A somewhat calmer day, as Mondays generally are. Spent the morning at my table, and then went to the Star Trek track of “An hour with Peter David” (which for fans probably feels more like a week with Peter David, but okay). To my utter surprise the room was packed. I read the opening chapter of the next New Frontier novel, “After the Fall,” which should be out later this year. Once again Caroline made an awwwww-inspiring appearance, this time decked out in a little yellow STTOS command shirt. She climbed up on a chair behind the table, beamed at the audience, and I did the Hammer thing again. Once again she boogied to it. The child simply adores being in front of an audience. Milks them for all they’re worth.
At 1 PM was a panel remembering Julie Schwartz which Harlan moderated. These types of memorial panels are never easy. All in all, it went as well as such things good, recalling Julie fondly but savoring his gruffness and kvetching as much as anything.
I went down to the dealer’s room after that and spotted Soupy Sales. I went over and immediately told him how much his show meant to me as a kid. He opened his mouth…and sat there. Mouth open. Like a toy that had run out of batteries. I stood there confused, uncertain of what to do, and the younger woman with him–his wife–immediately replied. We discussed the merchandise on the table and I bought two books. Soupy then worked on signing them, holding the marker carefully, and very softly I asked his wife if he’d had a stroke. She indicated that, no, he’d had some kind of operation (indicating the chest.) I don’t know what sort of surgery could cause someone to “lock up” like that. He did manage to say “Thank you” perfectly clearly several times, so I’m unclear what the deal was. But it saddened me greatly, seeing someone who I remembered as so vital just sort of trapped in his own body that way.
I went back to my table for a time, but by 4 PM the place was pretty much dead. So I’m back here in the hotel room, babysitting the snoozing Caroline, while Kath is at a panel and Ariel is prowling the dealer’s room. I’m worried about what will happen tomorrow with the rains predicted and whether it will interfere with our getting back.
PAD
• 
I knew of Soupy Sales only as a panelist on “What’s My Line.”
I knew he’d done a kids show, and there’s a famous blooper where his chums played a practical joke and had a naked woman wander onto stage when he thought it was a live broadcast.
For those of us who are too young to enjoy PAD’s memories, check http://www.povonline.com/cols/COL018.htm
also: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0758130/bio
Any chance you could give us a teaser of the new Star Trek novel, Peter? Not an excerpt…just what it’s about. (Ðámņ, where’s my Pocket Books Fall 2004 trade catalogue when I need it!)
As someone who lives in Atlanta and flies out of Hartsfield often the answer to your worries is- yes, you will be stuck at the airport I hate to say. Especially if you’re not flying Delta which gets priority in and out of the airport.
Also, the security lines, especially the day after a holiday, are terrible. Even if you’ve reached elite status with what ever airline your flying and are able to use the “special” line expect 1-2 1/2 hours (possibly more) of standing in line just to go through the metal detectors. Bring snacks for the line, I really hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but you’ll need them.
Considering that, even if your flight is delayed show up early, you’ll need the time. Check http://www.atlanta-airport.com/ before you leave the hotel for security and flight wait times.
Any chance you could give us a teaser of the new Star Trek novel, Peter? Not an excerpt…just what it’s about. (Ðámņ, where’s my Pocket Books Fall 2004 trade catalogue when I need it!)
I bought the thing from Amazon last May. They didn’t say what it was about. Then the ship date kept changing. First July 16th, then August 30th, the Novemember 30th.
My question is why PAD got the genetics wrong when he wrote McHenry’s origin. He said the godhead traveled down the male side. But all the God genes were on his mom’s side of the family. There is no godhood on the Y chromosome. Unless, miraclously pops got some divine genes too. Maybe he’s Trelane’s first cousin once removed. Or part Organian or something. Or is one sixteenth Klingon and flowing in him is the bloodline of Kahless.
I think what Peter meant was that godhood is an x recessive gene. Meaning a goddess would need two sets of genetic instructions to make them deities. Females in McHenry’s family would thus not have godly powers since they only have one X chromosome of defining Godhood. They need both because they have another X chromosome saying ‘Hëll, no, you aren’t a god.’ Mark (being male) has only one X chromosome. The intructions on the Y chromosome can’t contradict the X and there you have it.
These things are just as easy to get right as they are to get wrong.
Do I get my no prize… or at least a reminder a month a head of time when you’re going to be DC/Baltimore area again.
I had to do a double-take when I saw Soupy Sales yesterday. You have memory burned into your brain of what someone looks like, and then have it shredded in an instant, and it’s a bit overwhelming. Sorry to hear he isn’t 100%.
Gil Gerard surprised me too.
“To my utter surprise, the room was packed.”
Why would you feel this way, PAD? Your Star Trek books sell good numbers and you are well known for writing them. Are you so numbed by the cancellatons, editorial disputes and other developments concerning your comic work the last few years that you truly wonder if you still have a large number of fans who appreciate your work? Because there are and they do.
Anyway, between the Hulk panel, the Star Trek track, meeting Soupy Sales and enjoying your family, it sounds like you’re having a great time.
Good, you deserve it.
Why would you feel this way, PAD? Your Star Trek books sell good numbers and you are well known for writing them. Are you so numbed by the cancellatons, editorial disputes and other developments concerning your comic work the last few years that you truly wonder if you still have a large number of fans who appreciate your work? Because there are and they do.”
Uh, no. No, it’s because the panel was scheduled for 11:30 AM, hotel check out was noon, and people have been hauling ášš to get gone because of high winds and predicted flooding. So I just didn’t think there’d be enough people left at the convention to fill a thimble, much less a room. It had nothing to do with me and everything to do with checkout times and weather.
PAD
PAD,
Okay. Cool. I can understand that. Like I said, I’m glad you had what seems to have been a great time for you and your family. You deserve it:)
I got to see one of my fave SF icons, Warren Stevens (okay, for the y’ungins, Rojan from ST:TOS- “By Any Other Name” and ‘Doc’ Ostrow from “Forbidden Planet”) at an autograph show in Orlando. He was in a sad state and seemed frail and confused. I even had a ’50s paperback of the Forbidden Planet adaption and he said, oh, that’s an antique, you sure you want me to sign it? And I said (ooooooppppppsss!), well, if you are afraid of ruining it— and he snapped at me like Rojan: “Son, I am not afraid of anything, give me that book!” I was so happy, Rojan told me off and the great actor I saw as a kid was there. And later, a huge bunch of folks came in, some that actually worked on Forbidden Planet and he was bright and animated again. I just wish we could keep the guys and gals we grew up loving at their prime, it really hurts to see how much time runs away with us…
Thank you (and Harlan Ellison) for once again making a appearance at Dragoncon. I always enjoy both of your appearances there, espically when you do a panel together. I missed out on the Caberet[sp] you two did, but I caught a bit of the ‘practice run’ at an earlier panel.
I’m also glad to hear that there will be a new novel in the ‘New Frontier’ series that is a jumping on point for new readers. I am not a new reader of the series, although I just lost track of it a while back, and never got around to buying the novels I missed (and my work schedule makes it hard to find much time to read anyway).
Hope to see you both there again next year.
Hope that once you are reading this you are home safely and without incidence.
I too was taken aback by Soupy’s condition, but from what I’ve read he’s been battling health problems for years.
This was my first Con experience and I wanted to thank you for contributing to what was an absolutely fantastic weekend. The prank on Nathan Fillion was quite fun to be a part of.
I attended Harlan’s panel on Sunday, it was the first time I had ever heard him speak. Most enjoyable! Though he did sound hoarse and remarked that he would probably have to cancel the evening’s singing. At everyone’s disappointed groan, he sang us a few bars and sounded like he was being strangled. I felt for him.
Hope to be able to hit a future con in the years to come, it was a very.. surreal weekend.
Thanks Again, Kath
“I went over and immediately told him how much his show meant to me as a kid. He opened his mouth…and sat there. Mouth open.”
While I don’t know what Soupy Sales’s physical condition is, perhaps the sight of a balding, middle-aged man telling him how much he loved him as a kid may have done something to keep him from knowing how to respond properly.
Gil Gerard? Who the hëll let him in??
Maybe he’s hard up for money now that’s he’s come to the realization that he can’t act. 😛
Man, I wish I could afford to travel to that con… WorldCon in Toronto was my big thing last year. I was hoping to meet Harlan there. No such luck. I also brought Julie’s book with me to get signed, but he was ill then, so I missed two legends I’d hoped to see. 🙁
Dragon Con was fun for me this year. Once again I had a nice table right near the up excalator and across fromt he women’s bathroom. Lots of foot traffic. I thought the turn out was nice and I managed to sell a few comics and talk up my novel (shameless plug: I just sold my first novel, Evil Ways, due out in 2005). I even had a chance to chat briefly on Monday with Peter about it (thanks for the kinds words of wisdom and for signing my FA trade).
The weather managed to hold out until Monday night. Then it hit us. The high winds and rain lasted up until around 11 a.m. Tuesday. Still, we fared far better than Florida.
Bobby
Bobby Nash
Writer @ Large
COMING SOON:
bobbynash.com
EVIL WAYS – my 1st novel
Fuzzy Bunnies From Hëll
Shadow One: Shade of Grey
Shadow One: Dogs of War
Oh, I am so glad to see your post about Soupy Sales. I had the EXACT SAME REACTION. I lived in Detroit as a small child and I have VIVID memories of him as a children’s tv host. I went to his table, and I did recognize him, even tho’ he, like all of us, has aged over the last 40 years, and I told him how much I loved him as a kid and how wonderful it was to see him and he just opened his mouth and no words came out. I didn’t know what to do either. So I just sort of shuffled away. My husband talked to him later and he says that he’s in there, somewhere he’s in there.
And thank you for your wonderful performances, with and without Harlan. I LOVE Harlan Ellison, but your cabaret performance without him was wonderful. And your wife filled in admirably!
PAD according to IMDB: Soupy Sales in 2000 – Had surgery to repair damage to his vocal cords.
I missed seeing you (and especially Harlan) at WorldCon.
It was nice to see Bob Greenberger and Neil Gaiman there representing comic and media fandom, something that WorldCon was sorely lacking this year.
Although I had a blast in Boston, I understand now why DragonCon prevails on the same weekend every year. I hope to make it there sometime.
i knoww this has nothing to do with the con but…i got 2 people who dont read comics at all…to start reading fallen angel…BOO YA!
I didn’t even recognize Soupy even though I read the table.
BTW, everyone was saying how good Gil Gerard looked this year. Last year he was more bloated, grayer, and less responsive to questions. This year he looked much healthier.
Um, a different reason why Dragoncon “prevails” over Worldcon (presumably in terms of attendance) is that Dragoncon has the substantial advantage in that area of being in the same place every year, along with what I suspect is a stable upper level command structure (by which I mean each Worldcon is put on by a different group, although up through division head level there are people who work on it every year). As well as Worldcon quite deliberately not putting as much emphasis on non-written work as Dragoncon.
I’m quite sure that if, say, MCFI which put on this year’s Worldcon in Boston wanted to do a Dragoncon like con every year in Boston, they’d be at the same or larger size very quickly (particularly given that sister group NESFA’s annual con Boskone hit “Winter Worldcon” status in the mid-80s before it was scaled back). Just the ability to build up a regular local attendance is a major advantage (see also San Diego aka what’s grown to probably twice Dragoncon’s size).
I was sixteen many years ago when I first Met you at Dragon*Con. At that time my father and I would anxiously await each issue of CSN for the next installment of …But I Digress (a phrase my wife is all too familiar with). I was a fan of your work on the Hulk, while my Dad enjoyed your Star Trek novels. Last year, after years of talking about it, my wife and I (with 2 year old daughter, Aisling, in tow) finally went to Dragon*Con together. I was fortunate enough to meet you again, this time appreciating a good bit more of you work. My wife was happy to get her first issue of Fallen Angel signed (a book I had not yet read at the time- for shame). Ariel happily drew a purple kitty for our daughter while Caroline slept on your back. This only fueled a fire for me that had been slowly rekindled as I tried to be less of the jaded person I had so unwillingly become. I saw you and your family enjoying yourselves and feeling a sense of belonging among like minds and souls. Long ago I had dreamt of working in the comic field, only to be discouraged before I had ever even given the dream a chance… my father had wanted to be an animator for Disney. He definitely had the talent and he had event met Mr. Disney, but after pouring himself into his art while in school and then serving his country in the sixties, he felt obligated to waste no more time on a dream and instead settled for a job as a banker. While I realize I would not be here today had he followed his dreams, I still feel a sadness for him. I myself was advised by parents and teachers alike to pursue an academic lifestyle, so I went to UGA where I studied physics. I didn’t finish school, instead I married my soul mate and entered a career as a restaurant manager. Years later now having a family of my own I earn a decent salary yet do not have the time to enjoy my family and friends. A dream long forgotten had begun to resurface. I began writing again and drawing. I actually appreciated some of my material from years ago, material at the time I would have happily burn thinking it was crap. Then I went to Dragon*Con last year and although I was still very much the fan boy, I was also listening and watching. I know now that on some level I will see my work in print, even if it only sells a single copy. I am blessed with a wife and Daughter who not only support but inspire me to be the best… to be happy. Seeing you with your family is equally inspiring. We enjoyed seeing you and yours at Dragon*Con this year… my wife got a kick out of Caroline at the Firefly panel. Its great to see people like yourself who are capable of being a fan and creator at the same time. I glad to have a forum like this to share with you since so often I become the eager little fan boy in person and say something stupid like “Nice adaptation of Spider-man2” or something equally lame. I was afraid at first when your Rare Writings contained a script for Fallen Angel. I was having a Cancelled Comics Cavalcade moment. I was glad to find that she still has life in her now that my wife makes sure I read it. In fact some months I actually get to it first. I only hope that the Fallen Angels and Bloodhounds out there can continue to have an impact. While I do enjoy Supes and Hulk, Avengers and JLA, we still need new myths for today. I just hope that “the powers that be” continue to take chances on fresh ideas. For all the stories, thank you. But then again I digress…