Christmas at Planet Comicon

Planet Comicon, Kansas City's annual convention of comics, cosplay, craftery, fantastic art, and science fiction, came earlier than usual this year.  Mid-February welcomed the Con, and fortunately so did acceptable weather, albeit but as expected, a bit on the cold side. 

My annual visit to Planet Comicon turned into a 2-day event this year as I opted to go on the lighter-attended Friday opening day as well as the much-more crowded Saturday.  One of my favorite parts of the Con is visiting the local authors that are exhibiting to promote and sell their works.

So, as I was walking through the cluster of local authors and scanning their wares, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a Christmas book!  "Twas the Night Before Christmas - On the River" by Kristin Helling was nonchalantly displayed on the Wordwraith Books table, sharing space with the other books by Ms. Helling and J.R. Frontera, both manning the table, and Rod Galindo, also an author published by WordWraith Books.

Of course, a Christmas book at Comicon hooked my attention, so I engaged with Kristin about the book.  Turns out, in addition to being an author, Kristin is also the owner of Parkville Coffee, and she wrote "Twas the Night Before Christmas - On the River" as an inspiration from the annual "Christmas on the River" celebration in Parkville, MO.  So, since 1) I love supporting local talent, 2) I obsessively collect Christmas books (yes, in addition to music), and 3) Kristin and J.R. were super nice and engaging in our conversations, I bought a copy.  It's a wonderful little book, capturing the spirit of the celebration in a fantasy poem (encouraged by the most famous Christmas poem of all) of the arrival of The Roaster and his eight sacks of beans.  The book is beautifully illustrated by artist and musician Micah Buzan.

So, what a nice surprise for me during the opening hours of Planet Comicon!

Click the links to learn more about Kristin Helling and Wordwraith Books.  And, stay tuned, as there will be more to come soon about fellow Wordwraith author J.R. Frontera.

Wordwraith Books link
Kristin Helling website
"Twas the Night Before Christmas - On the River" on Amazon
Parkville Coffee website  (Their coffee is excellent!)