In the wee hours of the morning, the Three Ravens crew made their way across the Ocoee and the beautiful Cherokee National forest to Raliegh North Carolina, the home of FantaSci.
The FantaSci staff were awesome, the location was beautiful and the perfect size for such a small, cozy family-sized event.
It was great to finally meet Joel and Mari Lyons in person. Not to mention The big acts like Dave Butler (Butter) and Chuck Gannon. I’ve chatted online with these people for years, but never had the opportunity to meet them face to face until now.
It was beyond amazing to catch up with our long-missed con family. So many awesome people packed into this event that we haven’t seen in years and so many new friends made over the weekend that made the trip worthwhile.
The panels were well suited to the weekend and fun to participate in, and sometimes hilarious, especially Joeleen’s Dating game. I managed to land a slot as the bachelor in one round and a contestant in another. I’m not sure that folks were ready for Vann Hagar up there on stage though. 🙂
On top of all of that, we had the chance to tour the Baen Books main office and collect a few goodies while there.
The top happening over the weekend for me was the chance to hang out with Faith Hunter, swap stories, and enjoy great company, (not to mention share a bit of my mead). Faith is an absolute delight to talk with. So many stories and an amazing attitude.
The highlight of the weekend had to be the way the Three Ravens crew, new and old came together for the first time to pull off a successful table with so many new moving parts. The icing on the cake has to be the number of inside jokes running amongst the Minions including a new game “Where’s Hillbilly” which has spurred the idea for a charity event run by myself and the Minions called “Hillbilly Bingo”. But details to follow on that for LibertyCon.
And on top of all of that, I had the chance to meet Collyn Loftis, the infamous superfan, and I managed to sorta clone myself so I could be on two panels at once.
Also, I know that more than a few of you noticed we had a few odd cookies in the Three Ravens stable. Thank all of ya’ll for those friend requests, invitations to join in conversations, and for making them feel welcome at your tables and in your circles. It has been the confidence boost that they needed, and our team is so proud of them for stepping outside of their comfort zone and pushing through the anxiety.
So from myself and the Three Ravens team, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for that. And thanks to the FantaSci staff for a great convention
~Hillbilly~
