Weekend to Die For

The convention, which kicks off its second edition this evening at Palace Station, is “one of the few multigenre writing conventions,” says Wrath James White, the event’s founder and chairman.

“It represents horror fiction, science fiction, dark fantasy, paranormal romance,” he notes. “Basically, the way we put it is, if there’s a murder in it, it belongs at KillerCon.”

The convention, which runs through Sunday, will offer readings by best-selling authors, author question-and-answer sessions, book signings, and panel discussions about everything from the legacy of H.P. Lovecraft and the pros and cons of the glut of vampire fiction to such nuts-and-bolts issues as writing effective query letters and book proposals and creating effective characters. (For a complete schedule of events, visit the convention’s website at killercon.com.)

Guests of honor at this year’s event include Brian Lumley, author of the best-selling Necroscope horror series; Tananarive Due, author of “The Living Blood” and an American Book Award winner; Steven Barnes, screenwriter and best-selling co-author of “The Legacy of Heorot”; John Skipp, a pioneer of the “splatterpunk” genre of horror fiction; and Cody Goodfellow, author of “Radiant Dawn” and “Ravenous Dusk” and co-author with Skipp of “Jake’s Wake.”

White, who is, himself, a horror novelist, says last year’s inaugural Las Vegas KillerCon drew about 200 people.

“It was a big success,” he says.

According to White, KillerCon was created after repeated efforts to bring the World Horror Convention to Las Vegas were unsuccessful.

“Finally, someone said, ‘Why don’t you just throw your own convention?’ ” White recalls. “I just took them up on that.”

And, White continues, “we broke even our very first time, which, I guess, no one does.”

Persuading authors to attend this year’s event was “actually pretty easy,” White says, in large part because “we treat our guests of honor very well, and word travels fast.”

Attendees also will find a few offbeat offerings at KillerCon. For example, there will be a “pajama party” this evening where guests will, as the program puts it, “drink, mingle and watch horror movies … until the wee hours of the morning.”

The schedule also includes an erotic fiction writing contest and a contest in which writers will have 20 minutes to write a 200 word-or-less story on a topic chosen by judges.

Last year, “we were expecting a lot of nonsense, honestly,” White admits, “but we got some really great submissions. Some of the stories were extremely inventive and extremely well-written.”

One of White’s goals for this year’s event is to increase attendance by Southern Nevadans.

“I wish we could get more locals,” he says. “Surprisingly, (last year) was mostly people from around the country. Most of the people were from out of town. There were a lot of people from the East Coast.”

As a result, White says, “we’re making a much bigger outreach to get more local writers, because there is a large writing community in Las Vegas people aren’t aware of.”

Attendees are apt to find Las Vegas KillerCon more intimate than many similar events.

“We were actually, at one point, thinking of capping it at 300 because there was a certain feel we wanted for the convention,” White says. The goal of KillerCon is to allow attendees to interact with the guests of honor, rather than creating “this big gulf between the authors and the audience,” White explains.

Authors last year “loved it,” he
adds.

“Most authors write in relative isolation, and getting to spend time with fans is something they all enjoy. It’s very rare that you have an author who is completely unapproachable.”

Meeting KillerCon’s authors in person can be surprising to a first-timer, White admits.

Horror, supernatural, crime and thriller writers can write “some pretty gruesome stuff,” White says, “and people think we’re going to be these awful people. And most of the writers are like high school English teachers or something like that.”

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@review journal.com or 702-383-0280.