I received my contributor copy of the signed/limited edition of The Shining: Studies in the Horror Film the other day. Impressive, big book! Signed by Danel Olson, Stanley Kubrick assistant Leon Vitali, Academy-Award winning director Lee Unkrich, “woman in the tub” model Lia Beldam, second unit cinematographer Greg MacGillivray, and 13 other contributors, including me. There were only 100 copies available, and it is now sold out, according to the Centipede Press website.
I probably didn’t have the full Comicpalooza experience. That’s the thing when you live close to the convention and only pop in when needed rather than staying at the con and spending all three days there. I went in on Friday morning to spend some time wandering the dealer’s room and exhibit hall. Then, at 2:30 I had my panel on Horror Literature, moderated by Doug Goodman and featuring Les Klinger, Nate Southard and Lee Thomas. Then I headed back down to the exhibit hall for my 3:30 signing at the Barnes & Noble booth, which was much better attended than I expected. I had people waiting for me to arrive! I signed their stock of The Road to the Dark Tower, The Dark Tower Companion and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion when I was done, too.
That Republican candidate whose name I don’t want to mention on this blog was in my town that evening so my wife met me downtown for dinner to avoid the circus. I didn’t have anything on the schedule for Saturday so I didn’t go in that day. I went in again on Sunday afternoon, but I didn’t factor in the fact that there was an Astros game nearby, so parking was a nightmare. The place I’d parked on Friday was full, the next lot I tried wanted ⅓ more than I’d paid on Friday. I went down one street and found places near the ball park charging $40! Then it started to rain. Hard. I found a lot where they were only charging $10 but they directed me to go in through the exit of the parking garage across the street after I paid. It seemed a little fishy, but everyone was doing it so I thought…why not. Worked out okay, so I guess it was legit.
The panel on Thrillers was also moderated by Doug Goodman, and we were joined by Quincy J. Allen, Tony Burnett and George Wright Padgett. At first we heavily outnumbered the audience, but more people came along during the discussion, so it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t buy anything at all at the exhibit hall, and I wandered through the autograph and photograph area without parting with any money there, too. I saw David Prowse and Peter Mayhew (Vader and Chewbacca) and many of the other celebrities in attendance, but only from a distance.
I have some extra time on my hands this week and next, so I’ve been catching up on some saved-up TV shows. I binged through the latest and penultimate season of Orphan Black earlier this week. It has never again quite hit the lofty heights that it did in the first season, and the conspiracies are getting really hard to follow, but it’s still a decent show elevated by Tatiana Maslany’s performances. I’m also nearly through the first season of Game of Thrones, which so far is sticking pretty close to the book. I’m about ⅓ of the way through the third novel in the series. I plan to finish off The Path, which I’ve been ignoring for the past couple of weeks and plow through the new Orange is the New Black season. Not sure what else I’ll get up to. Maybe I’ll watch Cell, although I haven’t heard much good about it and I was never that fond of the book, either.
