Book Club Weirdness

Last night I was invited to take part in the local Gaylaxicon reading series, as they had all read (or at least been assigned to read) Resurrection Code. I will be the first to admit I find these kinds of visits especially... awkward.

I had a great time, don't get me wrong. (There were cookies! Pop! A fellow Hogwarts scarf wearing fan!) But, I mean, in my mind, the point of a book club is so that you can have rousing discussions about all the things you loved and HATED about the book you just read. It's a lot more difficult to really get going --especially about all the flaws -- when the person who wrote it is sitting right there... at least, in Minnesota, it is. I'm usually the first person to admit that there are a lot of things that people might not like about my work, but no one wants to bring that stuff up. Conflict bad! (Not for me, of course. Conflict = interesting).

In the future, I should come more prepared. Have a quiz ready to go. Or, trivia (with prizes!) Or, maybe just a few, pointed, serious questions about some of the meatier issues, like, "How badly did I represent the transgender character? Discuss!"

Thus, the conversation didn't stick on Resurrection Code for very long. We ended up talking about TV shows, sharks, and other people's books. As I said, I had a great time, but I left wondering if, you know, I should have been more willing to talk about my own work. Especially since I resisted reading from it too.

Though, as you know, I am one of the guests of honor at Gaylaxicon this year (along with Wendy Pini... I wonder, should I bring along my fan art? I have a ton of ElfQuest fan art from my youth in the basement.) Anyway, Don K. asked me if I would be willing to write something short for their program book/chapbook. I said yes, of course, and I had been thinking of giving them a re-print of something, but now am thinking I should write something NEW, a short story in the AngeLINK universe. What do y'all think?

I need to come up with a plot, though. A gay plot. The plot must be very gay.

Any suggestions?