Do I mean to keep letting so long lapse between attending an event and writing up my con report? No. Does life keep interfering, making this task fall far down my priority lists? Alas, yes. Maryland endured an intense, prolonged cold snap from late January into mid February, resulting in my house experiencing a water main break a few days after Farpoint 2026. I ended up without water for almost 2 weeks, and now I’m in the middle of an unplanned major renovation of my foyer and den to repair water damage. While I was already in the middle of a planned primary bathroom renovation.

0/10 stars, do not recommend.

So, here’s my very late con report, with many apologies to those I promised pictures to. Don’t forget to scroll all the way to the end for a full list of my appearances through the summer!

Friday

Even though Farpoint is within easy driving distance of my house, I decided months earlier to stay at the con hotel with my friend cosplayer Jessica Crouse. This idea proved brilliant with the cold, since I gained and shedded layers multiple times per day to deal with the varying temperatures in the hotel’s event spaces.

I kicked off the afternoon with my alternate history worldbuilding presentation, which I haven’t given in a few years. I wasn’t sure how many people would attend so early in the afternoon on the first day of the con. To my pleasure, a great group of interested audience members attended and reminded me of how much I love sharing this activity! I helped the attendees develop two fascinating alternate history concepts: (1) a more familiar world with the divergent point being no development of vaccines and (2) a speculative fiction world that looks very different because Earth’s gravity is lesser or greater across various portions of the planet. My favorite part of this presentation is that I never know what ideas I’ll get to help play with!

About to present!

Though I often joke that this is the event where I hang out with cosplayers instead of authors, I was invited to join the Crazy 8 Press crew for dinner. We had a blast at a nearby diner, and I was so pleased to get to know a few author colleagues better, especially when I learned that many of them live near me!

Saturday With fellow panelist Ray Van Horn

I kicked off Saturday morning by moderating a great panel on writing and motivation, where we discussed the varying paths that led us to this crazy career, why we keep writing, the common themes we keep returning to in our work, and the strategies we use to help keep our butts in the chair.

Afterward, I had the chance to feature my books for an hour in the lobby, where it’s always fun to chat with anyone who stops by. I spent the rest of the afternoon camped out at a table in the main hallway, people-watching while I finished a major project due that Monday. Many thanks to the two lovely people who were kind enough to read and provided feedback on a novella blurb!

The highlight of Farpoint for me is always the cosplay drag show! D’Manda Martini hosted and performed, and I was thrilled to enjoy Jessica as her drag king alter-ego Alex Mack, in person!

With D’Manda Martini, Alex Mack, Tiffany D. Carter, Charlemagne Chateau, Sirene Noir Sidora-Jackson, and Logan Stone

To close out the evening, a large group of the queens and other cosplayers and assorted friends (plus one random writer) ordered food and took over the con suite for a lovely, relaxing dinner.

Sunday

Sunday morning, I camped out at the hallway table again. But since I’d finished my big project the day before, I’ll confess here that while I may have looked productive, I was mostly reading Heated Rivalry fanfic. After another hour sharing my books in the lobby, it was time to head home and look forward to the start of a brand-new month.

Little did I know what was in my future…

Final Haul Nerdy sticker I snagged from the table of cosplayer Joe Coulton!Check out the new podcast Two Drag Queens A Lesbian and A Baby !What’s next? Balticon (May 22-25, 2026; Baltimore, MD) Pride LitCon (June 13-14, 2026; Richmond, VA) RomantiConn (July 24-25, 2026; Trumbull, CT) Rainbow Readers Cruise (August 10-14, 2026; Celebrity Reflection)

Attending any of these events? My books are available for preorder!