DiceCast

Nancy Kilpatrick is an author of horror fiction. Many of her 18 novels, over 200 short stories, and anthologies have been about vampires. Her breadth and depth of knowledge of the entire vampire sub-genre of horror is staggering, being able to speak about it with eloquence and good humor, without at all belittling the subject or its fans.

We met up with Nancy Kilpatrick at Con*Cept 2011, a science fiction and fantasy convention held in Montreal, every autumn; this year, she was the guest of honor. She gave a great, lively interview that we are proud to share with you in this episode.

We had the pleasure of interviewing the great cartoonist and comic artist Sergio Aragonés at Montreal Comiccon this month. This episode is a special treat for fans of Mad magazine, Groo, and funny cartoons and comics.

Sergio Aragonés discussed his life as a cartoonist with us, as well as his work. Mr. Aragonés is famous for his "Drawn Out Dramas" and "Marginals" from Mad magazine and for his epic comic series about the terminally stupid, buffoonish barbarian Groo The Wanderer. He has recently began a new series called Sergio Aragonés Funnies, a semi-autobiographical collection of cartoons, puzzles, and other vignettes in his distinct style.

Otakuthon is Montreal's convention for fans of all things related to anime, manga, and similar fun stuff. It is held every August and they recently completed their 6^th annual convention, with as many as 10,000 people attending.Otakuthon features a huge exhibitor's hall, panel discussions, games, music, a dance, a masquerade, and of course, screenings.

We went to Otakuthon and we interviewed participants, exhibitors, and organizers.

Interviewed in this episode

• One of many participants who offers free hugs to fellow Otakuthon attendees; just one of the many things that make the experience unique and friendly.


• Eric Allard, creator of the Herobot webcomic, which has recently had its first chapter published in print. A more extensive interview with Allard is available in our French podcast, Royale With Cheese.


• Dawn, a representative of Costumecon 32, to be held in Toronto in late April or early May of 2014 (the official date is TBA). This is an annual convention that moves from city to city, similar to Worldcon, and which is all about costuming.


• Amanda Arrizza, chair of Otakuthon.

Bumpers in this episode

• The Gaming Genius Awards: A new awards recognizing excellence in game design, game publishing, game creation, and game enjoyment and covering all aspects of the hobby games industry. The Gaming Genius Awards is an effort of the Gamer's Guild, under sponsorship of Polymancer Studios, Inc..


• RPGPodcasts.com: Where you can find many other great game podcasts like this one.


• All Games Considered: A great podcast about tabletop roleplaying games and similar hobbies.