I suddenly realized I never put my photos up from Dragon*Con a few weeks ago, so I’ve corrected that oversight.

Those pictures are just a taste of how much fun I had. If you’re an old school Doctor Who fan, then check this out:

That’s me with Sylvester McCoy, the Seventh Doctor! We chatted for a few minutes backstage before the Paul and Storm/Jonathan Coulton/Molly Lewis concert. I only got to see the first few minutes of the music because I had a panel at the same time and had to run. But Doctor McCoy (see what I did there?) was great. I was on a panel — really, a goofy quiz show that was uproarious and maybe a little naughty — with him the next night (and Doc Hammer from Venture Brothers; here’s proof) and it was awesome.

In fact, I’ll admit I felt like an A-list geek the whole con. It was amazing and gratifying and wonderful. I have been a fanboy my whole life; I went to science fiction cons when I was in high school and doted over my favorite authors. I stopped going for a long time, but then started back up again a few years ago, and now they’re magical all over again. It’s incredible to me that I not only get to meet so many people I truly admire, but that I also get to call them friends.

My thanks to Rain Glynn, Derek Colanduno, Ken Plume, and everyone else who made this con so much fun. Special thanks to Jennifer Teeter and Jason Thomas from Red Rocket Farm for giving me a rocket painting and other adorable swag. His art is terrific, and you should check out their t-shirts.

So yeah, Dragon*Con was made of win. I can’t wait to go back next year!

I received my schedule for Dragon*Con, a really big scifi/fantasy/what-have-you convention in Atlanta from September 1 – 5. If you’re going, this is where I’ll be (besides slowly traversing the huckster rooms). The descriptions are from TPTB at D*C, which I’ve modified here and there so they make more sense.

Thursday September 1:

Although not part of the official D*C schedule, the annual Star Party is becoming a fun tradition. It’ll be at 7:30 p.m. at Emory University, and details are online. It’s a fund raiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; I’ll be there as well as George Hrab, Pamela Gay, and Nicole Gugliucci. We’ll have telescopes set up!

Friday September 2:

13:00 – Geek a Week Podcast Reunion

Description: Join artist Len Peralta as he talks with geek superstars that were featured on the Geek A Week Podcast.

Location: Regency VI – VII – Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Saturday September 3:

11:30 a.m.: These are the ways the world will end…

Description: Our panel tears apart the asteroid apocalypse theory, rips into the latest “world enders”, and answers questions. We’re probably safe (for now).

Location: 207 / 206 / 205 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

**

10:00 p.m.: The Kevin & Phil Show: 2012 – The End of the World

Description: Late night with the Space Track’s dynamic duo is BACK! Join (Battlestar Galactica and Eureka science advisor) Kevin Grazier and Phil Plait as they take apart the myths & lunacy of the end of the world alarmists.

Location: 203 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

Sunday September 4:

2:30 p.m.: Wait, Wait, Don’t Fool Me!

Description: Trivia game show with some of your favorite thinkers.

Location: Crystal Ballroom – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

**

4:00 p.m: Space Scientists on TV
Description: Astronomy Cast Live will talk to space scientists who regularly appear on TV. What’s it like for scientist to talk on topic for scripted TV?

Location: 204 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

**

8:30 p.m.: Great Superhero Skeptics! The History (and Herstory)

Description: Many of us know some names, but who have you missed and who should we know? A roundtable discussion on great authors, thinkers, past and present.

Location: 207 / 206 / 205 – Hilton (Length: 1 Hour)

That’s it! Hope to see you there!

Because it’s a FAQ: I won’t be at the San Diego Comic Con this year, but I will be at Dragon*Con.

For the past few years, Discover Magazine has hosted an increasingly popular and extremely fun panel on Science and Science Fiction at Comic Con, which I’ve been honored to moderate. Unfortunately, this year we won’t be doing the panel, so I won’t be attending. I’m sad, but we’ll be there next year for sure. I hate to miss such a huge geekapalooza, but we’ll have to figure out some way to make the 2012 panel extra-awesome. I’m thinking the panelists will skydive in. Or we’ll fight with bat’leths. Something.

In better news, I’ll be at Dragon*Con on September 1-5. In fact, I’ll be at the becoming-an-annual-event star party on Thursday night, September 1, where we raise money for cancer research. D*C has a very strong skeptic track, and I’ll be there as well as doing other talks and fun things (like having a two-person panel with my friend Kevin Grazier, where we rip on science in movies and TV). There are also tons of other things going on there, like the parties, the costumes, the dealer rooms, the general madness.

Read the links below in the Related Posts to get the idea. I’ll post my schedule when I get it, and if you’re a reader here, find me at one of my events!

… and I still want to bring a costume. I have an idea, but we’ll see if I can figure out how to pull it off.

If you’ll be in the Atlanta area on September 2 — the night before Dragon*Con — then I strongly urge you to attend the Second Annual Atlanta Skeptics Star Party. This is a charity event to raise money for the American Cancer Society Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, in memory and honor of our friend Jeff Medkeff, an astronomer who died of liver cancer two years ago. Jeff was a good man, naming asteroids after noted skeptics, and did a lot of work to promote critical thinking.

Last year’s event was fantastic: there was a full house of people listening to short talks by Pamela Gay and me, and then migrating outside to view the heavens. This year, the speakers include Fraser Cain (from the newly remodeled Universe Today), Pamela once again, and musician George Hrab (who made a typically over-the-top cool promo for it).

I won’t be there this year — months of travel for my TV show have made me long to be home for more than a week at a time — but I hope some BABloggees will be able to attend. And don’t forget: Surly Amy and I have teamed up to raise money for the event as well. It’s a great night, a fun time, and a way to help us all kick cancer’s butt.

As I wrote about recently, I have teamed up with Skepchick Surly Amy to raise money for the American Cancer Society: she has created 200 lovely hand-made ceramic Bad Astronomy pendant necklaces, and for each one she sells for $20 she’s donating $10 to the ACS. Each one is different, so check them all out!

Over half the necklaces have been sold, but there are still quite a few left. Hurry and buy one (or more) soon; the total raised will be announced at the star party at Dragon*Con this year, September 2!

Find out more at Amy’s Skepchick post, which has more pictures, including one cute one of how one necklace is keeping a couple together, despite their reading material.

At Dragon*Con, I did a dramatic reading from my book, Death from the Skies! which was a lot of fun. I read from Chapter 1, about asteroid and comet impacts, and BABloggee Brandon Alexander recorded it.

After the actual reading I talked about impacts as well as other disasters I cover in the book — including my favorite, gamma-ray bursts. It was a lot of fun, and Brandon posted the video from it as well:

I know, I have a lot of fun wiping out the Earth. But it is fun to think about, as long as you remember the odds of any of these things happening are pretty low. Still. Yikes.