This Friday I will be going to the release party for the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,  at my local Barnes and Noble store.  I went to the last two release parties, one in florida and the last one here in Kansas City, and had a blast.  The parties are full of fans in costume, games, contests, and a great sense of expectation for the release.  Being the last volume in the set, I fully expect this latest release party to be the best yet.

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Last Saturday, I attended the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial held at the Westin Crown Center Hotel here in Kansas City, Mo — Robert A Heinlein’s hometown. I am sorry to say that the event was a disappointment. It felt as if it was planned to be a high profile convention with a few thousand attendees that would inspire some genuinely insightful looks into the author’s life. Instead, the convention felt almost second rate, thrown together and lifeless.

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This weekend I will be attending a convention celebrating what would have been Robert A. Heinlein’s 100th Birthday.  The event lasts three days:  from this Friday through Sunday,  and will be held here in Kansas City, Heinlein’s hometown, at the Westin Hotel at Crown Center.  There are a great deal of events and panels planned, but I will most likely be sticking with the visitors pass, which is significantly cheaper ($10 per day versus $60 a day or $120 for the weekend) but restricts access to just the dealer’s room, Heinlein life museum and some panels.

Hopefully, it will be a fitting tribute to the life of one of my favorite authors, and a fun time as well.

Find out more at: http://www.heinleincentennial.com/

While attending the Conquest KC science fiction and fantasy convention this year, I participated in the Story in a Bag contest.  For the contest, the conquest staff prepared a series of bags containing short sentences or words that had to be incorporated into a new, custom written story which the contestants had one hour to complete.  The best stories in each of three categories (science fiction, fantasy and horror) were judged within three skill levels (youth, adult amateur, and adult professional/published). 

Read more to find out the results.

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Last weekend I attended Conquest, the 38th KC Science Fiction convention hosted by the KaCSFFS at the Kansas City airport Hilton. Con Quest is primarily a literary convention, and therefore the focus is mostly on the writing and appreciation of science fiction and fantasy stories. However, the convention featured several related events, including a massive gaming tournament with Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and the World Of Warcraft (WoW) card game, viewing rooms showing various independent science fiction movies and anime, LARP gaming, a LAN room, a dealer’s room, and an art show. Also, on Saturday night, there was a live show featuring “Conquest Idol” a singing competition, and a Masquerade.  Various quests of honor also spent the weekend hosting autograph sessions and panels dealing with their various areas of expertise. 

It was an interesting experience in many ways, and I learned a lot.  If  at all possible I will be returning next year.

Click “Read More” for additional photos of the event.

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This weekend, I will be spending some time at the Conquest science fiction convention here in Kansas City, MO at the airport Hilton hotel. This is the 38th year for the con, but will be the first time I attend. I met one of the con organizers at Naka-Kon a few months ago, and saw him again at Anime St. Louis/ShoMeCon last month. It seems to be a very well organized convention and they have a lot of interesting events, so it should be a good experience. I will be posting several updates and photos after the con, so check back for more next week.