Happy Hypericon!

It does take more than money to make me happy. But the sales from this weekend in Nashville go a long way.

I'm not going to disclose numbers. But I will say that the gross sales figures from this weekend are within shouting distance of our gross sales from Midsouthcon, one of our highest-selling conventions. 

Why is this shocking? Midsouthcon has more than 2,000 attendees. Hypericon had maybe 200. 

Those guys rock. My authors were happy. The staff was happy. And the Literary Underworld Traveling Bar was well-stocked. 

(This show's most popular items were an awesome maple bourbon provided by Underlord Stephen Zimmer and the famous apple pie moonshine provided by Michael Farnette. Yum.)

It takes more than sales. It takes good friends, colleagues in the small-press trenches and intelligent conversation that goes beyond debates about the Heisenberg Compensator to the reflections of popular culture in the world around us. It's always worth the lost sleep.

If I started listing all the folks I have to thank, I'd be up even later, and I have work tomorrow.* A general shout-out, then, to the terrific folks who supported us with their dollars, to my colleagues in the dealer's room, and of course to the Underlords who attended the event: Angelia Sparrow, Gabriel Belthir, Denny Upkins, Sara Harvey, Betsy Phillips, H. David Blalock, J.L. Mulvihill and even the ghost of Steven Shrewsbury, who was going to be there but was stranded by the floods. We drank Captain Morgan in your honor, Shrews.

And, of course, thanks to the good folks at Hypericon - small but mighty! - who put on a great show year after year. See you again soon, guys.

* Or today, actually, since this will post at lunch tomorrow. If you haven't figured out yet that I write these things in advance, you are a sillyperson who needs coffee.