As you already know, I was invited by my publisher, Permuted Press, to attend ZomBCon in Seattle, Washington this past weekend. As Julius Caesar said in 47 B.C., Veni, Vidi, Vici.
I tend to think I had a little better time than old Julius did.
What happened? Well, let me tell you in a rather roundabout way.
Friday morning I arrived in Seattle and hooked up with my publisher, woke his ass up would be a more appropriate way of putting it. Shortly after checking into the hotel we moved the books from my vehicle to what we assumed would be our table. While riding up in the elevator, I realized the gentleman standing in the corner was none other than JARLATH CONROY, McDermott from Day of the Dead 1985. After politely introducing myself and shaking his hand, we got the boxes situated and moved on from there. While waiting to speak to someone, I recognized another person, and again politely introduced myself to JUDITH O’DEA, Barbara from Night of the Living Dead, 1968.
Heading down the elevator, I again ran into someone else I recognized, my dear friend ROBERT ELROD, a wonderful artist and all around hell of a guy. We eventually got the tables all straightened out as the Permuted Press authors started to trickle in…people such as PETER CLINES, BOWIE IBARRA, JASON HORNSBY, CRAIG DILOUIE, DL SNELL, the lovely and amazingly talented ELOISE KNAPP (seriously, the girl reeks of talent, be prepared to follow her pending meteoric rise) and TIM LONG. As we set up, I realized that I would be sitting next to JUDITH O’DEA for the entire weekend. My inner fanboy was clawing his way out of my chest….but only long enough for me to break the ice further with her and talked to her. Little did I know, I would spend the next three days being able to talk to her about anything that happened to come to mind. She was incredibly warm, gracious, inviting and friendly, something we discussed at length. I eventually gave her a copy of my book and she in turn gave me a signed photo. When she asked me why I chose the picture I did (a full color of her sitting in a makeup chair), instead of one of the more iconic scenes, I could not lie to her and told her because she looked beautiful in it. Yeah, sue me, I’m a flirt and she is an amazing lady.
I also met TOM SAVINI in the hotel lobby. Now, to be fair, I have heard horror stories about SAVINI. I don’t know if it’s just my approach, but he was very friendly with me, and responded very graciously to what I had to say.
Anyway, long story short, the rest of the day was spent talking to the wonderful attendees of the show, the hard working Volunteer Horde, my fellow authors that made me feel as if I were sitting at a table with a group of family or friends instead of the relative strangers we all were, and the multitude of celebrities passing by our table.
I took an opportunity that day to talk to JOHN AMPLAS from Day of the Dead, Martin, Knightriders, etc, MICHAEL GORNICK from Dawn of the Dead, DAVID EMGE, Flyboy in Dawn of the Dead 1978, and the even more beautiful now than she was 26 years ago, LORI CARDILLE, Sarah from Day of the Dead 1985. I actually spent a lot of time talking to her and based on her interest, I gave her a copy of my book. She offered me a signed photo and wrote a beautiful note to me. Then she reached under her table and pulled out a small book, signed it, and gave it to me. It was a tale of her survival from years of abuse as a child. I did not realize until the next morning what it was when I read it. (Saturday I went back to her table and talked to her about being a survivor myself, as she hugged me she told me I was her brother and that she loved me. Yeah, I know, WAY personal, but WAY cool to me.)
SID HAIG, Captain Spaulding from House of 1000 Corpses stopped by our table and said, “You guys are a bunch of writers? I can’t even write my own fucking name!”
That evening as she waited for me to come pick her up, my wife waited outside the front of the hotel with our dog and was approached by JENNY SPAIN, Dead Girl from DeadGirl. Since I was kind of directly responsible for Jenny having received an invitation to ZomBCon, she spent some time talking to Heather before inviting her up for a glass of champagne with her and Sean Patrick Flannery. Heather said no, she was waiting for me.
Now, when Heather relayed this to me in the car, I told her, “What the hell is wrong with you?! Go! You can have dinner with me at any time!!”
I do believe that the next time this opportunity arises, I will get a text from Heather telling me to F-Off! I am having a drink with ……. And she is welcome to do so!
Saturday was even more of the same from Friday afternoon. Celebrities, fans, attendees, writers to now include IAIAN MCKINNON (ever met a Scot in a kilt, dread locks, and an amazingly outgoing personality and smile to match? NO? You should!), volunteers, great book sales, camraderie of all sorts, etc, etc, etc. SID HAIG stopped by the table several times throughout the day, typically yelling at us, “You’re writers, why aren’t you writing?!” At the end of the day he returned one more time and said, “Fuck it!” and started acting like he was writing. We asked him what he was doing and he said, “What you should be doing, writing!” We said, “Bullshit, that’s acting!” I laid back in my chair and told him, “This is is writing Sid!” He looked over at me, grinned and said, “Bullshit, this is writing”, and started acting like he was typing on a computer. All told, SID HAIG is a hell of a guy.
BILL MOSELY, Otis from The Devils Rejects walked by and I said hello to him, and told him Otis was the man! He stopped and said, “Just remember one thing, WE ARE FUCKING DEAD!!!” I personally know better than asking when a sequel to The Devils Rejects is coming. =)
JENNY SPAIN stopped by my table quickly, I got to say hello and get my picture taken with her. If you ever see the picture, I am the ugly guy standing next to the incredibly beautiful brunette. I stupidly forgot to get down to her table and get a signed blu-ray of DeadGirl from her. That’s okay, one is on the way.
As I sat there on Saturday afternoon, having the best birthday I have had in years, I hear a voice to my left, calling out to me. I turn to find JUDITH O’DEA sitting there smiling at me just before she broke out and sang Happy Birthday to me. I kid you not. Do you even have to ask if this made my day? My year?
That evening I broke away from the pack and had dinner with my wife, ROBERT ELROD and LYLE PEREZ. Thanks for dinner guys!
Later that night, all of the Permuted authors, and additional friends including the lovely ADRIAN and JONATHAN MABERRY joined us as BOWIE IBARRA hunted down enough glasses to share a toast from a 40oz bottle of Rogue Dead Guy Ale. Again, thank you BOWIE, I can’t wait for the next toast.
Sunday morning it was back to the con for more celebrities, more fans, attendees, book sales, etc. I sent out a Tweet early that morning and said that the first person that mentions my tweet gets a free copy of both of my books. Not only did the lovely TONYA grab my books, but she also bought a copy of each book available from the remaining authors at the table. Sweet!
I chose to get an autographed photo from JARLATH CONROY and ANTONE DILEO that morning, and both men were absolutely friendly and thanking me for helping make the weekend so great. As I waited for my photo with ANTONE, we talked and guess what he told me as he hugged me, thanking me for the photo, he too is a survivor. We stood there talking for several minutes before he hugged me again, and as he rubbed my head, he too told me he loved me and called me a brother. These guys are KILLING ME!
Finally it was time for the Permuted Panel at 1pm. I sold out of my books, headed to my first con panel, and had just too much fun for the next hour. JONATHAN MABERRY said afterwards that he considered it one of the best panels he has attended. Thank you my friend!
It was time to leave so I said my goodbyes to my fellow writers and friends and headed to the car. As I approached the parking garage, JUDITH O’DEA was walking towards me, we wished each other a fond farewell as she clutched my hand and said, “Thank you so much Babe, I look forward to seeing you again.” With one last injection of awesomeness, we climbed into our vehicle and headed south towards home, feeling maybe a little like we were driving away from “home” as we went.
So, that was a good part of the weekend. I am sure I left someone out, but there was something awesome happening almost every minute of every day and that would make it impossible to think of everyone and everything. Just know this, I thank you all, and hanging out with thousands of friends on my birthday made what is usually a dark and drunken day, a whole lot better.
Thank you all for such an amazing experience, see you at the next one!
Tony Faville
