I just got back from my first Dragon*Con tonight, and I’m already planning to go back next year. Not only did I get some writerly exposure to people who might never have heard of me otherwise, but my fangirl self had a fantastic time. What follows is a rundown along with lots of fun pictures. Be sure to go through the whole post — it’s worth it.

So, Thursday I drove down to pal Tanya Michna’s (aka Tanya Michaels’ house) so we could get the jump on arriving the next day. In preparation, we watched Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a Joss Whedon project that was an Internet hit this summer and which Tanya’s seen many times and I had yet to see due to my crazy schedule. Anyway, as with all things Joss, I loved it. Neil Patrick Harris (Dr. Horrible) and Nathan Fillion (Captain Hammer) were hysterical. My two favorite new sayings, quotes from Dr. Horrible, are “What a crazy random happenstance” and a Captain Hammer quote I can’t say on the blog.

On Friday, we arrived at our hotel, unloaded our stuff in our room and headed down to the Hyatt to register and get on with Day 1. Tanya had obligations on the writer track that day, but I went to see Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk (from Firefly and Serenity) speak. Had to wait in line for an hour and a half, but it was worth it. When my spot in line ended up so far back that I was on the outside of the hotel, I figured I wouldn’t get in, but I was miraculously on the sixth row. Nathan and Alan were really funny as they answered audience members’ questions. Later in the afternoon, I had a signing but since I currently don’t have any sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal books out, I only signed things for two people — one book cover and one DragonCon program. Oh, well.

That night, Tanya and I attended first the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog live performance, which was several people in costume lip-syncing the show while the show played to the side on a big screen. Very funny, and the guy who played Dr. Horrible was really good. Afterward, we hopped over to another hotel to hear part of the performance of the Brobdingnagian Bards. After that was the Buffy Sing Along, which was the same format used in the Dr. Horrible Sing Along but with the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Once More with Feeling.” I’d wanted to attend this for a long time, so I was glad to finally get to see it and sing along with a room full of people who loved Buffy too.

We started off Saturday with a program by Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter movies. I’ve heard him interviewed before on the Pottercast podcast, but it was fun to see him in person. Here’s Matt, looking a lot different than he did when Neville first came on screen.

That afternoon, I was on a panel about YA fiction along with several other authors, including Rachel Caine, whose Morganville Vampires series I’m really enjoying. I told her this and that I love her Weather Wardens series too. She was very nice and signed the first Morganville book for me. Next up was a reading by me. Again, because I don’t yet have huge paranormal/sci-fi/fantasy cred, no one showed up. I sat at read Rachel’s book while I waited to see if anyone showed up. When I was still alone after 15 minutes, I took off for the line that was already forming for the Firefly panel with Nathan (Captain Mal), Alan (Wash) as well as Jewel Staite (Kaylee) and Morena Baccarin (Inara). They were very entertaining, and you could tell they all loved working together. Here’s the lovely cast members, from left: Alan, Jewel, Morena and Nathan.

After dinner, we went back to our hotel to rest for a bit and drop off the promo materials we’d been lugging around during the day. But we were back down at conference central at 10 p.m. for a panel on Supernatural. We were able to announce we’re in the Supernatural anthology, In the Hunt, that’s coming out in March (which incidentally is now up on Amazon.com here). After that, we headed over to the ballroom to see dark wave band Cruxshadows play. Again, the line stretched outside and wrapped the building. We didn’t know the band’s music going in, but we really enjoyed it and ended up both buying a CD. I met almost all of the members of the band. Here’s me with JoHanna Moresco, a violin player.

Here are dancers and singers Jessica Lackey and Sarah Kilgore.

Me with violinist David Wood and keyboardist Jen Jawidzik (aka Pyromantic).

And with lead singer Rogue.

On Sunday morning, Tanya and I dragged ourselves out of bed at 7 despite having gone to sleep after 3 a.m. so we could get a good spot for the Dollhouse talk with Tahmoh Penikett (who also plays Helo on Battlestar Galactica). Dollhouse is a new Joss Whedon show starting in January. We got front-row seats! Here’s Tahmoh talking about his new character, FBI agent Paul Ballard. Lots of the info on the show online shows the name as Paul Smith, but Tahmoh revealed it’d been changed.

A lot of the rest of my Sunday consisted of getting three very exciting professional photos taken. Prepare to squee, people!

Here I am with Tahmoh Penikett. Love his Helo character on BSG; can’t wait to see Dollhouse.

And with Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk.

Okay, brace yourselves. Here I am with James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Milton Fine/Braniac on Smallville, and Captain John Hart on Torchwood).

They were all really nice, but because of the long lines you didn’t get more than a few words with each. Which I understand. They were probably really, really tired by the end of each day. Oh, funny moment from when I was standing in line to get my photo with Tahmoh. I had on a shirt that had “WTF — What the Frak?” on it (See above. For those of you who don’t know, that’s a saying from BSG). Michael Hogan, who plays Col. Tigh, saw it, chuckled and said, “What the frak? That’s great.” There were other BSG cast members in the room too — Edward James Olmos (Adama), Aaron Douglas (Tyrol), and James Callis (Baltar).

Jewel and Morena weren’t doing photos, so I wasn’t able to get one with them. The only other person who was that I thought about getting one with was Michael Rosenbaum, who played Lex Luthor on Smallville, but I figured I’d done enough. I did see him, however, in the Walk of Fame room. I didn’t meet anyone in there because you had to buy an autographed picture to meet them, but I just walked through to see who I could see. Among the other notables: George Takei, Walter Koenig, Lou Ferrigno, Jake Lloyd, Yancy Butler, Beau Bridges, Avery Brooks.

More than 30,000 people attend Dragon*Con, and a huge portion of those dress up in costumes. Here are some of the many I saw.

With Jedi Shaak Ti and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Ironman

Giselle and Prince Edward from Enchanted

With Number Six from Battlestar Galactica.

With Professor Snape and Sirius Black from the Harry Potter series.

Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett

A fantastic Tia Dalma and Gibbs from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

I better stop there before I make the blog post explode. If you ever have the chance to go to Dragon*Con, I highly recommend it.

I’m a total sucker for stories of star-crossed lovers, even though those types of relationships are typically doomed from the start. The trouble is I always want to rewrite them so that the couple in love gets their happily ever after. Hey, that’s why I write romance. There are classic examples like Romeo and Juliet, Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere. Newer examples are Buffy and Angel in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jack and Rose from Titanic, and Anakin and Padme in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.

That last example is freshest in my mind because hubby and I finally got around to watching Revenge of the Sith on Friday night. Padme and Anakin’s story broke my heart. In the original three Star Wars movies that came out when I was a kid, Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) was just a bad guy — bad, bad, bad. At least until the end of Return of the Jedi when he’s redeemed by killing Emperor Palpatine before the emperor can kill Luke. All we ever see of Anakin is his Darth Vader mask, until at the very end when he’s dying and asks Luke to remove it. We see a scarred, shriveled old man, and at least to my recollection we don’t know why he has to wear the mask and the rest of his black armor.

(Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen Revenge of the Sith.)

In the new trilogy, we get Anakin’s backstory, the harshness and loss he dealt with as a youth, how he constantly struggled with the incredible power within him, how he was manipulated by Palpatine, and how even though Jedi were forbidden to do so, he fell in love. In fact, one of the main reasons he went to the dark side was because of his incredible love for Padme and desire to protect her at all costs. So he wasn’t one-dimensional and evil to the core. He loved and was loved, so much so that when he was lost, Padme lost the desire to live. She gives birth to Luke and Leia, then dies — just as a near-death Anakin is reborn as Darth Vader in the mask we all know from those early Star Wars movies. Even as she takes her last breaths, though, she still loves and believes in her Ani. She tells Obi-Wan that she knows there’s still good in him — a sentiment that is echoed by Luke in Return of the Jedi. Because the two trilogies were made out of order and so far apart in years, we only hear one vague reference to Padme in the earlier films, and that from Leia. It would have been more satisfying if as Anakin was dying he’d said something about Padme, or when Luke sees Anakin’s image at the celebration on Endor at the end of Return of the Jedi, it would have been fitting to see Padme beside him (though I know the reason she wasn’t was because she wasn’t a Jedi).

The Star Wars series wouldn’t have played out as it did had Anakin and Padme gotten their happily ever after, but I can’t help wishing they had. Yes, I’m a total sap.

Here are a couple of good YouTube fan videos about Padme and Anakin. The first is more about them falling in love during Attack of the Clones. The second is darker, fitting the tone of Revenge of the Sith as Anakin begins to lose his battle to remain good and descends into the dark side.

Recently, Entertainment Weekly ranked the best 25 science fiction movies and TV series from the past 25 years. The big surprise — not a Star Wars film to be seen. I’m of the generation that grew up with Star Wars, but I can kind of understand why the films aren’t there. While I enjoyed them and loved Han Solo, they do have a big cheese factor and a lot of the acting was sub-par. So what did EW think were the top picks?

1. The Matrix — Believe it or not, I just saw this movie in its entirety within the past two weeks. And it’s cool! I’ve always been a Keanu Reeves fan, and this story is entertaining and makes you think. Plus, it makes you want to don a black trench coat, black boots and dark glasses and go kick some bad-guy butt. It also brought special effects to a new level.

2. Battlestar Galactica (the new one on the Sci Fi Channel, not the cheesy series from the ’70s) — Absolutely fabulous show. Great writing, great characters.

3. Blade Runner — have only seen bits and pieces of it on TV. Must add to Netflix queue. The hubby says this would have been his top pick.

4. The X-Files — LOVED this show. I was a total Mulder and Scully fan.

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Seriously, all I remember about this movie is that Ricardo Montalban of Fantasy Island played Khan.

6. Brazil — Never seen it.

7. E.T. — I remember seeing this at the drive-in theater (which no longer exists) in my hometown.

8. Star Trek: The Next Generation — Enjoyed watching this show. Perhaps one of its most lasting contributions to popular culture is the Borg saying, “Resistance is futile.”

9. Aliens — Sigourney Weavers kicks butt. She launched what is fairly common now, wonderful female action heroes. And in the process, she grabbed a Best Actress Oscar nomination, not something you see often associated with sci-fi.

10. The Thing — Never seen it.

11. LOST — Love this show. Don’t miss an episode. And despite all the moaning from some fans that they want answers already, I’m willing to go along for the ride for the next three years to see what the heck is going on and hope the powers that be don’t disappoint me.

12. Back to the Future — cute.

13. The Terminator/Terminator 2 — Enjoyed these, though I wonder if I could watch them now without retitling them in my mind The Governator.

14. Children of Men — Haven’t seen it yet, but want to. It looks to have a really intriguing premise. Set in 2027, Clive Owen (enough to reason to see the movie on its own) tries to lead the first pregnant woman in 18 years to safety.

15. Firefly/Serenity — Absolutely fabulous. I love the combination of science fiction with a bit of western thrown in. My blood pressure will still go up if I think about how much I hate how Firefly was canceled because of stupid decisions by the powers that be at FOX and before they really gave it a chance to find its following. It’s a good thing these people weren’t in charge when the X-Files started or that show would have lasted about four episodes.

16. Total Recall — Have only seen bits and pieces on TV.

17. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — Haven’t seen it.

18. Heroes — Another in the group of wonderful recent TV series. I always love a superhero story, and it’s even more intriguing when everyday people discover they have special abilities other people don’t have. I’m glued to the TV each Monday night at 8 p.m. (Central) to watch what happens next.

19. Starship Troopers — Seriously?

20. Star Wars: Clone Wars — As close as we get to an actual Star Wars movie on this list. Of course, the first Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back are too old to be considered for this list. This was a series that ran on The Cartoon Network, one I knew nothing about, not being a frequenter of the The Cartoon Network.

21. Futurama — Didn’t watch this.

22. Quantum Leap — This was a good show. I liked Scott Bakula in this and Enterprise, which isn’t on this list.

23. Doctor Who (the new one) — Haven’t watched it, though I probably will eventually on DVD.

24. Galaxy Quest — Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman are great in this parody.

25. V: The Miniseries — I remember watching this when I was young (12 or 13). Creepy, but I remember being planted in front of the TV each night to see what happened next. Wow, I wonder if it’s on DVD. Must go check.

So what do you think of the list? Agree? Disagree? What should be there that isn’t? And what shouldn’t have made this list?

Others that come to my mind are Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WHY isn’t this on this list?), The Fifth Element, Stargate (either SG-1 or Atlantis), Dark Angel, and Babylon 5.

If you’re a stamp collector and have at any time been in love with Han Solo, a new set of stamps from the U.S. Postal Service might be of interest to you.

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So, anyone watch the season finale of Prison Break tonight? What did you think? Is it wrong of me to actually be rooting for Agent Mahone to make it? I’d like to see him have a change of heart, to actually come over to Michael’s side? And dang, I want Michael and Sara to have more time together than stolen moments. Hopefully next season — somehow.