Mo*Con III - No Country For Old Men
Due to being his publisher, Maurice Broaddus was obligated to invite me to his convention. In fact, upon my arrival Friday night I was expecting to be placed on a sedan chair and toted around The Dwelling Place meeting Maurice's grateful fans.

Turns out, the only lifting I experienced was from Nick Mamatas. It seems that Nick was celebrating Festivus on Sunday and went about performing "feats of strength."

The weekend got off to an inauspicious start Friday morning. Both of my kids were ill. The little one literally had a case of the croup. The big one had an ear infection. Half the day was spent at the doctor's office. The other half was spent helping my wife with the kids. Fortunately, both are back to being healthy little maniacs, so all is well in the Sizemore house. Still, it wore me out, and by the time I got to Indy Friday night, I was tired.

All the same, good times were to be had.

The place was thick with Apex authors. Maurice was there, of course. Debbie Kuhn, Michael West, Alethea Kontis, Douglas F. Warrick, and Gary A. Braunbeck. Scary Nick Mamatas was there, who turned out not to be so scary (except when he flipped up his hoodie). Chesya Burke. Bob Freeman. Lucy A. Snyder. Mark Rainey.

The guest list was impressive. Kudos to Maurice.


The highlight of Friday night was the Celtic rock band Mother Grove. The set list could have been streamlined, but they're a fun, talented rock band that had the crowd rocking.

Saturday was the big day of activities. I participated on an editor's panel with Nick Mamatas, Mark Rainey, Frank Creed, Chesya Burke, and Matt Cardin. The panel turned into an impromptu roast of Maurice. Good times.

Saturday night was the party of Maurice's domicile. Maurice held court on his deck in the backyard where I mostly listened to him pontificate on various genre topics of interest.

Sunday was church service at The Dwelling Place. It opened with a touching audio/video tribute to the victims of the recent Midwest floods. The minister did a nice job tying in the theme of writing with the parables of Jesus and produced an effective, if a bit long, service. Afterwards were yummy french toast and bacon from Maurice's wonderful sister 'Ro.

After Nick's feats of strength, I decided I'd had enough and went home.

I debuted Orgy of Souls at Mo*Con. Sold a disappointing six copies. Who'd thought that sex, violence, and sacrilege wouldn't sell in a church?

So...that's the high-level rundown of the weekend. Here are a few things that might have...or might not have happened at Mo*Con III.

1) I took a double shot of wine during Communion.
2) I tried to kick Nick Mamatas out of my truck in the middle of Scary, Indiana and leave him for the evil monsters hiding in the woods.
3) Alethea Kontis almost got thrown in jail walking the street.
4) I shed tears when the bagpipe player of Mother Grove played "Amazing Grace."
5) Brian J. Hatcher tried to get me naked. At least by proxy.
6) Lucy Snyder tried to install Linux on me.
7) All the writers tried to burn me and Nick at the stake out in front of the church. Fortunately, our skin is like leather and is impervious to harm from any writer-inflicted injuries.

Thanks for the great convention, Maurice! Hope you do it next year.