Geek Syndicate
Day 5
The last day and also, the shortest one. My travel back to Los Angeles airport means a four hour trip, which in turn means I only have an hour’s attendance at the Con. It’s saddening, but there’s also a sense of my body trying to punch itself in victory – it’s survived a week of little sleep, twelve to eighteen hour days and all the ups and downs that came with them. My voice is virtually broken to the point where many customers can’t understand me and my whole body aches. The logistics of travel also throw up another issue – getting Yomi’s trailer, Gladys, into the town centre, finding somewhere to park her and then lugging all my clothes to the Convention Centre to my suitcase (which was acting as storage for our gear at the show). It results in a five AM start, a seven AM drive into town and a frantic set up and tear down before customers are let in by nine AM. There’s a nervous energy surrounding both Yomi and I. Maybe it’s fatigue. Maybe it’s the prospect of travel – for me it’s a mild, but easy journey. For Yomi it means getting out of a busy San Diego with Gladys and then making a twelve hour drive across mountainous regions to drop her back off at Reno. Maybe it’s that we’re sad to see this all go after nearly ten months of set-up, culminating in a manic week of work. After all the intensity, this is where it comes to end. All the costumes, meet-ups, mad dashes for wi-fi, threats of dancing/singing, panels, horse heads and randomness. It’s punishing, painful, rewarding, fun and downright mental. And tearing down my part of the table (leaving Yomi with a handful of Magic of Myths copies, just in case the discount hunters come-a-sniffing) seems far more final than it should. Then we get wind of someone giving out forms to apply for next year’s Con. And we both smile. Yomi runs off to grab one and returns. The question everyone asks as I leave the show floor, towing a large suitcase, backpack and San Diego Comic-Con carrier bag? “Will you be back next year?” The grin on our faces should tell you the answer.
Corey Brotherson
Corey Brotherson is a London based writer and producer for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, who’s been creating content for the games industry on a whole since 2000. As well as Magic of Myths, he’s co-created/written several shorts for Daniel Lundie’s Tales from the Plex anthology (Bad Luck Inc., L33tspeak, A Twilight’s Promise) as well as stories for several other anthologies, including Bayou Arcana Volume One: Songs of Loss and Redemption (Irons in the Fire) and Unseen Shadows: Tales of the Forgotten (Stolen and Fight or Flight). He is also the adapting graphic novel writer of transmedia property, Clockwork Watch. Don’t forget to check out both Magic of Myths and Clockwork Watch for some excellent steampunk goodness.
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