Geek Gridlock (or: Appearing at Penguicon)

I’ve been invited as a “Nifty Guest” to Penguicon 3.0

(think of it as a Reese’s peanut butter convention where Linux and

science fiction collide in creamy geeky goodness), which takes

place April 22nd through 24th in Novi, Michigan. Major guests include

my friend and former employer Cory Doctorow; nifty guests include the one and only Eric S. Raymond.

My major presentation will take place on Sunday, April 24th and appears in the program as:

Interactive Fiction: Down and Out in the Grue Kingdom

2:00 to 3:00 pm

Joey deVilla

Interactive Fiction, also known as “IF” and formerly known as “text

adventure games”, has a history spanning over 30 years and thrives even

in this day of console games. If you are (or hope to be) a game

developer, an author, or both, join us as we show you how to develop IF

using the Inform programming language. We’ll implement a game/interactive story based on a scene from Cory Doctorow’s “Down and

Out in the Magic Kingdom”.

If you’re in the neighbourhood, c’mon down and say “hi” —

you might even decide that you’d like to write your own interactive

fiction games!

I looked at the schedule and initially thought “Hey, good,

no major draws away from my presentation” — Cory’s reading is from

1:00 to 1:30, and the big panel with Rob “CmdrTaco” Malda, Eric S.

Raymond and Nat Torkington is at 3:00. But then I saw it:

Jay Maynard and Fame in Fandom

2:00 to 3:00 pm

Jay Maynard

The Tron Guy! You saw him on the set of Jimmy Kimmel Live. Let him

talk about being famous and sought after! How can you become big man in

fandom? Come find out.

In the nerd world, that’s like having your band play the same night as Radiohead.

Jay Maynard, the Tron Guy. Check out his site at www.tronguy.net.