This is going to wander about a bit as I think through my fingers.

First off... We're back here rather than at GallowglasArmy.com. Going forward, that's going to be the new email zine I'm put together. This site is once again my "official" presence online for publishing, teaching, and my schedule. A few months ago, I started the Gallowglas Army site as a replacement for this one due to some server/host issues that I wasn't able to resolve. We're back here one a new host service and a new platform because I got really tired of all the growing issues that come with WordPress. It used to be really cool. Now, it's devolved into next to unusable. It got to the point were I'd have to ask my web designer to fix something that took the site down. So... while everything looks pretty much the same, it's also rather different behind the scenes and under the hood.

Please be patient while I get everything updated. I know a lot of the links are broken. Gonna take me a bit to make all new pages for all my writing.

In life, you gotta try new things. Evolve or die. No stagnation. However, sometimes, you may think something is a really, really good idea, but it turns that it wasn't the best idea, or that you didn't have all the information, or that it's just not going to be as effective as you first thought. Then you gotta course correct. Hence, me returning here after trying a switch to GallowglasArmy.com, and taking that site and turning it into a newsletter/online zine for my fans. Not entirely sure what I'm going to do with it, but it's something. And right now, I like it better than my old Substack site – which I started because email services were getting just too bloody expensive. With the Ghost platform, I get the best of a newsletter and a zine... FREE. Ghost is open source, and my web guru is amazbollz!!! I figure I'll give the new Gallowglas Army site a go for six months to a year of consistent posting before I start considering course correcting on that.

Which brings me to LosCon. It was my 3rd year. I had a good time the first two years, but I wasn't breaking even. This was going to be my deciding year to determine if it's going to be a regular part of my schedule. However, this year, I decided to shake things up. For the first time ever, the Gallowglas Army had a party room. The first night was a general gathering. The second night saw an amazing new format for Genre Underground. We had good wine, whiskey, craft root beer, soda, and snacks from Trader Joes. The new poetry format worked really well for Saturday night. I had books out for people to purchase and made a few sales each night. A few attendees turned the ice bucket into an impromptu tip/donation jar that got filled both nights. Grateful for that, as it helped take the edge off the expense of drinks and snacks. I felt good about it. Was leaning into doing a party room again next year....

BUT THEN...

After we wrapped up Genre Underground, Larry Niven came into my party. YES! THAT Larry Niven. We drank good wine together. He hung out. Then, his partner took a gander at Hallloween Jack and the Devil's Gate, and Larry frakkin Niven got it for her and asked me to sign it. I do NOT squee. Not ever! But I came pretty close to doing so in that moment. Screw the money and breaking even. That moment made it all worth it.

So... Not only will I absolutely host a party room at Los Con next year. I'm leaning toward getting one at World Con next summer. You never know who is going to show up.