I haven’t been to any conventions in a long time. Four years to be exact. But this year I’ve attended three already. Two of those were since we published our second issue.
SpoCon was a great time for me. It is a small convention, so I got a chance to get to know a few people. I also spoke on a number of panels, all with pretty good turnout. We also sold several copies of Factor Four Magazine at the market there.
WorldCon was great for a number of reasons. But the greatest in my mind is the MexicanX Initiative that was started by John Picacio. Factor Four Magazine used a large portion of our small advertising budget to sponsor one attendee for this initiative. I won’t preach politics, this isn’t the forum for that, but I will say it was important to me to see a larger representation of the “world” in WorldCon.
I heard amazing stories from the writers, and saw amazing artwork from the artists, that were part of this initiative. Mariana Palova is both a writer and an artist. Her novel Nation of the Beasts is in pre-order right now. I’ve ordered my copy. I was so excited about it, that I almost forgot to talk art with her. I am glad I remembered, because her work is the cover of this issue! It is amazing and I am so happy we met at WorldCon. I am hoping to find some of the other talents I met in my reading queue over the next few weeks.
If the MexicanX Initiative had not happened, I’d never have met so much talent. It left me with this thought, which I leave for you:
We cannot let the lines drawn on a map put up borders in our minds.
Happy Reading,
Richard Flores IV
Editor-in-Chief
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