November 13, 2025 • 56 mins
What if a convention put comfort, consent, and community first—and it actually worked? We unpack our weekend at the first Monsterotica BookCon in Baltimore, where a color-coded lanyard system, pronoun stickers, and clear badges turned awkward small talk into easy connection, and digital queues set us free from hours of standing in line. From first-timers to seasoned con-goers, we found a format that lowered stress, reduced FOMO, and let us focus on what we love: monster romance, author meetups, and the joy of geeking out together.
We start with how each of us discovered monster romance—Ice Planet Barbarians binges, Creature Cafe obsessions, and the case for “if it can’t pass as human, it’s a monster.” Then we dig into what made the con run smoothly: fast registration, well-briefed volunteers, and a simple schedule with real breaks. That breathing room fueled the best parts of the weekend—trading handmade goodies in the atrium, spontaneous meetups, and vendors who actually had time to talk. Panels explored creature design and why fated mates and nonhuman love stories hit so hard. Nights brought costume karaoke, a 360 video booth, and a cosplay moment for the ages with three distinct Dusk Walkers and their brides posing with author Opal Rain.
We also share candid notes on the tech: day-one hiccups in the mobile waitlist smoothed out by day two, shorter physical lines, and the sheer relief of not missing panels for signings. Vendors and authors told us they sold out and felt supported, which says everything about how the con prioritized people over chaos. By the time book trivia filled the atrium, it felt like a family table—loud, funny, and full of love for a genre that thrives on imagination and acceptance.
If you’re monster-curious, con-curious, or just love hearing how a niche community built a better fan experience, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs new reads, and leave a review to help more monster romance fans find us. What feature would your dream book con include next?
Links from the Show:
· Monster Erotica Book Con - https://monsteroticabookcon.com/
· Griefcat - https://www.instagram.com/griefcatpartytime
· Tally - https://www.instagram.com/smut.and.stitches
· Kyle - https://www.instagram.com/phasorshift
· Rich - https://www.instagram.com/minotaurreads
· Jen - https://www.instagram.com/demiangel2
· Katie - https://www.instagram.com/madcapkatiereads
Follow us:
Instagram - @ofswordsandsoulmates
Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/ofswordsandsoulmates
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker (00:00):
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
participants.
The hosts make no claims to beliterary experts, and their
opinions are exactly that.
Opinions.
All creative works discussed orreviewed are the intellectual
property of the creators of saidstories and is being used under
the fair use doctrine.
Mari (00:27):
Hello and welcome to Absorts and Soulmates, a podcast
where we read, watch, anddiscuss romanticy stories and
romantic adjacent things.
I'm one of your usual hosts,Mari, and with me I have a
different crew today for a veryspecial bonus episode.
With me I have Tally.
Tally (00:44):
Tally.
I'm Tally, aka Smut andStitches on Instagram.
Nice.
Kyle (00:52):
And Kyle?
I'm Kyle.
I'm actually Tally's brother.
And I'm I go by Phaser Shiftpretty much everywhere.
Cool.
And we have Rich.
Rich (01:02):
Hi, everybody.
I'm Rich on Instagram.
I am Minotaur Reads.
Mari (01:07):
And Jen.
Jen (01:08):
Hi everyone.
I'm Jen.
I'm Demi Angel2 on Instagram.
Demi Angel pretty mucheverywhere else.
Nice to talk to you.
And we have Katie.
Katie (01:18):
Hi, I'm Katie.
I am Madcap Katie on Instagram.
Mari (01:22):
Awesome.
We've got the whole crew here.
So today we're going to betalking about our experiences at
the first ever MonsteroticaBookCon that took place in
Baltimore, Maryland, at theHyatt Regency Baltimore Inner
Harbor on May 8th through May10th of this year, 2025, hosted
by Unfortunate Reads.
None of us knew each other.
Well, I guess Tally and Kyle,you guys knew each other.
And Rich Jen and Katie, youguys knew each other, but all of
(01:44):
us did not know each otherbeforehand.
And it's a testament to the Ithink the nature of and the
commodity of the con of how wegot together to decide to do
this with basically strangers.
All right, so I'm just gonnakind of have everyone introduce
themselves.
I'll introduce myself first incase anyone is listening to just
(02:05):
this episode and has neverheard of us before.
Um I'm Mari.
I'm one of the hosts on OfSwords and Soulmates.
We generally do romancystories, but I like to read.
So I like to read beyond justromanticity.
Um monster romance is one of myjams.
I got into monster romance.
See, this question depends onhow you define a monster.
(02:26):
For me personally, if it can'tpass as human, it's a monster.
Yeah, yeah.
So like if it's a vampire or ashifter that can pass as human
most of the time, I don't countthat as a monster romance,
personally.
I know everyone's got their owndefinition, so I don't count
like my vampire phase or myshifter phase.
So for me, I would say itstarted with like Krampus books.
(02:47):
Like I got into holiday readingand then I was like, oh
Krampus.
Oh, oh Krampus.
Okay.
And it just went downhill oruphill from there, however, you
however you want to judge it.
Um I have been to cons before.
I go to Dragon Con in Atlantaevery year, which is a general
like sci-fi fantasy fandom kindof con.
(03:10):
And I went to my first book conlast year in Orlando, Romanity
Con.
So I've had a few under mybelt.
Not not a ton, but a few.
And yeah.
Tally, you want to introduceyourself a little?
Tally (03:26):
Yeah.
So as I said, I'm Tally.
I kind of switched over intolike the bookstagram scene a few
years ago, smutton stitches.
I've always been a big fan offantasy and kind of monsters.
My upbringing was very outthere.
There was nothing really kindof taboo or off-limited.
(03:49):
And I think a lot of people hadthoughts when it came to Kovu
in The Lion King 2.
And I think that's where minestarted, but I didn't get into
just gonna blow right past that.
I didn't get into monstermonster romance until 2022.
I was doing mostly fan fictionreading.
(04:11):
I was really disappointed withthe way that the new Star Wars
trilogy ended.
So I started getting reallyinto fan fiction, and someone
had shared a Raylo fan fiction,but it was inspired by Ice
Planet Barbarians.
Ah.
So I read it and I was like,this seems like a really cool
(04:33):
world.
I'm gonna have to do someresearch because I loved reading
as a kid and I just kind ofslowed down and did a lot more
of just like online stuff sincehaving kids and trying to work.
And so I looked up Ruby Dixonand read the synopsis for the
first one.
I was like, okay, I'm gonnagive it a try.
I did the entire Ice PlanetBarbarian series within a month.
(04:55):
That series is 22 books.
Wow.
I would binge read like twobooks a night because I have no
respect for myself.
And it kind of just spiraledfrom there.
I I fell in love with,especially like Faded Mates, and
you get a lot of that inMonster Romance.
(05:16):
So I I was hooked, and then itwent from there to Morning Glory
Milking Farm by CM Nescosta,and then it just kind of
exploded everywhere.
Um, I have never been to anyconvention.
Kyle (05:28):
Just in choice of words.
Tally (05:31):
Yeah, I know, I know.
You know what?
I'm mentally a 12-year-old boy.
So um, but I've never been toany kind of conventions.
I have always longed to go to aconvention.
I mean, I would watch clipsfrom San Diego Comic Con all the
time.
There would be, I've gotfriends who would go to the
(05:52):
Motor City Comic Con and werereally big into like recreation
of Star Wars costumes.
And then of course, my Kylealso was into cons, but I did go
to Dreaming Dirty in Michigan acouple of times.
And it's more of a signingevent than a con.
There were no panels oranything.
But it's like it was kind of myfirst taste of okay, we're
(06:14):
gonna shove you in a room with abunch of people to meet these
authors.
I was like, this is fun, alittle terrifying, but a little
fun.
And by the time it was fromstarting from like 2022 to
about, you know, early 2024, I'dheard of a polycon and just
felt sad that I'd never be ableto go and that I didn't know all
(06:37):
these authors, but I didn'twant to get into it because
sometimes I felt like it wasreally just completely out of
the scope of possibility for me.
But I was following Cassie, herunfortunate reads, uh Instagram
and her TikTok because shewould review a lot of monster
romance books.
And then she posted MonsterRotica.
I was hooked.
(06:58):
I was like, oh my gosh, I haveto go.
I was telling my husband aboutit.
I was telling random peopleabout it, that I was like, oh,
you like books?
I like books.
Let me tell you about the weirdstuff that I read.
And then I'd never hear fromthose people again.
Um and then I told my brotherabout it.
So I I think because we had asimilar kind of reading taste
(07:21):
growing up, I just reached outto my brother because people ask
me who my best friends are, andI will say my husband and my
brother.
And that's okay because it'strue.
We're all a couple of weirdos.
And I reached out to Kyle andKyle kind of took over from
there, and we were able to dosomething as siblings, and it
was really amazing.
Mari (07:42):
Cool.
Kyle, what about you?
Kyle (07:45):
So yeah, again, going off of what Jelly was talking about,
I guess I'll start at the topof the list again.
I'm Kyle.
I go by Phaser Shift mosteverywhere.
I I've done some Twitchstreaming, I've done some
cosplay, I'll get into that, butI'm not really active on any
sort of social media.
(08:05):
I actually had my firstInstagram post ever just to
share what I wore for the con.
Mari (08:12):
Which was pretty darn cool.
Kyle (08:13):
Monsterotica.
But yeah, I'll go actually alittle bit out of order.
So I heard about Monsterotica,as you just heard from Tally.
I knew that she was into theMonster Omach romance books, and
she had her her Instagram, andI always thought that that was a
cool thing for her to do, andyou know, a niche that she fit
(08:35):
well into.
And she told me about MonsterOtica, she's like, Hey, there's
this convention coming up that Ireally want to go to, but I
know I'm never gonna be able to.
And I'm like, you know what?
I think that's a great idea forsomething for us to do
together, because I I wanted to,you know, do something just to
to show my appreciation for mysister over all the years of
putting up with me.
(08:55):
And and so I'm sitting therewhen the tickets were on sale.
I'm yeah, I know.
I'm sitting there at workrefreshing my phone, and I I got
the two tickets before theysold out in five minutes, and
and then at that point, I'mlike, you know, I should
probably start reading some ofthis monster romance stuff, just
(09:16):
so I can you know know what'sgoing on.
So I started asking Tally forbook recommendations, and she
let me pull out my Kindle so Ican remember what she uh such a
good checklist.
Tally (09:30):
Yeah, I think my first one I had you read was The
Spider's Mate.
Tiffany Roberts.
Kyle (09:36):
No, actually, uh it may have been, but there was the uh
Corrupted Mate, I believe is thefirst one they had me, which is
book two by Trish Heinrich,because it was male and female
aliens, and it was alright.
I I found I didn't enjoy it toomuch, but then you had me read
(09:57):
Spider's Mate series, and Iliked that one a lot more.
But something that I've talkedabout a lot and feel a little
uncomfortable about, I guess youcould say, is that romance is a
very female-dominated genre,and I'm a guy and I like girls,
so I want my monsters to beladies, and my ladies to be
(10:18):
monsters.
So after I read that, shesuggested Surrendering to Scylla
by Ren K.
Morris, and I loved that book,it was everything I wanted.
So, you know, afterwards I wentthrough all of the or a lot of
the authors that were going tobe at the con, and you know,
reading a couple from each one,trying to focus more on the
(10:42):
female monsters and stuff likethat.
But and I would say that wasthe first time I got into
monster romance, but as I wasreading, I realized I've
actually been into monsterromance, not necessarily books,
but just in general, in forquite a while.
Um, just being in various, youknow, fantasy fandoms, and the
(11:04):
whole furry scene has kind ofthat, and there's been some
games I've played, I guess youcould say, that have been a
little bit similar to MonsterRomance.
Yeah, and so it's like, ohyeah, I was already part of this
group, I didn't even know it.
One of us.
It's been around and prevalentmuch more than people realized.
(11:27):
Yeah, I mean, then I guess towrap up a bit, I as Telly said,
I have been to quite a few,mostly anime cons, but a few
other like fantasy or gamingconventions.
Uh, not super often.
Like maybe I'll do a couple ina year and then take a few years
off.
But I I've been to quite a fewand I cosplay a couple times,
(11:49):
and um, but I had never been toa book con before, so this one
was quite a bit different thanwhat I'm used to for anime
conventions.
It was a little bit unusual orlike a bit of a surprise to see
how different it was.
But still, I went and I had alot of fun, even if I don't
(12:12):
really follow the authors, andmost of them I've only read like
one book, except for a couplewhere I've read the series.
So I am not too familiar and Ididn't really have a desire to
get anything signed, but stillgoing, doing all the trading,
meeting other people.
Um, it was a lot of fun, andI'm really glad I was able to go
with my sister.
Mari (12:32):
Cool.
What about you, Rich?
Uh hey guys.
Rich (12:37):
So once again, I'm Rich.
And actually, so we're gonnahit a kind hit on a couple of
similar themes here.
I actually got into monsterromance because I was big into
romantic for quite a while.
I when I started getting backinto reading, I picked up a lot
of more traditional fantasystories, and I noticed that the
books that I really enjoyed hada romance element to them.
(12:59):
Um, and then my sister, Katie,one day she was already into
monster romance, and she startedtelling me about these books
that she was reading andrecommending certain book
series.
And I believe about three yearsago, the first one I picked up
was the Creature Cafe series byCleo Evans.
(13:21):
And such a good series, yeah.
Yeah, really enjoy that.
I read all of those, at leastthey were out at the time, and I
continued reading them, and Ikind of dove in, and this has
been the main genre that Ifollow pretty much ever since.
I think that yeah, that wasabout I think I said three years
ago.
So yeah, but it was it's justkind of been all consuming.
(13:45):
But as far as cons go, we'vebeen going to cons for about
almost 20 years.
So we are close to New YorkComic-Con.
So that is our main convention.
We go just about every year.
I've also been to a couple oflike gaming conventions, uh, PAX
(14:06):
East and PAX Unplugged.
But this was my very first bookconvention, and I actually I
have to say, I think that it'sprobably my favorite convention
that I've ever been to.
Mari (14:18):
Nice.
Rich (14:18):
Um, even more so than like I know, yeah, even more so than
like New York Comic Con.
So it really was just thatgreat.
Jen (14:26):
Jen, what about you?
Well, I am Jen, again, DemiAngel 2 on Instagram.
And I am actually Rich's wife,and I got into Monster Romance
actually, I believe, because I Iloved to read.
I've loved reading ever since Iwas a little kid.
(14:47):
I don't remember, from myrecollection, of reading any
monster romance when I wasyounger or even a couple of
years ago, but when Katie andRich started getting very into
the monster romance scene, theywere reading a lot of books, and
I would ask them what they werereading, and the theme sounded
nice.
So I asked for recommendations.
(15:09):
And the first recommendationthat I had gotten was actually
from Katie, and it was MorningGlory Milking Farm, and I
absolutely fell in love with it,and then I branched out into
reading all the Holocopes books.
I'm actually I missed readingone that's probably gonna be one
of the next ones I read.
But regardless, I actually fellin love with the genre and
(15:32):
regarding Monsterotica, theywere both going to the
convention.
I've never been to Baltimore,and I said, if you guys don't
mind, can I tag along?
I'd love to go and see theauthors, see you know, the key
people going, see what's goingon, and see the city itself too.
So I tagged along, absolutelyloved it, so excited for the
(15:55):
next one.
Yeah, and so I kind of was thethird wheel of this.
And just in regards to anycons, it was actually our first
book com together, just for allof us, nice, but I've been to
PAX East, PAX Unplugged, and asRich said, numerous years of New
(16:18):
York Comic Con.
Nice.
What about you, Katie?
Katie (16:22):
So hello again, I'm Katie.
Mad to have Katie on Instagram.
I actually got into MonsterRomance through my roommate from
college.
She was really big into theromance scene, got really big
into monster romance.
She introduced me to Ice PlanetBarbarians, and that kind of
opened the door into thewonderful world of monster
romance.
From there, I got really biginto the Cleo Evans Creature
(16:43):
Cafe series, really big into CMNascosta, um, Ashley Bennett.
I love all of it.
And I've been really intomonster romance probably for at
least the past seven to tenyears.
Um, like Rich and Jen said,this was our first ever book
con.
It was a lot of fun.
I followed, I followed Cassieon Instagram for quite a long
(17:05):
time.
And when she started puttingout feelers about would people
be interested in going to amonster romance book convention,
I was from the get-go, I waslike, if this is a thing, I
don't care where it is, I willget there.
And like they said, I've beento a lot of New York Comic-Con
packs.
This by far is the bestconvention I've been to.
The community is so great,everyone's so welcoming.
(17:26):
It's very easy to introduceyourself to like-minded people
and not feel like you're gonnabe shut out or shunned.
Everyone's so lovely andwelcoming.
The authors are great, thevendors that were there were so
nice.
Yeah.
Mari (17:40):
Yeah.
No, I agree.
I I went solo to this one, andthis is the first con I've been
to or even book event that I'vebeen to by myself.
Like I've traveled by myselfbefore, but never like to an
event thing like this.
I initially bought, I got I wasable to get two tickets, and it
just everyone who waspotentially gonna go with me, it
all fell through.
So I'm like, that's fine, I'mstill going.
And I don't think I ever reallyfelt, you know, weird or like
(18:05):
anybody who was standoffish.
Like I thought it was, yeah, areally good, welcoming
community.
Tally (18:11):
One of the authors even said she's she said it was the
safest she's ever feltsurrounded by a complete group
of strangers.
Mari (18:18):
Yes.
Tally (18:20):
Absolutely.
And there go my dogs.
Mari (18:26):
So I've met Tally and Kyle first because we all did the
light rail from the airport.
We met at the airport and wentinto the the hotel from there.
So did anybody I was generaladmission.
What was everyone else's ticketlevel?
Did anybody do the Thursdaystuff?
Rich (18:45):
Um Katie and I were VIP, but we weren't the highest tier.
Okay.
unknown (18:51):
Okay.
Mari (18:52):
Yeah, so I didn't do anything on Thursday.
I was if I my whole thing wasif I got there early enough to
to do the registration, I wasgonna take care of that, but I
didn't, and that was fine.
I thought registration onFriday morning was like super
easy.
Um super easy.
Yeah.
I don't know if I was justanxious about it or used to you
know events where people arelike lining up way in advance or
(19:14):
whatever.
Tally (19:14):
But yeah, I was so anxious about it.
I was like, oh my gosh, am Igonna get there in time?
And how's this gonna work?
And then we get there, I wasable to walk right up.
Here's your bag.
I was like, I know we got abag, but there's actually
goodies in here too.
Oh my goodness, and everybodywas so nice, and even like when
it came time to line up, peopleare like chatting.
(19:34):
Yeah.
Kyle (19:35):
Uh, I think one of the reasons for that, and a
difference from a lot of theother cons I've been to is I
mean, there are only a setnumber of tickets and they're
all sold already.
So there's nobody buyingtickets at the door at
registration.
And I there weren't likepre-printed badges that somebody
had to find.
There was just the you know,what tier are you, general or
(19:57):
VIP, and then you had yourdifferent bags, but otherwise it
was just grab one and go, writeyour name and put your pronouns
on your badge, and and that'sit.
So it was like, I mean, I knowwe didn't show up right at the
beginning on Friday, but it wasjust walk up to the counter.
I wasn't, I was even unsure,like, is this registration?
Yeah, there's no line here,it's just a table with some
(20:20):
people behind it.
Jen (20:21):
So it's like yeah, what lender do you want?
Rich (20:25):
Yeah, yeah.
And I honestly I feel like oneof the things that really helped
with this too was the fact thatI don't know about some of the
other cons you guys have beento, but a lot of the time the
volunteers aren't really wellinformed.
So you go up to somebody with aquestion, or you go up and you
know, and they aren't even surewhere you're supposed to be.
And I think it it speaks tojust honestly how well prepared
(20:49):
Cassie was and how and how thatshe knew what to tell people
because every volunteer that Ispoke to throughout the entire
convention knew had the answers.
If not, they knew exactly whereto go to get them.
Everybody knew where peoplewere supposed to go.
So I think that reallycontributed to making
registration just a super smoothprocess.
Mari (21:12):
I agree.
And it's like they weren'tstressed out, even if things so
it didn't stress out anybodyelse, nobody felt stressed.
Yeah, exactly.
Tally (21:20):
Yeah, so even if things I felt like, you know, with any
kind of event, things are gonnago sideways and you have to kind
of plan for that.
But I think feel like of thethings that went sideways, they
were handled in such a way thatnobody felt super stressed.
Like I know that the panels hadless process seating than they
(21:40):
originally thought.
So they had to work with that,and they really quickly came up
with a an alternate plan on thatday, and it was just really
very smooth.
Nobody seemed upset, nobodyseemed stressed.
And I mean, I know I saw Cassierunning around like crazy, and
I'm sure she was stressed outbeyond belief, but all of the
staff and all of the volunteers,they all had their cool and
(22:05):
they were super helpful andsuper chill.
And I loved that there wasalways someone at registration.
So if you wanted to switch yourlanyard from, you know, ask to
I'm open for hugs, you you youcould just go up and talk to
them at any point.
Mari (22:18):
Yeah.
That's one thing that I thoughtwas really neat that I don't
think I'd seen done before atany event I'd been to.
They had the differentlanyards.
It was red, yellow, and green.
And red was like, don't touchme, yellow was asked and and
green was, you know, open tohugs and and touching and
whatnot.
That they had that and that youcould just switch it out
whenever, no questions asked.
(22:40):
I thought was really goodthinking ahead and like making
people feel comfortable.
Kyle (22:44):
Yeah, that is one thing I've noticed in this monster
romance community is howaccepting and welcoming and
accommodating everyone is forany sort of you know
requirements or or personalfeelings that people might have
with you know little pronounstickers I mentioned.
I really liked that they hadthose and they had a big variety
(23:04):
of them, plus the blank onethat you could just write your
own in.
And the the lanyards for youryou know, the physical consent.
It was all very inclusive, andI loved how they did that.
And like you said, it's notsomething I've seen at another
con.
I think I may have seen sometalking about it, but I haven't
been to one with them.
Katie (23:23):
Yeah.
This is also, I think, thefirst convention I've been to
where they had a spot on yourbadge that you could put like
your name or like your Instagramhandle, your Discord handle.
So that way, if you might notknow what someone looks like,
but you've talked to themonline, you can be like, Oh my
god, I know who you are.
We've talked a bunch online, orI follow you on Instagram.
So it made it feel a lot moreof like a personal group
(23:46):
experience instead of just likea bunch of strangers in a room.
Right.
I agree.
Tally (23:50):
Well, I think it also helped the authors by having
like the name tag really visiblebecause you know they're
signing things.
And as long as you've got yourname tag present and visible,
they don't have to go, okay, howdo you spell?
And it was loud, you know, itwasn't ungodly loud, but you
know, if there's there'scertain, I'm sure my name would
have gotten misspelled.
And because everybody, youknow, tally's such a unique
(24:12):
name, but the fact the fact thatthey were just like, Okay, can
I see your badge?
What you know, your name and itbecause not only were the
badges super adorable, but youknow, and then they had the
space for your name if youwanted a nickname or if you
wanted to put your handleinstead.
Um, I thought that that wasreally awesome.
(24:32):
Awesome.
And then on the flip side,having the uh the QR codes for
the different so the the onlinecues.
Mari (24:41):
Yeah, how did that all access?
It's again queuing things inthe map.
Tally (24:44):
Have it all accessible with you.
You didn't have to lookanything up.
Mari (24:48):
Right.
How did you guys do you haveany what was your experience
like with the the whole onlinequeuing for for signing?
Did you guys get to do anybodythat you wanted to have stuff
signed?
Did you have any issues?
Rich (25:00):
Um we actually, yeah, we actually did have an issue with
Gemlin.
With Gemlin's on the first day,but it was honestly it was just
as the con opened for VIP onthe very first day.
So it was new, brand new foreverybody.
And it was just people wereaccessing the line through the
app.
But then once you got to thebooth to actually get checked
(25:22):
in, it was like everything gotall out of order.
So, like, for example, like Iwas number three, and like I
ended up pretty far back in theline, and like the people around
me were like 30, you know, 29,like 64.
It was just like people had noidea honestly what was going on.
But other than that, right atthe start of the con, I used it
(25:43):
a I used it two or three moretimes, and it it always seemed
to go pretty well.
Katie (25:48):
Yeah, I used it to get on Opal Rain and Regine Abel's
line, and it worked very wellfor me.
I liked that they kind of toldyou where your spot was.
You had if you were waiting inline for another author and you
were running late, you couldlike mark on it that you were
running late when it was yourtime so you didn't get kicked
off the queue.
Tally (26:05):
I asked I went to get in line for Regine and reorders or
pickups or anything like that.
And she was like, Okay, I'vegot you checked in.
If you want to go physicallines a little bit shorter, but
I've got you here.
And so those volunteers orstaff were super chill and
(26:29):
amazing, and they were like,Yeah, we got this.
Don't worry, we're just gonnago with the flow.
And you know, I know someauthors had to get added on
because lines were weird, andbut everybody was just kind of
like, I don't know what'shappening, we're just gonna go
with it.
Katie (26:41):
Yeah, everyone's very go with the flow.
It's like if something changed,even like the authors were
like, That's fine.
The the people there were likeit's all good.
It's just like everyone wantedto have a good time and wanted
to make sure it could run assmoothly as possible.
Kyle (26:54):
Yeah, yeah.
The the waitlist thing, I knowit had a couple issues the first
day just because people hadn'tused it before and they didn't
really know how.
So there were people that werelike getting in line multiple
times just because they wererefreshing the page when they
shouldn't have.
But once they figured out whyand and you know sent down an
announcement on the other app,uh Discord.
Mari (27:16):
Oh the other app, you're right.
Kyle (27:17):
Well Discord, yes, but the I'm blanking at the app, which
was like the app they used forthe con in general, explaining
how it should be used, it wasvery smooth, and I think it was
a great idea just to keep thelines down, otherwise they would
have completely clogged up thatvendor hall.
Mari (27:34):
Right.
Kyle (27:35):
Um, so even if it wasn't you weren't in the exact order
that you were signed up in theapp, it was like, okay, they you
know you're coming up soon, soget in line, and then they'd
mark you as there, and then youjust wait in a line that's 10
people instead of 30.
Mari (27:51):
Yeah.
And it gave you the opportunityto just walk around and look at
everything else and andparticipate in the vending
instead of just standing inline.
You know, you knew you had themaximum minutes.
Kyle (28:01):
Yeah, and some other cons I know there's been times where
it's like you miss several ofthe panels or other things that
you wanted to do because youwere waiting in line for a
certain author or a certainvoice actor.
Mari (28:13):
Yeah, I've heard I've heard horror stories.
Kyle (28:17):
So it was it was real nice to be able to do that.
Although I I was feeling alittle uncomfortable when I I
only used it once to get in OpalRain's line, and it was like I
sign up, okay, I'm a ways downthe list, so I have some time to
do something else, and then Igot a text saying, You're up
next.
I'm like, wait, what?
I'm not ready.
(28:37):
Not emotionally ready for this.
Katie (28:39):
That's a good thing because it's a three to five
minutes process.
Tally (28:44):
Yeah, I agree.
Like my I do think day twomoved much faster.
Mari (28:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:51):
Absolutely.
Mari (28:52):
Yeah, by day two, I was able to like there were parts
where you can just go up and andget in line that there wasn't
even wait list for people thatwas waitless on day one, didn't
even have wait lists on day twoby towards the end of it,
because I guess everybody whowas on that list already got to
see them, so it was easier tojust walk up to some of them
too.
So yeah.
Kyle (29:11):
I will say though, and this may just be my bias, the
the Yap app that had like theschedule, the guest list, and
the map.
I don't think that was entirelynecessary because the schedule
was linear, meaning there wasonly one event at any time and
there were gaps between becauseall the cons I've been to like
had expansive schedules whereyou had to choose I want to go
(29:33):
to this one or that one.
Yes, and it was nice not tohave to choose, but I mean, I
found you you didn't really needthe schedule or the app to see
what events there were becausethere was one panel and there
was the vendor hall, and thenyou know the monster characters.
Tally (29:48):
I did like the digital building map though, yeah.
Mari (29:52):
That was really nice, as opposed to just the vendor map.
Yeah, yeah, I didn't access theYap app, I don't think at all
during the con.
Because I agree.
That schedule was really it wasactually it was really
refreshing to not have to pickbetween multiple things.
And it was refreshing to belike, okay, this is a time where
now it's like lunchtime or goin the room and take a nap time.
(30:12):
Whatever.
It's time to like refresh yourbatteries however way you do
that, which I think made theentire day more enjoyable.
Kyle (30:20):
Not even just for us as attendees, but for the
volunteers and staff and theauthors and guests having to
enjoy their as well.
Right.
Having breaks and stuff likethat where they didn't have to
be at their booth all day.
Right.
Was really nice for thembecause that is another thing
that I think is a big differencebetween the anime cons that
(30:42):
I've been to and this, wherelike at anime cons or other
cons, there's the vendors thatare selling things and then
there's the guests that aresigning things.
Here, pretty much all of theguests were vendors.
So they weren't there just tostand at their booth and sell
things, they were there to youknow interact and participate in
(31:03):
panels and stuff like that.
So having those breaks and thetimes for the vendor hall to
shut down so they could do thepanel or take lunch, I think was
a very good way to run a smallcon like this.
Mari (31:16):
I agree.
I think that break for likelunch and that break for for
dinner or break in the afternoonas well, I think allowed people
to do other things together.
Like Opal Rain had a a lunchthing that she did with people
from the Discord that you knowwasn't officially part of the
con.
Tally (31:33):
They couldn't get it was for people who maybe lived
nearby but didn't necessarilyweren't able to get tickets
because I'm on her Discord aswell.
And I thought, you know, thatwas really awesome that she was
able to do that.
And I know a lot of theseauthors and vendors are and
artists are friends, but havenever had the opportunity to
meet in person.
So it gave people the thechance to go get lunch or go get
(31:56):
coffee or dinner together, andI thought that was really cool
as well.
Yeah.
Kyle (32:00):
It also helped with people that have you know strong
anxiety and FOMO, fear ofmissing out.
Yes, because when it's a fullschedule, it's like, you know, I
could go to this panel, right?
I could go get lunch, or I canspend some more time in the
vendor hall, or go to thispanel, or I could go to the
panel and then starve.
Yeah.
(32:20):
So yeah, it freed up people sothey weren't worried about
having to choose between things.
Mari (32:27):
Right.
Just decision paralysis was outof the picture.
Kyle (32:30):
Exactly.
It was very, very stress-free.
Katie (32:34):
I also feel like having that nice break in the middle
gave everyone a time to kind ofjust like reboot.
So like everyone in theafternoon was like in a good
mood.
Because like we've been to conswhere it's the afternoon and
everyone's just miserablebecause you've been on your feet
all day, it's too crowded,you're just it's too much.
Where it's like you just get anice time, recharge your
batteries, come back, thevendors are in a good mood, the
authors are in a good mood, theguests are in a good mood.
(32:55):
Absolutely.
Mari (32:56):
Yeah, I agree.
Tally (32:58):
Um, it also I felt was beneficial because if even if
you didn't want to do lunch orsomething like that, that there
was that beautiful atrium, andpeople just hung out there
during lunch and dinner timesfor trades or just to socialize.
And I I did that during lunch.
I just would sit there until itwas time to head up to the
panel and met some reallyamazing people just kind of
(33:21):
chilling.
Yeah.
Mari (33:23):
Yeah, there were some really talented people making
things and printing things andyou know, whatever for the the
trades.
And it was a good way to liketalk to people.
Katie (33:33):
Yeah, I really like perfect segment.
Yeah, because it's just likefor people who have like social
anxiety and it's hard to talk toother people, it's a great way
to kind of introduce yourselfand just be like, hi, I'm
so-and-so.
Are you guys trading?
You want to trade?
And you kind of talk to someonefor a little bit and you can
get to meet somebody.
It's a really nice, easy way toput yourself out there without
(33:57):
feeling uncomfortable.
Right.
Rich (33:59):
That's always my issue, even at these kind of events
where I know people areinterested in the same kind of
things as I am, is I'm it's onceI'm talking to somebody, it's
fine, but actually getting up tothem and talking to them.
It and the trading really wasjust such a nice icebreaker.
Tally (34:15):
It really, really helped.
Oh, yeah.
Kyle (34:19):
Yeah, I had that was part of a lot of the fun that I had
leading up to the con was 3Dprinting all my little trades
because I've got my printers andI don't have reason to use them
too much, but doing this andyou know, showing off the things
that I've been making and stufflike that, it was a lot of fun
to kind of build the excitementfor me.
(34:41):
And at the con, you know,people who would seek me out and
me seeking others out becausewe were sharing what we were
making to trade or even not totrade, just to hand out was fun.
I know I enjoyed I made little3D printed magnetic penes, and
uh I really enjoyed that findinganything magnetic and just kind
(35:03):
of sticking them around.
Um they were very hard to find.
Tally (35:07):
He was he was trying to do it to people too.
People look at him so weird.
Kyle (35:19):
I just kind of like slink up and try to stick it to the
handle their book cards, but I'dsay like 90% of them were
aluminum and not magnetic, and Iwas so upset.
There were a couple that I got,and there was even somebody I
was talking to, you know, later,and she was just like, I just
found one of these on my handle.
I don't I just you know went tograb my cart and suddenly there
was a dick in my handle.
Mari (35:42):
That was me.
I did that.
So uh yeah, good time.
Good time.
Tally (35:50):
My favorite was when people would share what trades
they had, and they'd be like,Okay, well, I'm at the couches
in the atrium, or I'm over here,and then all of a sudden you'd
be like, save a dragon dick forme, and people would like
humbling, or I hit half of usare in freaking costumes trying
(36:10):
to find tiny little threeemployees for the hotel saying
that they were just having ablast watching the people trade.
And it was it was just so muchfun because you're like, look, I
didn't bring anything except myundying love and devotion.
People are throwing trades ateach each other, and yeah, it
(36:32):
was just so much fun.
Kyle (36:33):
And like there's the the three tables out in the atrium
that were basically just alwayscovered with random trades,
people would spread out theirwares, yes, you would just pick
through.
Oh, this is cute, I want this,and uh like I had done that, set
my bag down and went offsomewhere else for a minute.
I came back and there was likea tentacle pen just sitting on
my backpack.
(36:54):
Like, I guess somebody tradedthat with me, but okay.
Tally (36:58):
You know, have a passenger.
Well, it's okay because I feellike in that way it also it
reduced some of that stigma ofgetting like, okay, am I gonna
give something equal or notequal?
You know.
So I because I only brought acertain amount, I had laser
engraved goodies, so the wooden,I had some earrings and some
keychains and some bookmarks,and a lot of people are like,
(37:19):
Well, I just brought stickers.
Jokes on them.
I'm a sticker whore and I lovestickers.
So I will gladly rifle througha whole bunch of stickers and
pull out my favorites, you know.
And then there was someone whobrought like liquid IV and Pure
L.
And I'm like, that is thesmartest thing I've seen all
day.
That is the mom in me goingout, like, yes, hydration
(37:41):
people.
Absolutely.
Mari (37:43):
Did anybody go to any of the panels?
I did not make it to any of thepanels.
Did anybody get panels?
Rich (37:49):
I really wanted to go to Friday's panel, but it was one
of those deals where when theissue came up with the seating,
it was just kind of one of thosethings where I've I've been at
cons before where I like have towait in line for a really long
time to get in panels.
And I was like, you know what?
It's better that somebodysomebody else can have the seat
that I were taking.
Mari (38:06):
Yeah.
Kyle (38:07):
So we could make it to both of the panels.
Yes, we did.
Mari (38:11):
How were they?
Kyle (38:13):
They were fun.
Um they were a littledifferent.
Yeah, you're you're kind ofgetting out a little bit too.
But but they were fun.
The I was a little surprisedthat I guess maybe not
surprised, but they weredifferent formats.
Like the first one, I willnever remember anybody's name,
let alone the authors, but theyhad one person who was acting as
(38:35):
like the host asking thequestions to the series of
authors that were sitting up atthe table.
And it wasn't like an audienceQA like I was kind of expecting.
They had these set questionsand they went through and said
their piece, and it was reallyinteresting to see, you know,
like the thought process behindthe design of the monsters and
(38:56):
and that sort of thing.
And both panels ended up with acouple rather large dildos on
the table.
So yeah, it was it wasinteresting to see, even like
for me who doesn't follow theauthors, it was still very
enjoyable.
Nice, and then they have thecrowded room was managed well.
Mari (39:16):
Good.
Yeah, I'm hoping that they'lldo release the audio or or
something of it.
Kyle (39:21):
I know they did video record everything.
Mari (39:22):
Right, that's what I've heard.
Kyle (39:24):
Hopefully they'll put it together and release it at some
point.
I'm not sure.
Mari (39:27):
Yeah.
Kyle (39:27):
Wonder where.
Hopefully, we'll see.
Mari (39:30):
But for the evening activities, there was Monster
Karaoke the first night, booktrivia the second night.
Monster karaoke was fun.
I do not sing, no one wants tohear me sing, but it there were
some talented people there.
Rich (39:42):
We only like the very impressed.
Yeah, and honestly, it was itsounded like people were having
an absolutely amazing time.
Tally (39:50):
We did go pink pony club stuck in my head for three weeks
now.
Mari (39:56):
That's me on a normal week.
Tally (39:58):
Yeah, true.
Same.
I can't remember.
I think it was.
I think it was you think it washot to go or Pink Pony Club,
but it's been stuck in my head.
I did get up there and sing.
You rocked it up.
Yeah, you did, and it wasterrifying and amazing.
Kyle (40:19):
It was and then, of course, you you sang the Shrek
version of I Need a Hero as itshould be.
And of course, I was surprisedto see a little bit later
cosplays of Shrek and the fairygodmother were there.
Tally (40:33):
Oh, that's too funny.
Kyle (40:34):
I think that was like, oh man, if they were there a little
earlier and her partner was it?
That's cool.
Tally (40:40):
Showed up as I think because that's she's the one who
wrote the get in my swamp.
So if I had to venture, I guessI think it was her partner.
Kyle (40:49):
Yeah, and speaking of a lot of the other authors, like
uh Nicole Parker.
And yeah, a lot of the othersauthors dressed up as some of
their characters, like was itLatrexanova who wore the Jack
Jack in the Box costume?
Tally (41:05):
Yes, they dressed up as the Jack character.
Yep.
And then Casso Shai alsodressed up as Elzbeth from The
Rake or Orca who met his matchin a Selkie seeking revenge.
And I think there was somebodyelse.
There were several NicoleParker dressed as the Duracell
(41:26):
bunny, but you know, theoff-brand Duracell bunny.
Right.
Kyle (41:30):
Yeah, that was a couple inflatable, you know, lots of
mothmen and tentacles.
But so I went to the monsterkaraoke or the costume karaoke
for the costume because mylittle secret, as I was 3D
printing peens, I also 3Dprinted a wolf skull mask for
Orpheus from Soul to Keep byOpal Rain.
(41:53):
And I put a lot of work intothat doing the lights and the
you know the modeling.
Well, I found files online thatI adapted, but when I saw that
the first night would be costumekaraoke, it's like, okay, I'm
gonna go as a surprise.
And you know, as Tally and Iwere getting ready, like I'd
gotten into the costume and wehad walked over.
(42:15):
We were in a hotel next door.
We walked over, I realized Ihad forgotten part of it.
It's like, okay, I'm gonna goback and grab that.
You go ahead.
And as I'm walking back withthe rest of my costume, I get a
text before I continue that.
I have to preface with therewas a faunus on Friday during
the day, another Duskwalkercosplay.
(42:36):
And I talked to them, you know,in the vendor hall a little
bit, and I was excited becausethere was going to be two
Duskwalkers there, myself andthis faunus.
And as I'm coming a little bitlate to the costume karaoke,
Tally texts me saying, Get overhere.
There's a Magnar, Magnar's herealready.
I'm like, Oh, okay.
(42:57):
And then I wait, do you meanFaunus?
No, Magnar, there was a thirdDusk Walker there, too.
Tally (43:03):
Yeah, that's my favorite series.
Like, I'm not gonna get themwrong, dude.
Kyle (43:09):
I know, but I just was I remembering it correctly, but
yeah, so there was a Magnarthere, and uh the Faunus did
show up again a bit later, and Iwas there as Orpheus.
The other two were there withtheir partners, was also
cosplaying the respectivebrides.
I was alone.
Mari (43:27):
Well, there was a witch out the the owl witch was there
too.
There was a person dressed asowl brother.
Tally (43:31):
I think you address your bride, though.
Kyle (43:33):
I know, I know, I wouldn't.
Tally (43:36):
But if there were any other volunteers, I would have
well um, but yeah, the owl witchwas there, and I I saw her and
I should say that you guysgetting the attention that you
so rightfully deserve.
Kyle (43:48):
Yeah, yeah, it was neat when Opal Rain herself showed up
and she started talking to me,and it took a second, but I
realized who it was prettyquickly, and she asked, Oh, how
well can you see in that thing?
I'm like, Ah, pretty well.
And she goes, This is Opal, bythe way.
Looking back at the picturesthat people took, it was a lot
(44:11):
brighter in the atrium therethan I realized.
Like, I didn't I thought it waspretty dark in there, but I
guess it was just because I waswearing masks the whole time,
right?
But yeah, it was really funwith the whole family photo with
not just three dusk walkers,but three different dusk
walkers.
There weren't any duplicateslike I kind of expected there to
be, but they were also frombooks one, two, and three in the
(44:34):
series, right?
Yeah, yep, and the brides andthe owl witch, which owl, I
don't remember what we call her.
The and then, of course, themother of all of them, Opal,
were there, so there's some nicegroup photos, leading away, and
then lots of lots of pictures,and it was a good time.
I did want to sing something inkaraoke, and I was trying to
(44:56):
figure out what would be funnyfor Orpheus to go up and sing,
but by the time I, you know, gotmyself in the queue, my voice
was gone and it was too late.
It didn't even get close toreaching me anyway.
Mari (45:08):
Yeah, but so it was probably for the best, but um
yeah, I almost wish that karaokehad gone for like another hour.
I agree, I think it could haveeasily.
Oh, if it did.
Tally (45:22):
I think people were pointing on going out dancing
afterwards, and but my35-year-old body was not gonna
do any of that.
Kyle (45:33):
Yeah, there was a group that went to a club about that.
Mari (45:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Kyle (45:37):
And I'm like, how?
Mari (45:39):
Yeah, no, thank you.
Like my my 45-year-old selfalready using a cane just to
just to walk around all day.
No, it's like I applaud yourenergy, people.
Jen (45:50):
Also, Kyle, I don't know if it was you or if it was one of
the other dustwalkers, but all Iknow is one of the dustwalkers
was playing with Rich and mytwo-year-old daughter because
she was also at the hotel withus during the weekend.
And she would go, I think shesaid dustwalker.
Kyle (46:09):
That was me, yeah.
I didn't notice it.
I think it must have been oneof you who said that she was
roaring at me, so she did again.
And I roared peeking around thecorner at her.
Jen (46:19):
She absolutely loved it.
Kyle (46:21):
That's that's good.
Glad to hear it.
Mari (46:25):
Wholesome monster vibes.
Tally (46:27):
I was also surprised by the the 360 camera that was
there.
Yeah, that was so fun.
None of us were expecting it.
And I loved that you couldcould download the videos right
away.
I felt so awkward doing it.
I never know what to do withthose things, but I just had fun
watching people do it.
I loved watching people go astheir characters or just kind of
(46:48):
goof around.
It was I I would love to seeall of those uploaded somewhere.
Kyle (46:53):
Oh, yeah, that'd be great.
I mean, they are like when youfollow the link, it did it did
show like all of them.
I went through some of them andjust looked and and watched.
So fun.
Um, I don't know how long theyget they stay up there, but you
could check again.
Mari (47:12):
It was yeah, I did not expect that to be there, but
that was a fun little memento ofthe event.
And then a little surprise.
Right, right.
And then the the last night ofit for the evening activity,
they had the book trivia.
Did did anybody do book trivia?
Tally (47:26):
Yeah, our table was hilarious that we had.
Kyle (47:32):
I think most tables were hilarious.
Tally (47:33):
All a bunch of I mean, it was all a bunch of strangers,
and we're all just yelling, andCassie's trying to run all this
thing.
None of us can see the dang TV.
Also, we got which I wasplaying with we were detachable
penis.
Katie (47:51):
We were no thoughts, just vibes.
Wasn't it no thoughts justvibes?
No, no thoughts, just vibes.
Rich (47:56):
I'm trying to remember what I think we were like
monster DMV or something.
Whenever a question came upabout Opal's books, she'd like
run to other tables and tellthem fake answers.
Kyle (48:07):
I love there, there were a few of them where like they
asked a question and then theauthor was everybody looked over
to the authors and then theyrevealed the answer, and a
couple times they're like, No,that's wrong.
Mari (48:20):
I've heard it from the horse's mouth right there.
So um yeah, my my table was abunch of strangers.
We did not know each other.
We we thought we knew ourbooks, but none of us knew the
answers.
I think we we had like, I swearthe lowest points, but we had
fun, and that's what it wasabout.
So it's fine.
I think we've got to be a goodone.
At our table, somebody broughtUbe cookies.
Nice.
(48:40):
I think I met that person thefirst day, like Ube Mache Macha
cookies, they were very good.
Yeah, uh like asked her for therecipe.
Um anything else about theevent that we haven't talked
about.
I never wanted to leave.
Speaker 5 (48:57):
Yeah, no, yeah, two days.
Kyle (49:00):
I I think it could have gone three days and been great.
Jen (49:02):
I agree.
Absolutely.
Rich (49:05):
Honestly, I asked probably about 25 different vendors and
authors.
It felt like it was just I likejust how they were enjoying it.
And every single author, everysingle vendor that I spoke to,
even the even the tattoo artistswere talking about how
wonderful this convention was.
And even after the con andtalking to some of them, it is
(49:28):
it's just it's become kind ofeven like the authors referring
to it as like the the like thepinnacle of the book cons that
they've been to.
Mari (49:36):
And I was nice because there was such I don't know a
lot of them sold out, which isgood.
You know, it's good for theirbusiness too.
Tally (49:42):
Yes, I mean Rose Santriello sold out halfway
through through the firstsession, is when they sold out.
And I actually overheard, I waswalking through the hotel and I
overheard Cast.
He was so incredible.
You guys have been amazing, andeverybody's been so kind and
(50:05):
polite.
And I was sitting there justgiggling, going, hee hee hee
hee, I know what's happening.
Kyle (50:13):
Yeah, I did kind of want to say on that note, the last
round of the bookish trivia waslike they showed a piece of
artwork from a book, and we theyhad to guess like what it was
and who the author was, and theystarted saying that all of this
art has been cleared by thehotel.
I don't know how they got thatartwork clear.
Katie (50:37):
Definitely not safe work.
Jen (50:39):
No, no, but it was a good time.
Mari (50:42):
Children's game policy.
Jen (50:44):
Yeah, who knows?
Maybe the person who wasreviewing it liked that book.
Kyle (50:50):
Maybe, but still.
Mari (50:54):
I mean, that could have been the entire book triview,
it's just like pictures andguessing what it's from, and
that would have been fun.
Like it was such a good time.
Katie (51:02):
Yeah, definitely needed a couple more screens for that
though.
Tally (51:05):
Yeah, yeah, I couldn't see.
I'm like, I wear glasses, Ican't see y'all.
Like I kept running up thehands and taking pull a bunch of
nerds here.
Jen (51:14):
None of us can see what's happening.
Kyle (51:17):
That is something that I remember Tally talking about,
and like when they werediscussing ahead of time that
Saturday would be bookish triviaand you know, pajama themed.
We were expecting it to be likea little cozy kind of intimate
event.
I don't know if intimate's theright word.
Tally (51:33):
There were so many more people.
Kyle (51:34):
It was like the entire atrium hall of tables.
Yeah, yeah, so I thinkeverybody who was at the con and
then some were at that trivia.
Yeah.
Katie (51:43):
Yeah, I think it was just like it was the last thing.
So everyone was like, I have tobe there.
Yeah, I don't care what it is,but it's the last time I'm gonna
get to hang out with all ofyou.
I need to be there.
Mari (51:50):
Right.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Yeah, all in all, it was agreat event.
I hope I get to go back to toit again if they do it again,
and I would 100% recommend it toanyone who likes monster
romance.
It was a great event.
Agreed, 100%.
Oh yeah.
All right.
I think you guys have said somesomewhat where people can find
you.
But if you if there's anythingelse you want to plug, any
(52:12):
projects you're doing, anywebsites, what you're reading, a
charity, whatever.
Anything else you want to plugbefore I do the little outro?
Tally (52:20):
All right.
I will.
So as I said, you can find meon Instagram at Smutton
Stitches.
I uh try to do reviews.
It's almost all monster romancewith some occasional
contemporary and fantasy thrownin.
I am also a rep for RenegadeRomance, and they're an amazing
(52:41):
group of people with LGBTQinclusive, great book boxes,
great merch.
And then I also have an Etsyshop where you can get the
little trinkets that I broughtfor trade.
So bookmarks, keychains,earrings, and my Etsy shop is
called Two Black Dogs Co.
Kyle (53:02):
Uh, as I said earlier, I am phaser shift pretty much
everywhere, even though I'm notvery active.
But I will say that doing thisOrpheus cosplay for Monstrotica
has inspired me again to work onmore cosplays.
And so I've got another kind ofmonster-ish one for an anime
(53:22):
con coming up, at least planned.
And posting about it onInstagram or even anywhere, I
don't really share things, butI've posted a couple progress
pictures of the Orpheus there.
So I'm thinking maybe I'llstart posting more cosplays and
stuff on there.
Rich (53:40):
Maybe probably not, but yeah.
Kyle (53:43):
And someday I'll start streaming again.
Rich (53:46):
Um once again, I'm I'm Rich.
I'm Minotaur Reads onInstagram.
I did just create thatInstagram account after Monster
Alcott because that kind of gaveme the kick I needed to start
my own Bookstagram that you knowwasn't you know, family and
co-workers could see.
But yeah, I just I mainly postreviews, it's relatively new,
(54:11):
but yeah, hop on by.
It's just uh hoping to continueoff.
Jen (54:16):
Again, my name is Jen Demi Angel2 on Instagram, TikTok,
pretty much everything.
And yeah, I'm looking forwardto the next Monster Radico.
Katie (54:27):
And I'm Katie, I'm Madcat Katie on Instagram.
I am currently transitioning toa Bookstagram account, so love
to get to know people, reachout, meet some awesome new
people.
Mari (54:38):
Nice.
All right, so I'm gonna wrap itup.
Thanks for listening to OfSwords and Soulmates.
Before we go, make sure tocheck the show notes, rate,
review, and subscribe to us onyour podcast app of choice.
It helps others to find us.
Follow us on Instagram at OfSwords and Soulmates.
Check us out on our website atof Swordsandsoulmates.com or on
YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, andPinterest.
Same username.
If you'd like to offer asuggestion for future episode or
(54:59):
just give us your opinion,reach out to us on any of those
methods.
If you want to read along withus as we prep for new episodes,
follow us on Goodreads at OfSwords and Soulmates or for
chapter-by-chapter interactionon the Fable app at the Of
Swords and Soulmates book club.
And we now are also on Tome atOf Swords and Soulmates.
Last but not least, if youenjoy Monster Romance and you
enjoy podcasts, we'd love topoint you to the Hissin and
(55:21):
Kissin podcast.
So it's Southern, it's withoutthe G's, H-I-S-S-N in Kissing,
K-SSIN Podcast.
It's a monster romance podcast.
They talk about monsters ingeneral and then books, media,
video games, fan fiction, etc.
They're good people, good timeswould recommend.
Anything else anybody wants tosay before we wrap it up?
(55:43):
Thanks for having us.
Kyle (55:44):
Thank you.
Mari (55:45):
Yeah, thanks so much.
Yeah, thank you so much.
It's been a blast.
It was great talking to youguys again.
Same, same.
Alrighty.
Well, bye.
unknown (55:54):
Bye.
Mari (55:55):
Bye.
Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
participants.
The hosts make no claims to beliterary experts, and their
opinions are exactly that.
Opinions.
All creative works discussed orreviewed are the intellectual
property of the creators of saidstories and is being used under
the fair use doctrine.
Mari (00:27):
Hello and welcome to Absorts and Soulmates, a podcast
where we read, watch, anddiscuss romanticy stories and
romantic adjacent things.
I'm one of your usual hosts,Mari, and with me I have a
different crew today for a veryspecial bonus episode.
With me I have Tally.
Tally (00:44):
Tally.
I'm Tally, aka Smut andStitches on Instagram.
Nice.
Kyle (00:52):
And Kyle?
I'm Kyle.
I'm actually Tally's brother.
And I'm I go by Phaser Shiftpretty much everywhere.
Cool.
And we have Rich.
Rich (01:02):
Hi, everybody.
I'm Rich on Instagram.
I am Minotaur Reads.
Mari (01:07):
And Jen.
Jen (01:08):
Hi everyone.
I'm Jen.
I'm Demi Angel2 on Instagram.
Demi Angel pretty mucheverywhere else.
Nice to talk to you.
And we have Katie.
Katie (01:18):
Hi, I'm Katie.
I am Madcap Katie on Instagram.
Mari (01:22):
Awesome.
We've got the whole crew here.
So today we're going to betalking about our experiences at
the first ever MonsteroticaBookCon that took place in
Baltimore, Maryland, at theHyatt Regency Baltimore Inner
Harbor on May 8th through May10th of this year, 2025, hosted
by Unfortunate Reads.
None of us knew each other.
Well, I guess Tally and Kyle,you guys knew each other.
And Rich Jen and Katie, youguys knew each other, but all of
(01:44):
us did not know each otherbeforehand.
And it's a testament to the Ithink the nature of and the
commodity of the con of how wegot together to decide to do
this with basically strangers.
All right, so I'm just gonnakind of have everyone introduce
themselves.
I'll introduce myself first incase anyone is listening to just
(02:05):
this episode and has neverheard of us before.
Um I'm Mari.
I'm one of the hosts on OfSwords and Soulmates.
We generally do romancystories, but I like to read.
So I like to read beyond justromanticity.
Um monster romance is one of myjams.
I got into monster romance.
See, this question depends onhow you define a monster.
(02:26):
For me personally, if it can'tpass as human, it's a monster.
Yeah, yeah.
So like if it's a vampire or ashifter that can pass as human
most of the time, I don't countthat as a monster romance,
personally.
I know everyone's got their owndefinition, so I don't count
like my vampire phase or myshifter phase.
So for me, I would say itstarted with like Krampus books.
(02:47):
Like I got into holiday readingand then I was like, oh
Krampus.
Oh, oh Krampus.
Okay.
And it just went downhill oruphill from there, however, you
however you want to judge it.
Um I have been to cons before.
I go to Dragon Con in Atlantaevery year, which is a general
like sci-fi fantasy fandom kindof con.
(03:10):
And I went to my first book conlast year in Orlando, Romanity
Con.
So I've had a few under mybelt.
Not not a ton, but a few.
And yeah.
Tally, you want to introduceyourself a little?
Tally (03:26):
Yeah.
So as I said, I'm Tally.
I kind of switched over intolike the bookstagram scene a few
years ago, smutton stitches.
I've always been a big fan offantasy and kind of monsters.
My upbringing was very outthere.
There was nothing really kindof taboo or off-limited.
(03:49):
And I think a lot of people hadthoughts when it came to Kovu
in The Lion King 2.
And I think that's where minestarted, but I didn't get into
just gonna blow right past that.
I didn't get into monstermonster romance until 2022.
I was doing mostly fan fictionreading.
(04:11):
I was really disappointed withthe way that the new Star Wars
trilogy ended.
So I started getting reallyinto fan fiction, and someone
had shared a Raylo fan fiction,but it was inspired by Ice
Planet Barbarians.
Ah.
So I read it and I was like,this seems like a really cool
(04:33):
world.
I'm gonna have to do someresearch because I loved reading
as a kid and I just kind ofslowed down and did a lot more
of just like online stuff sincehaving kids and trying to work.
And so I looked up Ruby Dixonand read the synopsis for the
first one.
I was like, okay, I'm gonnagive it a try.
I did the entire Ice PlanetBarbarian series within a month.
(04:55):
That series is 22 books.
Wow.
I would binge read like twobooks a night because I have no
respect for myself.
And it kind of just spiraledfrom there.
I I fell in love with,especially like Faded Mates, and
you get a lot of that inMonster Romance.
(05:16):
So I I was hooked, and then itwent from there to Morning Glory
Milking Farm by CM Nescosta,and then it just kind of
exploded everywhere.
Um, I have never been to anyconvention.
Kyle (05:28):
Just in choice of words.
Tally (05:31):
Yeah, I know, I know.
You know what?
I'm mentally a 12-year-old boy.
So um, but I've never been toany kind of conventions.
I have always longed to go to aconvention.
I mean, I would watch clipsfrom San Diego Comic Con all the
time.
There would be, I've gotfriends who would go to the
(05:52):
Motor City Comic Con and werereally big into like recreation
of Star Wars costumes.
And then of course, my Kylealso was into cons, but I did go
to Dreaming Dirty in Michigan acouple of times.
And it's more of a signingevent than a con.
There were no panels oranything.
But it's like it was kind of myfirst taste of okay, we're
(06:14):
gonna shove you in a room with abunch of people to meet these
authors.
I was like, this is fun, alittle terrifying, but a little
fun.
And by the time it was fromstarting from like 2022 to
about, you know, early 2024, I'dheard of a polycon and just
felt sad that I'd never be ableto go and that I didn't know all
(06:37):
these authors, but I didn'twant to get into it because
sometimes I felt like it wasreally just completely out of
the scope of possibility for me.
But I was following Cassie, herunfortunate reads, uh Instagram
and her TikTok because shewould review a lot of monster
romance books.
And then she posted MonsterRotica.
I was hooked.
(06:58):
I was like, oh my gosh, I haveto go.
I was telling my husband aboutit.
I was telling random peopleabout it, that I was like, oh,
you like books?
I like books.
Let me tell you about the weirdstuff that I read.
And then I'd never hear fromthose people again.
Um and then I told my brotherabout it.
So I I think because we had asimilar kind of reading taste
(07:21):
growing up, I just reached outto my brother because people ask
me who my best friends are, andI will say my husband and my
brother.
And that's okay because it'strue.
We're all a couple of weirdos.
And I reached out to Kyle andKyle kind of took over from
there, and we were able to dosomething as siblings, and it
was really amazing.
Mari (07:42):
Cool.
Kyle, what about you?
Kyle (07:45):
So yeah, again, going off of what Jelly was talking about,
I guess I'll start at the topof the list again.
I'm Kyle.
I go by Phaser Shift mosteverywhere.
I I've done some Twitchstreaming, I've done some
cosplay, I'll get into that, butI'm not really active on any
sort of social media.
(08:05):
I actually had my firstInstagram post ever just to
share what I wore for the con.
Mari (08:12):
Which was pretty darn cool.
Kyle (08:13):
Monsterotica.
But yeah, I'll go actually alittle bit out of order.
So I heard about Monsterotica,as you just heard from Tally.
I knew that she was into theMonster Omach romance books, and
she had her her Instagram, andI always thought that that was a
cool thing for her to do, andyou know, a niche that she fit
(08:35):
well into.
And she told me about MonsterOtica, she's like, Hey, there's
this convention coming up that Ireally want to go to, but I
know I'm never gonna be able to.
And I'm like, you know what?
I think that's a great idea forsomething for us to do
together, because I I wanted to,you know, do something just to
to show my appreciation for mysister over all the years of
putting up with me.
(08:55):
And and so I'm sitting therewhen the tickets were on sale.
I'm yeah, I know.
I'm sitting there at workrefreshing my phone, and I I got
the two tickets before theysold out in five minutes, and
and then at that point, I'mlike, you know, I should
probably start reading some ofthis monster romance stuff, just
(09:16):
so I can you know know what'sgoing on.
So I started asking Tally forbook recommendations, and she
let me pull out my Kindle so Ican remember what she uh such a
good checklist.
Tally (09:30):
Yeah, I think my first one I had you read was The
Spider's Mate.
Tiffany Roberts.
Kyle (09:36):
No, actually, uh it may have been, but there was the uh
Corrupted Mate, I believe is thefirst one they had me, which is
book two by Trish Heinrich,because it was male and female
aliens, and it was alright.
I I found I didn't enjoy it toomuch, but then you had me read
(09:57):
Spider's Mate series, and Iliked that one a lot more.
But something that I've talkedabout a lot and feel a little
uncomfortable about, I guess youcould say, is that romance is a
very female-dominated genre,and I'm a guy and I like girls,
so I want my monsters to beladies, and my ladies to be
(10:18):
monsters.
So after I read that, shesuggested Surrendering to Scylla
by Ren K.
Morris, and I loved that book,it was everything I wanted.
So, you know, afterwards I wentthrough all of the or a lot of
the authors that were going tobe at the con, and you know,
reading a couple from each one,trying to focus more on the
(10:42):
female monsters and stuff likethat.
But and I would say that wasthe first time I got into
monster romance, but as I wasreading, I realized I've
actually been into monsterromance, not necessarily books,
but just in general, in forquite a while.
Um, just being in various, youknow, fantasy fandoms, and the
(11:04):
whole furry scene has kind ofthat, and there's been some
games I've played, I guess youcould say, that have been a
little bit similar to MonsterRomance.
Yeah, and so it's like, ohyeah, I was already part of this
group, I didn't even know it.
One of us.
It's been around and prevalentmuch more than people realized.
(11:27):
Yeah, I mean, then I guess towrap up a bit, I as Telly said,
I have been to quite a few,mostly anime cons, but a few
other like fantasy or gamingconventions.
Uh, not super often.
Like maybe I'll do a couple ina year and then take a few years
off.
But I I've been to quite a fewand I cosplay a couple times,
(11:49):
and um, but I had never been toa book con before, so this one
was quite a bit different thanwhat I'm used to for anime
conventions.
It was a little bit unusual orlike a bit of a surprise to see
how different it was.
But still, I went and I had alot of fun, even if I don't
(12:12):
really follow the authors, andmost of them I've only read like
one book, except for a couplewhere I've read the series.
So I am not too familiar and Ididn't really have a desire to
get anything signed, but stillgoing, doing all the trading,
meeting other people.
Um, it was a lot of fun, andI'm really glad I was able to go
with my sister.
Mari (12:32):
Cool.
What about you, Rich?
Uh hey guys.
Rich (12:37):
So once again, I'm Rich.
And actually, so we're gonnahit a kind hit on a couple of
similar themes here.
I actually got into monsterromance because I was big into
romantic for quite a while.
I when I started getting backinto reading, I picked up a lot
of more traditional fantasystories, and I noticed that the
books that I really enjoyed hada romance element to them.
(12:59):
Um, and then my sister, Katie,one day she was already into
monster romance, and she startedtelling me about these books
that she was reading andrecommending certain book
series.
And I believe about three yearsago, the first one I picked up
was the Creature Cafe series byCleo Evans.
(13:21):
And such a good series, yeah.
Yeah, really enjoy that.
I read all of those, at leastthey were out at the time, and I
continued reading them, and Ikind of dove in, and this has
been the main genre that Ifollow pretty much ever since.
I think that yeah, that wasabout I think I said three years
ago.
So yeah, but it was it's justkind of been all consuming.
(13:45):
But as far as cons go, we'vebeen going to cons for about
almost 20 years.
So we are close to New YorkComic-Con.
So that is our main convention.
We go just about every year.
I've also been to a couple oflike gaming conventions, uh, PAX
(14:06):
East and PAX Unplugged.
But this was my very first bookconvention, and I actually I
have to say, I think that it'sprobably my favorite convention
that I've ever been to.
Mari (14:18):
Nice.
Rich (14:18):
Um, even more so than like I know, yeah, even more so than
like New York Comic Con.
So it really was just thatgreat.
Jen (14:26):
Jen, what about you?
Well, I am Jen, again, DemiAngel 2 on Instagram.
And I am actually Rich's wife,and I got into Monster Romance
actually, I believe, because I Iloved to read.
I've loved reading ever since Iwas a little kid.
(14:47):
I don't remember, from myrecollection, of reading any
monster romance when I wasyounger or even a couple of
years ago, but when Katie andRich started getting very into
the monster romance scene, theywere reading a lot of books, and
I would ask them what they werereading, and the theme sounded
nice.
So I asked for recommendations.
(15:09):
And the first recommendationthat I had gotten was actually
from Katie, and it was MorningGlory Milking Farm, and I
absolutely fell in love with it,and then I branched out into
reading all the Holocopes books.
I'm actually I missed readingone that's probably gonna be one
of the next ones I read.
But regardless, I actually fellin love with the genre and
(15:32):
regarding Monsterotica, theywere both going to the
convention.
I've never been to Baltimore,and I said, if you guys don't
mind, can I tag along?
I'd love to go and see theauthors, see you know, the key
people going, see what's goingon, and see the city itself too.
So I tagged along, absolutelyloved it, so excited for the
(15:55):
next one.
Yeah, and so I kind of was thethird wheel of this.
And just in regards to anycons, it was actually our first
book com together, just for allof us, nice, but I've been to
PAX East, PAX Unplugged, and asRich said, numerous years of New
(16:18):
York Comic Con.
Nice.
What about you, Katie?
Katie (16:22):
So hello again, I'm Katie.
Mad to have Katie on Instagram.
I actually got into MonsterRomance through my roommate from
college.
She was really big into theromance scene, got really big
into monster romance.
She introduced me to Ice PlanetBarbarians, and that kind of
opened the door into thewonderful world of monster
romance.
From there, I got really biginto the Cleo Evans Creature
(16:43):
Cafe series, really big into CMNascosta, um, Ashley Bennett.
I love all of it.
And I've been really intomonster romance probably for at
least the past seven to tenyears.
Um, like Rich and Jen said,this was our first ever book
con.
It was a lot of fun.
I followed, I followed Cassieon Instagram for quite a long
(17:05):
time.
And when she started puttingout feelers about would people
be interested in going to amonster romance book convention,
I was from the get-go, I waslike, if this is a thing, I
don't care where it is, I willget there.
And like they said, I've beento a lot of New York Comic-Con
packs.
This by far is the bestconvention I've been to.
The community is so great,everyone's so welcoming.
(17:26):
It's very easy to introduceyourself to like-minded people
and not feel like you're gonnabe shut out or shunned.
Everyone's so lovely andwelcoming.
The authors are great, thevendors that were there were so
nice.
Yeah.
Mari (17:40):
Yeah.
No, I agree.
I I went solo to this one, andthis is the first con I've been
to or even book event that I'vebeen to by myself.
Like I've traveled by myselfbefore, but never like to an
event thing like this.
I initially bought, I got I wasable to get two tickets, and it
just everyone who waspotentially gonna go with me, it
all fell through.
So I'm like, that's fine, I'mstill going.
And I don't think I ever reallyfelt, you know, weird or like
(18:05):
anybody who was standoffish.
Like I thought it was, yeah, areally good, welcoming
community.
Tally (18:11):
One of the authors even said she's she said it was the
safest she's ever feltsurrounded by a complete group
of strangers.
Mari (18:18):
Yes.
Tally (18:20):
Absolutely.
And there go my dogs.
Mari (18:26):
So I've met Tally and Kyle first because we all did the
light rail from the airport.
We met at the airport and wentinto the the hotel from there.
So did anybody I was generaladmission.
What was everyone else's ticketlevel?
Did anybody do the Thursdaystuff?
Rich (18:45):
Um Katie and I were VIP, but we weren't the highest tier.
Okay.
unknown (18:51):
Okay.
Mari (18:52):
Yeah, so I didn't do anything on Thursday.
I was if I my whole thing wasif I got there early enough to
to do the registration, I wasgonna take care of that, but I
didn't, and that was fine.
I thought registration onFriday morning was like super
easy.
Um super easy.
Yeah.
I don't know if I was justanxious about it or used to you
know events where people arelike lining up way in advance or
(19:14):
whatever.
Tally (19:14):
But yeah, I was so anxious about it.
I was like, oh my gosh, am Igonna get there in time?
And how's this gonna work?
And then we get there, I wasable to walk right up.
Here's your bag.
I was like, I know we got abag, but there's actually
goodies in here too.
Oh my goodness, and everybodywas so nice, and even like when
it came time to line up, peopleare like chatting.
(19:34):
Yeah.
Kyle (19:35):
Uh, I think one of the reasons for that, and a
difference from a lot of theother cons I've been to is I
mean, there are only a setnumber of tickets and they're
all sold already.
So there's nobody buyingtickets at the door at
registration.
And I there weren't likepre-printed badges that somebody
had to find.
There was just the you know,what tier are you, general or
(19:57):
VIP, and then you had yourdifferent bags, but otherwise it
was just grab one and go, writeyour name and put your pronouns
on your badge, and and that'sit.
So it was like, I mean, I knowwe didn't show up right at the
beginning on Friday, but it wasjust walk up to the counter.
I wasn't, I was even unsure,like, is this registration?
Yeah, there's no line here,it's just a table with some
(20:20):
people behind it.
Jen (20:21):
So it's like yeah, what lender do you want?
Rich (20:25):
Yeah, yeah.
And I honestly I feel like oneof the things that really helped
with this too was the fact thatI don't know about some of the
other cons you guys have beento, but a lot of the time the
volunteers aren't really wellinformed.
So you go up to somebody with aquestion, or you go up and you
know, and they aren't even surewhere you're supposed to be.
And I think it it speaks tojust honestly how well prepared
(20:49):
Cassie was and how and how thatshe knew what to tell people
because every volunteer that Ispoke to throughout the entire
convention knew had the answers.
If not, they knew exactly whereto go to get them.
Everybody knew where peoplewere supposed to go.
So I think that reallycontributed to making
registration just a super smoothprocess.
Mari (21:12):
I agree.
And it's like they weren'tstressed out, even if things so
it didn't stress out anybodyelse, nobody felt stressed.
Yeah, exactly.
Tally (21:20):
Yeah, so even if things I felt like, you know, with any
kind of event, things are gonnago sideways and you have to kind
of plan for that.
But I think feel like of thethings that went sideways, they
were handled in such a way thatnobody felt super stressed.
Like I know that the panels hadless process seating than they
(21:40):
originally thought.
So they had to work with that,and they really quickly came up
with a an alternate plan on thatday, and it was just really
very smooth.
Nobody seemed upset, nobodyseemed stressed.
And I mean, I know I saw Cassierunning around like crazy, and
I'm sure she was stressed outbeyond belief, but all of the
staff and all of the volunteers,they all had their cool and
(22:05):
they were super helpful andsuper chill.
And I loved that there wasalways someone at registration.
So if you wanted to switch yourlanyard from, you know, ask to
I'm open for hugs, you you youcould just go up and talk to
them at any point.
Mari (22:18):
Yeah.
That's one thing that I thoughtwas really neat that I don't
think I'd seen done before atany event I'd been to.
They had the differentlanyards.
It was red, yellow, and green.
And red was like, don't touchme, yellow was asked and and
green was, you know, open tohugs and and touching and
whatnot.
That they had that and that youcould just switch it out
whenever, no questions asked.
(22:40):
I thought was really goodthinking ahead and like making
people feel comfortable.
Kyle (22:44):
Yeah, that is one thing I've noticed in this monster
romance community is howaccepting and welcoming and
accommodating everyone is forany sort of you know
requirements or or personalfeelings that people might have
with you know little pronounstickers I mentioned.
I really liked that they hadthose and they had a big variety
(23:04):
of them, plus the blank onethat you could just write your
own in.
And the the lanyards for youryou know, the physical consent.
It was all very inclusive, andI loved how they did that.
And like you said, it's notsomething I've seen at another
con.
I think I may have seen sometalking about it, but I haven't
been to one with them.
Katie (23:23):
Yeah.
This is also, I think, thefirst convention I've been to
where they had a spot on yourbadge that you could put like
your name or like your Instagramhandle, your Discord handle.
So that way, if you might notknow what someone looks like,
but you've talked to themonline, you can be like, Oh my
god, I know who you are.
We've talked a bunch online, orI follow you on Instagram.
So it made it feel a lot moreof like a personal group
(23:46):
experience instead of just likea bunch of strangers in a room.
Right.
I agree.
Tally (23:50):
Well, I think it also helped the authors by having
like the name tag really visiblebecause you know they're
signing things.
And as long as you've got yourname tag present and visible,
they don't have to go, okay, howdo you spell?
And it was loud, you know, itwasn't ungodly loud, but you
know, if there's there'scertain, I'm sure my name would
have gotten misspelled.
And because everybody, youknow, tally's such a unique
(24:12):
name, but the fact the fact thatthey were just like, Okay, can
I see your badge?
What you know, your name and itbecause not only were the
badges super adorable, but youknow, and then they had the
space for your name if youwanted a nickname or if you
wanted to put your handleinstead.
Um, I thought that that wasreally awesome.
(24:32):
Awesome.
And then on the flip side,having the uh the QR codes for
the different so the the onlinecues.
Mari (24:41):
Yeah, how did that all access?
It's again queuing things inthe map.
Tally (24:44):
Have it all accessible with you.
You didn't have to lookanything up.
Mari (24:48):
Right.
How did you guys do you haveany what was your experience
like with the the whole onlinequeuing for for signing?
Did you guys get to do anybodythat you wanted to have stuff
signed?
Did you have any issues?
Rich (25:00):
Um we actually, yeah, we actually did have an issue with
Gemlin.
With Gemlin's on the first day,but it was honestly it was just
as the con opened for VIP onthe very first day.
So it was new, brand new foreverybody.
And it was just people wereaccessing the line through the
app.
But then once you got to thebooth to actually get checked
(25:22):
in, it was like everything gotall out of order.
So, like, for example, like Iwas number three, and like I
ended up pretty far back in theline, and like the people around
me were like 30, you know, 29,like 64.
It was just like people had noidea honestly what was going on.
But other than that, right atthe start of the con, I used it
(25:43):
a I used it two or three moretimes, and it it always seemed
to go pretty well.
Katie (25:48):
Yeah, I used it to get on Opal Rain and Regine Abel's
line, and it worked very wellfor me.
I liked that they kind of toldyou where your spot was.
You had if you were waiting inline for another author and you
were running late, you couldlike mark on it that you were
running late when it was yourtime so you didn't get kicked
off the queue.
Tally (26:05):
I asked I went to get in line for Regine and reorders or
pickups or anything like that.
And she was like, Okay, I'vegot you checked in.
If you want to go physicallines a little bit shorter, but
I've got you here.
And so those volunteers orstaff were super chill and
(26:29):
amazing, and they were like,Yeah, we got this.
Don't worry, we're just gonnago with the flow.
And you know, I know someauthors had to get added on
because lines were weird, andbut everybody was just kind of
like, I don't know what'shappening, we're just gonna go
with it.
Katie (26:41):
Yeah, everyone's very go with the flow.
It's like if something changed,even like the authors were
like, That's fine.
The the people there were likeit's all good.
It's just like everyone wantedto have a good time and wanted
to make sure it could run assmoothly as possible.
Kyle (26:54):
Yeah, yeah.
The the waitlist thing, I knowit had a couple issues the first
day just because people hadn'tused it before and they didn't
really know how.
So there were people that werelike getting in line multiple
times just because they wererefreshing the page when they
shouldn't have.
But once they figured out whyand and you know sent down an
announcement on the other app,uh Discord.
Mari (27:16):
Oh the other app, you're right.
Kyle (27:17):
Well Discord, yes, but the I'm blanking at the app, which
was like the app they used forthe con in general, explaining
how it should be used, it wasvery smooth, and I think it was
a great idea just to keep thelines down, otherwise they would
have completely clogged up thatvendor hall.
Mari (27:34):
Right.
Kyle (27:35):
Um, so even if it wasn't you weren't in the exact order
that you were signed up in theapp, it was like, okay, they you
know you're coming up soon, soget in line, and then they'd
mark you as there, and then youjust wait in a line that's 10
people instead of 30.
Mari (27:51):
Yeah.
And it gave you the opportunityto just walk around and look at
everything else and andparticipate in the vending
instead of just standing inline.
You know, you knew you had themaximum minutes.
Kyle (28:01):
Yeah, and some other cons I know there's been times where
it's like you miss several ofthe panels or other things that
you wanted to do because youwere waiting in line for a
certain author or a certainvoice actor.
Mari (28:13):
Yeah, I've heard I've heard horror stories.
Kyle (28:17):
So it was it was real nice to be able to do that.
Although I I was feeling alittle uncomfortable when I I
only used it once to get in OpalRain's line, and it was like I
sign up, okay, I'm a ways downthe list, so I have some time to
do something else, and then Igot a text saying, You're up
next.
I'm like, wait, what?
I'm not ready.
(28:37):
Not emotionally ready for this.
Katie (28:39):
That's a good thing because it's a three to five
minutes process.
Tally (28:44):
Yeah, I agree.
Like my I do think day twomoved much faster.
Mari (28:49):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:51):
Absolutely.
Mari (28:52):
Yeah, by day two, I was able to like there were parts
where you can just go up and andget in line that there wasn't
even wait list for people thatwas waitless on day one, didn't
even have wait lists on day twoby towards the end of it,
because I guess everybody whowas on that list already got to
see them, so it was easier tojust walk up to some of them
too.
So yeah.
Kyle (29:11):
I will say though, and this may just be my bias, the
the Yap app that had like theschedule, the guest list, and
the map.
I don't think that was entirelynecessary because the schedule
was linear, meaning there wasonly one event at any time and
there were gaps between becauseall the cons I've been to like
had expansive schedules whereyou had to choose I want to go
(29:33):
to this one or that one.
Yes, and it was nice not tohave to choose, but I mean, I
found you you didn't really needthe schedule or the app to see
what events there were becausethere was one panel and there
was the vendor hall, and thenyou know the monster characters.
Tally (29:48):
I did like the digital building map though, yeah.
Mari (29:52):
That was really nice, as opposed to just the vendor map.
Yeah, yeah, I didn't access theYap app, I don't think at all
during the con.
Because I agree.
That schedule was really it wasactually it was really
refreshing to not have to pickbetween multiple things.
And it was refreshing to belike, okay, this is a time where
now it's like lunchtime or goin the room and take a nap time.
(30:12):
Whatever.
It's time to like refresh yourbatteries however way you do
that, which I think made theentire day more enjoyable.
Kyle (30:20):
Not even just for us as attendees, but for the
volunteers and staff and theauthors and guests having to
enjoy their as well.
Right.
Having breaks and stuff likethat where they didn't have to
be at their booth all day.
Right.
Was really nice for thembecause that is another thing
that I think is a big differencebetween the anime cons that
(30:42):
I've been to and this, wherelike at anime cons or other
cons, there's the vendors thatare selling things and then
there's the guests that aresigning things.
Here, pretty much all of theguests were vendors.
So they weren't there just tostand at their booth and sell
things, they were there to youknow interact and participate in
(31:03):
panels and stuff like that.
So having those breaks and thetimes for the vendor hall to
shut down so they could do thepanel or take lunch, I think was
a very good way to run a smallcon like this.
Mari (31:16):
I agree.
I think that break for likelunch and that break for for
dinner or break in the afternoonas well, I think allowed people
to do other things together.
Like Opal Rain had a a lunchthing that she did with people
from the Discord that you knowwasn't officially part of the
con.
Tally (31:33):
They couldn't get it was for people who maybe lived
nearby but didn't necessarilyweren't able to get tickets
because I'm on her Discord aswell.
And I thought, you know, thatwas really awesome that she was
able to do that.
And I know a lot of theseauthors and vendors are and
artists are friends, but havenever had the opportunity to
meet in person.
So it gave people the thechance to go get lunch or go get
(31:56):
coffee or dinner together, andI thought that was really cool
as well.
Yeah.
Kyle (32:00):
It also helped with people that have you know strong
anxiety and FOMO, fear ofmissing out.
Yes, because when it's a fullschedule, it's like, you know, I
could go to this panel, right?
I could go get lunch, or I canspend some more time in the
vendor hall, or go to thispanel, or I could go to the
panel and then starve.
Yeah.
(32:20):
So yeah, it freed up people sothey weren't worried about
having to choose between things.
Mari (32:27):
Right.
Just decision paralysis was outof the picture.
Kyle (32:30):
Exactly.
It was very, very stress-free.
Katie (32:34):
I also feel like having that nice break in the middle
gave everyone a time to kind ofjust like reboot.
So like everyone in theafternoon was like in a good
mood.
Because like we've been to conswhere it's the afternoon and
everyone's just miserablebecause you've been on your feet
all day, it's too crowded,you're just it's too much.
Where it's like you just get anice time, recharge your
batteries, come back, thevendors are in a good mood, the
authors are in a good mood, theguests are in a good mood.
(32:55):
Absolutely.
Mari (32:56):
Yeah, I agree.
Tally (32:58):
Um, it also I felt was beneficial because if even if
you didn't want to do lunch orsomething like that, that there
was that beautiful atrium, andpeople just hung out there
during lunch and dinner timesfor trades or just to socialize.
And I I did that during lunch.
I just would sit there until itwas time to head up to the
panel and met some reallyamazing people just kind of
(33:21):
chilling.
Yeah.
Mari (33:23):
Yeah, there were some really talented people making
things and printing things andyou know, whatever for the the
trades.
And it was a good way to liketalk to people.
Katie (33:33):
Yeah, I really like perfect segment.
Yeah, because it's just likefor people who have like social
anxiety and it's hard to talk toother people, it's a great way
to kind of introduce yourselfand just be like, hi, I'm
so-and-so.
Are you guys trading?
You want to trade?
And you kind of talk to someonefor a little bit and you can
get to meet somebody.
It's a really nice, easy way toput yourself out there without
(33:57):
feeling uncomfortable.
Right.
Rich (33:59):
That's always my issue, even at these kind of events
where I know people areinterested in the same kind of
things as I am, is I'm it's onceI'm talking to somebody, it's
fine, but actually getting up tothem and talking to them.
It and the trading really wasjust such a nice icebreaker.
Tally (34:15):
It really, really helped.
Oh, yeah.
Kyle (34:19):
Yeah, I had that was part of a lot of the fun that I had
leading up to the con was 3Dprinting all my little trades
because I've got my printers andI don't have reason to use them
too much, but doing this andyou know, showing off the things
that I've been making and stufflike that, it was a lot of fun
to kind of build the excitementfor me.
(34:41):
And at the con, you know,people who would seek me out and
me seeking others out becausewe were sharing what we were
making to trade or even not totrade, just to hand out was fun.
I know I enjoyed I made little3D printed magnetic penes, and
uh I really enjoyed that findinganything magnetic and just kind
(35:03):
of sticking them around.
Um they were very hard to find.
Tally (35:07):
He was he was trying to do it to people too.
People look at him so weird.
Kyle (35:19):
I just kind of like slink up and try to stick it to the
handle their book cards, but I'dsay like 90% of them were
aluminum and not magnetic, and Iwas so upset.
There were a couple that I got,and there was even somebody I
was talking to, you know, later,and she was just like, I just
found one of these on my handle.
I don't I just you know went tograb my cart and suddenly there
was a dick in my handle.
Mari (35:42):
That was me.
I did that.
So uh yeah, good time.
Good time.
Tally (35:50):
My favorite was when people would share what trades
they had, and they'd be like,Okay, well, I'm at the couches
in the atrium, or I'm over here,and then all of a sudden you'd
be like, save a dragon dick forme, and people would like
humbling, or I hit half of usare in freaking costumes trying
(36:10):
to find tiny little threeemployees for the hotel saying
that they were just having ablast watching the people trade.
And it was it was just so muchfun because you're like, look, I
didn't bring anything except myundying love and devotion.
People are throwing trades ateach each other, and yeah, it
(36:32):
was just so much fun.
Kyle (36:33):
And like there's the the three tables out in the atrium
that were basically just alwayscovered with random trades,
people would spread out theirwares, yes, you would just pick
through.
Oh, this is cute, I want this,and uh like I had done that, set
my bag down and went offsomewhere else for a minute.
I came back and there was likea tentacle pen just sitting on
my backpack.
(36:54):
Like, I guess somebody tradedthat with me, but okay.
Tally (36:58):
You know, have a passenger.
Well, it's okay because I feellike in that way it also it
reduced some of that stigma ofgetting like, okay, am I gonna
give something equal or notequal?
You know.
So I because I only brought acertain amount, I had laser
engraved goodies, so the wooden,I had some earrings and some
keychains and some bookmarks,and a lot of people are like,
(37:19):
Well, I just brought stickers.
Jokes on them.
I'm a sticker whore and I lovestickers.
So I will gladly rifle througha whole bunch of stickers and
pull out my favorites, you know.
And then there was someone whobrought like liquid IV and Pure
L.
And I'm like, that is thesmartest thing I've seen all
day.
That is the mom in me goingout, like, yes, hydration
(37:41):
people.
Absolutely.
Mari (37:43):
Did anybody go to any of the panels?
I did not make it to any of thepanels.
Did anybody get panels?
Rich (37:49):
I really wanted to go to Friday's panel, but it was one
of those deals where when theissue came up with the seating,
it was just kind of one of thosethings where I've I've been at
cons before where I like have towait in line for a really long
time to get in panels.
And I was like, you know what?
It's better that somebodysomebody else can have the seat
that I were taking.
Mari (38:06):
Yeah.
Kyle (38:07):
So we could make it to both of the panels.
Yes, we did.
Mari (38:11):
How were they?
Kyle (38:13):
They were fun.
Um they were a littledifferent.
Yeah, you're you're kind ofgetting out a little bit too.
But but they were fun.
The I was a little surprisedthat I guess maybe not
surprised, but they weredifferent formats.
Like the first one, I willnever remember anybody's name,
let alone the authors, but theyhad one person who was acting as
(38:35):
like the host asking thequestions to the series of
authors that were sitting up atthe table.
And it wasn't like an audienceQA like I was kind of expecting.
They had these set questionsand they went through and said
their piece, and it was reallyinteresting to see, you know,
like the thought process behindthe design of the monsters and
(38:56):
and that sort of thing.
And both panels ended up with acouple rather large dildos on
the table.
So yeah, it was it wasinteresting to see, even like
for me who doesn't follow theauthors, it was still very
enjoyable.
Nice, and then they have thecrowded room was managed well.
Mari (39:16):
Good.
Yeah, I'm hoping that they'lldo release the audio or or
something of it.
Kyle (39:21):
I know they did video record everything.
Mari (39:22):
Right, that's what I've heard.
Kyle (39:24):
Hopefully they'll put it together and release it at some
point.
I'm not sure.
Mari (39:27):
Yeah.
Kyle (39:27):
Wonder where.
Hopefully, we'll see.
Mari (39:30):
But for the evening activities, there was Monster
Karaoke the first night, booktrivia the second night.
Monster karaoke was fun.
I do not sing, no one wants tohear me sing, but it there were
some talented people there.
Rich (39:42):
We only like the very impressed.
Yeah, and honestly, it was itsounded like people were having
an absolutely amazing time.
Tally (39:50):
We did go pink pony club stuck in my head for three weeks
now.
Mari (39:56):
That's me on a normal week.
Tally (39:58):
Yeah, true.
Same.
I can't remember.
I think it was.
I think it was you think it washot to go or Pink Pony Club,
but it's been stuck in my head.
I did get up there and sing.
You rocked it up.
Yeah, you did, and it wasterrifying and amazing.
Kyle (40:19):
It was and then, of course, you you sang the Shrek
version of I Need a Hero as itshould be.
And of course, I was surprisedto see a little bit later
cosplays of Shrek and the fairygodmother were there.
Tally (40:33):
Oh, that's too funny.
Kyle (40:34):
I think that was like, oh man, if they were there a little
earlier and her partner was it?
That's cool.
Tally (40:40):
Showed up as I think because that's she's the one who
wrote the get in my swamp.
So if I had to venture, I guessI think it was her partner.
Kyle (40:49):
Yeah, and speaking of a lot of the other authors, like
uh Nicole Parker.
And yeah, a lot of the othersauthors dressed up as some of
their characters, like was itLatrexanova who wore the Jack
Jack in the Box costume?
Tally (41:05):
Yes, they dressed up as the Jack character.
Yep.
And then Casso Shai alsodressed up as Elzbeth from The
Rake or Orca who met his matchin a Selkie seeking revenge.
And I think there was somebodyelse.
There were several NicoleParker dressed as the Duracell
(41:26):
bunny, but you know, theoff-brand Duracell bunny.
Right.
Kyle (41:30):
Yeah, that was a couple inflatable, you know, lots of
mothmen and tentacles.
But so I went to the monsterkaraoke or the costume karaoke
for the costume because mylittle secret, as I was 3D
printing peens, I also 3Dprinted a wolf skull mask for
Orpheus from Soul to Keep byOpal Rain.
(41:53):
And I put a lot of work intothat doing the lights and the
you know the modeling.
Well, I found files online thatI adapted, but when I saw that
the first night would be costumekaraoke, it's like, okay, I'm
gonna go as a surprise.
And you know, as Tally and Iwere getting ready, like I'd
gotten into the costume and wehad walked over.
(42:15):
We were in a hotel next door.
We walked over, I realized Ihad forgotten part of it.
It's like, okay, I'm gonna goback and grab that.
You go ahead.
And as I'm walking back withthe rest of my costume, I get a
text before I continue that.
I have to preface with therewas a faunus on Friday during
the day, another Duskwalkercosplay.
(42:36):
And I talked to them, you know,in the vendor hall a little
bit, and I was excited becausethere was going to be two
Duskwalkers there, myself andthis faunus.
And as I'm coming a little bitlate to the costume karaoke,
Tally texts me saying, Get overhere.
There's a Magnar, Magnar's herealready.
I'm like, Oh, okay.
(42:57):
And then I wait, do you meanFaunus?
No, Magnar, there was a thirdDusk Walker there, too.
Tally (43:03):
Yeah, that's my favorite series.
Like, I'm not gonna get themwrong, dude.
Kyle (43:09):
I know, but I just was I remembering it correctly, but
yeah, so there was a Magnarthere, and uh the Faunus did
show up again a bit later, and Iwas there as Orpheus.
The other two were there withtheir partners, was also
cosplaying the respectivebrides.
I was alone.
Mari (43:27):
Well, there was a witch out the the owl witch was there
too.
There was a person dressed asowl brother.
Tally (43:31):
I think you address your bride, though.
Kyle (43:33):
I know, I know, I wouldn't.
Tally (43:36):
But if there were any other volunteers, I would have
well um, but yeah, the owl witchwas there, and I I saw her and
I should say that you guysgetting the attention that you
so rightfully deserve.
Kyle (43:48):
Yeah, yeah, it was neat when Opal Rain herself showed up
and she started talking to me,and it took a second, but I
realized who it was prettyquickly, and she asked, Oh, how
well can you see in that thing?
I'm like, Ah, pretty well.
And she goes, This is Opal, bythe way.
Looking back at the picturesthat people took, it was a lot
(44:11):
brighter in the atrium therethan I realized.
Like, I didn't I thought it waspretty dark in there, but I
guess it was just because I waswearing masks the whole time,
right?
But yeah, it was really funwith the whole family photo with
not just three dusk walkers,but three different dusk
walkers.
There weren't any duplicateslike I kind of expected there to
be, but they were also frombooks one, two, and three in the
(44:34):
series, right?
Yeah, yep, and the brides andthe owl witch, which owl, I
don't remember what we call her.
The and then, of course, themother of all of them, Opal,
were there, so there's some nicegroup photos, leading away, and
then lots of lots of pictures,and it was a good time.
I did want to sing something inkaraoke, and I was trying to
(44:56):
figure out what would be funnyfor Orpheus to go up and sing,
but by the time I, you know, gotmyself in the queue, my voice
was gone and it was too late.
It didn't even get close toreaching me anyway.
Mari (45:08):
Yeah, but so it was probably for the best, but um
yeah, I almost wish that karaokehad gone for like another hour.
I agree, I think it could haveeasily.
Oh, if it did.
Tally (45:22):
I think people were pointing on going out dancing
afterwards, and but my35-year-old body was not gonna
do any of that.
Kyle (45:33):
Yeah, there was a group that went to a club about that.
Mari (45:36):
Yeah, yeah.
Kyle (45:37):
And I'm like, how?
Mari (45:39):
Yeah, no, thank you.
Like my my 45-year-old selfalready using a cane just to
just to walk around all day.
No, it's like I applaud yourenergy, people.
Jen (45:50):
Also, Kyle, I don't know if it was you or if it was one of
the other dustwalkers, but all Iknow is one of the dustwalkers
was playing with Rich and mytwo-year-old daughter because
she was also at the hotel withus during the weekend.
And she would go, I think shesaid dustwalker.
Kyle (46:09):
That was me, yeah.
I didn't notice it.
I think it must have been oneof you who said that she was
roaring at me, so she did again.
And I roared peeking around thecorner at her.
Jen (46:19):
She absolutely loved it.
Kyle (46:21):
That's that's good.
Glad to hear it.
Mari (46:25):
Wholesome monster vibes.
Tally (46:27):
I was also surprised by the the 360 camera that was
there.
Yeah, that was so fun.
None of us were expecting it.
And I loved that you couldcould download the videos right
away.
I felt so awkward doing it.
I never know what to do withthose things, but I just had fun
watching people do it.
I loved watching people go astheir characters or just kind of
(46:48):
goof around.
It was I I would love to seeall of those uploaded somewhere.
Kyle (46:53):
Oh, yeah, that'd be great.
I mean, they are like when youfollow the link, it did it did
show like all of them.
I went through some of them andjust looked and and watched.
So fun.
Um, I don't know how long theyget they stay up there, but you
could check again.
Mari (47:12):
It was yeah, I did not expect that to be there, but
that was a fun little memento ofthe event.
And then a little surprise.
Right, right.
And then the the last night ofit for the evening activity,
they had the book trivia.
Did did anybody do book trivia?
Tally (47:26):
Yeah, our table was hilarious that we had.
Kyle (47:32):
I think most tables were hilarious.
Tally (47:33):
All a bunch of I mean, it was all a bunch of strangers,
and we're all just yelling, andCassie's trying to run all this
thing.
None of us can see the dang TV.
Also, we got which I wasplaying with we were detachable
penis.
Katie (47:51):
We were no thoughts, just vibes.
Wasn't it no thoughts justvibes?
No, no thoughts, just vibes.
Rich (47:56):
I'm trying to remember what I think we were like
monster DMV or something.
Whenever a question came upabout Opal's books, she'd like
run to other tables and tellthem fake answers.
Kyle (48:07):
I love there, there were a few of them where like they
asked a question and then theauthor was everybody looked over
to the authors and then theyrevealed the answer, and a
couple times they're like, No,that's wrong.
Mari (48:20):
I've heard it from the horse's mouth right there.
So um yeah, my my table was abunch of strangers.
We did not know each other.
We we thought we knew ourbooks, but none of us knew the
answers.
I think we we had like, I swearthe lowest points, but we had
fun, and that's what it wasabout.
So it's fine.
I think we've got to be a goodone.
At our table, somebody broughtUbe cookies.
Nice.
(48:40):
I think I met that person thefirst day, like Ube Mache Macha
cookies, they were very good.
Yeah, uh like asked her for therecipe.
Um anything else about theevent that we haven't talked
about.
I never wanted to leave.
Speaker 5 (48:57):
Yeah, no, yeah, two days.
Kyle (49:00):
I I think it could have gone three days and been great.
Jen (49:02):
I agree.
Absolutely.
Rich (49:05):
Honestly, I asked probably about 25 different vendors and
authors.
It felt like it was just I likejust how they were enjoying it.
And every single author, everysingle vendor that I spoke to,
even the even the tattoo artistswere talking about how
wonderful this convention was.
And even after the con andtalking to some of them, it is
(49:28):
it's just it's become kind ofeven like the authors referring
to it as like the the like thepinnacle of the book cons that
they've been to.
Mari (49:36):
And I was nice because there was such I don't know a
lot of them sold out, which isgood.
You know, it's good for theirbusiness too.
Tally (49:42):
Yes, I mean Rose Santriello sold out halfway
through through the firstsession, is when they sold out.
And I actually overheard, I waswalking through the hotel and I
overheard Cast.
He was so incredible.
You guys have been amazing, andeverybody's been so kind and
(50:05):
polite.
And I was sitting there justgiggling, going, hee hee hee
hee, I know what's happening.
Kyle (50:13):
Yeah, I did kind of want to say on that note, the last
round of the bookish trivia waslike they showed a piece of
artwork from a book, and we theyhad to guess like what it was
and who the author was, and theystarted saying that all of this
art has been cleared by thehotel.
I don't know how they got thatartwork clear.
Katie (50:37):
Definitely not safe work.
Jen (50:39):
No, no, but it was a good time.
Mari (50:42):
Children's game policy.
Jen (50:44):
Yeah, who knows?
Maybe the person who wasreviewing it liked that book.
Kyle (50:50):
Maybe, but still.
Mari (50:54):
I mean, that could have been the entire book triview,
it's just like pictures andguessing what it's from, and
that would have been fun.
Like it was such a good time.
Katie (51:02):
Yeah, definitely needed a couple more screens for that
though.
Tally (51:05):
Yeah, yeah, I couldn't see.
I'm like, I wear glasses, Ican't see y'all.
Like I kept running up thehands and taking pull a bunch of
nerds here.
Jen (51:14):
None of us can see what's happening.
Kyle (51:17):
That is something that I remember Tally talking about,
and like when they werediscussing ahead of time that
Saturday would be bookish triviaand you know, pajama themed.
We were expecting it to be likea little cozy kind of intimate
event.
I don't know if intimate's theright word.
Tally (51:33):
There were so many more people.
Kyle (51:34):
It was like the entire atrium hall of tables.
Yeah, yeah, so I thinkeverybody who was at the con and
then some were at that trivia.
Yeah.
Katie (51:43):
Yeah, I think it was just like it was the last thing.
So everyone was like, I have tobe there.
Yeah, I don't care what it is,but it's the last time I'm gonna
get to hang out with all ofyou.
I need to be there.
Mari (51:50):
Right.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Yeah, all in all, it was agreat event.
I hope I get to go back to toit again if they do it again,
and I would 100% recommend it toanyone who likes monster
romance.
It was a great event.
Agreed, 100%.
Oh yeah.
All right.
I think you guys have said somesomewhat where people can find
you.
But if you if there's anythingelse you want to plug, any
(52:12):
projects you're doing, anywebsites, what you're reading, a
charity, whatever.
Anything else you want to plugbefore I do the little outro?
Tally (52:20):
All right.
I will.
So as I said, you can find meon Instagram at Smutton
Stitches.
I uh try to do reviews.
It's almost all monster romancewith some occasional
contemporary and fantasy thrownin.
I am also a rep for RenegadeRomance, and they're an amazing
(52:41):
group of people with LGBTQinclusive, great book boxes,
great merch.
And then I also have an Etsyshop where you can get the
little trinkets that I broughtfor trade.
So bookmarks, keychains,earrings, and my Etsy shop is
called Two Black Dogs Co.
Kyle (53:02):
Uh, as I said earlier, I am phaser shift pretty much
everywhere, even though I'm notvery active.
But I will say that doing thisOrpheus cosplay for Monstrotica
has inspired me again to work onmore cosplays.
And so I've got another kind ofmonster-ish one for an anime
(53:22):
con coming up, at least planned.
And posting about it onInstagram or even anywhere, I
don't really share things, butI've posted a couple progress
pictures of the Orpheus there.
So I'm thinking maybe I'llstart posting more cosplays and
stuff on there.
Rich (53:40):
Maybe probably not, but yeah.
Kyle (53:43):
And someday I'll start streaming again.
Rich (53:46):
Um once again, I'm I'm Rich.
I'm Minotaur Reads onInstagram.
I did just create thatInstagram account after Monster
Alcott because that kind of gaveme the kick I needed to start
my own Bookstagram that you knowwasn't you know, family and
co-workers could see.
But yeah, I just I mainly postreviews, it's relatively new,
(54:11):
but yeah, hop on by.
It's just uh hoping to continueoff.
Jen (54:16):
Again, my name is Jen Demi Angel2 on Instagram, TikTok,
pretty much everything.
And yeah, I'm looking forwardto the next Monster Radico.
Katie (54:27):
And I'm Katie, I'm Madcat Katie on Instagram.
I am currently transitioning toa Bookstagram account, so love
to get to know people, reachout, meet some awesome new
people.
Mari (54:38):
Nice.
All right, so I'm gonna wrap itup.
Thanks for listening to OfSwords and Soulmates.
Before we go, make sure tocheck the show notes, rate,
review, and subscribe to us onyour podcast app of choice.
It helps others to find us.
Follow us on Instagram at OfSwords and Soulmates.
Check us out on our website atof Swordsandsoulmates.com or on
YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, andPinterest.
Same username.
If you'd like to offer asuggestion for future episode or
(54:59):
just give us your opinion,reach out to us on any of those
methods.
If you want to read along withus as we prep for new episodes,
follow us on Goodreads at OfSwords and Soulmates or for
chapter-by-chapter interactionon the Fable app at the Of
Swords and Soulmates book club.
And we now are also on Tome atOf Swords and Soulmates.
Last but not least, if youenjoy Monster Romance and you
enjoy podcasts, we'd love topoint you to the Hissin and
(55:21):
Kissin podcast.
So it's Southern, it's withoutthe G's, H-I-S-S-N in Kissing,
K-SSIN Podcast.
It's a monster romance podcast.
They talk about monsters ingeneral and then books, media,
video games, fan fiction, etc.
They're good people, good timeswould recommend.
Anything else anybody wants tosay before we wrap it up?
(55:43):
Thanks for having us.
Kyle (55:44):
Thank you.
Mari (55:45):
Yeah, thanks so much.
Yeah, thank you so much.
It's been a blast.
It was great talking to youguys again.
Same, same.
Alrighty.
Well, bye.
unknown (55:54):
Bye.
Mari (55:55):
Bye.
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