We took a little trip out to Seattle this weekend to attend the second ZOECon.  ZOECon is, as the name would imply, a convention put on by the production company Zombie Orpheus Entertainment.  We’ve been out to Seattle to see these wonderful people 3 times now and they never cease to amaze me with how available and friendly they can be, even though their well-deserved success keeps them rather busy.  If you haven’t seen their work (especially if you are a geek like me) I would strongly encourage you to check out their various movies and web series here as well as their YouTube channel. Their original content is refreshing and you can tell that the creators love the content which their stories are base around. ZOE’s productions are geared by a love of geek culture, unlike shows such as The Big Bang Theory, which only condescends to geeks in a way the producers think is flattering.  To my mind TBBT has the same approach as the class clown at school who thinks you didn’t mind all the public mockery because deep down you love the attention.

The convention itself doesn’t feel the same as others, that’s of course, not comparing it to something like ComicCon or PAX, this is a relatively new convention and these things take time to grow.  No, I am saying that compared even to similarly sized conventions this one has an entirely different feel to it.  Imagine having the stars everyone came to see walking into a crowd to hang out with their fans, going out for drinks, or playing at the same game table with them.  Hell, one of the stars of The Gamers: Hands Of Fate, Conner Marx, was running an R9E table (Romance of the Nine Empires, a card game that was created for Gamers 3).  Then after that, imagine the attendee’s seeking out each other’s signatures as much as they do the special guests, because they’ve all developed great friendships and a sense of community through a shared fandom.  That’s what it’s like at ZOECon, and to me that also perfectly embodies what it is to be a nerd.

Every time I visit I get the strong urge to “just move my ass to Seattle already!” Between, being the home of PAX and ZOE, I see it as something of a geek mecca, as well it has a growing film industry as well it is close to Vancouver which is the Hollywood of Canada or as I like to put it, “Hollywood for people who don’t want to live in California.”  I have a lot of close friends here in South Dakota, as well as a great job that I find interesting, but I do feel the allure of the creative opportunities that would be available to me in a larger city.  It wouldn’t be anytime too soon but I could easily see myself answering that call.  Additionally Seattle is nearby some of the most beautiful mountainous areas I have ever seen and I could just as easily be a crazy mountain man there, while at the same time affording my wife the opportunity to be the city girl she wants to be at heart.

As far as upcoming projects, my “experimental” horror story is almost complete and I will post that here as well as when I post it on Reddit.  I will however, only be taking story feedback on Reddit to keep all my plot bunnies in one place, so you would need to post to the comments there if you would like to participate in steering the protagonist’s actions.  I am also still actively working on “Dog Fights” and also have to have that posted here soon.  It is entirely possible however, that we will be into December when that happens, what with the upcoming holiday and all.  The fantasy story I have been working on is also coming along, albeit not as quickly as the other two as that story is more involved and I keep getting excited about other little projects.  This is a habit I am trying to work on but I find that it helps keep me from getting too bored with a concept, though it has led to many an abandoned project in the past.  I’m confident that won’t happen to My fantasy story however as that is a persistent little bug that has been digging further into my brain for almost 14 years.

I’ll keep you all posted as I move forward on my projects and will share a few with you as I can.  Thank you all for reading, and take care until next time!

~DA