Going Away to a Convention

 

I discovered conventions when I was about fourteen. I went to the big Star Trek convention and I was such a well behaved kid that Mom was able to do something parents aren’t supposed to do. Drop me off and leave. She knew I wouldn’t get myself into trouble. And this of course was decades before smart phones when I could have instantly called for help.

 

This convention was one where they were expecting a few hundred people. Instead thousands showed up. It was the first time the entire cast of Star Trek was reunited since the show went off the air. I saw them all and actually talked to James Doohan and the actress that played Spock’s “wife” T’Pring. Arleen Martell I think her name was.

 

I went to one or two more over the next four years including a comic book convention where I met Stan “the Man” Lee!

 

But it wasn’t until I was eighteen and on my own that the convention magic hit me. I discovered fandom. I met people who didn’t think it was at all stupid to like Star Trek and Batttlestar Galactica and Planet of the Apes and Elfquest and reading books and making up our own stories and more. I found fanzines. I found people who liked to dress up in costumes—and who didn’t live in their parent’s basement.

 

It was magick!

 

I hadn’t had friends in years. One two in high school and one made me promise not to tell anyone we were friends because it would hurt his coolness quotient. But in fandom I had friends. People who liked me. People who loved me. Simply for being me. There are no words to really express what I am trying to say and I’m a writer! I should be able to do it.

 

I learned social skills. I found wonderful friendships with people who cared about the kinds of things I cared about. Wonderful!

 

Off we would go to conventions and the excitement was always palatable. The days preparing, the drive there, arriving at the hotel and bumping into friends that you might only see once a year.

 

Over the years I stopped going to tons of cons and cut it down to the two local Kansas City conventions and they were quite nice. But there was this part of me missing those conventions. That companionship.

 

So we spent this weekend at an out of town science fiction relaxacon called Conflation located in St. Louis! We got to the hotel and BAM! Deja vu! It was just like old times. The excitement. The tingle in the belly when we walked into the hotel. Even the smell! LOL! It has been very nice. Especially seeing people I haven’t seen in years because for one reason or another they no longer make the Kansas City cons. Got to party, go to a great presentation on what reporters really do (and don’t do) with professional reporter Elizabeth Donald, met new people, saw fun costumes, ate, drank and was merry. Fun times!

 

I was afraid that was all gone. Fandom has changed a lot—just like anything, because the only constant in life is change.

 

Which is why I am so happy with the discovery of MM Romance fandom. I go to some of these events, like GRL and the Dreamspinner Author’s Workshop next weekend in Orlando, and the old feeling is there. The companionship. The family. The people that “get” me.

 

The people who don’t blink an eye as we sit around the lobby discussing how to decide what kind of car our character drives or the type of place he lives or what he does for a living or if he’s uncut or not (!).

 

And the generosity. When I flew into Chicago International, JP Barnaby drove all the way from the event center to pick me up—which was at least a forty-five minute trip.

 

“We’re family, Babe,” she said.

 

This family of choice—readers and writers and editors and artists—is amazing. It makes me feel young again.

 

So today I am thankful for this world I’ve found myself in. I love it to the heavens.

 

And I look forward for a chance to meet you!

 

Namasté,

B.G. Thomas

 

 

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B.G. is a novelist and blogger. Every day last year he made and entry in his blog. “365 Days of Silver,” where he found something every day to be grateful for. You can find it right here: https://365daysofsilver.wordpress.com/

 

B.G. loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction and even horror-as far as he is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to conventions since he was fourteen years old and has been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He has made up stories since he was child; it is where he finds his joy.

 

In the nineties, he wrote for gay magazines but stopped because the editors wanted all sex without plot. “The sex is never as important as the characters,” he says. “Who cares what they are doing if we don’t care about them?” Excited about the growing male/male romance market, he began writing again. Gay men are what he knows best, after all. He submitted his first story in years and was thrilled when it was accepted in four days.

 

“Leap, and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message to all. “It is never too late,” he states. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”

 

Visit his website and his author blog at http://bthomaswriter.wordpress.com/ where you can contact him. He loves to hear from readers and is always quick to respond.