This year, the Minicon was bigger and better than ever. This was because the Balticon concom asked Joy Ward, the co-editor of Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press and a Gazette author, to produce four days of panels and activities instead of our normal two. Joy put together a terrific program, which had to be modified very quickly when it became apparent that Eric Flint was not going to be able to attend, at least physically. Rick Boatright, the 1632 Universe’s head geek, set up with the Balticon media people a Skype link so that Eric could attend, albeit virtually, and give his opening speech, his Guest of Honor speech, and attend some panels, via Skype.
This year, attendance at the Minicon was estimated at close to 100, with more than 20 authors in the series in attendance. The mass book signing brought fans from as far away as Amsterdam, and a lot of Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press books were sold.
Rick Boatright, Kevin Evans, and yours truly, did our normal two hours of Weird Tech, to show how and why technology will differ in the 1632 Universe, whether it wants to or not.
Other panels included War in the 1632 Universe, several looks at technology and society, and of course, the famous “Snerking the Plots.”
Eric participated in Snerking via Skype, and he explained how . . .
Oh dear, I’m afraid that I can’t tell you what he said. In order to know, you have to go to the Minicon and sit in the panel.
We aren’t sure where next year’s Minicon will be, but word will be forthcoming shortly.
Walt Boyes
“Eric Flint was not going to be able to attend,”
I’m worrying a little. Mr. Flint seems to be transferring all tasks and responsibilities to the team.
Is he sick? His homepage hasn’t changed in quite some time and he seems to be really quiet.
Btw. will there be further issues in the Navel Thread? Is Mr. Weber still on board?
Why aren’t we hearing about future books?
Don’t get me wrong. I highly appreciate all the effort and work you guys are investing, being a great fan for more than a decade. At the moment I’m starting to worry a bit. The team was always lacking a little when it came to proactive communicating with the community, but sadly me and a few others I talked to are feeling that there are major changes going on behind the scenes that are not sufficiently communicated.
The last two books were great, but honestly felt utterly incomplete. I get it, the series is a ongoing epic. Nevertheless it would be great if the team managed to publish the books complete, not letting the reader feel like reading only half of a story and being forced to wait years for the second half. Even Martin isn’t as hard with his cliffhangers and major breaks between stories…
Please try to keep your readers better informed.
Kind Regards from Upper Bavaria
Mike
Eric has been posting mostly to his facebook page rather than to his homepage. We’re working to get those posts going to both places.
As Eric explained in excruciating detail on facebook, he suffered through a malignant lymphoma which seems to have been successfully dealt with.
There are a LOT of books that are in the queue, and the best place to check that out is in the snerkers topic at bar.baen.com.