Saturday at Shore Leave. 🙂
There is one thing I make sure not to miss every year at Shore Leave — the breakfast buffet at the Cinnamon Tree restaurant. They have omelets and they have Belgian waffles. It’s the only time all year I get omelets. I usually order one with ham and cheese and onion and tomato. Yep, those four things. And I’m good.
Other than breakfast, what panels do I have on tap for today?
- Doctor Who: What Hath Rusty Wrought? — Hunt Valley Ballroom, 10am to 11am.
Doctor Who, obviously. Probably the just-finished Torchwood: Children of Earth. Almost certainly how much I fancy Karen Gillen. And rampant speculation. Panelists, besides myself, include Kathleen David, Nea Dodson, Terri Osborne, John S. Drew, and Aaron Rosenberg. - The Young Gun Writers Ride The Range — Hunt Valley Ballroom, 11am to Noon
Every writer gets a start somewhere. What makes the writer sit alone in a quiet room and peck away at the keyboard? What kind of goals does an up-and-coming writer have? Do we have Dave Mack and Keith DeCandido yelling at us and telling us to get off the damn lawn? Some of Shore Leave’s up-and-comers talk about the writing process. Our panelists for this wild-and-wooly panel — Allyn Gibson, Amy Sisson, John Coffren, Kevin Lauderdale, Scott Pearson, Steve Mollmann, James Johnson, and Aaron Rosenberg. - Star Trek XI Smackdown! The Writers Sound Off — Hunt Valley Ballroom, Noon to 1:30</b>
What do people who have written Star Trek think of the new film? Panelists include Chris Bennett, John Drew, Kevin
Dilmore, Ann Crispin, Terri Osborne, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Peter David, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, Dave Galanter, Geoff Trowbridge, James Johnson, Greg Cox, and me. - From Comics To Movies, the Trend Continues — Salon A, 4pm to 5pm
What the title says. Comic books to movies. Panelists include Peter David, Bob Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, Rigel Ailur, Allyn Gibson, John S. Drew, and Greg Cox.
And there’s lots of other really cool stuff going on today. The Masquerade, of course. Hanging out in the bar.
It’s gonna be good. 🙂
Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips? I’m insanely jealous! I’ve never heard of Shore Leave, but I just visited their website and I can’t believe it’s in Baltimore! That’s within driving distance of where I live!
Does the location rotate each year or is it always in Baltimore?
On Saturday, I ran into Picardo in the hall. On Sunday, I ran into Phillips in the men’s restroom. Neither meeting was as awkward as the Farpoint where every time I turned around I kept running into Marina Sirtis; I was sure she was going to take out a restraining order by about the fifth run-in. 😆
Shore Leave is held every July at the Hunt Valley Marriott. Usually the second weekend of the month. I’ve been attending Shore Leave for nearly ten years. This year was pretty low-key; attendance was down-ish from previous years.
There’s a sort-of sister convention to Shore Leave, Farpoint, which is held every February, usually the weekend nearest Valentine’s Day. (Last year it was held on Valentine’s Day, which made for a fun experience.) I’ve only been attending Farpoint since 2006, and it’s most of the same faces, and when it was held in the same hotel I would jokingly call it “Shore Leave Lite.”
Both are great fun, and if you get the chance to do one or the other, they’re definitely worth it. 🙂