Pure Speculation Festival

My hubbie, my 2 crazy labs and I were on one hell of Joy READ this week. We travelled 7 hours to Grimshaw, Alberta for a few author visits to grade 7 and 8 students (well, just me, the rest of my crew hung out at the hotel room). From Grimshaw we drove another 6 hours to Edmonton to attend the 6th Annual Pure Speculation Festival - a small (but growing!) sci-fi / fantasy con where I sat on a few panels.

As we drove around the Radisson Hotel, desperately trying to find a place to park (I swear every nerd worth his/her weight in gold was at Pure Spec), we spied a green-skinned gentleman getting out of his vehicle. "We're in YOUR world now," my hubbie announced. Yes, we were. I was in nerd heaven the entire day. Walking amongst the costumed, the gamers, the keeners taking notes and the Geek Calendar Girls was quite the adventure. I presented a session on the SKINNED Series, gave an overview of the beasties in the SKINNED world and showed a sneak peek of the trailer for SECOND SKIN. But the best part - the cool people I met during my panels.

Tanya Huff (creator of the Blood series of books, turned into Blood Ties - a 2 season TV show) is so damn smart and well read and passionate. She kicked the snot out of any point she made and yet had time to chat with the newbie (that'd be me) and enjoyed hanging with fans.

Dan Brodribb is a nifty guy - a self-professed shy comic - a wrestling referee - and all around fantasy fan. His self-effacing humour is endearing.

Then there's Mike Perschon, an English prof / Steampunk Scholar who makes the classics come alive - ALIVE! Plus, he's up on his YA fiction and even shared some steampunk titles my high school History teacher hubbie could use in class.

As panelists, we engaged in heated discussions - the sparkling vampire debate, paranormal fiction as the modern fairytale, which sci-fi title should "stay on the island", the morphing of paranormal fiction into genres like steampunk and what was next for the genre in general. I left the fest with my inner nerd fully charged.

I hope I'm invited back next year. I'm going to get me a kickass costume. I wish I had taken pictures of the wicked cool costumes, but alas - epic fail on my part. (Many thanks to my brother, Blaise, who kindly took pics of the SKINNED session for me - and my sister, Brenda - who helped me setup!) Until next year, Pure Spec.....