New Friends

Making new friends was my theme for the Imperial Commissary Collectors Convention (ICCC) last weekend. This post is to say “Thank you!” to everyone who visited my book-signing booth, to those who are now PLANET OF EDEN readers, and to the new friends I made during the three-day fan convention:

• A special hello goes to Faith Coleman, an awesome and talented lady who does incredible Star Wars-themed and fantasy art (Find her on IG at @etherealvalor and Etsy at Etsy.com/shop/EtherealValor). I could have bought up a bunch of her work, but I settled for a beautiful print, depicting Loth-cats from Star Wars Rebels.

• Brian Smith, another great artist from Nashville, does incredible things with reclaimed items. His cyberpunk pieces on display deeply inspired me while I spent time there dreaming up ideas for my forthcoming MILLENYA novel. (Check out Brian’s work on his Facebook page.)

• Of course, I loved attending the Sunday morning church service at the convention center, led by Pastor John Graeber from Boone Grove Christian Church in Indiana. (You can watch the service on his YouTube channel.) Pastor John showed how “the force” from Star Wars is, in real life, who we know as the Holy Spirit of God. Thanks for being there, John!

• Other cool people I enjoyed spending time with were author Keith Robinson (unearthlytales.com), fellow faith-based writer Shawn Lamb (allonbooks.com), and author Glen Henderson (Glen’s Amazon book page).

• And even more inspiration came to me from the cosplay groups that surrounded my booth: the Sith Dynasty, the Vader’s Fist 501st Legion Midsouth Garrison, the Bluegrass Mountain Rangers, and the Defenders Detachment, just to name a few. I very much enjoyed talking with the volunteers who make people happy just by dressing up in authentic costumes. (Man, I really want a stormtrooper suit now so I can join the famous 501^st!)

• Unfortunately, I didn’t get to personally meet Babylon 5’s Bruce Boxleitner and Claudia Christian, though we did literally cross paths several times during the convention. I was able to sit in on their panel interview, though, which was fun and enlightening.

I hope to be making more new friends by attending other events in the coming months. But for now, it’s back-to-work on my writing and teaching projects. I’ll leave you with a few photos of the ICCC. Stay awesome, my friends!

[CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.]