It was my pleasure to sell books from a table at last week’s Steel City ComiCon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was my first ComiCon, and I was a bit nervous. Nervous, you ask? You betcha! Maybe I spent too much time in New York, but I have an inherent distrust of people in costumes. Not only that, but I wasn’t sure how my books would appeal to the costumed masses. I figured a lot of the attendees could get behind the alien abduction phenomena referenced in the books—but Bible prophecy?

Well, let me say I was VERY pleasantly surprised. Sure, there were lots of costumes, but they weren’t all that scary other than the 300-poundish lady in an “I Dream of Jeannie” costume, and even she was really happy and fun to talk with. There were bunches of Kylo Rens stomping around with their lightsabers and more than a few storm troopers. Harley Quinn from Batman lurked around every corner, and the meaning of a lot of costumes went straight over my head.  But to a person, the attendees were happy, bright, and decent people.

Many of them stopped by my table to talk, and I honestly think I listened more than I spoke. That was just fine with me. After all, I’m in the business of collecting and re-telling stories.

The hands-down standout was an older gentleman named Gerald. This distinguished older fellow served our country in the army as a photo-documentarian at Checkpoint Charlie, the entry point to East Germany. The fall of the Berlin Wall was a big part in the lives of my characters in Precipice. I did a lot of research to write that section, and I now wish I had met Gerald before. He told vivid stories about traveling into East Berlin. His eyes still get haunted look when describing one trip where he saw a father and young son pleading with their eyes for him to take them to the West. On another occasion, he was filming in East Berlin when he noticed a meeting of East German and Russian soldiers. As he filmed, German secret police rushed him and stole his film. He got out, but believes to this day he had filmed a meeting between a Russian officer and an officer from the Third Reich! Then there was the time he had too much to drink and peed up against the wall. All of this is to say that I went to ComiCon expecting to see a lot of people dressed up as caped crusaders, only to have the opportunity to speak to a real, flesh-and-blood American hero! God is good!

Gerald was the most memorable visitor to my table, but he wasn’t the only interesting one. I had a great conversation with a man who studied theology and a real meeting of minds with a pastor that just happens to love Star Trek!

And that brings me to my final remembrance— the moment when a near riot formed. Tuvoc, the Vulcan officer from Star Trek Voyager, was there to sign autographs. But the announcer mistakenly said he was from Star WARS Voyager! Shouting and epithets ensued quickly ensued as costumed warriors howled their disapproval. Despite it’s freestyle fun attitude there is perhaps only one cardinal sin at a ComiCon—the mixing up of SciFi franchises. Now I know!

Thanks for a great time, Steel City Comicon …

This Generation Series books available now: Precipice, Pentecost

Coming in 2016: Penance, The Challenge