Friday, April 4th, 2025
My introduction to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center was coming out of the Mount Vernon Square metro station and seeing doors marked as exit only. I was unsure where to go; however, I did see a large number of people dressed in cosplay so I had figured I was in the right place (on the Metro, I had shared my car with a man dressed as the classic Riddler). Seeing all the nerds in one place gave me hope, and I followed the nerd herd to the main opening of the convention center.
The center is a big, spacious building; the line for convention-goers to enter was winding like a snake through the building. There was a weapons check for cosplayers, which surprised me a bit (I didn’t dress as anyone—I had gotten this assignment from Arturo Serrano only on the Wednesday preceding the convention so I wouldn’t have had the time even if I were inclined to such things). From there, I made my way up the grand staircase of the entire building to the registration hall, where I picked up my badge. It was in this massive exhibit hall, mostly empty—it felt like an aircraft hanger, but all the planes were in the sky, doing who knows what, who knows where.
The registration hall was behind a major open area (called the ‘bridge’ in the official communications as it connected the two major buildings of the convention center) where there was a DJ who played all sorts of music during the event, and where people occasionally danced (although no dance I can do). What was really striking, though, about the bridge was that it was the great public square of the convention, where all the people here bedecked in such exquisite costumes were making their way hither and yon. I remember a guy dressed as the Heavy from Team Fortress 2 who I talked to briefly (I played that game a lot when I was in high school, and I recognized his gun as a Tomislav, which I used when I played Heavy), but I couldn’t work up the nerve to actually ask for his picture. Unfortunately I have no cosplay pictures for you as I am simply too shy to do that with any regularity. But being in that plaza (I can’t really think of a better term) was invigorating, just seeing the hustle and bustle from my kind.
My convention experience was one of panels; the only convention I am a regular at in any meaningful sense is Capclave, which is run by the Washington Science Fiction Association (to whom I pay dues) annually, and which is a very much a speculative literary convention, where there is no cosplay, no actors, no film, only nerds talking about books. As such I didn’t see any of the panels with actors on them, nor play any games. I am here for the books and my writeup, for better or for worse, will reflect that.
My first panel was on history and science in science fiction, with C. K. Westbrook, J. R. Traas, and Avrah C. Baren. This was a fun little panel where the topic was really something of a fig leaf. It wasn’t particularly methodological or rigorous but it allowed the authors to go on about things that interested them, something like a well-written essay collection. I enjoyed it.
My second panel was in the same room, on the Art of Worldbuilding with P. Djèlí Clark (whose work I adore), John Scalzi, R. R. Virdi, Timothy Zahn (whose work I also adore), Fonda Lee, and Seanan McGuire (whose Wayward Children series I adore). They talked about how writers integrate the world into their stories, and how to do that well. The best part, by far, was R. R. Virdi going on a long digression about comparative mythology, which ultimately persuaded me to buy one of his books. We need more interesting tangents about interesting things.
There was a very good panel about black holes, where I learned about all the strange anomalies thereof, and it was staffed by scientists. After that, in the same room, was a panel about investigating a few pages of an old German book from the eighteenth century about South American flora and fauna. It was an interdisciplinary look at this book, from scientific and artistic perspectives.
The final panel I went to that day was entitled Luke Skywalker and the Holy Grail, wherein the two panelists discussed the Arthurian roots of the Star Wars saga. The two of them (whose names I sadly do not remember and are not recorded in the AwesomeCon app) had a presentation that was rather short and the room collectively spent the rest of the time asking about incongruous parallels between the two (they said that the Arthurian equivalent of the Star Wars Holiday Special is The Green Knight and that the Arthurian Gonk Droid is the Holy Hand Grenade).
After that I took the Metro home.
Saturday, April 5th, 2025
I opened my day with the Lightsaber Show put on by the Saber Guild, a DC-area Star Wars reenactment group. The whole thing was essentially a play with a plot concocted to provide an excuse to wave lightsabers around. As such, the plot was a little thin, but it made up for it in both lightsaber-based theatrics and occasional humor (they riffed on the "Come to the Dark Side—We Have Cookies" meme to hysterical effect).
I spent much of the next time in the Dealers' Room, which is a massive exhibition hall in the basement of the convention center which looks like yet another aircraft hangar (is the Air Force planning to use the convention center in the event of civil unrest?). I bought two mock votive candles from Illuminidol, one with Astarion on it and one with Shadow the Hedgehog on it, for my sister and a coworker respectively (my sister was completely baffled by it, which was the intended reaction). There was something about the Dealers' Room that made geekiness feel very material, very plastic, as if it were a thing that you could hold in your hand.
I opened my day with the Lightsaber Show put on by the Saber Guild, a DC-area Star Wars reenactment group. The whole thing was essentially a play with a plot concocted to provide an excuse to wave lightsabers around. As such, the plot was a little thin, but it made up for it in both lightsaber-based theatrics and occasional humor (they riffed on the "Come to the Dark Side—We Have Cookies" meme to hysterical effect).
I spent much of the next time in the Dealers' Room, which is a massive exhibition hall in the basement of the convention center which looks like yet another aircraft hangar (is the Air Force planning to use the convention center in the event of civil unrest?). I bought two mock votive candles from Illuminidol, one with Astarion on it and one with Shadow the Hedgehog on it, for my sister and a coworker respectively (my sister was completely baffled by it, which was the intended reaction). There was something about the Dealers' Room that made geekiness feel very material, very plastic, as if it were a thing that you could hold in your hand.
I spent too much money on books in the Dealers' Room, because of course I did (whenever a friend of mine enters my room they are stunned by the number of books in there). I got to talk to Jennifer Povey, whom I have previously met at various iterations of CapClave, and upon hearing that I wrote for Nerds of a Feather, said that she loved our site (hats off to you, my fellow NoaF writers!). I also ran into JC Kang who I had met at DISCON, and whose book Songs of Insurrection is very good, and y’all should read. I also got to see the science demonstration of dry ice, which was spectacular.
There is only one complaint I have about the Dealers' Room and it has nothing to do with the vast majority of the dealers therein. It was due to the fact that AwesomeCon felt it acceptable or appropriate to let the United States Marine Corps have a table, and to advertise said table via the convention app. Those of you who have been reading my work on this blog have seen my opinion on the craven people in the American terror state that are eagerly helping the Israelis reduce Gaza to a wasteland, and no fandom organization should be giving them a platform to launder their reputation and possibly recruit (as luck would have it, a writer I follow posted a piece on the Sunday of the convention about why joining the US military in this moment is a bad idea). We have rightly ostracised the Russian state over Ukraine, and we should ostracize the American terror state over Gaza. Letting genocidaires present at an event like this is monstrous, and a complete abrogation of any ideals of tolerance and acceptance that the organization purports to uphold.
Then there was a panel called “SciFi in Real Space: A Talk with an Astronaut and Space Experts,” notably featuring astronaut Leland Melvin. The title didn’t really describe what actually happened as there was little discussion of fiction, but plenty of discussion of life on the International Space Station, which was worth the time. The astronaut mentioned that he could listen to satellite radio in space; I later asked him if the reception for the radio was better in space by virtue of being closer to the satellites, but unfortunately it is sent to Earth and then beamed back up.
Then there was a panel called “SciFi in Real Space: A Talk with an Astronaut and Space Experts,” notably featuring astronaut Leland Melvin. The title didn’t really describe what actually happened as there was little discussion of fiction, but plenty of discussion of life on the International Space Station, which was worth the time. The astronaut mentioned that he could listen to satellite radio in space; I later asked him if the reception for the radio was better in space by virtue of being closer to the satellites, but unfortunately it is sent to Earth and then beamed back up.
After that, I went to the Latin Dancing for Nerds event run by Stephanie Metzger. This was more familiar to me than to many others because social partner dancing in its various forms is my physical hobby; I’m leaps and bounds better at lindy hop than bachata, the offering at this event, but I can hold my own in bachata (even if experienced bachateros see how bouncy my footwork is and say that I’m obviously a lindy hopper). The whole thing was run very well, although doing any sort of dance on carpet is inevitably problematic (I remember, back at DISCON, noticing that all the rooms called ‘ballrooms’ by the hotel were carpeted over, and it made me very sad for a moment).
Next up was a panel on Beast of the East: Urban Legends, Hauntings, & Filming Locations presented by L. R. Staszak, Matt Lolich, Neil A. Cohen, and Matt Blazi—I knew a good bit of these, such as the Bunnyman and the Mothman, but they were so entertaining in their back-and-forth that the whole thing was fun regardless. It also exposed to me how many filming locations are nearby, and the industry around filming locations as tourist traps.
Then there was a panel on Real Life Superheroes: Nonfiction in Graphic Novels presented by Todd DePastino, Bill Maudlin, Maximilian Uriarte, and Wayne Vansant. I wasn’t expecting this panel to be so military-focused but it was interesting all the same, with talk about theory and various interesting historical stories. I also ran into my good friend Sean C. W. Korsgaard, and we ate at the Ben’s Chili Bowl in the convention center for dinner.
Next up was a panel on Haunted DC, hosted by Scott Larson and Kennedy Simpson. Simpson works for the Congressional Cemetery and told a story that can only be described as stranger than fiction. In 2002, the Cemetery got a call from an unknown person who asked “Do you want William Wirt’s head back?” The call subsequently dropped. The Cemetery is the burial place of Mr. Wirt, the Attorney General under presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams and a famed man of letters, and also was the presidential nominee by the Anti-Masonic Party despite the fact that he was a freemason. His head had been stolen from the Cemetery circa 1900 (based on the qualities of the box containing said head) and had ended up in the collection of a skull collector(!!!) in New Jersey who had recently died in 2002; the call was from the executor of his will. After testing that the head was indeed that of Mr. Wirt, it was interred with the rest of him. Simpson said that the working theory among Cemetery staff was that his head was stolen due to his fame as an intellectual meeting the phrenological fad of the turn of the twentieth century, by people who wanted to know what made him tick.
The last of that day was what was billed as a discussion on Moral Ambiguity in Modern Villains but really was one guy talking with the audience on said subject. In fairness, it was an interesting discussion, although it was hobbled by an unwillingness to really get political about it
Sunday, April 6th, 2025
The first panel of the day was one with Zoraida Cordova and Timothy Zahn discussing their work in the new Star Wars expanded universe. It was very interesting popping the hood and seeing what made the two writers tick, having enjoyed both of their works (Zahn follows only Harry Turtledove in being the writer whose works I have read the most of). During the Q&A I hijacked the Star Wars panel to ask if Zahn were planning to do anything with the universe in his Conquerors trilogy, and he said he was working on something which I hope sees the light of day. I later got to talk to him briefly in the dealers’ room and I tried not to fanboy too hard, and inevitably failed.
Next up was a panel on Beast of the East: Urban Legends, Hauntings, & Filming Locations presented by L. R. Staszak, Matt Lolich, Neil A. Cohen, and Matt Blazi—I knew a good bit of these, such as the Bunnyman and the Mothman, but they were so entertaining in their back-and-forth that the whole thing was fun regardless. It also exposed to me how many filming locations are nearby, and the industry around filming locations as tourist traps.
Then there was a panel on Real Life Superheroes: Nonfiction in Graphic Novels presented by Todd DePastino, Bill Maudlin, Maximilian Uriarte, and Wayne Vansant. I wasn’t expecting this panel to be so military-focused but it was interesting all the same, with talk about theory and various interesting historical stories. I also ran into my good friend Sean C. W. Korsgaard, and we ate at the Ben’s Chili Bowl in the convention center for dinner.
Next up was a panel on Haunted DC, hosted by Scott Larson and Kennedy Simpson. Simpson works for the Congressional Cemetery and told a story that can only be described as stranger than fiction. In 2002, the Cemetery got a call from an unknown person who asked “Do you want William Wirt’s head back?” The call subsequently dropped. The Cemetery is the burial place of Mr. Wirt, the Attorney General under presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams and a famed man of letters, and also was the presidential nominee by the Anti-Masonic Party despite the fact that he was a freemason. His head had been stolen from the Cemetery circa 1900 (based on the qualities of the box containing said head) and had ended up in the collection of a skull collector(!!!) in New Jersey who had recently died in 2002; the call was from the executor of his will. After testing that the head was indeed that of Mr. Wirt, it was interred with the rest of him. Simpson said that the working theory among Cemetery staff was that his head was stolen due to his fame as an intellectual meeting the phrenological fad of the turn of the twentieth century, by people who wanted to know what made him tick.
The last of that day was what was billed as a discussion on Moral Ambiguity in Modern Villains but really was one guy talking with the audience on said subject. In fairness, it was an interesting discussion, although it was hobbled by an unwillingness to really get political about it
Sunday, April 6th, 2025
The first panel of the day was one with Zoraida Cordova and Timothy Zahn discussing their work in the new Star Wars expanded universe. It was very interesting popping the hood and seeing what made the two writers tick, having enjoyed both of their works (Zahn follows only Harry Turtledove in being the writer whose works I have read the most of). During the Q&A I hijacked the Star Wars panel to ask if Zahn were planning to do anything with the universe in his Conquerors trilogy, and he said he was working on something which I hope sees the light of day. I later got to talk to him briefly in the dealers’ room and I tried not to fanboy too hard, and inevitably failed.
Then there was the comedy show Multiverse Got Talent! hosted by Steve Katz and with a few other comedians. The jokes were only sometimes nerdy, but were often funny enough that I was entertained. My favorite was Angel Penn, whose shtick is that he is an alternate universe version of Eminem who is Black and an anime fan. It was a very odd combination but it ended up working.
The next panel I went to was called Plot and Pacing, which had Fonda Lee, Seanan McGuire, M. L. Rio, John Scalzi, R. R. Virdi, and P. Djèlí Clark. It started about pacing but went into a wide-ranging discussion of writing processes. The most striking part was when Scalzi said that he did not do drafting, which shocked everyone in the room. He went on to clarify that he does not bother writing second, third, fourth, etc. drafts of his novels, a practice he says is a relic of the age of typewriters when one had to literally retype the entire draft multiple times. With word processors, he tinkers in a single document over an extended period of time, which is a similar amount of revision with less repetition. Once this was explained, the room understood him, and looking back at it, this is how I wrote my academic papers from middle school through my undergraduate degree, so I can’t really fault him for that. It does raise interesting questions about how writing should be taught in a world with ubiquitous word processing software, but I am no pedagogue.
The last event I attended at the convention was a live recording of the Dugongs and Seadragons podcast, which was a rollicking time travel adventure set in Antarctica. I had never attended such an event, nor listened to such a podcast, beforehand, but the experience was engaging with a good dungeon master and an experienced cast.
After that, I went home, found dinner near the metro, and then collapsed for several hours. It messed up my sleep schedule for the ensuing week but it was so much fun it was worth it. I had heard of friends going to AwesomeCon before, being a staple of DC-area geekdom, and this was my first experience. I do not believe it will be the last.
POSTED BY: Alex Wallace, alternate history buff who reads more than is healthy.The last event I attended at the convention was a live recording of the Dugongs and Seadragons podcast, which was a rollicking time travel adventure set in Antarctica. I had never attended such an event, nor listened to such a podcast, beforehand, but the experience was engaging with a good dungeon master and an experienced cast.
After that, I went home, found dinner near the metro, and then collapsed for several hours. It messed up my sleep schedule for the ensuing week but it was so much fun it was worth it. I had heard of friends going to AwesomeCon before, being a staple of DC-area geekdom, and this was my first experience. I do not believe it will be the last.
