I went into D.C. Saturday to attend Awesome Con, where I took part in the panel, “Rise and Prevalence of Dystopian Science Fiction in Pop Culture” along with Patrick Thaddeus Jackson and Robert Chase. When I arrived at the room in which the panel was to be held, I was surprised to find (since I’m used to programming at SF cons rather than media cons) a long line of con-goers that stretched down the hall and vanished around a corner.

Which meant that our panel was remarkably well attended, with at least 250 people showing up to hear us pontificate. (Perhaps there were even 300 or more. Once a room gets past a certain size, I lose all ability to guestimate.)

I’m fairly certain that the audience wasn’t there because they had any idea who we were. I’m guessing they’d shown up because the topic, which promised that we’d touch on such things as The Hunger Games and The Walking Dead, was compelling. But based on the reaction we received, I think we kept people entertained. There was much laughter, and many great questions.

Here we are after the panel ended, appearing remarkably cheery for three guys who’d just spent an hour discussing dystopias.

I hung around in Room 206 for the panel after ours, which featured Mike Zipser, host of Fast Forward, interviewing Michael Dirda , Pulitzer Prize–winning book critic for The Washington Post.

Dirda was, as usual, delightful, and luckily, even even if you weren’t there, you don’t have to miss any of his wit and wisdom—because I balanced my Flip camcorder on a knee the entire time and captured it for you. Check out the full 54-minute interview below.

If you don’t have time to watch the whole thing, highlights include Dirda’s love for physical books (starting at 15:56), and why books should be savored rather than sped through (at 30:43).

When not at these two events (or having a Chinatown lunch with Michael Dirda), I spent my time at Awesome Con wandering the dealers room, where I chatted with Jackie Estrada, Batton Lash, George Perez, and others. (I don’t think I’ve seen George since the early ’80s when I was still doing some comics work.) It was a fun day, and I’m glad to see that the con, now in its second year, was so successful, because it means there’ll be more of them. Maybe I’ll see you there next year!