My talented wife Diane Kelly was invited to participate in this year's Dragon-Con in Atlanta as a science panelist. I tagged along, for several reasons.
My first priority was to work in a little book promotion for A Darkling Sea and the upcoming Corsair. To that end I volunteered to help man the SFWA table at the convention, and printed up some postcards to pass around. I also wanted to do a little scouting around, to see if this would be a good convention to add to my list of regular stops. And, finally, there was a little nostalgia at work: I went to the old Atlanta Fantasy Fair back in the 1980s, and attended an early Dragon-Con in 1994, so I wanted to see how the convention scene in Atlanta has changed.
I got there on Friday afternoon, and got my first pleasant surprise. Check-in for prepaid memberships was more rapid and hassle-free than just about anything involving other people in the modern world. No line, no forms, no cavity search.
Diane and I dined early at an excellent Turkish restaurant (Truva Turkish Kitchen) and then plunged into the heart of the con.
The first thing we learned: Dragon-Con is big. Really big. The figure 65,000 people was bandied about; I don't know how accurate that is but it's certainly the right ballpark. Downtown Atlanta was full of costumed congoers. Really full. The three giant convention hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, and Hilton) were simply packed. Just getting from one building to another required a quarter-hour of filing along in an orderly mob up escalators and through the Habitrail connections between towers.
The immense crowd provided wonderful opportunities for people-watching. A large fraction of the congoers were in costume on Friday and Saturday; I'd guess at least a third of the people were dressed as something. The costumes were uniformly creative and excellent — not just garden-variety Gandalfs and Captain Kirks, but weird mashups like the redneck bounty hunter Bubba Fett, Iron Totoro, or Steampunk Superman. There were also a lot of women in revealing cross-gender superhero costumes (female Thor, female Loki, female Deadpool, female Flash, and doubtless some others).
While waiting to meet with some science bloggers at a get-together organized by io9 editrix Annalee Newitz we observed a platoon of perfectly-costumed Spartans, and I commented to my wife that they represented more well-toned male physiques than at all the conventions I attended in my youth combined. In fact, that was a notable feature of the costumers at Dragon-Con: all the spandex-clad superheroes, shirtless barbarians, chainmail bikini babes, and sexy whatever costumers had plausibly appropriate body types. America may be suffering an obesity epidemic, but fans are in better shape than ever.
And the fans were everywhere. Our hotel was one of the overflow locations, three MARTA stops away from the Peachtree Center complex, but even there one could look out of the window at any random time and see Dragon-Con attendees in costume. (Either that or a lot of Atlanta natives like to dress up as superheroes and sexy zombies.)
Diane had her first panel late Friday night, called "Nature is Kinkier Than You Are," all about the weirder varieties of animal reproduction. Despite the fact that the room parties were already starting to get under way and the presence of a bouncer at the door checking IDs (to avoid youngsters seeing shocking video of shark mating) the room was packed. As a friend observed, when you have close to a hundred thousand people present, even the obscure topics can fill a room.
On Saturday Diane had her second panel, about the biology of mermaids, giant monsters, and other imaginary creatures. I couldn't get into that one due to my SFWA table duty, and then I spent a couple of hours at some of the fascinating (and full) space exploration presentations. We dined with some friends at the OK Cafe, and eventually went back to our room to collapse. (On the way back to our hotel we passed one of Atlanta's trendy nightspots, and damned if there weren't people in Star Trek costumes waiting in line to get in.)
Sunday was a bit more low-key. The crowds weren't as massive and people were shifting back into street clothes. I spent a couple of hours making a tour of the gigantic dealer space, which occupied an entire trade show exhibit hall. I was a bit disappointed to see only one book dealer there — the SF convention mainstay Larry Smith Booksellers. Allen Steele was at the booth signing books, so we took a few minutes to catch up on Western Massachusetts gossip. I also tracked down dark historical fantasy author E.C. Ambrose at her publisher's booth.
After a second meal at the Turkish place with some more friends, we packed up and left. Forty-eight hours at Dragon-Con left us both exhausted and energized. I plan to go back next year.
Glad you liked my Iron Totoro costume!
Posted by: Stephen | 09/03/2014 at 12:05 PM
Stephen: It was a great costume! The only thing I can't understand is how the heck you got it to Atlanta.
Posted by: Cambias | 09/03/2014 at 10:31 PM
A friend wrote to me:
"Just got home from Dragon Con in Atlanta, feeling trampled and a bit dejected. The attendance figure I heard for this megacon was 75,000; it was spread out over four large convention hotels and just about took over the entire downtown area. But if there were more a dozen or so people who’d ever heard of me or my work, they kept themselves hidden. And the ones I met were mainly 50 and older. I’m seriously considering writing space opera for my next novel … that seems to be the closest to traditional SF that the younger readers want to get. Still, it was an all-expense paid trip, so I can’t complain (much)."
Posted by: Gregory Benford | 09/06/2014 at 02:15 PM
To answer (albeit a bit late), Totoro is actually a giant hoop skirt. I can fit him into two suitcases :)
Posted by: Stephen | 09/25/2014 at 06:37 PM