So Marscon was a hit again this year. Thanks to Joel and his amazing staff for making the con run smoothly (in spite all the issues outside forces were trying to cause with the con itself, the staff handled everything with class and grace).

So we actually arrived late Thursday night and after a few hellos, I went straight to bed. We’d just wrapped up Baenmoot, our annual company meeting, that day and I was just about beat. So instead of wandering around and mingling, I was asleep by 10PM.

Getting old sucks.

Friday I had zero panels, so I planned on doing absolutely nothing. However, I was invited to breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant (a mistake, because dang that was pricey) and joined Larry and Bridget Correia, David Weber, Marisa Wolf, Jacob and H.P. Holo, and someone else who I’m forgetting at the moment (getting old sucks). It was a good time, even if the buffet was… decent if I’m being overly generous.

Afterwards I started wandering and meeting new people. Marscon isn’t one of my usual conventions (I’d been once before, in 2019) so there were a whole slew of authors I’d never gotten to meet before. Also reconnected with publisher Chris Kennedy and confirmed there will one the final Warp novel, as well as the last two Kin Wars books. Plus two books in the Salvage Universe that I’m coauthoring with Kevin Steverson and Nick Steverson.

However, midway through the day I was reminded that Baen is signing people up who are attending Dragoncon to march in the parade this year, since Baen Books is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and since I wasn’t busy…

To be fair, I misread the email. Still, I enjoyed sitting at the table trying to talk people up into marching in the parade as their favorite character from a Baen book. Plus, this made it super easy for everyone wanting an autograph of Monster Hunter Memoirs: Fever or Chicks in Tank Tops to come find me.

I called it an early night Friday. I was wiped out still and knew Saturday would be busy, so I needed my rest. However, sleeping for 12 solid hours was not what I had in mind.

Thankfully, author extraordinaire Melissa Olthoff delivered coffee for a bunch of people and grabbed me one as well, so I was only half-dead as I stumbled into my first panel of the day, “The Movie Was Better Than The Book.”

Surprisingly, I did not come off as a heretic this time around, and we had a great discussion about what movies were actually superior than the book (while I didn’t commit heresy per se, I did raise a few eyebrows when I suggested that the movie adaptations of Dune were far superior to the book). From there it was back to my table, where I signed up a few volunteers for the parade and signed a ton of books.

The Baen Road Show went off without a hitch. Watching Marisa Wolf almost lose it when her book came up for her to talk about was awesome. She’s one of those authors you just can’t help but root for. Plus, she had some exciting other news come up this past weekend that is going shift her career into overdrive, and I for one can’t wait to see it happen.

After the road show I was informed that the table we’d been borrowing needed to be vacated because the person who actually rented it for the weekend was showing up at long last. Hey, no complaints from me. I was shocked we were even given a table to begin with.

There was one more panel that night but I don’t remember who was on it besides Kacey Ezell (who we appointed as Moderator Supreme). It was a lot of fun, though. I remember that much. Getting old sucks.

I got to meet Blaine Pardoe, by the way. That was pretty cool.

Sunday we were leaving as soon as Christopher Ruocchio, who was riding home with us, was done with his final panel. We made great time home and walked in the door by 8PM. Local-ish cons are wonderful.

Again, thanks to Joel and staff for making Marscon an amazing experience. I know I met a lot of people but my memory is awful (though I got to meet Lizz finally in person, who was redshirted in Fever by Larry and I). I’m not deliberately not mentioning anyone, I just have really bad memory.

Getting old sucks.