Galactic Party at the Lord Nelson Hotel!

Imagine a royal palace on an alien planet in a galaxy far far away…add hundreds of bizarre and wonderfully costumed aliens from all over the universe and you have Hal-Con at the Lord Nelson Hotel.

Hal-Con at the Lord Nelson Hotel was out of this world!

Toulouse and I attended Hal-Con last weekend, where I launched my latest SF thriller Angel of Chaos and gave several workshops. Hal-Con is the prime science fiction / fantasy / comic & gaming convention in Halifax; after an over-decade hiatus, it returned this year to a sell-out crowd of enthusiastic fans. Over 1,200 fans poured into the splendid lobby of this historic hotel on Halloween Friday and formed a moving sea of elaborately costumed SF and Fantasy characters beneath its sparkling chandeliers. Aliens, characters, and robots from Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, Iron Man, and many more universes milled about, entertaining hotel guests in the elevators, hallways, lobbies and Victoria Arms restaurant pub all weekend.

Located near the historic waterfront of downtown Halifax, the Lord Nelson Hotel provided one of the coolest venues for an SF con that I have experienced (and I’ve been to many cons all over North America). This recently renovated 1928 building radiated a traditional elegance that, together with its friendly staff, embraced the joyful “other” of SF/Fantasy fandom with charming maritime hospitality. Named after England’s greatest naval hero, Horatio Nelson, it is Halifax’s most historic hotel and frequent host to royalty, politicians and celebrities from all over the world. Celebrity guests have included the Rolling Stones, Keith Urban, Anne Murray, Jerry Seinfeld, Ozzy Osbourne and Paul McCartney.

While I attended to my duties as a writer, Toulouse met up with old friends and made new ones. We met lots of cool people, including Ramona and her two sons, Sterling and Milan—both gifted writers and illustrators from Nova Scotia. We met at the Nova Scotia Writer’s Federation table, where I’d parked myself to sell my books, and ended up at the pub to discuss fascinating topics like the role of the artist and the goodness of green smoothies. Toulouse and I spoke with Walter Koenig (who writes a cool comic series these days) and Denise Crosby (they played Chekov and Tasha Yar in the original Star) Trek). Robert Maillet from Sherlock Holmes was also there. Nathan Fillion surprised attendees with a telephone appearance to defend Mal in the “Geeks versus Nerds Debate” for Han Solo versus Malcolm Reynolds. Special guests also included Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbet, P.J. Haarsma, Coner McCreery, Drakina Muse, Matthew LeDrew, Kenneth Tam, Ellen Curtis, David C. Rhind, and yours truly. You can read about Toulouse’s experience in his article, Hal-Con and the Classy Lord Nelson Hotel, on his blog, Toulouse LeTrek, the COOL Travel Cat.

The workshop I gave on Friday was on “the Hero’s Journey”, a lecture I often give for its value to writers in identifying story arc and integrating plot with theme and character. The next day, during the launch of Angel of Chaos, I spoke of the writer’s journey and invoked Joseph Campbell, who suggested that the artist is like a shaman, who keeps our myths alive—those ancient myths “designed to harmonize the mind and the body” and bring us “home”.

I described my own “hero’s journey” as a writer. Choosing to be an author is like choosing to fall in love. To “follow your bliss”. To follow your bliss is to follow your heart. And to follow your heart is to let the divine touch you and come to bliss. The artist interprets the divinity inherent in nature and in all unseen things. This is ultimately our role: to communicate myth for today: to yield to the flame of rapture and, like Prometheus, bring that flame to Earth, through story. That is true bliss. Sometimes we are painfully burned by it. This is the paradox of “bliss”, because the spirit of sacrifice lies at the core of true bliss. It’s just like falling in love.

Follow your bliss. Find where it is and don’t be afraid to follow it. Take the journey…with me…

…We have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world—Joseph Campbell