CONDUIT 2013

My 2013 Conduit experience was amazing. I was chosen as the local guest of honor (my first time being a guest of honor), and had such a fantastic time. I've never been busier at a con, and was on a ton of panels, did a bunch of events, and met up with a lot of great people. The whole weekend served as the launch for my newest book, A Walk in the Abyss from New Babel Books, which features my novelettes: "No-Tusks" about an underdog orc slave, and the story I co-wrote with Shane Moore, "A Kudekah to Remember" which is about a sasquatch (greyshalk). Many of the events promoted this book, and all in all, it was a "Monster" weekend.

Paul's Friday May 24 Schedule:

1:00 PM - Steampunk: More than just a passing craze? (Paul Genesse, Dan Willis, Brandon Almond, Steve Diamond, Shantall Pitman)

The panel went really well and we had a lot of fun discussing the awesomeness that is steampunk. I really need to turn my novelette, The Nubian Queen in Steampunk'd into a full length novel.
 

2:00 PM - Keeping Readers Glued to Your Book (no actual glue required) (Larry Correia, Paul Genesse, Eric Swedin, Adrienne Monson)

Eric Swedin was a great moderator and we had a lot of fun discussing tension, conflict, and ways to keep the readers interested.

4:00 PM - Paul Genesse and Patrick Tracy's Reading. Pat read from "Mungo the Undying" and I read from "No-Tusks." It was lots of fun. I also did a public service announcement: Save the Orcs. (Read it below and the video will be available at some point).

Save the Orcs. Every year, tens of thousands of orcs are hewn down to provide experience points, treasure and emergency rations for heartless adventurers. By making a contribution, you can make a difference. They need all the comfort, support and any small, tasty children that you can spare. Please, think of the orcs.

Find the t-shirt here: http://gamerconcepts.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=22

7:00 PM—A viewing (on DVD and live) of a hilarious reading of No-Tusks by Pat Tracy and Paul Genesse from ConDuit 2011

Watch it here: http://vimeo.com/24400613

8:00-12:00 PM - Orcs vs Giants vs Greyshalks Role-Playing Game



The first big event on Friday was the D&D Game I ran for some all star players. Friday night I hosted: "ORCS VS. GIANTS VS. GREYSHALKS!" It was such an awesome game, with 12 players, plus another 4 more once we got going. The GIANTS of the Bloody Hair Tribe: Patrick Tracy, Larry Correia, Bob Defindi, Jayrod Garrett. The GREYSHALKS: Layne Lowder, Russ Cook, Nate Tooley, Jessica Rice, and Brett Peterson. The ORCS of the Iron Spear Tribe: Steve Diamond, Zachary Hill, Daniel Swenson, Joe Coleman, Don Darling. 


It was one of those games that came out so perfectly. We all had such a good time and it was collaborative storytelling at its best. The game ended up being way better than I had anticipated, and handling that many players was daunting, but it all worked out great. One big highlight was Pat Tracy voicing the dragon, Vermithrax toward the end, and he was incredible. The microphone and amplifier really made it fun.

Getting to play in Shane Moore's world, which we explore in the anthology was so much fun.
Check out the anthology on Amazon here.

Paul's Saturday May 25 Schedule

11:00 AM - Paul Genesse signing with Larry Correia, Patrick Tracy and Zachary Hill

The signing was fun and Pat, Zack and I signed all the A Walk in the Abyss books for the party later.

12:00 PM - Giving your Characters Character: Help for Role Players (Paul Genesse, Bob Defendi, Revan+Joe+Layne from Dungeon Crawlers Radio). 

Great panel on creating characters, and all the guys were so well spoken. I was very impressed.

3:00 PM -The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - a fun, "expert-fan" analysis (Paul Genesse, Blake 
Casselman, Bob Defendi, and Gollum)

We had a lot fun on this panel and discussed the movie with the crowd. We all can't wait for the second movie.

6:00 PM-- Release Party (Here's part of the poster)

A WALK IN THE ABYSS

RELEASE PARTY/MONSTER GAMES!

SATURDAY 6:00-8:00PM

FREE PIZZA!

WHERE? COTTONWOOD II

JOIN A TRIBE!

ORC? GIANT? SASQUATCH?

WATCH THE MONSTER GAMES!

(SKUNK TOSSING, BEST GROWL, COMPETITIVE WORM EATING, BEST HOWL, AND MORE!)

PRIZES AND HONORARY TITLES WILL BE AWARDED!

Author Amber Argyle of the GREYSHALK TRIBE won the growling contest in EPIC fashion. She is terrifying! She was awarded the honorary title of: Chief Grim Throat the Wicked and was named QUEEN OF THE GREYSHALKS!

GRRRRRRROOOOOOWWWLLLLLLLL!


The skunk tossing contest was won by this very excitable young man, I believe of the GREYSHALK tribe. He was named: Chief Stinky Hands the Pungent!




The Competitive Worm Eating contest was won by Dennis Lundstrom of the GREYSHALK TRIBE who ate 22 disgusting grub worms (gummy worms) in only 60 seconds. He was named: Chief Iron Gut the Worm Digger!!

The GREYSHALK TRIBE dominated the competition, shaming the Bloody Hair tribe of giants, and the Iron Spear Tribe. Julie, particularly loud ORC of the Iron Spear Tribe did win the Howling Contest, but it was of little consolation. She was named: Chief Wolf Snout the Yowler.

Fun was had by all and A Walk in the Abyss had a great book launch.

Paul's Sunday May 26 Schedule

12:00 PM - Write About What You Know (Larry Correia, Paul Genesse)

It was the "Paul and Larry Show." We rocked it and had the audience laughing and learning in equal amounts. Good times and I love being on panels with Larry. He's the man.

1:00 Beat the Geeks: Tolkien Trivia. 

I was invited to participate and was crushed by the Julie Andelin, who smashed me with extreme prejudice. She answered four questions and I got zero. The questions were hard. I had no idea what the name of Frodo's mother was: (Primula), or the other elf besides Elrond who counseled Isildur to throw the One Ring into Mount Doom (Cirdan), or the other two questions. Something about Saruman and when he first looked into the Palantir.  

3:00 PM - Paul Genesse: Guest of Honor Address: Becoming a Dragonslayer: Good Career Move or the Dumbest Thing I've Ever Done.

My keynote address was a modified and longer version of the speech I gave at SLC Nerd 2013. It's only 35 minutes long and the video is below.

Final Panel: 4:00 PM - "The Best Advice I was ever Given…" (Larry Correia, Paul Genesse, Eric James Stone, Dan Willis, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury). I think we were all a little tired, but it went pretty well and I tried to keep the audience laughing. My best advice: "Don't wiz on the electric fence." (said in the voice of Ren from Ren and Stimpy). Seriously, my best advice: Keep going and enjoy the journey.

The end of Conduit was spent being interviewed by Russ Cook and Tom Carr of Residual Hauntings Revived. We spoke about the role playing game on Friday night and had a great time. This pic pretty much sums it up. I had them laughing. The video will follow eventually.

My 40th birthday was a few days after the release party (May 29th) and my buddy, Russ Cook photo -shopped this picture adding in Pinky and the Honey Badger, which are both mentioned in my keynote address video.