DreamCon 2004 Cosplay - Page 6

Special Note: My trusty Nikon Coolpix 700, after serving me without fail these last five years even after being smashed to the ground as I ran down a street in Japan, has finally met its end. I dropped it on the carpet in Dreamcon on Friday and the lens alignment was obviously affected. Unfortunately, I did not realize this until the con was over. That being the case, the pictures for Dreamcon Saturday are somewhat smeared. But since they are all I have, I will post them in any case to at least document our trip. On the bright side, my wife and kids bought me a Fuji FinePix S7000 for a Father's Day/birthday gift. I can hardly wait to try it out at the next con.

Thanks to the lack of an event schedule, I missed the morning autograph session for two of my favorite sci-fi authors, but at least I was able to attend the sci-fi panel that was held Saturday afternoon. The panel was hosted by Mike Conrad, a freelance artist/writer pictured to the upper left. Attending the panel was Tony Amendola (upper right), an actor of many science fiction and fantasy roles.

In addition were three of my favorite writers, Larry Niven (middle left), Jerry Pournelle (middle right) and Peter David (lower right). Finally, to finish off the panel was Gary Graham, an actor from many classic TV series and sci-fi roles. I have to say that Mr. Graham was really funny and added some humor to what was a pretty serious discussion.

I've read all of Larry Niven's works and many of Jerry Pournelle's. It was such a delight to finally meet them in person and hear their opinions and comments on writing science fiction stories. Unfortunately, Mr. Niven had to leave immediately after the panel, so I did not have a chance to get him to sign my book.