by Rhed Morgan | Jan 9, 2025 | Uncategorized
Calling all cosplay groups who love ConSuite!
Do you have an amazing group costume idea you just don’t know how to show off? Do you want the con to come to you and marvel at your creativity and skill? Do you want to give back to our wonderful community?
Keep reading, because you can do all three at once!
Remember the Asha’maids, the incredible sensation from 2023?? We want to expand that fun experience in ConSuite for 2025 and provide our awesome cosplayers a new way to share their creations.
The ConSuite team is seeking groups of themed cosplayers to volunteer for a meal service during this year’s event. If this sounds like a good fit for you, please review the requirements below:
-
- Number of participants: Groups of 4-7 individuals wearing coordinating costumes
- Costume Requirements:
- No dangly bits or sleeves that could dip into food
- Must wear provided food service gloves (no nails or jewelry that would pierce/prevent gloves)
- Must tie long hair back
- Costume must not restrict ability to lift or serve food or impede maneuverability in serving area (eg, no hoop skirts)
We look forward to seeing your group in April!
by Rhed Morgan | Oct 25, 2024 | Uncategorized
Applications to enter the JordanCon 2025 Art Show have opened! The Art Show gives artists of all types a chance to showcase their work—and sell it! Each piece (unless it’s not for sale) is displayed with a slip of paper that has a “Quick Buy” price and a space for bidding, silent auction–style.
I spoke with Tina Pierce, Art Show Director, for more info about what being an artist in the Art Show is all about.
What kind of art is in the Art Show? Well…every kind: paintings, prints, jewelry, carvings, beads, glass, “all to dazzle, delight, and beautify your life,” Tina said. “We want to have as much variety as we can.” Applicants can look at previous years’ artists and consider how their own artwork might stand out.
Once they receive applications (open through March 31, 2025), Tina and her team will view all submissions and determine who will be in the Art Show based on the quality, the genre, and how the art “fits” with others already selected. “We can’t allow sale of copyrighted materials without the legal permissions,” Tina said, “but other than that—bring it on!”
JordanCon charges a modest fee for Art Show display space, and prices range from $25 to $55. The fees cover your membership to JordanCon as well as the display space.
If you have a collection of fan art and want to display that, you’re also welcome! Please note that no AI art will be allowed in the Art Show.
Interested in showing your art? Review the Art Show Rules and fill out this application form. Make sure you include a link to any kind of gallery or someplace where the Art Show staff can see your art. “Just make sure it’s public and filled with your art,” Tina said, “not Facebook posts of your kitty (yeah, that happened once).” The more art you have in your gallery, the better!
Whether or not you’re an artist, you should visit the Art Show. Everyone, no matter their budget, will find something for them. The People’s Choice Awards allow JordanCon attendees to vote for their favorite pieces; voting is a fantastic way to show artists some love. Plus: voters get an exclusive Art Show badge ribbon.
by Rhed Morgan | Oct 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
This fall has seen two powerful hurricanes hit the United States and affect communities 300 miles inland in the mountains, as well as much of the state of Florida.
Fred Rogers was told as a child, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
Now is our chance to be the helpers, JordanCon fam. Obviously not all of us can physically go to Asheville, NC, or other affected areas and help that way; but we can provide $5, $50, or $500 toward relief efforts.
Hurricane Helene
On September 27, 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall and proceeded to devastate and destroy a wide swath across the southeastern United States. Western North Carolina and South Carolina were particularly hard hit, though the damage went as far east as Savannah, Georgia, and down to the southernmost tip of Florida. The situation is truly catastrophic, as we in safer places have watched the waters rise to 1000-year heights and whole villages and towns washed away or decimated.
Helene Relief Efforts
One way to help is to prepurchase Charlotte-based Falstaff Books’s Appalachian Strong, an anthology with a line up of amazing authors including Jonathan Maberry, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Matt Denniman, and Nicole Given Kurtz, all of whom will contribute a story to the anthology. The book is $50 in Falstaff’s shop, and delivery will be in December 2024.
I had the opportunity to speak with John Hartness, Publisher at Falstaff. He was inspired to create this fundraising anthology because his niece, a business owner in Asheville, NC, and her family were rescued from the roof of their home by kayak. “That kind of devastation hits hard,” said Hartness, “as did the horror of spending hours not knowing if they were safe, or alive.” This anthology, he continued, “was my best way of helping my family and their neighbors recover.”
Hartness’s current plan is to divide the proceeds between his niece’s family and a pair of Asheville bookstores, Malaprops and Sassafras on Sutton. “Bookstores seem like the logical place to give money raised from an anthology,” he said. “If I hear from those businesses that there are areas of greater need, I will pivot my efforts there. I plan to take guidance from people on the ground, who actually know where the money will do the most good.”
The weekend Helene hit, Hartness was at a conference in Washington, D.C. “I sat down Saturday morning in my hotel room and thought of the biggest names that I had email addresses for, and I sent them an ask. I got responses to my phone before I’d even made it down the elevator to my booth.”
Hartness concluded, “We all want to help people in times of tragedy, so I gave people a chance to lend a hand and stave off the feelings of helplessness a lot of us were experiencing…I couldn’t be more thankful for my friends in this time of need.”
Horror podcast Old Gods of Appalachia’s Facebook page is a great source for local ways to support. Some of the cast members, including Steve Shell (Narrator) and DJ Rogers (Tobias Underwood and Young Doc Underwood), are offering up Cameo recordings, providing personalized messages for birthdays, anniversaries, or, in poet Rogers’s case, reading your favorite poem. All Cameo proceeds will be donated to relief funds.
Hurricane Milton
Just two weeks after Hurricane Helene, a second unprecedented hurricane, Milton, made landfall in Florida. Though the predicted 9-12 feet storm surge didn’t directly hit Tampa, dozens of tornadoes spun off the hurricane proper and wreaked havoc in their paths. Millions of people were—and still are—without power across the state.
General Relief Efforts
Outside of the literary community at JordanCon, we have a strong maker and artist community. The Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) has a grant for $3000 to craft artists who have experienced a recent and disruptive emergency or disaster. You can see if you qualify and can apply for the grant here if you’ve been impacted by Helene, or you can donate to help provide these grants to craft artists here.
Charity Navigator has a list of organizations helping with Helene efforts, as well as those assisting with Milton aid. If you have any favorite relief efforts, please leave a comment below to share.
Now, in all cases, fam, please do your research and ensure you’re donating to a trusted source. Charity Watch is a great place to vet organizations you’re considering donating to. The ones listed above are a few I know and trust, but you may have other qualifications when it comes to donating.
by Programming | Apr 8, 2023 | Programming, Uncategorized
This year we’re doing something a bit different for Friday night at JordanCon. We know many of you love karaoke, and we do too! But this year is our 15th anniversary, and we wanted to do something special. In the Wheel of Time series our very own JordanCon founders, Jennifer & Jimmy Liang, were written into the books as innkeepers at “The Yearly Brawl.” In honor of that we are hosting a pub/tavern night on Friday. Marc Gunn is joining us again and will kick us off playing music. If you’re not yet familiar with Marc, he is a traditional Celtic musician with a science fiction and fantasy twist. You can check out his website here.
In addition to music from Marc, we’re going to open up the mic! Some of you may have a song you were practicing all year in anticipation of karaoke, some of you like to play and sing with your friends or are part of the filking community, maybe you’re a poet and want to showcase some new work. We’re making time for this too. You can sign up for an open mic slot at this link. We’ll have a keyboard on the stage if you play or you can bring your own instrument. Back up tracks will need to be provided by you! Time allowing, we’ll also have some traditional pub sing-alongs throughout the night.
What’s a pub night without games? We’ll be providing cards, dice, “coins,” and a variety of printed game rules for each table. Rumor has it, there will be some dominoes sets as well if you want to kick back and “throw some bones” with your table.
Our JordanCon family has always enjoyed spending time together and making connections. We’re hoping that our pub night this year will continue to foster those opportunities. We’re very excited to host you for this night and hope you enjoy it.
See you in a few weeks!
Welcome Home to JordanCon. <3
The JordanCon Programming team
by JordanCon Marketing | Mar 9, 2023 | Charity Auction, Uncategorized
JordanConners!
It is my pleasure to announce that the 2023 JordanCon Charity Auction is live online. As we have in years before, we’re using 32Auction.com. The direct link is here. We will be adding additional items to the Auction as we receive donation submissions.
If you were already curious and went looking at the Auction page, you might notice we already have a number of items there for you to check out. Not a lot, but we’re hoping that will change in the very near future. “But Hopper,” you ask, “if I want to donate something to the Auction to help out, how would I go about doing that?” Well, my dear friends, we have a Google Form all set up so that you can tell us all about yourself and the items you’d like for us to have. For anyone who has donated in the past, you might notice the form only allows one item per submission. We had to do that to cut down on the back-of-house processing that was required to bring items from our submissions spreadsheet to the online auction.
I know there are a number of you who have already indicated you have some amazing items you’re planning to donate. If you’re ready to submit them, I’m sure we have people out there who are ready to start dreaming about budgeting and outbidding their best friends to own them.
If you do have something you’re donating that you’d rather not have to deal with packing in your luggage, please let me know and I’ll share a shipping address so that it gets here on time.
You may have also heard the Charities Division of JordanCon has been boosted to the Officer Level and now reports directly to our amazing Chair, Jennifer Liang. This is true, and as part of that change we’ve hired a new Charity Auctions Director, Larry Daniels. I am NOT just walking away from the Charity Auction. Larry, however, will give me the time and space to work on other events too.
I can’t wait to see you all in April.
-Hopper
by Programming | Apr 19, 2022 | Uncategorized
Daes Dae’mar!
This year’s convention game incorporates two of our favorite things at JordanCon – poker like the one on w88 for pc, and The Wheel of Time. The game play is open to all members and is a fun addition to your regular convention shenanigans. You must seek out new allies and conduct delicate negotiations to obtain just the right cards to achieve a winning hand. Anyone can play, few will win, but you cannot win alone.
Make new friends, or bitter enemies, by simply trading playing cards to obtain a straight flush. Lots of possibilities, so many potential allies, only two days to find the right five cards. To the victors, a copy of The World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time!
Rules for the Game
- Each player receives a hand of five randomized red and blue playing cards and can have no more or less than five cards at any time.
- Write your name legibly on each card in some conspicuous blank space, edges, etc.
- Find other players to trade with, you might ask conspiratorially “Do you play the game?”
- You may trade one card with each new player you ally with, trading a card with your name, perhaps others, for a card with their name, and perhaps others.
- The goal is to make any straight flush of all one-color deck, either red or blue, such as Ace-2-3-4-5 clubs, 4-5-6-7-8 spades, or 10-J-Q-K-Ace hearts, etc.
- You may trade each card up to four times, with each previous player’s name on the card along with yours, with a maximum of five names on each card.
- If a card is traded four times, there should be a total of five names on the card, including your own. Now, the card is locked and cannot be traded any further.
- You do not need to trade all of your starting cards, nor must you trade each card four times. It is encouraged for collaboration, however, and improves everyone’s chances of winning as your name appears on more cards along with your network of allies.
- When you have a straight flush of all red or all blue cards, turn them in, have them marked for confirmation, and drop them in to our drawing to win a copy of the World of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time! There may be some additional secret prizes as well, you’ll have to play to find out.
- So, choose your trades carefully, negotiate, make allies, form a house, a clan, or guild of collaborators seeking just the right trades. But most of all, seek out new players of the Game and make new friends.
Our Onsite Events Coordinator will be set up near the Registration desk for supplies and questions regarding game play. Stop by and see Daniel, join the fun, and try for your chance at the prize.
