This year at the Aurora Awards, Tanya Huff was inducted into the Hall of Fame. This is the statue that will have her name on it.

This year at the Aurora Awards, Tanya Huff was inducted into the Hall of Fame. This is the statue that will have her name on it.
‘Nathan was a joy to meet at Can*Con! He was nominated for an Aurora Award for his YA novel Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks, incidentally up against my husband. I voted for both of them. 🙂
Learn more about ‘Nathan here, and you can buy his nominated book (and others) here!
(PS I just realized you get to see ‘Nathan twice in a row on our blog! Unintentional I assure you!)
We attended Can*Con, the Aurora Award winning Speculative Fiction convention in Ottawa, Canada.
There, we spotted the Aurora Award winning author, Kate Heartfield, and managed to get a photo-op with the TARDIS.
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
This past weekend the entire JenEric family went to one of our favourite conventions; Can*Con. The people were lovely and the event was wonderful, but boy am I glad it’s over.
It’s definitely the most stressful convention for me. Most conventions, my job is to stand there, look pretty, and sell coffee. At Can*Con, I’m also an author and need to talk about my books and my experience. Often times, with people I respect and am in awe of.
This year I had a panel about multiple point of view narratives with Tanya Huff and Kevin Hearn. Both amazing writers and extremely intelligent panelists. I think, to my surprise, I didn’t come off as a complete fool, so yay. (A personal fanboy moment was when Tanya chided me for not mentioning my Aurora nomination.)
Took a deep dive into multiple POVs at the Who’s your Hero Panel today. Thanks for the insights @KevinHearne @TanyaHuff @EricDesmarais @KVJohansen @CanConSF pic.twitter.com/VCuOcol326
— Colleen Winter (@ColleenWinter3) October 20, 2019
I also had a signing with Charles De Lint. I spent half the time chatting with people in line to talk with him and half the time chatting with him. He’s a really nice person and we chatted about book formatting and support structures.
Now all that was stressful but awesome. Unfortunately, all 4 of us came down with a cold just before the convention. So doing a convention with a 3 year old and a baby while being sick was… exhausting.
Despite all of us being exhausted, we decided we needed to go to the Aurora awards banquet (we were both nominated but didn’t expect to win). Keladry wanted to dress up and we were just too darn tired so we didn’t. We were the schlumps in t-shirts and jeans but we had a great time.
On the Sunday I had a reading and took Keladry to ensure I had an audience. To my surprise, there were three other people. At least one of which was there to hear me read. Yay, I have a fan! Thanks S!
Doing conventions with kids is hard but totally worth it. Adrien mostly slept, but Keladry was as good as possible. She listened, didn’t touch things, and only melted down a few times. I’m really proud of them.
Doing conventions with kids isn’t easy, but what makes it infinitely better is doing it with people who love them and like to entertain them. S. M. Carrière being the godmother spends a lot of time helping us at almost every con. Nathan of Renaissance was amazing despite being busy 99% of the con. Heather Chambers was absolutely fantastic with Keladry. She drew with her, played, and spent lots of time laughing.
There are more people that helped then I can name.
To everyone who helped, chatted, bought something, listened to me read or rant, or just made this convention amazing. Thank you so much!
I’m exhausted but happy.
Thank you again,
Éric
Hello book lovers,
Can*Con is this weekend and it’s easily our favourite convention.
We will be selling coffee (including limited amounts of advent calendars) and crochet in the dealers room.
I also have a few panels and events I’ll be at:
Friday, October 18 • 6:00pm – 6:50pm
I’m getting pinned for my novel A Sign of Faust, which was nominated in the YA category for the Auroras.
Saturday, October 19 • 10:00am – 10:50am
Why have one protagonist when you can have a dozen – or none? These days, SFF with loads of characters and no designated hero have a certain appeal. Series like Malazan, A Song of Ice and Fire, and The Walking Dead comics offer fans plenty of options to love, and real danger for your faves. But they also run the risk of a meandering plot and a death-weary audience. What are the benefits of having so much choice in who to root for? Does having tons of characters set us up for disappointment, or is it ultimately the reason we keep turning the page?
Saturday, October 19 • 12:00pm – 12:25pm
I’ll sign any books you like (Hopefully the ones I wrote).
Saturday, October 19 • 6:00pm – 9:50pm
The Can*Con co-chairs and organizing committee are pleased to invite you to join them for the Aurora Award ceremony, which will take place off-site, at the Christchurch Cathedral’s Great Hall. A reception will be hosted there, with paid bar and appetizers served round. There is no entry fee, and all Can*Con attendees are welcome to join.
Sunday, October 20 • 12:00pm – 12:50pm
I’ll be reading from Everdome.
Hope to see you there!
Éric
Can-Con 2019 is happening NEXT WEEKEND and I am ridiculously excited about it.
What is Can-Con, you ask?
Only my favourite convention of the year!
Can-Con is short for The Conference on Canadian Content in Speculative Arts and Literature, and the guests include Canadian authors, editors, publishers, agents, scientists, artists, and more!
Even better, to my mind, is that these people aren’t hidden away in a green room – they walk the floor with the other attendees, go to panels to broaden their knowledge base just like everyone else, and are generally available for geeking out with.
This year, Can-Con is hosting the Aurora Awards, so the convention will be teaming with nominees and past winners. Our very own Éric Desmarais is one of the nominees!
Oh, and me too, I guess, for the Travelling TARDIS blog. I don’t expect to win, though, because the people I’m up against are incredible.
The vendors room is open to the public, (We have a table if you need coffee or crochet) but the convention itself is sold out for 2019.
You can contact Jennifer Desmarais through Orleans Travel. jennifer.desmarais@orleanstravel.ca
Joe Mahoney is an author published by Five Rivers Publishing. Such a great guy and fantastic to talk to! You should buy his book!
Author Kaitlin Caul dressed glamorously for Can-Con 2018 – just look at her beautiful scorpion jewelry!
You can find her book Life After Redby through Renaissance Press’s website.
On the Sunday of Can*Con, Jen Desmarais (who writes and runs TravellingTardis.com, Blush, and Fandom Travel) received her Aurora Awards nomination pin from this years winner for short story Liz Westbrook-Trenholm.
The excellent Brandon Crilly was pinned at the same time.
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I’m still recovering from the awesomness that was Can-Con. I really need to plan taking time off after.
Most of my weekend was spent at the table selling stuff and giving away coffee samples. It’s great to hear and see the joy coffee brings some people. For those that didn’t like coffee I sent them 3 tables down to the fantastic Heart Tea Heart.
I was on one panel about heroism in Star Wars and it was a great discussion. The panelists were inteligent, well spoken, and made great points. (I rambled and agreed a lot.)
Other than that I loved the opportunity to talk coffee and books with all the fantastic attendees. The organizers and venue are always fantastic. Thank you and I look forward to next year!
I’m drained… enjoy these pictures of the Child Dragon.
Later Days,
Éric