MystiCon 2014 recap and photos + giveaway

It was another year of fun and nerd-ery at the MystiCon

SciFi/Horror/Fantasy Convention in Roanoke, VA. Special shout out to Barbara DeBary-Kesner and Carl Kesner. I see them at all the conventions in my area promoting MystiCon and then running all over the place at MystiCon making sure things are running smoothly.

it isn't a con till someone sets off a fire alarm

About MystiCon:

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The original MystiCon, which took place over July 4th weekend in 1980 was considered a big party by most, but has recently been revived to take place in our favorite Roanoke, VA location, the Tanglewood Holiday Inn. The location and time of year that MystiCon takes place is one that fans, family and friends alike have come to rely on for an awesome weekend of SciFi, Fantasy and Pop Culture.

This convention was resurrected in 2010 by a collection of cool zany and passionatepeople that wanted to keep the family-friendly traditions of open gaming, enjoyment of different literature, arts, imaginations and camaraderie any Con-goer will surely enjoy!

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be sure to click to see all the pics and people!

MystiCon 2013

 Last year I attended MystiCon 2012 (recap here) and was thrilled when they ask me to attend MystiCon 2013 as a guest blogger! Bloggers and Reviewers are an important part of online promoting for authors and publishers and we are starting to get recognized as such. 

See the mountain?

MystiCon is a three day affair in the beautiful mountain town of Roanoke, VA and hosted at the Tanglewood Holiday Inn. It is a small con in size, but big in heart. A large percentage of people who attend dress up and this year Dr. Who was the theme! This might have something to do with the fact that Peter Davison who played the 5th Doctor from 1981-84 was a guest. You couldn't move without bumping into a Doctor, Dalek, Tardis or a Weeping angel.

It was so packed with convention lovers, they had to stop selling badges by lunch on Saturday because of the fire code rules. (I think that number was 1300.)

You can go here to see a list of all the guests like Orson Scott Card, Larry Elmore, and Peter Davison.
Here is the program

I Smell Sheep had a table set up from 9:00am-10:00am. I made this board to tell people about what we do and the blogging world in general. If you sent me swag I had it on the table for people to take! :)

Next, I taught a basic self-defense workshop for women. We had about 8 show up. It was the first time I taught this workshop by myself. I think all the ladies learned something and definitely had a good time beating up on the pads.

Afterwards I had a few hours to wander around and check out the vendors, buy some stuff for my kids, check out the Steampunk Dalek and the cool costumes. (pictures above)

At 1:00 I was on my first ever panel: 
Blog Much? 
James Fulbright (M) (blogger, convention expert), Brandon Blackmoor (gamer), David Halperin (author), John Hartness (author), Sharon Stogner, Steven H.Wilson (podcaster)
It was so much fun. We had quite a diverse group of panelists. I was the only "entertainment" blogger and only woman, the rest had personal blogs. We talked about how to make your blog/website successful and some nuts and bolts about websites plus answered a few questions from the crowd. We had a good number of people considering Orson Scott Card was doing a talk at the same time.

My next panel wasn't until 5:00 so I had the best turkey club croissant sandwich of my life at the hotel restaurant! Then off to my next panel.

Publishing on the Download
Stephen Zimmer (M), Richard Cook (author), John Hartness (M), Clare Sieffert (artist), Sharon Stogner, Steven H.Wilson, Scott Nicholson (author)
This was for people interested in e-publishing. I am not an author but I do help promote and that was one of the topics covered. Unfortunately, Stephen Zimmer got sick and couldn't make it. Fortunately, author Scott Nicholson showed up and stepped in to fill Stephen's spot. Now there is a man who knows about e-publishing. I was a little out of my league with these people but still managed to provide some valuable input. The ever funny author John Hartness moderated the panel.

John Hartness was wearing kick ass boots!

I am so glad MystiCon asked me to be a guest and I hope to do it again next year (hint,hint,hint) I was also excited to meet Scott Nicholson face to face for the first time as well as his wife. He gave me two signed books: October Girls (YA) and Dirt (graphic novel) that I will be giving away at a later date. I was so starstruck I forgot to get a picture with him!

The best thing about conventions is you can enjoy them no matter what your age!

Margerat Fowler from New Bern, NC and baby Grogan from Radford, VA

MystiCon 2012 + Give Away

By: Sharon Stogner
Co-Founder & Media Relations


I had the pleasure of spending a day at the second annual MystiCon - a family friendly convention by the fans for the fans of Sci-fi, horror and fantasy in the beautiful mountains of Roanoke, VA. I got to meet New York Times best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon, actor Richard Hatch, author Stephen Zimmer of Seventh Star Press and authors Sapphire Phelan (AKA Pamela Kinney) and Alethea Kontis along with many other artists, writers and publishers. And let's not forgot all the fans dressed up and ready for action! The icing on the cake...there was a real working Delek!
I have lots of pictures and links to some of the awesome people I met. Baaart had a good time too. He will have his own post later on to tell you about who he met...

Meeting author Sherrilyn Kenyon was a highlight. The mastermind behind the award winning Dark-Hunter and Lords of Avalon series plus graphic novels Sword of Darkness and Knight of Darkness. Sherrilyn was very popular and the long line only enforced her large follwoing, but once you got your turn she spent as much time with the fans as you wanted. She was extremely personable and quiet funny. It was worth the wait. And she also happened to love our mascot Baaart.

I was excited to meet author Stephen Zimmer of Seventh Star Press who has worked with I Smell Sheep to promote the small press. His enthusiasm for SSP and all its authors is infectious. SSP uses the talents of artists Matthew Perry and Bonnie Wasson to illustrate their books. Stephen graciously gave me many sets of glossy post cards featuring the art from some of the books. They are gorgeous! And I am sure the Cheerwine I brought him had nothing to do with him handing over all that swag <G>. I will be giving away a set of these at the end.

Is this Pamela or Sapphire and what is she doing to Baaart!?

Pamela Kinney (AKA Sapphire Phelan) As Pamela she has written two non-fiction books about ghost stories in Virginia called Haunted Richmond, Virginia and Haunted Virginia: Legends, Myths and True Tales from Schiffer Books . As her alter-ego Sapphire, she writes in the romance genre about aliens, werewolves, vampires, fairies, including other supernatural and otherworldly heroes & heroines. I have a signed CD copy of her romance novel To Teach an Ancient God to give away.

I also talked with author Alethia Kontis. Her highly anticipated debut Young Adult fairy tale Enchanted hits shelfs this May. What a lovely person and she wears a tiara, pretty much a win in my book <G>. She has also published some children's picture books and The Dark-Hunter Companion with Sherrilyn Kenyon. You can find her: website-FB-twitter

I briefly chatted with actor Richard Hatch who acted on Battlestar Galactica, Murder, She Wrote, T.J. Hooker, Dynasty and MacGyver just to name a few. I was Team Apollo back in the day.

There were a few independent film makers like
The Adrenalin Group and Mad Ones Films

I want to give shout outs to some of the people I met:

Black Raven Paranormal

a paranormal investigation team in Virginia. They do free and professional investigations. They are now offering Haunted Retreats where you can be a guest investigator!

Intervention 2012 (Sept 21-23)
This “internet convention” is meant to Intervene and Inspire the whole family to embrace Technology, Digital Media, and the potential of the Internet in order to make a better world.


Beck Kramer

A wonderful sketch artist.

I met my first Delek. It was quite noisy.

And last but not least, there was one zombie, who came with me. My teenage daughter Ren making her second appearance as

The Con Prom Zombie.

Baaart will be posting his pictures very soon.

In the meantime I have a few things to give away:

*set of 40 amazing Seventh Star Press artwork cards

*CD of Sapphire Phelan's To Teach an Ancient God

*signed card + button from Sherrilyn Kenyon

*small book of Beck Kramer sketches

*various swag

*moon pie and Kool-Aid

1. Leave a way to contact you

2. Tell me what you would like to dress up as for a Con...

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