YaoiCon was a lot of fun. The big news, for those of you who haven’t heard already (presumably from someone who updates more than once a month) is that DMP (DMI, whatever they’re calling themselves this month) is taking over (read: probably bought) the convention. In order for them to keep a closer eye on it, they may be moving the con to Anaheim next year. I spoke to someone on constaff who said it was “as definite as can be without being official”.

I am… not a happy camper about this. A big part of the reason that I continue to go, despite the cross-continental trip, is that I have a lot of friends in the San Francisco area, and I take the excuse to stay a few days extra and visit them. At the same time, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Before I found out that this was a thing, I thought to myself that the con has lost a little bit of its magic for me, and unless something major and positive changed for me, I would stop after my tenth visit (YaoiCon 2013, for anyone who cares). DMP’s intervention might be a positive thing. Color me pessimistic, but more than willing to be wrong.

That said, Café Verführen was wonderful, as always, and I will have my annual review and addition to their storyline up… soon, I hope. This may take a little while, because I’m trying to avoid touching the current site database as much as possible.

I’m doing a reboot.

When I started 1000Gears I had a more complicated vision for it, more of an archive and less of a blog. I wanted it to be more of a shared space (I built it largely as a refuge from the Great LiveJournal Ban-A-Thon of 2007). The software I chose was easy to work with, but not really the best choice for that. The site was also a learning experience in web design, and there are a lot of mistakes I need to correct.

So, in that light, I’ve been rebuilding the site to use software called Drupal, with a new, (I hope) easier-to-navigate design and a stronger emphasis on the fiction. I hope to bring new features in, too. Drupal is powerful.

I’ve already made my reservations, so I’ll post a link to their RSVP page in case anyone is interested.

I find it a little bit hard to write about this, a little bit like I might have a hard time talking about Disney’s Backstage Magic tour, or maybe Dining with an Imagineer. On the one hand, as a stubbornly persistent return visitor, I take a certain thrill in knowing the little, less-than-obvious preparations that go into bringing the Café together. On the other, I wonder if a curious newcomer might return next year, knowing that it doesn’t all suddenly crystallize, and for that find it somehow a little less magical.

I did bring along a new friend I met this year, the very pretty Miss Molly mentioned at the page footers for a while now, and she was sufficiently impressed that she says she’d like to visit, if the “leasing issues” get sorted out in time for next year. I’ll send her an invitation to post her thoughts below. Beyond that, though, I’ve thought about it a bit, and just to avoid spoiling things, I think I’m going to avoid telling too much. Let’s just say that I’m still enchanted by what an amazing, beautiful little bit of fan-craft the Café is. Sometimes the most wonderful things are the most fragile, and if the Café comes to an end, I’ll understand…

… but I can’t say I wouldn’t be deeply saddened.

On a happier note, even if we couldn’t actually see the ongoing story play out, it does continue.

1. “Bob” is still working, much to my delight. Unfortunately, he was walking around the con with a large piece of metal sticking out of his chest. I asked him about it, and he claims that he got stabbed in a recent fight with one of the dishwashers, but I am not entirely sure he did not get in Matta’s way once too often (I mean this with all due affection, of course – I like Matta!). At the actual Café Verführen panel, he showed no sign of injury. I suppose he must be a very fast healer, or simply too tough to let something like that slow him down. He’s a demon of a worker, and Café Verführen is lucky to have him.
2. Sebastian was released from quarantine and is back to his usual antics.
3. Jacob is his usual snarkily considerate self as well. I believe he is also still rooming with Nishi, and also still a little confused over how he got himself into that predicament… not that he minds. Much.
4. I’ve been outed! Ryusei and Jacob told everyone about these reviews and introduced me to the small crowd. The attention is a highly novel thing to me, and I admit to being surprised, but I must say it’s nice to be appreciated.
5. The Café never likes to send their guests home empty-handed, and I appear to be building a collection of not-moist-towelettes.

I cut back my volunteer hours a bit this year, had a wonderful time with most of the friends I went to visit (inexplicably, I missed Barlee), got my copy of Crimson Spell autographed by Yamane Ayano, and put my sleep schedule off-kilter by staying out until 4 AM to dance with a tall, pretty redhead (this is, I admit, one of the best reasons I can imagine to mess up my sleep schedule). I even managed to find my friend Sparky, who has not been able to make a con since 2004, so I don’t think I left any boxes unchecked. Sadly, Café Verführen did not go on this year, though the crew did manage to host a panel, and I will attempt to keep up my tradition of reviewing damn near anything they do.

It was good fun.

I almost didn’t get the autograph; spaces in the line were handed out by drawing, 100 to each of two sessions, and my ticket wasn’t pulled. A friend of mine missed the first session, though, and couldn’t make the second, so she sold me her place in line. I was happy to have it, of course, but a little bit sorry that she couldn’t get to meet her herself. While the ticket system really limited the number of people who could visit the con’s guests, it also allowed each of us to have a few words with them. Back in 2008, I met Nase Yamato, but the line kept me from saying more than a simple thank-you and offering the small gift of coffee I’d brought. That seems better than not meeting anyone at all, but not so good as being able to express myself properly and have a short conversation, as I got to do this year. It’s always impressive to meet creators who can visit hundreds of their fans at once and still be genuinely happy to meet each one of them.

On the complete other side of things, I’m not sure I have hundreds of readers, really. It is an alien idea for me, and I think I enjoy that. I had coffee with Rem over a few hours, and I think that was exactly the right way to get my con rolling. Recognition would be nice, but I like being able to make friends with my readers, to believe that I’m just making pretty bits and baubles for their entertainment. All of my regular readers could probably fit around one dinner table if the opportunity presented itself, and I’m not sure whether that gives me any ideas or not.

Returning from that digression…

YaoiCon was very good to me this year. After the past five months or so (since the week after Fanime, really), life has been complicated, and I think it was exactly what I needed.

You should expect to hear more from me soon.

Sorry for being so scarce.

Also, I am working on another Tybalt story. I hope to have it done by con-time, but I’m not completely sure about that. By the end of the year, for sure. Two Tybalt stories in one year… it can happen.

1. Tahdig! I think that only makes sense if you’re one of the three people I spoke with about it, but it’s awesome anyways.
2. Café Verführen has great souvenirs. Their shot glasses are etched, not printed, and their Sunday-morning gift boxes are copied from real vintage labels (seriously).
3. Ryusei is never ever without less than immaculately dressed. I think I’m a little bit jealous.
4. I wish I had taken up Tiff’s invitation to go watch Supernatural on Saturday night. I got some ideas for First and Last and Always that I needed to write down, and I didn’t see her at all on Sunday. She seemed like a good person to know.
5. In general, wish I were better about collecting phone numbers and email addresses.
6. The official YaoiCon “bishounen” events – Bingo, the Auction, and the (ahem) Bishounen Spanking Inferno raffle – can be a lot of fun in their own rights, but… (I never finished this sentence, and I wish I could remember what I was thinking when I started it. The events are fun.
7. Mostly for DreamSkaype, I’ve uploaded a picture of my special badge from my service as a waiter for the YaoiCon Café (not Café Verführen) back in 2007. Being called a “bishounen” feels like a compliment that I can’t properly accept, so I replaced it with something more comfortable.
8. I should bring Kelda another tribute offering of chocolate next year.
9. YaoiCon is always, at the same time, more and less expensive than I thought it would be.
10. …and then Buffy staked Edward. THE END!

Most YaoiCon attendees never visit the third floor of the hotel, unless they have rooms there. I don’t blame them. The con program doesn’t mention the treasure hidden up there. I don’t know whether this is a deliberate snub or one of those complications of printing schedules and hotel management, but it’s a shame either way. The third floor is home to Café Verführen, and I think it’s my favorite event at the con.

Full Disclosure: In the Fan Alley, I wound up exchanging cards with Matta’s real-life alter-ego, and she gave me a button with the Café Verführen logo. I gave her a Tybalt button in return, but take this how you will.

This is a fairly late review, mostly because I kept throwing out my earlier drafts. I don’t like rehashing old reviews, and most of what I said in last year’s writeup still holds true. It seems inadequate, though; there’s something magically captivating about the Café, something hard to pin down and describe. The experience is enchanting, somehow much more than the sum of its parts.

On one level, the Café is just that: a café. In that role, it’s one of the better places to eat at the convention. For about eight dollars, the hotel will hand you two thoroughly mediocre hot dogs from the warming tray, or a high-school-cafeteria hamburger and a bag of chips. For about the same price, the Café will serve you a plate of chicken teriyaki, with steamed vegetables that add color and balance out the softer textures of chicken and rice. Come the inevitable slow, lazy Sunday morning, the hotel will sell you the same hot dogs or hamburger, but the Café staff prepares a special prix-fixe menu, with pastries from a local bakery, tea sandwiches (your choice, salmon, cucumber, or a little of both), and little chocolate-dipped Belgian cookies.

I won’t say that it’s perfect, but its flaws are small and charming. Ryusei admits to a certain chronic tardiness. Hotel management hands down a few restrictions; I think Matta would like more fire in his kitchen. Still, I think my biggest personal complaint comes from the disappearance of mineral water from the dinner menu. It’s an incredibly small thing, totally understandable, but I like mineral water, and I feel compelled to complain about something, just so that this post will not turn into an uninterrupted wall of effusive praise.

In general, though, the Café is a wonderful at-con retreat for those who would prefer to enjoy their food rather than merely to refuel, to dine rather than to feed.

That’s not the magic of Café Verführen, though. Café Verführen is more than just a place to eat.

Give the staff a little bit of your time, and Café Verführen comes alive.

In one of my earlier drafts, I wrote: I get the feeling that neither Matta nor Ryusei would be satisfied with “good enough”. Matta would object, I think, because it would offend his work ethic, Ryusei because it would offend his ego. This says a lot about the staff and their dedication to improving on what they’ve done before, but more importantly, it says a lot about the characters that they’ve created, and the way they’ve led me to relate to them. They have history and motives, endearing quirks and real depth.

When poor Sebastian called in with the mother of all sick excuses, quarantined at Narita under suspicion of carrying H1N1, I had to laugh, because it’s a very clever way to handwave that someone couldn’t make it to the con… but part of me wanted to know that he’d be OK and arrive home soon. Jacob’s dry aura of frustration makes it easy to see why he has long talks with the company counselor, and Nishi’s affectionate concern seems only natural when he promises his friend a ride after work. Faced with such an extreme staff shortage, even Matta was pulled out of the kitchen to wait tables, and I didn’t have to stay afterwards to know that he would be grumbling about it for hours.

Ryusei hung out a Help Wanted sign, attracting the attention of “Bob” (actually another Sebastian, of Kuroshitsuji fame). “Bob” had a little trouble adjusting, but he seemed to get in the spirit of things quickly enough. His various torments and indignities were fun and endearing, and I hope to see “Bob” return in the future, not only because he likes my kitty ears, but because he’s become a part of the Café Verführen story.

That’s the thing that sets Café Verführen apart, the thing that makes me place my reservations the hour the guest list opens, the thing that makes me rewrite my review over and over, trying to do justice to all the people and all the planning involved. Fanservice is easy, but chemistry is hard. Chemistry is more powerful, though, more valuable, and ultimately more fulfilling, and it’s there that the Café really shines. It doesn’t need to take its clothes off to enchant its guests; it can do that with plot and substance, refinement and understated charm. It can pull me into its little dream-world story, and it can make me care.

Café Verführen’s magic is very simple. It’s summed up in just five words, and as long as it doesn’t change, I’ll keep coming back for years.

Café Verführen makes me believe.

Other than that, I had a good time, took a handful of nice pictures, and met a lot of wonderful people, though I’m sorry that I didn’t get to spend as much time with them as I’d like. My fellow congoers (most of them, anyways) really are my favorite part of con, my reason for going, and I always enjoy the fan-energy rush that I get from spending the better part of three days with them. It’s very good for my creative urge, and I’m back at work on First and Last and Always.

I went to Café Verführen twice, and I’ll have a review of that up as soon as I’ve finished doing my post-con chores. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the con, or if you were there and want to get in touch, drop me a comment. I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible.

I suspect, much to my disappointment, that there are no plans for further issues. It’s been about a month since I emailed Anne, and I noticed that her contact information has been locked at the YaoiCon site.

This doesn’t mean much, if anything, for Tybalt’s future. The past two Anthologies have paired me with Tammy Lee, and I don’t think we have very good creative chemistry. Tybalt remains one of my favorite (if most demanding) characters, and I’m sure he’ll continue to slink into my writing life whenever he has a story to share.

For now, I’ve been sidetracked by an interesting little experiment (you can expect it in time for Christmas), and First and Last and Always will go back to the top of my stack once it’s done.

Rather than try to force them, I thought it would be best to just share them with you all at once. I hope I’ve captured some feeling of the con’s friendly exuberance for you.

The con really begins in the registration line, so I’m happy to say that the volunteers are some of the friendliest people you’ll find anywhere. That even includes D’Ann, despite her disconcerting fascination with scissors. I promised her a pair of bootlaces if she should get in touch with me, but I haven’t heard back yet.

During a lull in registrations, Elysium, one of the “official” boys, did a little dance for us.

Major kudos to YaoiCon staff for arranging Nase Yamato’s appearance as Guest of Honor, especially on such short notice. Originally, Youka Nitta was scheduled to attend, but a plagiarism scandal ended with her leaving the manga industry, at least for the forseeable future. A lot of people turned up to meet her, enough that the staff had to arrange a second autograph session, which also overflowed. She seemed to appreciate all the fans who came out to see her, and she made sure to add a little drawing to her autographs. I can only imagine how much her hand hurt afterwards.

One thing I like particularly about YaoiCon is seeing the creative projects that spring up spontaneously, and the longer-term ones that fans bring to share. For example, the Cup Contest seems to be a new tradition of quick, communal art. On the other extreme, one artist is doing Gundam Wing fanart in needlepoint. She has a LiveJournal account to share her progress, but I neglected to get the address from her. If anyone out there knows, please let me know so I can post a link.

I only have a few other YaoiCon thoughts left floating around in my head, and I’m not entirely sure if I’ll write them up yet. We’ll see.