Gen Con 2026 Selfies with Authors, Fans, Volunteers

• Gen Con 2026  - GCWS Highlights
• Gen Con 2026 Sword & Sorcery and Grave's Daughters Launch
• Gen Con 2026 Family, Tornados, and More  
• Gen Con 2026 Panels and Workshops  
• Gen Con 2026 Selfies with Authors, Fans, Volunteers <-- You Are Here

Origins Game Fair 2026 Recap - Author's Alcove - Vendor Hall - Playing Games

Thanks to my game-designing brother who got tickets via the Louisville GAMA event (Game Manufacturers Association), I got tickets to the Origins Game Fair (Columbus, OH, June 17 to June 21, 2026).

This covers the Author's Alcove (Panels and vendor hall), the Vendor Hall, and playing games!.

With <1/3 the attendance of Gen Con, this was so much more tame and "chill"... yet still very large.  Lots of fun.

(1) Author's Alcove & Panels

 Finding Gen Con Writers' Symposium Authors

Author's Alcove in Vendor Hall

(2) Roaming the Vendor Hall

For the record, Dirk and I had our own T-shirts of Dyscrasia Fiction. I appreciate his supporting the books.  Fun to find Dave there.

(3) Playing Games

Warhammer proved too crunchy for me again ( I try every few years; lots of redundant rolling...i.e. roll to attack, roll to see if you hit, then roll for damage, and then the wounds can still be blocked %$@$#%). Anyway, Cthulhu Wars and Pirate Borg rocked.

 

2025 Annual Norman OK Sortie - Adrian Simmons and Tom Barczak

My annual trip to the IASR Surfactant Consortium in Norman, Oklahoma, lets me connect with friends and authors there. 

Managed to meet the esteemed Adrian Simmons (one of the Heroic Fantasy Quarterly editors, author, and fellow Black Gate contributor). Super fun, spontaneous connection. Cheers to Adrian. Thanks for tracking me down.

And I got to present (brand? lol) fellow Perseid Press Heroes in Hell writer Tom Barczak with Dyscrasia Fiction swag!  Long live Valka! 

Dyscrasia Fiction Shirts in the Wild

 Appreciate the local folk supporting Dyscrasia Fiction, at work, in the dojo, and in Kroger!

Gen Con 2025 - Writer Symposium Selfies

Table of Contents: 

• Gen Con 2025 - SELindberg Writers Symposium Panel Review
• Gen Con 2025 - Writer Symposium Author Selfies & Dyscrasia Fiction Fans 
•  You are here
• Gen Con 2025 - Writers Symposium Behind the Scenes
• Gen Con 2025 - Family and Friends 

Writer Symposium Author Selfies

John Scalzi – Guest of Honor Writer

Maurice Broaddus – Author and Chair of WS

Olivia Sailor – Lead Organizer Writers Symposium

Byron Leavitt – Diemension Games Writer

CSE Cooney - Author

Gilles Plantin - Monolith Creative Director & Jeszika Le Vye - Artist

Tim Waggoner – Horror & Conan Writer

Chris A Jackson - Author

Aaron Rosenberg - Author

Michael Stackpole – Sci Fi & Conan Writer

Jim Zub – Conan Comics Writer

Sean CW Korsgaard - Battleborn!

Dyscrasia Fiction Fans

Parth Kelkar joins Dyscrasia Fiction Fan Club

 Parth Kelkar survived a PhD Internship at work, and unlocked a trophy achievement of Helen's Daimones T-shirt!  You rock Parth.

Windy City Pulp and Paper 2025 - Howard Andrew Jones panel and Connecting with the Community

 

This captures moments from my first Windy City Pulp and Paper Convention, in April 2025. 

Most photos are mine, but I did glean a few from John O'Neill. Highlighted first is the Howard Andrew Jones Panel, Top Image L-->R Arin Komins (Moderator), John O'Neill, James Enge Seth Lindberg, John C. Hocking. Other speakers: Greg Mele (center left), Kevin Cook (center Right), Ryan Harvey (Bottom Left), Bob Byrne (Bottom Right). In short, Howard Andrew Jones passed away this January but his legacy of bring the Sword & Sorcery community together continues strong. swords Together!

Desi Accent Indian restaurant- Dinner and Black Gate friends

• Right: John O'Neill (Black Gate overlord), Ryan Harvey (Turn over the Moon!), Rich Horton (a walking vault of infomration), James Enge (Ambrose!), John C, Hocking (Conan!), David C Smith (Oron!), John Majka, Erik Mona (Paizo Creative Director, knew HAJ during the Pathfinder years)
• Left: Steve H Silver (esteemed author and editor), Dieter Zimmerman (DCC), Bob Byrne (Son of Nero Wolfe?), SE Lindberg, Arin Komins, Rich Warren, Josua DInges
• Mirror photo below

Bob Byrne, Greg Mele, SEL

Book Signings!

• David C Smith, John C Hocking (signed the Terra Incognita anthology which we share a TOC), James Enge sgned all the entire Ambrose series!) as renowned Black Gater Rich Horton chills to the right.
• Below, Joe Bonadona (aka Jobo) signs Monsters in Hell (we collaborated and wrote separate stories in that), and...
• Arin Komins (moderator of the HAJ panel) had me sign her TftMS#9 issue!

New Friends and Connections or Attendees of Note

New Pulp: Andy Fix, who met HAJ at Windy City years ago, sent me to the Neo-Pulp Publishers. Photos beow

• Ron Fortier Airship 27
• Robert J Mendenhall Code Name Intrepid
• Van Allen Plexico (who won a Grand Master Pulp Award at the con!)

• Randy Broecker -- A TftMS artist had a table there and is on staff, but I didn't make the connection until after I went home. Next time!
• Apparently Randy was sitting next to Gary Gianni! Cripes, how did I miss that?
• Robert E. Howard Foundation Table

Left: Ron Fortier Airship 27 / Right: Robert J Mendenhall Code Name Intrepid

Howard Andrew Jones Memorial -2

Leading up to this, I captured a number of memorials and obituary tributes :

Link to PDF of Writer-Focused HAJ Photo Montages (link). 

Below is a collection of select photos of the Celebration of Life (link) held in Evansville, IN Feb 22, 2025.

From the official obituary:

"Howard Andrew Jones, 56, of Evansville, passed away at his home Thursday, January 16, 2025 surrounded by loved ones.

Howard was born July 19, 1968 in Terre Haute, Indiana to Shirley (Jewell) Jones and the late Victor Howard Jones. He graduated from Indiana State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Radio-TV-Film and completed a Master’s Degree at the University of Southern Indiana in Liberal Studies.

Howard was an outstanding story teller, an expert in several genres, a musician/composer, a shotokan black belt, a loyal friend, a hobby farmer, an encouraging editor, a kind soul, and a beloved family member who improved the lives of everyone he encountered with his bright inquiries, quick wit, and warm support. He spent years pursuing his writing goals and championing heroic fiction, leaving behind 12 novels, numerous short stories, and countless editorials.

He was devoted to and will be greatly missed by his wife of 33 years, Shannon Jones, MD; his adult children, Darian Vincent Jones and Rhiana Christina Jones; his mother, Shirley Jones; his sisters, Sydney (Chris) Argenta and Alli (Chris) Anderson; and many nieces, and nephews. His passing will also be mourned by his close friends from around the world, his fellow authors, his fans, in-laws, neighbors, and even acquaintances. The good world is diminished without him."

Peace to Shannon, Rhiana, Darian Jones, and all who knew him.

Swords Together! 

Link to PDF of Writer-Focused HAJ Photo Montages

Jason Ray Carney, J. Chris Hocking, Mark Rigney, 

SE Lindberg, Andy Fix, Sean CW Korsgaard

SE with Sean CW Korsgaard

Greg Mele, SELindberg, Cinda Hocking, J. Chris Hocking, Christopher Rowe, Darian Jones, 

Sean CW Korsgaard, Jason Ray Carney, Andy Fix, CSE Cooney, Mark Rigney (John O'Neill)

 Greg Mele, SELindberg

Cinda Hocking, J. Chris Hocking, Christopher Rowe, Darian Jones, 

Sean CW Korsgaard, Jason Ray Carney

Sean CW Korsgaard, Jason Ray Carney, Andy Fix, 

CSE Cooney, Mark Rigney, John O'Neill

Skull's Office