Monster Blog is Gonna Getchoo!

After my big ass photo essay over on Fangs, Fur and Fey, things got a little hectic down Pittsburgh way. I met tons of awesome people that I can't resist telling all you guys about, drank way too much and slept less than a whore at a sex addicts convention. But, rather than drag this out, I'm going to just throw some pictures at you and see what sticks.

Like so...

Sure, old people are okay, if you don't mind the same faces and stuff, but new people are just...so new. Take this grouping (taken after the AM caffeination).


There are only two old faces in there (mine and Caitlin's). You got your Jenna Black (The Devil Inside), Kim Harrison (uhhhhhhhh.), Jackie Kessler (The Road to Hell), Rachel Vincent (Rogue), Caitlin Kittredge (Night Life) and Jocelyn Drake (Nightwalker). That's an impressive line-up no matter how you slice it--and do slice it.

Let's see who else...


The awesome Barbara Vey, who's really the author's best friend and the neatest lady I've met in years. She even took a video of our Club RT basket giveaway for her blog. Check it out. It's the last one.

Here's more...


Jeaniene and Melissa joined up with the gang on Thursday. With that camera on her hip, I should have asked Melissa to do a picture of me taking a picture of her, as I'm so fond of.

Here's some evidence...


That's from a panel called Demons are the New Black, which I was lucky enough to get in on because I happen to know the Commodore of Urban Fantasy Richelle Mead. Here's what we looked like all talking over each other and just generally smarting off like it was high school again...


I think the only two noobs in this shot are the fantastic Carole Nelson Douglas and fun agent gal Miriam Kriss, though if you need assistance with the other characters, just drop me a comment. The panel went well. I spewed my zombie bullshit and the crowd giggled uncomfortably. You know, the usual.

Anyway, enough of the standard stuff. You've seen it already. Let me get to work.

Weird shit goes down at RT. That's why it's not suited for hotels that aren't under a cloud of dusty construction poison. Cover models freak out, people get bitchy and various body fluids slosh under foot. This is no meeting of the association of accountants, these people play hard.

Speaking of hard, there was a certain gentleman on the scene that caught our attention right away. Let's call him Mophead, for lack of better word. We thought he was simply a poorly styled calendar guy when we took this here photo...


It was later, when one Michelle Rowen secured an EC calendar that we found out that Mophead was actually Christian, the star of a little known "independent" film called M@ximum Thrust. Here he is now mere seconds away from an "O" face...


Score! C'mon, how often do you get a chance to mingle with porn stars? Seriously, we don't live in the valley and in truth, he seemed like a nice enough guy, but God won't someone please tell him that hair is better suited to a barbecue brush?

Speaking of hair. Barry Eisler. Seriously. Enough said.

Because I'm Washington pasty, the Gods sent the sun in the form of Michelle Rowen, who brightened the kids table at Palomino and brought a blush to my cheeks with her saucy chat. It's rare when I find someone that I click with, someone I don't have to worry about censoring myself around because they just get it, like an instinct. She's new BFF #1 (there are 5). Here's a shot with Michelle and...well let's just call her NYT #7...


We ran into BFF#2 at the Faery Ball. I'd picked up Dakota Cassidy's ACCIDENTAL WEREWOLF, when Happy Hour came out, simply because it was the most similar in tone and often was sitting right next to my book on the new release tables. So when Dakota breezed by our table, I couldn't resist going all fan boy. Then...

I heard the voice. Dense throaty velvet. Holy crap. You may not know it, but that's my thing. It is. The lady is funny as hell. We could riff and that's the key indicator of whether someone gets to hang. Dakota can hang whenever she likes. Here she is with Erika (who you'll see more of in a bit)...


Speaking of balls, here's a shot of mine...


Oh...wait. That's my artist's rendering of the Cover Model Reunion Dinner menu (you might need to click it to get the full majesty of my vision.

The ball I meant to talk about was the vampire ball. I gots me some of those realistic vamp teeth glued in threw on the black velvet and I was ready to chow down...

...and there's Caroline, looking forlorn for Patrice Michelle (behind the lens). The vampire ball definitely had some high and low points. Sadly, mostly low. Though I did have a moderately exciting bonding moment with Kim Harrison. You see, we were roughly in the middle of the line when the doors opened and for some reason, a second door opened behind us, leaving us at the end of the line.

I looked at Kim and nearly in unison, we said, "Oh Hells no," and snuck in a side door. When we turned around no one had followed but we got a table and that's the important thing. Later we were dubbed "Bad asses" and promptly bumped knuckles like the Wonder Twins.

This completes my Kim Harrison story.

Other crap happened, including F. Paul Wilson (Repairman Jack) singing Hotel California as an undead butler and Erika arriving in fantastic zombie drag...


Erika and Christine were awesome to hang out with, just really fun and super nice. Erika's costuming skills were way beyond the rest of the attendees and she was robbed at the faery ball contest. 4th? C'mon.

Kensington through their authors a party at Palamino and even though we came late, Kate and Maureen plied us with liquor and cheesy dips. For which we knocked back $40 in free hooch each. Cuz we're naughty. Palomino was our main hang as the service at the Hilton pub was a tad surly. If you get to Pittsburgh make sure to stop in for a pomegranate mojito, they're the shit. You know who we met there?


Heather Osborn and Jozelle Dyer, the fabulous ladies of Tor. These two are officially BFFs #s 3 and 4. After the meet up we were inseparable. Many tried to...and failed. Cut to the quick by are sharp tongues and prison shanks.

The last two days of the con were just way too action packed to tell you about in this post. You got your book fair blackout, the mangeant, the plague carrier and the rest of the lj peeps.

They deserve their own post so I'm calling it quits.