Bryan R
04-01-2008, 11:30 AM
Well Ad Astra in Toronto was this past weekend (March 28-30, 2008), it is the SciFi literary convention held in toronto annually!
My wife Jackie and I attended from the Friday Afternoon until the Sunday morning and I can tell you we had a great time!
This convention was well run, it seemed smooth to the attendees (so if there were any hiccups the staff handled them well!).
They had a few Guest Authors - Christopher Golden (my wife's favourite) he writes a lot of Buffy/Angel books, Kevin J. Anderson (one of my faves) who has writen Star Wars Novels and his wife Rebecca Moesta who also writes Buffy Books. We got our books autographed (at no charge) and my wife got her picture with Christopher Golden.
We attended some real fun panels (PJ Party friday night), a Collecting Panel Saturday am and my wife attended a costuming panel on make-up and also a Dancing Panel that she thoroughly enjoys going to. The collecting panel had Liana K. as moderator (she of Ed The Sock fame) - she did look sexy (even at 11:00am after partying Friday night!).
The masquerade ran perfectly on time (started at 9:02pm with a scheduled 9:00pm starttime) and had about 20-22 entries - there were some awesome costumes and skits and the masquerade ran for about 45-50 minutes.
The Saturday night dance was awesome (the DJ - Andrew) kept the dance floor full - can't ask for more than that from the DJ.
Only 2 "small" negatives for us were 1) Having to use valet parking (due to construction on the premises), meant you did not have easy access to your car and had to "tip" the valet guy everytime you needed your car. 2) The hotel restaurant was a little "pricey" - $20 for a buffett breakfast is a little steep. BUT having said that it is convenient and the food was ok.
This is definitely a "social con" and we had a blast hanging out with some amazing people: Chani, Rosemary, Sara, Daryl, Hico, Tessa, Brian, Gord Rose, Ian, Sharon (Rockgoddes), Andrew, Penny and many more!!
They have already announced their Guest of Honour next year: TIMOTHY ZAHN (famous for his Star Wars novels) and one of my all-time faves too! We will be there again at Ad Astra in 2009!
If you want to have a real fun weekend with Panels, Tastings, Masquerade, Dance, Author Guests, Dealer's Room and much much more Come to Ad Astra 2009 (March in Toronto)!!
My wife Jackie and I attended from the Friday Afternoon until the Sunday morning and I can tell you we had a great time!
This convention was well run, it seemed smooth to the attendees (so if there were any hiccups the staff handled them well!).
They had a few Guest Authors - Christopher Golden (my wife's favourite) he writes a lot of Buffy/Angel books, Kevin J. Anderson (one of my faves) who has writen Star Wars Novels and his wife Rebecca Moesta who also writes Buffy Books. We got our books autographed (at no charge) and my wife got her picture with Christopher Golden.
We attended some real fun panels (PJ Party friday night), a Collecting Panel Saturday am and my wife attended a costuming panel on make-up and also a Dancing Panel that she thoroughly enjoys going to. The collecting panel had Liana K. as moderator (she of Ed The Sock fame) - she did look sexy (even at 11:00am after partying Friday night!).
The masquerade ran perfectly on time (started at 9:02pm with a scheduled 9:00pm starttime) and had about 20-22 entries - there were some awesome costumes and skits and the masquerade ran for about 45-50 minutes.
The Saturday night dance was awesome (the DJ - Andrew) kept the dance floor full - can't ask for more than that from the DJ.
Only 2 "small" negatives for us were 1) Having to use valet parking (due to construction on the premises), meant you did not have easy access to your car and had to "tip" the valet guy everytime you needed your car. 2) The hotel restaurant was a little "pricey" - $20 for a buffett breakfast is a little steep. BUT having said that it is convenient and the food was ok.
This is definitely a "social con" and we had a blast hanging out with some amazing people: Chani, Rosemary, Sara, Daryl, Hico, Tessa, Brian, Gord Rose, Ian, Sharon (Rockgoddes), Andrew, Penny and many more!!
They have already announced their Guest of Honour next year: TIMOTHY ZAHN (famous for his Star Wars novels) and one of my all-time faves too! We will be there again at Ad Astra in 2009!
If you want to have a real fun weekend with Panels, Tastings, Masquerade, Dance, Author Guests, Dealer's Room and much much more Come to Ad Astra 2009 (March in Toronto)!!