Wednesday, February 25, 2009

tha kikass convenshun, we haz it

What a blast.

Melbourne. Australian Romance Readers Convention. You know the drill.

 

First was the welcome reception on Friday night. Everyone capered around with free champagne and goggled at the famous people and talked in high giggly voices. Excitement was palpable.

 






















Here's the registration queue, out the door of the Jasper hotel. Happy romance fans!

 




Me and my friend Tracey O'Hara (traceyo ) at the welcome reception.


Saturday morning, and Mary Janice Davidson's speech had everyone in stitches. What a charming lady.

Next an academic panel: Why Romance Gets Dissed By Everyone Who's Never Read It, and Why Do We Worry So Much About What Other People Think? Interesting points made. Glen Thomas is a crack-up. I have only one thing to say: we've still got 80% of the sales, dissers. Go starve in your garrets :) 

The next panel was on paranormal romance: Why Are Scary Dudes So Hot? Answer: because they're scary. Well, duh.

Lunch was good. I mean, surprisingly good. The food provided by the Jasper staff was universally agreed to be excellent. A big rap for them.

Afternoon panel: romantic suspense. Now we know why no one ever got devoured by rats on Neighbours. Luke, dude, I am so buying your book.

Stephanie Laurens gave a speech. I'm not sure I buy Romance Makes the Free World a Better Place by Increasing the Birth Rate, but an interesting talk by a wonderful author.

Book signings and goodies galore:




 The queue for the goodies room.

 




Sherrilyn Kenyon and Diana Love and fans.

Jordana Ryan, Lexxie Cooper and Jess Dee at the signing.

Assorted conference pics: 




Angie (gnomeangel ) and Kimberley




The Galah (?) Dinner. A big occasion. Much fun had by all.

 




Me and Tha Famis Peeps! Denise Rossetti, Keri Arthur, Tracey O'Hara and moi.

 




 


 Readers at the dinner. (Drop by with your names and I'll add them!)




Melanie Milburne and fans




Canberra Gurlz. Yay!

 




Tha fangurl pics, I haz them. MJD and me.




Sherrilyn Kenyon and me. Yay!

Second day, first speakers was Susan Grant -- how cool is this lady? a 747 pilot and a mum, and oh by the way writes kick-ass books in her spare time? 

Liz Maverick was very funny talking about the stages of romance reading. Ya know, kinda like the 12-step program but better.

First panel for me was urban fantasy, sci-fi and futuristic: Why Is It So Cool? Answer: if you don't understand, we can't explain it to you. Kinda like Harley-Davidsons.

Later, the cross-genre panel. Solution: pretty much everything these days is cross-genre. Just don't call it that when you're pitching it.

The final session with Sherrilyn Kenyon and Diana Love was the funniest thing I've sat through in many a day. What charming, honest, lovely people.




Okay, that's it. I promised you vampires and Brad Pitt. I haven't forgotten.

15 comments:

  1. Oh wow - you got so many great pics! However I notice the distinct lack of red shoe photo!
    :P~

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  2. Hi Erica, Good to meet you (I was the one who commented on putting face to voice from the silent auction *lol*).
    Most definitely agree with this bit "First panel for me was urban fantasy, sci-fi and futuristic: Why Is It So Cool? Answer: if you don't understand, we can't explain it to you. Kinda like Harley-Davidsons" Yep. That does it!
    Ciao,
    Nicky

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  3. Yo E! Convention queen!
    Hobnobbing with the famous people - that's you and Trace! Love the photos and looks like you had a blast - superjealous much! (Maybe next year.)
    J.

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  4. Ah. The red shoe photo. I'll see what I can do :)

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  5. Re: Yo E! Convention queen!
    You'd better be there next year, rabbitgirl. Or there will be blood...

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  6. Hey Nicki! Thanks for dropping by. I ended up spending far more than I intended in that auction. The items were far too tempting :)
    For the whole weekend, not one person said to me, 'so why do you want to read about those yukky vampires?' :) bless you all!

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  7. I has explanation
    for Stephanie Laurens. Well her birth rate claim thing: http://www.stephanielaurens.com/Library_Article3.htm
    Much better explained there. Maybe she dumbed it down for us poor readers?
    Oh and HI! I have an LJ too!
    Kate Cuthbert :)

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  8. Re: I has explanation
    Hi Kate! Thanks for dropping by. Great to meet you at the convention.
    Mmm. Interesting essay. I still don't buy it as the only cause. I think there are plenty of other political, cultural and economic factors at work that combine to explain why Americans have more children.
    In any case, it was a thought-provoking speech...

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  9. Re: I has explanation
    Well it's utterly impossible to prove - but then again, it's utterly impossible to disprove as well. Which makes it a beautiful thing.
    It's interesting. I certainly liked trotting it out every now and again to nay-sayers.

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  10. Crazy Conventions
    Hey E,
    Thanks for sharing the pics. Looks like you had a lot of fun. If they have another one in a year or two I hope to be there.
    AJ.

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  11. Re: Crazy Conventions
    Hi AJ! Nice to see you here.
    Someone mentioned Sydney 2011 for the next one. Lots of time to save up ;)

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  12. Just saw you on the Members list of , so I've hunted you down :-)
    If only I'd known about you before I went to ARRC09! Shame on for not dropping your name enough for it to sink in! ;-)
    Have a lovely day! :-)

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  13. Hey Tez! Thanks for coming by.
    I'm sorry to have missed you at ARRC. So many people. I tried to talk to everyone, but...
    And yeah, shame on Tracey. For many things, no doubt :)
    P.S. Go the Victory! Bring on that Asian Champions League...

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  14. Had a blast!
    Hi Erica,
    Great post. Met you briefly at ARRC. Look forward to reading your book.
    Jane Tara
    http://ladyjaneunleashed.blogspot.com
    www.janetara.com

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  15. Re: Had a blast!
    Hi Jane! Thanks for coming by. Lovely to meet you at ARRC!

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