Jay attended ConFusion, a Science Fiction & Fantasy convention in Detroit, Michigan. While he was there he talked to some of our favorite SFF authors about why they attend conventions like ConFusion, and how professional conventions have helped them through their careers.

Should authors go to conventions and what should they expect from them when they do? How should they plan for a convention? How have SFF conventions changed over time, and how does an author's experience of conventions change throughout their career? What are the best strategies to get the most out of the conventions, and how can authors give back to the community while they are there?

With special thanks to all our guests, who you can (and definitely should!) follow wherever you can:

Kameron Hurley - @KameronHurley
Elsa Sjunneson - @snarkbat
John Wiswell - @Wiswell

Mike Underwood - @MikeRUnderwood
Adam Rakunas - @rakdaddy
Patrick Tomlinson - @stealthygeek

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CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE

Building the Oracle posts on the 1st and 15th of every month. It is hosted by Jay Swanson and Richard Bilkey. You can tweet at us on @jayonaboat and @rich_bilkey, and follow Jay on YouTube.

This episode was produced by Zach Egan.

Our theme music is "Glory" and our ad music is "Light," both by David Cutter.

We record everything on a Rode Procaster and mix in Adobe Audition and/or Audacity depending on how out of our workflow we've fallen.

The show's art is from Jay's book Into the Nanten, illustrated by Nimit Malavia. 

Gustave the dog sleepily protects us every week as we record.