LibertyCon report

So far, apart from the hotel, the 27th annual LibertyCon has been a very enjoyable experience.  I've done two book-signing sessions, one general introduction session, one panel with Miss D. and one general panel, and I have a final session for local authors tomorrow morning.  I've enjoyed the interaction with readers, and I've definitely noticed a bounce in my book sales from convention attenders.  As of the time of writing, my latest book is third from the top on Amazon.com's list of 'Hot New Releases in Military Science Fiction' and seventh in 'Hot New Releases in Space Opera Science Fiction'.  Yesterday the new book topped 1,000 copies sold.  All that good news makes me very happy.

(On the other hand, there are some excellent restaurants in Chattanooga, and both Miss D. and I are feeling the effects of over-indulging in some very tasty meals.  We're going to have to go on a post-Con diet when we get home!)

It's been particularly nice to interact with other authors.  I'm finding myself fully accepted as 'one of the tribe' now that I've demonstrated success in publishing five books in just over a year, and selling a decent number of them.  For the general panel this morning, 'Rockets and Ray Guns: What Makes Space Opera Work?', I found myself in the company of several best-selling authors, including a long-standing favorite writer, David Drake.  I was able to thank him for the years of reading pleasure his books have given me, and present him with a copy of my latest book (in which one of the units, Drake's Regiment, is named for him).  I had to tell him that the eponymous unit was wiped out in the book, but he just laughed and said life was like that sometimes.  Nice guy.

I have a final panel tomorrow morning, at which local authors will get together to introduce themselves to each other and prospective readers;  then it's hi-ho for home.  It's been fun, but it'll be nice to get back to our own comfortable bed tomorrow night . . . and the cat who's waiting for us to lie down on it.  In our absence she's been deprived of her usual fun and games hunting hands and feet under the covers, so she'll have a lot of excess energy to work off.

Peter