Convention Recap: Dragon Con 2026 - Panels, Panels, Panels!

So this year I had a lot of panels. A lot. And I loved it! Below I tried to keep the panelist list accurate, but it might not be 100%. Sometimes folks don't show, or get swapped out last minute. 

Title: Media Training For Authors: A Technical Panel for Authors, Guests, and APs
Panelists: John Hartness (M), J.D. Blackrose, Gina Denny, Neil Hellegers

They let this poor boy from Bama give advice to folks on how to not act a fool in public. Choices were made! Luckily JD Blackrose was sitting next to me to give actual good advice and keep me straight, and not making too many puns. 

Title: Digital Media Pitch Lab
Panelists: Stephen Adams (M), Tyra Burton, Alex P, Dennis Lee Robinson, Thomas Sanders 

My second favorite panel of the weekend! Folks pitched their ideas for new projects/endeavors, and we workshopped them and gave them tips, tricks, and ideas. I mean, the world would be a better place if everyone just let me run their lives, I'm tellin you. Also, Stephen is such a good moderator for this. And thankfully Tyra was there put a little 'act right' on me. 

Title: Done is Better than Perfect: Thawing Your Creative Freeze
Panelists: Tyra Burton (M), Stephen Adams, Kevin Cafferty, Joe Compton, TVsTravis

Done is better than perfect basically sums up my career. So this was a comfort topic for me, and I had fun with Tyra and Stephen as usual. 

Title: The Fantasy Gather
Panelists: A buncha damn folks

Take a ballroom, and fill it with dozens of authors sharing a tables and selling books. I had the honor of sharing with Ingrid Seymour (her and husband are from out Bama way as well and I love them both so much), and as I said in the Selling and Signing blog post, I sold a shit ton. You'd have thought I was selling actual meth.

Title: Not Just A Place: Setting as Character in UF
Panelists: Jennifer Morris (M), Jennifer Estep, D.B. Jackson, Tamsin Silver

One of my dream panels. Jubal County really is the second main character of my series, and I'm glad folks (Carol) have taken note. It was also fantastic to meet Jennifer Estep, even though she went to the University of Tennessee. Clearly the evil didn't rub off on her too much.  

Title: UF Lit Lounge: Meet the Authors
Panelists: Lisa Harrison (M), Jarod K Anderson, Cate Baumer, Becca Lynn Mathis, Anne Schlea

This was a fun one, just me and some fellow UF authors doing a Q&A about our careers to date. I really liked the rapid fire question section. Also, I told the story of the time I bought 'drugs' from a homeless man at Dragon Con years ago, so there's that. 

Title: Urban Fantasy Track Group Signing
Panelists: Patrica Briggs, Jennifer Estep, Sarah J. Sover, James J. Butcher, Beth Dolgner, K.A. Linde, Becca Lynn Mathis

I talk about the sales numbers on the Selling and Signing post. Like last year, the bulk of folks who came out came for Patricia as the big name, and the rest of us picked up a dozen or so each I reckon. This was another fun one, and the perfect amount of humbling I needed.

Title: Budgeting for Your Author Career
Panelists: Trisha J. Wooldridge, J.D. Blackrose, Richard Fierce, Ben Meeks, Phillip Pournelle, DL Wainright

Paneling with a bunch of my favs, especially Ben and Richard? Fuck yeah. And yall know I love talking the business side of the house. 

Title: Be a Podcast Guest Pro: How to Get Booked (and Invited Back!)
Panelists: Clint Hall(M), John G. Hartness, Darin Kennedy, Jeffrey Nix, Tyra Burton

I have done some variation of this panel several times, and there is a reason why: it's always a popular panel. The only real difference between this one and last years was the addition of Tyra, which is always the correct call. 

Title: Folk Magic
Panelists: Carol Malcolm (M), Beth Dolgner, Isabelle Hardesty, Violette L Meier, Aaron Michael Ritchey

My favorite panel of the week, talking folk magic with a bunch of folks I know and love. Beth was the only one I hadn't paneled with before (we've done signings though), and it was a great time. Everyone now thinks I'm crazy now, since I told my spell jar story. Good times!