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Octocon 2017!
Octocon was this past weekend, and a fine Octocon it was!
I decided to do a dealer’s table at the last minute, and it went…well. I brought jam and books. About…70 jars of jam, and 30-40 books. In fact, I had to restock for the second day, because what I’d brought on day one had sold out to the tune of about 80%, which was sort of Beyond My Expectations. I don’t seem to have gotten a picture of the books on day one, but (first photo courtesy of, by which i mean ‘nabbed from the twitter feed of’ Octocon :)):
day one jams! 
day two books! 
day two jams! This is what was left at the end:
This morning my Twitter timeline was full of people full of jam (pics courtesy of Shelly!):
pear and blackberry jams! 
Good news: @ce_murphy makes amazing pear jam.
Bad news: I ated it all.So…yes. That went well! Next year I need to bring sampling jars (and a toaster, someone said *laughs*), but it certainly went well enough to do it again. (One of the other vendors said he’d had a friend in the dealer’s room last year, and the friend had said to him, “There was a woman beside me selling JAM,” which he obviously thought was baffling, and the vendor relating this story said he’d said, “*Jam*? You’re pulling me leg,” but the guy had sworn that no, there was someone selling JAM, and look: here I was again!
Then he bought five jars. :))
I also handed out fudge:
fudge for octocon and I tell you what, it was a spectacularly good batch and the only reason I shared is because I am a MAGNIFICENTLY NICE PERSON. A number of people asked if I was selling fudge. I wasn’t, just handing it out, but IDK, guys, what do you think, a cottage industry? Miz Kit’s (or Mrs Murphy’s, for Added Irishness) Jams & Fudges?
kate and kit and fudge :) OMG my friend Kate (pictured above) was ROCKING her Rogue look this weekend, O.M.G!!!!
Kate rocks a 1950s Rogue style! I was just ADMIRING HER ALL WEEKEND, OMG!! ♥!
There was also a perfectly stunning Agent Carter in a perfectly stunning blue dress the EXACT SAME COLOR as mine, like, to the point that I caught a glimpse of the *color* from the corner of my eye and thought: That woman is an Agent Carter! And she was! So we bonded. :) And then she saw my name badge and was like “! You’re CE Murphy! I loved your gargoyle books!” So we bonded more. *laughs* It was really lovely to meet her and I’m feeling inspired to do cosplay because of her. ♥
I did a few panels (fewer than I was supposed to, because there were a couple late night ones I was meant to do on Saturday but I decided to check the train times at the last minute and it turned out if I did the late panels I wouldn’t be getting home until 1am and nooooo. I was much too tired for that.). They were all a lot of fun, and to my UTTER DELIGHT, the reading Saturday morning netted at least 3 sales of BEWITCHING BENEDICT. I wasn’t at *all* sure how a comedic Regency romance would go over at a SF convention, but I gave it a shot anyway. I read the lemonade scene and got a lot of laughs, and then people came to buy the book! I was so happy! Several people who bought it said “I don’t usually read romance, but the reading was so funny/I like your writing/I’ll give it a shot,” which just fills me with joy. ♥!
An advantage of being at the dealer’s table was people came to me, which was wonderful! And I got to chat with a lady I’d just met on Twitter who is a CE Murphy reader and who runs a collectibles business (Uncanny Collectibles), so that was wonderful, and it was just a really nice weekend. And I’m super tired and have to get to work now. :)
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Deirdre’s 40th
My sister had her birthday party planned for last night, and after a bit of angsting decided to go ahead with it despite the circumstances. I think that was absolutely the right choice, and it was a busy, loving gathering…
…even if Deirdre did show up two hours later for her own party. It was worth it, actually, because it was a costume party, themed Cyborgs, Angels, Fairies and Superheroes, and she came as a cyborg (we’re half cyborg now, you know, since Dad had his brain surgery. that’s how it works, right?) and her costume was AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING.
I my own self went as my own comic book character, Chance, which is either really lame or really awesome or really meta, possibly all three.
Superhero and cyborg sisters (this has to be one of my favourite pictures ever taken of us):
Bunch more pictures behind the cut.
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Captain America!
I have blogged less this month than I think I ever have. This is because I was first making fudge and then making a Captain America costume. Most of the fudge efforts have already been consumed (possibly my favourite comment: “It tastes like poetry.”), and the costume is now done.
So yes. That’s what I’ve been doing. I have some vague hope of returning to more regular blogging in November.
While I’m doing NNWM. #headdesk :)
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Spider-Mom
Last summer I bought a Spider-Man hoodie. I actually went in for a Captain America one, because I’d seen somebody wearing one and thought it was awesome beyond words, but they were sold out. (Oh look. Think Geek has one. *stares at it covetously*) Ahem. Anyway. But they had the Spidey one, and I’ve had a crush on Spider-Man since I was like three, so I got it.
Yesterday I went to a performance of the musical my sister has written, directed and produced (! how freaking awesome is that? how freaking awesome is SHE? Let me tell you: AMAZINGLY AWESOME! and it was SO GOOD!–but more on that later) and many people commented on the hoodie.
This is not unusual. People comment on it all the time. In fact, I got a FB message from a stranger who saw my profile picture, in which I was wearing the hoodie, and emailed because hey! he’d seen me in the city centre wearing that hoodie! So it kind of stands out. Children *love* it, and I will fairly regularly hear a gasp and a reverent (or shouted), “Mommy, it’s SPIDER-MAN!!!!” I have developed the habit of stopping and ‘throwing webs’ for them. :)
However, after the first three or four days of extreme self-consciousness while wearing it, I became accustomed to it myself, so I’m always slightly surprised when people comment. Yesterday, someone said to me, “I think you’re the only adult I know who could carry off wearing that.”
I suspect it’s more that I’m the only adult she knows who *would* carry off wearing it. :)
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Batman!
Yesterday I went out in an (ultimately futile) attempt to find an e-book that didn’t make me angry. I failed*, but I found something much better: Batman patrolling the streetes of
GothamDublin!
She was very clear on being Batman, not Batwoman or Batgirl (my friend Spidey says “Always be Batman,” which I gotta agree with), and she also did a quite credible Christian Bale Batman impression. She was saying, “My family is DEAD!” in this photo. :)
I’d caught a glimpse of her, and had thought her splendid, but I was going the other way, so didn’t stop to ask for a picture. Only then I heard someone say, “I just want to make people smile!” and I glanced over and it was her, and smile I did. She said, “See! I made that lady smile!”
I said, “You made this lady think you’re awesome, and she wonders if she can take a picture of you.” Batman said, “Of me or with me?” so I got a picture with Batman. :)
Apropos of nothing, a conversation with Ted a couple days ago, discussing the boy bands (The Wanted and Westlife) playing that night at Croke Park:
Me: Eh. None of them is really my type, even if The Wanted weren’t all twelve. Neither is anybody in Westlife, for that matter. Boy bands don’t usually have my type in them, I don’t think.
Ted: That’s because your type is in rock bands.
Me: …*no argument*
*Ted checked the battery on mine and now it all works again. Whew.
