A.J. Hartley

Sometimes you go to a con and have a fantabulous time, and then con crud sneaks up on you the moment you get home and knocks you on your butt. 😷

When that’s the worst you can say about a con, though, it’s a pretty good con. 😀

This was the first year that the stars and our schedules aligned for us to be at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, NC, and though we were insanely busy (ALL PANELS ALL THE TIME FOREVER), the fun was entirely worth the con crud.

Before we formally begin, though, we owe a special thanks to Guest Coordinator (and fellow author) John Hartness for allowing us in as last minute guests. We’d initially committed to LibertyCon for this weekend, but when LibertyCon changed dates (now June 28-30, btw), that left us some unexpected free time, and John was graciously willing to let us fill it at ConCarolinas. All that said, thanks, John! (Also go buy his stuff. And the stuff he publishes under Falstaff Books.)

ConCarolinas is one of those small cons that hides its size with huge enthusiasm and activity. Though a multi-fandom con, it places more emphasis on authors and books than most cons of its size, which meant that we were able to meet a bunch of new authors and add their books to our reading pile.

We hadn’t intended to come home with any new books because our pile is currently growing faster than it’s shrinking, but well…A.J. Hartley was a fellow guest, and Steeplejack has been on my to-read list forever, which was reason enough for me to just impulse buy the whole trilogy.

Then, when R.M. Hamrick described her space opera novellas as Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy meets Guardians of the Galaxy, we couldn’t resist snagging that, too.

Next, Jeffrey Bardwell, among other books, wrote a series about medieval steampunk wizards, so naturally I was all over that.

Finally, I forgot to pick this up because by the end of the con I was 100% dead and incoherent, but Crymsyn Hart wrote a sci-fi romance titled Captured by the Alien Vampire Highlander which is something I think the world should know about for the title alone. (It’ll be on my digital reading pile soon.)

Speaking of books, we also need to give a special shout-out to Orielis Books, who carried our titles this weekend and also gave us an impromptu book-signing when we weren’t able to make our originally-scheduled signing on Friday. 😊

They’ll be carrying some of our titles on their website and to other cons they visit, so be sure to check them out if you’re in need of some good reads!

Our adventures didn’t end with books, but you can find the rest of our ConCarolinas fun chronicled on our Instagram page.

And if you want to join us on our con adventures, come see us at LibertyCon, later this month in Chattanooga, TN!
Until then, happy reading! 😁
***
Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.