Farpoint Report

As usual, Farpoint was a fine, relaxed weekend. If only more cons were this enjoyable.We drove down with Keith DeCandido and Terri Osborne and despite heavy traffic, got there around 8 p.m. on Friday. That evening the Boogie Knights were hosting a CD release party so Deb and I attended that and hung out with our various and sundry pals. The nice thing about coming to these cons year after year is that you build up relationships with people that you pick right back up when you see them. I’ve been coming to Baltimore for Shore Leave and Farpoint long enough that I’ve seen a lot of these people go from high school kids to married folk to parents (or in some cases grandparents). There were nearly a dozen kids under the age of 10 running around at one point and it was neat to realize this was the next generation of fans.This was the first con I’ve been to where both headlines dropped out due to professional commitments. Sumer Glau and Alice Krige suddenly morphed into Ron Glass and Suzie Plakson (plus Harve Bennett and Richard Hatch). I hadn’t met Ron or Richard before and I enjoyed having the chance to chat with them here and there during the show.My panels were on the lightly attended side and I think that had more to do with the depth of programming than the actual size of the con. There was a ton of stuff all weekend long. My solo hour was the best attended but that had more to do with the movie trailers that I was showing than my sparkling personality. The Star Trek eBook panel with Keith, Terri and Howard Weinstein was fun as we told stories. On Sunday, Howie and I did our usual hour together, which went fine, and then we joined Keith, Terri, Peter David, and Mark Okrand for an Ask the Author session where we told more stories. I have to tell it, it’s so cool sitting there with Mark as he calmly says, “When I created the Klingon language….”The Masquerade was small and as a result a bit disappointing compared with previous years. There were some great pieces, though, some funny presentations and our winners were truly deserving.The trip home was faster thanks to the holiday weekend and we actually walked in the door about 8 p.m. last night. All in all, a fine time with good friends.