Comicpalooza Adventures

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks here at Cursed Dragon Ship. We returned from Fan Expo Dallas, hurriedly ordered more books since we sold out of so many titles, and then headed off to Comicpalooza in Houston.

Comicpalooza is a much smaller event, but it has something Fan Expo lacks: a Literature Track. Hence, our authors and editors could moderate and testify on panels. It’s a unique opportunity to introduce our talent before readers.

We met new writers, award-winning authors, freelance editors, librarians, and enthusiastic readers. I added to my author autograph book with Andrea Stewart (author of The Drowning Empire series and Gods Below), Christopher Ruocchio (author of The Sun Eater series), and Paul Tremblay (author of Cabin at the End of the World and Horror Movie).

Our growing and most popular panel, we, ahem, borrowed with permission from Venessa Giunta of Multiverse in Atlanta. She calls it Story Time, but we call it Live Action Author Readings. Authors read five minutes of their work, and volunteers from the audience act it out. Everyone who attends gets a ticket. Every time an audience member volunteers, they get another ticket. Tickets are pulled between performances to win free books donated by the authors. It’s a great way to experience an author’s work in a fun and interactive environment. We’re so grateful to Venessa for teaching us how to do it right.

In the end, we’re not a company that goes to Comicpalooza just to sell books. We would be there anyway because we get it. We publish horror, fantasy, and science fiction because we love it. That passion is what you find between the covers of our books. And while we’ll continue to attend and participate in as many as we can get to.

Do you have a pop culture convention you’d recommend? Let us know in the comments. You never know, we might show up!