by having me go with her to grab her film equipment from the school.  Grrr ...  Aside from that, we went to the con and the first thing we did was go into the incredibly small dealer’s room they had there.

I was hoping to find some Babylon 5 or Stargate SG-1 stuff there, but all I found were jewelry, stones, wiccan things (pendants and potions), and a lot of old and used sci-fi / fantasy books for sale.  The books I didn’t mind as I set myself to explore the books for a rare first edition or something I was missing from my collection.  There was also one stand full of Japanese Animation stuff so Steph naturally headed there, followed by me.  I avoided the wiccan crafts knowing my mother would kill me, and checked out the jewelry.

After wandering around for about 2½ hours in the dealer’s room, Steph and I decided to check out the Artist’s Gallery.  To our surprise, we ran into a Star Wars artist (besides Alan Pollack), by the name of Alan Seeley.  You might recognize his work if you’ve read Aaron Allston’s NJO books, Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand.  We chatted about lots of things and found out that his studio was located right near our school in Boston.  So since I forgot to bring the said Star Wars novels, I decided that I would go home for spring break, bring those novels back, and have him sign it.  ^_^

Anyone wanting to contact him his address will be put below!

We also found out that there was going to be an official ceremony in the Artist’s Gallery at 10 that night so Steph and I hastily decided to come back, after getting dinner of course.




One of the most interesting artwork that was up for bid in the Artist's Gallery, this lucky guy was the winner. I wanted that Halo street sign, but where do I hang it?

We wandered the Artist’s Gallery a bit more, and I spotted a beautiful Alan Pollack illustration called “Path of Fate” and decided I wanted a print of it.  Now that print is sitting at home…all pretty.  For those fans of the X-box game, Halo, we found a Halo street sign being auctioned off.  I was debating whether or not to get it, but finally decided against it, as what would I do with a street sign?

We got dinner and came back, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mr. Card, but sadly, after 45 minutes, no sign of him and so we decided to go home.   I went home with a lot more stuff and a lot less cash.  But, needless to say, I was quite happy.

* * * * *

Saturday, February 19, 2005

Steph only paid for one day so she stayed home and did her Film I project while I ventured out to Boskone42 again.  This time, I went to almost all of the panels Mr. Card was holding.  He was a great speaker, so easy to talk to, and I could see why he was a university professor too.  He had a natural gift for inserting humor and getting his crowd to respond.  The panels I went to, he talked about mostly his novel Ender’s Game and how it was trying to be made into a movie (the legality problems), and why children in sci-fi / fantasy novels were protagonists who seemed more adult than children usually are.

After one of his panels, I managed to wait in a small line of fans to meet Card (he had an official signing time on Sunday), and talked with him briefly.  He personalized the 2 books I brought and unfortunately, stupid me did not have my digital camera with me at that time.  I told him that I would see him tomorrow to have 2 other books personalized, one for my dad, and the other for my twin sister.

There was a vampire-like ball that night and some of the guests were going to emcee it, but I decided that I was too tired from running around the con to try to go to it so I went home and passed out on my bed, very happy.

* * * * *

Sunday, February 20, 2005




Scott Card's wife, she's aways by his side. I asked her how she felt about her husband traveling all over and she said she loves it; she gets to meet new people all the time.
The last day of cons is always sad, but for me, I knew that I would try to see Mr. Card again.  It was because I found out that he was going on a promotional tour the week of Spring Break and would be stopping by a town about an hour away from me.  So ... call me stalking, but I need him to sign the rest of my books in his Enderverse series.

Sunday was the day for me to wander around and check out the dealer’s room one last time so I did that before placing myself in line for his official signing.  There I talked to a few fans and found out that two fans had two boxes of books by him that they wanted signed and he did sign all two boxes…in one fell swoop.  No one famous that I knew ever did that to his or her fans.  I realized with certain clarity that Card was one of the few rare authors that appreciated his fans completely, and gave himself over to them to see to their needs.  I realized that Orson Scott Card was truly generous, not stuffy like a few famous people from AniméBoston 2004.

So waiting in line, I was sure he was going to be a bit early and he was.  Except he didn’t wait around to sit down at the signing table, he just approached us in line and started to sign away.  Luckily, my roomie decided to come with me again and brought me a throw-away camera (I had forgotten my digital camera again), and so I was able to snap a few shots of the two of us with Scott Card and his lovely wife Katherine.

* * * * *

So ends my con report. A short one, but a most memorable one.

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