Finding Your People Part 2: Virtual Bookish Communities 💖⚙️📚
Plus a newcomers guide to TeslaCon
Hello!
I hope your having a wonderful week and for those who celebrate, Happy Halloween! I’m in the final stretch of preparing for TeslaCon. My books, signage, and bookmarks have all arrived on time for the convention. (You can catch a sneak peek of the sign and bookmarks here.) I’m expecting my new dress and accessories for one of the two TeslaCon balls to arrive this week! I can’t wait to see what it all looks like together, though I haven’t quite finalized all my outfits yet. 👀
You can find my full schedule of panels and Vendor Room hours in last week’s newsletter or by visiting the Events page of my website here.
TeslaCon Newcomers Guide
Recently in the TeslaCon Facebook group, a handy guide for newcomers was posted and I thought I should share it here, too. You can read the full guide here. Here are some of the highlights, along with some of my advice:
Bring cash and don’t rely on the hotel’s ATM. Many vendors (like me) will have Square Readers that can take credit cards, but if you’re planning on buying tickets at the door, it’s cash only.
Bring extra clothes and accessories for the room parties! Different groups (airship crews, other conventions, etc.) will throw parties in the hotel suites. Some have themes. Last year, I went to a Heroes and Villains party and made a quick Steampunk Poison Ivy outfit by adding a few accessories to one of my “regular” green steampunk outfits. (If you don’t have space for extras, don’t let that stop you from coming!)
Don’t feel like you have to cosplay. While a lot of attendees dress up, it’s completely optional. I keep my outfits for the daytime simple since I’m either at my table or on a panel. I usually opt for a skirt, boots, cincher belt, and a fun top.
The dances (balls) are $5 extra this year due to live music. There’s plenty of seating if you’re not a dancer and it’s fun to go people-watching. (Me? I’m a dancer. I’ll be out on the floor. 💖)
Visit the tea room and make new friends
Attend panels and consider bringing something to take notes with. There’s all kinds of fun things you can learn and make at TeslaCon!
Feeling overwhelmed? My table in the Vendor Hall is a safe space. There’s also a cozy Book Nook in the atrium area with plenty of seating and material to read!
Check the group regularly for announcements.
TeslaCon takes place November 7th-10th in Madison, Wisconsin. Will I see you there?
For more general tips on steampunk conventions, check out this post:
Finding Your Community: Virtual Edition
In last week’s newsletter, I wrote about six different kinds of bookish events. When I was working on the list, it occurred to me that nearly everything I wrote about involved traveling and/or leaving home. I thought this week it would be good to list a few virtual examples for those who can’t travel for all kinds of reasons, from cost to having young children to health.
While this list is by no means extensive, I hope this can be a starting point for those of you looking to find more community, whether it’s a general book club you’re looking for or something more focused, like a steampunk group.
Key:
📚 Book group
💖 Romance/romantasy focused group
⚙️ Steampunk group
🐉 Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Speculative group
⚙️ TeslaCon Fans: central hub for news about TeslaCon, but active year-round with all kinds of steampunk articles, outfits, books, movies, and memes shared daily. There is also a Discord!
⚙️ Chicago Steampunk Exposition Adventurers' Club: central hub for news about the Chicago Steampunk Expo, but active year-round with all kinds of steampunk articles, outfits, books, gaming, movies, and memes shared daily.
⚙️📚 Temporal Textual Talks: steampunk virtual book club! You can find the monthly reading list here. Please note, book club takes a break in December. Madame Askew, the co-host, runs lots of other virtual steampunk events from her Facebook page as well.
💖📚FaRoFeb: This fantasy romance group is most active in February, but there are posts year-round about book recommendations and discussions.
🐉📚 Fantasy-Faction - Fantasy and Science Fiction Book Discussion: One of the bigger groups for fantasy and sci-fi book discussions.
💖📚 Romance Con Attendees: the group for Romance Con is starting a Discord and book club outside of convention season.
📚 Must Read Book Recommendations: all kinds of genres are represented in this group
💖📚 Romantasy Books: exactly what it says on the tin. Focused on romantasy (romantic fantasy) books.
💖📚 Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Book Lovers: Aside from book recommendations, I’ve seen really cool cosplay and tattoo inspo in this group!
💖📚 Bookish Babes: lots of emphasis on games and community building in this group!
⚙️📚 Steampunk Readers and Writers: find steampunk books and event news here!
💖📚 Romance Book Lovers Club: exactly what it says on the tin. Focused on romance books of all sub-genres.
💖📚 Bookworm Fairies: lots of emphasis on games and community building in this group!
💖🐉📚 Fantasy Book Lovers: Not all of the discussions are about romantasy books, but there’s a lot of romance titles in this group.
I hope this list helps! Did I miss a favorite virtual group on Facebook or Discord? Let me know in the comments!
Happy reading!
Kelsey
