Welcome to Nerdvana!

 

Doctor Who, Star Trek, MST3K, Babylon 5...So many fandoms, so little time!

It's like...Nerdvana.

A place where only a science fiction/fantasy fan would dare to tread...A room full of photos and original artworks and figurines and statuettes and autographed books, cards, pictures and even comic books. Yes, it's my new office. And I love it.

It's Cyberman vs. Dalek in a War of the Worlds!

I am a card-carrying nerd. I even have the fan club card to prove it! I actually belonged to the original Findlay College Sci-Fi Club. I'm not sure if the club is still in existence, but the school is now called "University of..." and has a lot more students, so perhaps they have an anime club at the very least? It would be nice to find out if they're any Whovians attending currently.

And I have proof of being a nerd since...forever! Notice my 8th grade card. All A's and nice comments in English and Social Studies. Okay, I got a B in P.E. Yeah, I showed up to gym class, but I was probably bored out of my gourd most of the time and sat in the corner reading a book--a classic sci-fi novel probably. (I was big into H.G. Wells and Robert Heinlein about that time.) That's a nerd for you!

Some of my original cross-stitch work. Do you remember Avon's quote from  
Blake's 7?

It's been fun traveling down Memory Lane while we unpack and move into our new digs. In the bottom of long-ago packed boxes I've found my autographed photos of Colin Baker (The Sixth Doctor), Anthony Ainley (The Master) and George Takei (Sulu). My hubby and I have had a great time trying to find places to show off our favorite SF artists' creations, too. We have three Tempest at Hazard prints from Paul Daly hanging in the office and two Jon Kaufman's hanging in the living room. Nerdvana just keeps growing and going... and even in the more "mundane" rooms of our home there's usually a nod or two to our passion for SF fandom. Because once a nerd--always a nerd!

A "Pair-of-Docs" by Jon Sies and "Little Horsie Who #6" by Michelle Rondeau. Some original art I haven't been able to hang on the wall for years. Now I have a whole room (and more) to hang all my favorite SF inspired artworks!

Where and how do you display your fan memorabilia? Do you have your own Nerdvana? Tell us all about it in the comments section so we can drool over your SF/fantasy collections! C'mon! You know you wanna... you have to... because you're a NERD, baby, and proud of it!

See you Archon

We're off to Archon tomorrow morning. My first panel is at the noon hour, so I hope there will be some folks able to get off work early enough to keep us on the panel company! But seriously, I'm looking forward to seeing the many folks that I only get to see in person once a year. So, please come by and shake my hand and chat when you spot me in the halls. If I'm running in the halls--well, I'm probably late for a panel or I drank too much bottled water, so you might want to wait and shake my hand later. ;)

I will have promo bookmarks and brochures to pass out. Dig my cover design (still in the preliminary stages) above for the upcoming sequel to my romantic-comedy novel Loving Who, the aptly named Leaving Who. My handsome and talented artist/author hubby, AJ Matthews, created it.

To quote the great Matt Smith: "Fezes are cool." And so are my readers. See you soon!

Archon Rocks!

Archon Rocks!

I’m back from the exhausting (yet exhilarating) weekend that is the annual Archon SF convention… Yet another fix of super sci-fi fandom successfully obtained.

I spoke on a few panels, handsome hubby sold quite a few Doctor Who inspired artworks, we passed out some promo items and took a lot of photos of some very interesting characters. You may even glimpse one or two in an upcoming Brandi Whyne adventure. You never know where inspiration may hit!

The best thing about Archon are the people (both in and out of costume). Many of the guests graciously give you freebies, too—and anime guest of honor Sonny Strait was one of these wonderful givers. Sonny is an anime actor, writer and director who does the voice of Krillin on Dragonball Z as well as a Manga artist and musician. Quite the Renaissance man! He gave out free CD’s of rock music recorded by his band Chin's Mojo. Imagine my delight at the title of one song, Makin’ Love to Celine. (Okay, I believe the song is about making out while Celine Dion music blares in the background, but hey! I like my own interpretation of the title better. Great tune, by the way.)

Check out Chin's Mojo at their web site or Facebook and see if you don’t agree that anime artists don’t make great rockers. And to all my friends and family at Archon—rock on!

Smiling Assassin Presents...

The hubby and I finally did it!

Check out our new video showcasing some of our most original and functional designs for the most discriminating SF/Fantasy/Steampunk enthusiast:


Smiling Assassin Presents...




Enjoy! (And don't forget to contact us early with your holiday orders.) ;)

http://www.smilingassassin.com

"Original and Functional art for gamers and SF fans"