I’m back from the 70th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) held for the seventh time last week in Chicago (Chicon 7). All in all it was a highly successful trip. As The Merry Blacksmith Press, we did a respectable amount of business in the dealers room–dare I say among the best business among the small presses–which was no wonder given some of the special new titles available including Tobias Buckell’s Nascence, Connie Wilson’s Hellfire & Damnation II, TA Pratt’s Bone Shop and Grim Tides, Matt Howarth’s My Name Is Lesion, and our special 50th anniversary edition of The Proceedings: Chicon III (as is being held by Chicon 7 Guest of Honor Mike Resnick).
I’ll be writing up little bits here and there about the trip, but will likely be giving a longer, more comprehensive trip reports via one of my favorite fanzines. I’ll post the info when it becomes available.
In short, though, I met with a lot of fantastic folks both on the fan side of things and the pro side of things and those special folks who straddle the line. Did I do business of other sorts? You bet! Look for news on some exciting upcoming projects for the next year. We have books coming up that will include riveting new SF novels by Matt Howarth, graphic novels by Chris Reilly, comics by Tim Lockley, a collection of short stories by Tim Pratt, and a number of surprise projects I’m not at liberty to announce just yet.
Trust me, though. We have such awesome stuff coming up that you could put it on ice cream and call it an Awesome Sundae.
Stay tuned for more news over the coming week.
Cheers!