Bonus: Inside Monsterotica BookCon 2025

What if a convention put comfort, consent, and community first—and it actually worked? We unpack our weekend at the first Monsterotica BookCon in Baltimore, where a color-coded lanyard system, pronoun stickers, and clear badges turned awkward small talk into easy connection, and digital queues set us free from hours of standing in line. From first-timers to seasoned con-goers, we found a format that lowered stress, reduced FOMO, and let us focus on what we love: monster romance, author meetups, and the joy of geeking out together.

We start with how each of us discovered monster romance—Ice Planet Barbarians binges, Creature Cafe obsessions, and the case for “if it can’t pass as human, it’s a monster.” Then we dig into what made the con run smoothly: fast registration, well-briefed volunteers, and a simple schedule with real breaks. That breathing room fueled the best parts of the weekend—trading handmade goodies in the atrium, spontaneous meetups, and vendors who actually had time to talk. Panels explored creature design and why fated mates and nonhuman love stories hit so hard. Nights brought costume karaoke, a 360 video booth, and a cosplay moment for the ages with three distinct Dusk Walkers and their brides posing with author Opal Rain.

We also share candid notes on the tech: day-one hiccups in the mobile waitlist smoothed out by day two, shorter physical lines, and the sheer relief of not missing panels for signings. Vendors and authors told us they sold out and felt supported, which says everything about how the con prioritized people over chaos. By the time book trivia filled the atrium, it felt like a family table—loud, funny, and full of love for a genre that thrives on imagination and acceptance.

If you’re monster-curious, con-curious, or just love hearing how a niche community built a better fan experience, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs new reads, and leave a review to help more monster romance fans find us. What feature would your dream book con include next?

Links from the Show:

·      Monster Erotica Book Con - https://monsteroticabookcon.com/

·      Griefcat - https://www.instagram.com/griefcatpartytime

·      Tally - https://www.instagram.com/smut.and.stitches

·      Kyle - https://www.instagram.com/phasorshift

·      Rich - https://www.instagram.com/minotaurreads

·      Jen - https://www.instagram.com/demiangel2

·      Katie - https://www.instagram.com/madcapkatiereads

Follow us:
Instagram - @ofswordsandsoulmates

Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/ofswordsandsoulmates

Chapters

• 0:00 Meet The Crew And Mission
• 2:15 Defining Monster Romance
• 5:30 First-Timer Origins And Reading Gateways
• 10:40 Why Monsterotica Hooked Us
• 14:30 Con Experience Levels Compared
• 18:45 Registration, Volunteers, And Vibes
• 23:05 Consent Lanyards And Inclusivity
• 27:20 Smart Badges And Meeting Online Friends
• 31:10 Digital Queues For Signings
• 36:40 Day-Two Flow And Less Wait
• 40:20 Scheduling, Breaks, And Low Stress
• 45:05 Trading Culture As Social Glue
• 50:00 Panels Format And Takeaways
• 54:10 Karaoke Night And Cosplay Moments

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

Views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the participants. The hosts make no claims to be literary experts, and their opinions are exactly that. Opinions. All creative works discussed or reviewed are the intellectual property of the creators of said stories and is being used under the fair use doctrine.

Mari: 0:27

Hello and welcome to Absorts and Soulmates, a podcast where we read, watch, and discuss romanticy stories and romantic adjacent things. I'm one of your usual hosts, Mari, and with me I have a different crew today for a very special bonus episode. With me I have Tally.

Tally: 0:44

Tally. I'm Tally, aka Smut and Stitches on Instagram. Nice.

Kyle: 0:52

And Kyle? I'm Kyle. I'm actually Tally's brother. And I'm I go by Phaser Shift pretty much everywhere. Cool. And we have Rich.

Rich: 1:02

Hi, everybody. I'm Rich on Instagram. I am Minotaur Reads.

Mari: 1:07

And Jen.

Jen: 1:08

Hi everyone. I'm Jen. I'm Demi Angel2 on Instagram. Demi Angel pretty much everywhere else. Nice to talk to you. And we have Katie.

Katie: 1:18

Hi, I'm Katie. I am Madcap Katie on Instagram.

Mari: 1:22

Awesome. We've got the whole crew here. So today we're going to be talking about our experiences at the first ever Monsterotica BookCon that took place in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore Inner Harbor on May 8th through May 10th of this year, 2025, hosted by Unfortunate Reads. None of us knew each other. Well, I guess Tally and Kyle, you guys knew each other. And Rich Jen and Katie, you guys knew each other, but all of us did not know each other beforehand. And it's a testament to the I think the nature of and the commodity of the con of how we got together to decide to do this with basically strangers. All right, so I'm just gonna kind of have everyone introduce themselves. I'll introduce myself first in case anyone is listening to just this episode and has never heard of us before. Um I'm Mari. I'm one of the hosts on Of Swords and Soulmates. We generally do romancy stories, but I like to read. So I like to read beyond just romanticity. Um monster romance is one of my jams. I got into monster romance. See, this question depends on how you define a monster. For me personally, if it can't pass as human, it's a monster. Yeah, yeah. So like if it's a vampire or a shifter that can pass as human most of the time, I don't count that as a monster romance, personally. I know everyone's got their own definition, so I don't count like my vampire phase or my shifter phase. So for me, I would say it started with like Krampus books. Like I got into holiday reading and then I was like, oh Krampus. Oh, oh Krampus. Okay. And it just went downhill or uphill from there, however, you however you want to judge it. Um I have been to cons before. I go to Dragon Con in Atlanta every year, which is a general like sci-fi fantasy fandom kind of con. And I went to my first book con last year in Orlando, Romanity Con. So I've had a few under my belt. Not not a ton, but a few. And yeah. Tally, you want to introduce yourself a little?

Tally: 3:26

Yeah. So as I said, I'm Tally. I kind of switched over into like the bookstagram scene a few years ago, smutton stitches. I've always been a big fan of fantasy and kind of monsters. My upbringing was very out there. There was nothing really kind of taboo or off-limited. And I think a lot of people had thoughts when it came to Kovu in The Lion King 2. And I think that's where mine started, but I didn't get into just gonna blow right past that. I didn't get into monster monster romance until 2022. I was doing mostly fan fiction reading. I was really disappointed with the way that the new Star Wars trilogy ended. So I started getting really into fan fiction, and someone had shared a Raylo fan fiction, but it was inspired by Ice Planet Barbarians. Ah. So I read it and I was like, this seems like a really cool world. I'm gonna have to do some research because I loved reading as a kid and I just kind of slowed down and did a lot more of just like online stuff since having kids and trying to work. And so I looked up Ruby Dixon and read the synopsis for the first one. I was like, okay, I'm gonna give it a try. I did the entire Ice Planet Barbarian series within a month. That series is 22 books. Wow. I would binge read like two books a night because I have no respect for myself. And it kind of just spiraled from there. I I fell in love with, especially like Faded Mates, and you get a lot of that in Monster Romance. So I I was hooked, and then it went from there to Morning Glory Milking Farm by CM Nescosta, and then it just kind of exploded everywhere. Um, I have never been to any convention.

Kyle: 5:28

Just in choice of words.

Tally: 5:31

Yeah, I know, I know. You know what? I'm mentally a 12-year-old boy. So um, but I've never been to any kind of conventions. I have always longed to go to a convention. I mean, I would watch clips from San Diego Comic Con all the time. There would be, I've got friends who would go to the Motor City Comic Con and were really big into like recreation of Star Wars costumes. And then of course, my Kyle also was into cons, but I did go to Dreaming Dirty in Michigan a couple of times. And it's more of a signing event than a con. There were no panels or anything. But it's like it was kind of my first taste of okay, we're gonna shove you in a room with a bunch of people to meet these authors. I was like, this is fun, a little terrifying, but a little fun. And by the time it was from starting from like 2022 to about, you know, early 2024, I'd heard of a polycon and just felt sad that I'd never be able to go and that I didn't know all these authors, but I didn't want to get into it because sometimes I felt like it was really just completely out of the scope of possibility for me. But I was following Cassie, her unfortunate reads, uh Instagram and her TikTok because she would review a lot of monster romance books. And then she posted Monster Rotica. I was hooked. I was like, oh my gosh, I have to go. I was telling my husband about it. I was telling random people about it, that I was like, oh, you like books? I like books. Let me tell you about the weird stuff that I read. And then I'd never hear from those people again. Um and then I told my brother about it. So I I think because we had a similar kind of reading taste growing up, I just reached out to my brother because people ask me who my best friends are, and I will say my husband and my brother. And that's okay because it's true. We're all a couple of weirdos. And I reached out to Kyle and Kyle kind of took over from there, and we were able to do something as siblings, and it was really amazing.

Mari: 7:42

Cool. Kyle, what about you?

Kyle: 7:45

So yeah, again, going off of what Jelly was talking about, I guess I'll start at the top of the list again. I'm Kyle. I go by Phaser Shift most everywhere. I I've done some Twitch streaming, I've done some cosplay, I'll get into that, but I'm not really active on any sort of social media. I actually had my first Instagram post ever just to share what I wore for the con.

Mari: 8:12

Which was pretty darn cool.

Kyle: 8:13

Monsterotica. But yeah, I'll go actually a little bit out of order. So I heard about Monsterotica, as you just heard from Tally. I knew that she was into the Monster Omach romance books, and she had her her Instagram, and I always thought that that was a cool thing for her to do, and you know, a niche that she fit well into. And she told me about Monster Otica, she's like, Hey, there's this convention coming up that I really want to go to, but I know I'm never gonna be able to. And I'm like, you know what? I think that's a great idea for something for us to do together, because I I wanted to, you know, do something just to to show my appreciation for my sister over all the years of putting up with me. And and so I'm sitting there when the tickets were on sale. I'm yeah, I know. I'm sitting there at work refreshing my phone, and I I got the two tickets before they sold out in five minutes, and and then at that point, I'm like, you know, I should probably start reading some of this monster romance stuff, just so I can you know know what's going on. So I started asking Tally for book recommendations, and she let me pull out my Kindle so I can remember what she uh such a good checklist.

Tally: 9:30

Yeah, I think my first one I had you read was The Spider's Mate. Tiffany Roberts.

Kyle: 9:36

No, actually, uh it may have been, but there was the uh Corrupted Mate, I believe is the first one they had me, which is book two by Trish Heinrich, because it was male and female aliens, and it was alright. I I found I didn't enjoy it too much, but then you had me read Spider's Mate series, and I liked that one a lot more. But something that I've talked about a lot and feel a little uncomfortable about, I guess you could say, is that romance is a very female-dominated genre, and I'm a guy and I like girls, so I want my monsters to be ladies, and my ladies to be monsters. So after I read that, she suggested Surrendering to Scylla by Ren K. Morris, and I loved that book, it was everything I wanted. So, you know, afterwards I went through all of the or a lot of the authors that were going to be at the con, and you know, reading a couple from each one, trying to focus more on the female monsters and stuff like that. But and I would say that was the first time I got into monster romance, but as I was reading, I realized I've actually been into monster romance, not necessarily books, but just in general, in for quite a while. Um, just being in various, you know, fantasy fandoms, and the whole furry scene has kind of that, and there's been some games I've played, I guess you could say, that have been a little bit similar to Monster Romance. Yeah, and so it's like, oh yeah, I was already part of this group, I didn't even know it. One of us. It's been around and prevalent much more than people realized. Yeah, I mean, then I guess to wrap up a bit, I as Telly said, I have been to quite a few, mostly anime cons, but a few other like fantasy or gaming conventions. Uh, not super often. Like maybe I'll do a couple in a year and then take a few years off. But I I've been to quite a few and I cosplay a couple times, and um, but I had never been to a book con before, so this one was quite a bit different than what I'm used to for anime conventions. It was a little bit unusual or like a bit of a surprise to see how different it was. But still, I went and I had a lot of fun, even if I don't really follow the authors, and most of them I've only read like one book, except for a couple where I've read the series. So I am not too familiar and I didn't really have a desire to get anything signed, but still going, doing all the trading, meeting other people. Um, it was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I was able to go with my sister.

Mari: 12:32

Cool. What about you, Rich? Uh hey guys.

Rich: 12:37

So once again, I'm Rich. And actually, so we're gonna hit a kind hit on a couple of similar themes here. I actually got into monster romance because I was big into romantic for quite a while. I when I started getting back into reading, I picked up a lot of more traditional fantasy stories, and I noticed that the books that I really enjoyed had a romance element to them. Um, and then my sister, Katie, one day she was already into monster romance, and she started telling me about these books that she was reading and recommending certain book series. And I believe about three years ago, the first one I picked up was the Creature Cafe series by Cleo Evans. And such a good series, yeah. Yeah, really enjoy that. I read all of those, at least they were out at the time, and I continued reading them, and I kind of dove in, and this has been the main genre that I follow pretty much ever since. I think that yeah, that was about I think I said three years ago. So yeah, but it was it's just kind of been all consuming. But as far as cons go, we've been going to cons for about almost 20 years. So we are close to New York Comic-Con. So that is our main convention. We go just about every year. I've also been to a couple of like gaming conventions, uh, PAX East and PAX Unplugged. But this was my very first book convention, and I actually I have to say, I think that it's probably my favorite convention that I've ever been to.

Mari: 14:18

Nice.

Rich: 14:18

Um, even more so than like I know, yeah, even more so than like New York Comic Con. So it really was just that great.

Jen: 14:26

Jen, what about you? Well, I am Jen, again, Demi Angel 2 on Instagram. And I am actually Rich's wife, and I got into Monster Romance actually, I believe, because I I loved to read. I've loved reading ever since I was a little kid. I don't remember, from my recollection, of reading any monster romance when I was younger or even a couple of years ago, but when Katie and Rich started getting very into the monster romance scene, they were reading a lot of books, and I would ask them what they were reading, and the theme sounded nice. So I asked for recommendations. And the first recommendation that I had gotten was actually from Katie, and it was Morning Glory Milking Farm, and I absolutely fell in love with it, and then I branched out into reading all the Holocopes books. I'm actually I missed reading one that's probably gonna be one of the next ones I read. But regardless, I actually fell in love with the genre and regarding Monsterotica, they were both going to the convention. I've never been to Baltimore, and I said, if you guys don't mind, can I tag along? I'd love to go and see the authors, see you know, the key people going, see what's going on, and see the city itself too. So I tagged along, absolutely loved it, so excited for the next one. Yeah, and so I kind of was the third wheel of this. And just in regards to any cons, it was actually our first book com together, just for all of us, nice, but I've been to PAX East, PAX Unplugged, and as Rich said, numerous years of New York Comic Con. Nice. What about you, Katie?

Katie: 16:22

So hello again, I'm Katie. Mad to have Katie on Instagram. I actually got into Monster Romance through my roommate from college. She was really big into the romance scene, got really big into monster romance. She introduced me to Ice Planet Barbarians, and that kind of opened the door into the wonderful world of monster romance. From there, I got really big into the Cleo Evans Creature Cafe series, really big into CM Nascosta, um, Ashley Bennett. I love all of it. And I've been really into monster romance probably for at least the past seven to ten years. Um, like Rich and Jen said, this was our first ever book con. It was a lot of fun. I followed, I followed Cassie on Instagram for quite a long time. And when she started putting out feelers about would people be interested in going to a monster romance book convention, I was from the get-go, I was like, if this is a thing, I don't care where it is, I will get there. And like they said, I've been to a lot of New York Comic-Con packs. This by far is the best convention I've been to. The community is so great, everyone's so welcoming. It's very easy to introduce yourself to like-minded people and not feel like you're gonna be shut out or shunned. Everyone's so lovely and welcoming. The authors are great, the vendors that were there were so nice. Yeah.

Mari: 17:40

Yeah. No, I agree. I I went solo to this one, and this is the first con I've been to or even book event that I've been to by myself. Like I've traveled by myself before, but never like to an event thing like this. I initially bought, I got I was able to get two tickets, and it just everyone who was potentially gonna go with me, it all fell through. So I'm like, that's fine, I'm still going. And I don't think I ever really felt, you know, weird or like anybody who was standoffish. Like I thought it was, yeah, a really good, welcoming community.

Tally: 18:11

One of the authors even said she's she said it was the safest she's ever felt surrounded by a complete group of strangers.

Mari: 18:18

Yes.

Tally: 18:20

Absolutely. And there go my dogs.

Mari: 18:26

So I've met Tally and Kyle first because we all did the light rail from the airport. We met at the airport and went into the the hotel from there. So did anybody I was general admission. What was everyone else's ticket level? Did anybody do the Thursday stuff?

Rich: 18:45

Um Katie and I were VIP, but we weren't the highest tier. Okay.

unknown: 18:51

Okay.

Mari: 18:52

Yeah, so I didn't do anything on Thursday. I was if I my whole thing was if I got there early enough to to do the registration, I was gonna take care of that, but I didn't, and that was fine. I thought registration on Friday morning was like super easy. Um super easy. Yeah. I don't know if I was just anxious about it or used to you know events where people are like lining up way in advance or whatever.

Tally: 19:14

But yeah, I was so anxious about it. I was like, oh my gosh, am I gonna get there in time? And how's this gonna work? And then we get there, I was able to walk right up. Here's your bag. I was like, I know we got a bag, but there's actually goodies in here too. Oh my goodness, and everybody was so nice, and even like when it came time to line up, people are like chatting. Yeah.

Kyle: 19:35

Uh, I think one of the reasons for that, and a difference from a lot of the other cons I've been to is I mean, there are only a set number of tickets and they're all sold already. So there's nobody buying tickets at the door at registration. And I there weren't like pre-printed badges that somebody had to find. There was just the you know, what tier are you, general or VIP, and then you had your different bags, but otherwise it was just grab one and go, write your name and put your pronouns on your badge, and and that's it. So it was like, I mean, I know we didn't show up right at the beginning on Friday, but it was just walk up to the counter. I wasn't, I was even unsure, like, is this registration? Yeah, there's no line here, it's just a table with some people behind it.

Jen: 20:21

So it's like yeah, what lender do you want?

Rich: 20:25

Yeah, yeah. And I honestly I feel like one of the things that really helped with this too was the fact that I don't know about some of the other cons you guys have been to, but a lot of the time the volunteers aren't really well informed. So you go up to somebody with a question, or you go up and you know, and they aren't even sure where you're supposed to be. And I think it it speaks to just honestly how well prepared Cassie was and how and how that she knew what to tell people because every volunteer that I spoke to throughout the entire convention knew had the answers. If not, they knew exactly where to go to get them. Everybody knew where people were supposed to go. So I think that really contributed to making registration just a super smooth process.

Mari: 21:12

I agree. And it's like they weren't stressed out, even if things so it didn't stress out anybody else, nobody felt stressed. Yeah, exactly.

Tally: 21:20

Yeah, so even if things I felt like, you know, with any kind of event, things are gonna go sideways and you have to kind of plan for that. But I think feel like of the things that went sideways, they were handled in such a way that nobody felt super stressed. Like I know that the panels had less process seating than they originally thought. So they had to work with that, and they really quickly came up with a an alternate plan on that day, and it was just really very smooth. Nobody seemed upset, nobody seemed stressed. And I mean, I know I saw Cassie running around like crazy, and I'm sure she was stressed out beyond belief, but all of the staff and all of the volunteers, they all had their cool and they were super helpful and super chill. And I loved that there was always someone at registration. So if you wanted to switch your lanyard from, you know, ask to I'm open for hugs, you you you could just go up and talk to them at any point.

Mari: 22:18

Yeah. That's one thing that I thought was really neat that I don't think I'd seen done before at any event I'd been to. They had the different lanyards. It was red, yellow, and green. And red was like, don't touch me, yellow was asked and and green was, you know, open to hugs and and touching and whatnot. That they had that and that you could just switch it out whenever, no questions asked. I thought was really good thinking ahead and like making people feel comfortable.

Kyle: 22:44

Yeah, that is one thing I've noticed in this monster romance community is how accepting and welcoming and accommodating everyone is for any sort of you know requirements or or personal feelings that people might have with you know little pronoun stickers I mentioned. I really liked that they had those and they had a big variety of them, plus the blank one that you could just write your own in. And the the lanyards for your you know, the physical consent. It was all very inclusive, and I loved how they did that. And like you said, it's not something I've seen at another con. I think I may have seen some talking about it, but I haven't been to one with them.

Katie: 23:23

Yeah. This is also, I think, the first convention I've been to where they had a spot on your badge that you could put like your name or like your Instagram handle, your Discord handle. So that way, if you might not know what someone looks like, but you've talked to them online, you can be like, Oh my god, I know who you are. We've talked a bunch online, or I follow you on Instagram. So it made it feel a lot more of like a personal group experience instead of just like a bunch of strangers in a room. Right. I agree.

Tally: 23:50

Well, I think it also helped the authors by having like the name tag really visible because you know they're signing things. And as long as you've got your name tag present and visible, they don't have to go, okay, how do you spell? And it was loud, you know, it wasn't ungodly loud, but you know, if there's there's certain, I'm sure my name would have gotten misspelled. And because everybody, you know, tally's such a unique name, but the fact the fact that they were just like, Okay, can I see your badge? What you know, your name and it because not only were the badges super adorable, but you know, and then they had the space for your name if you wanted a nickname or if you wanted to put your handle instead. Um, I thought that that was really awesome. Awesome. And then on the flip side, having the uh the QR codes for the different so the the online cues.

Mari: 24:41

Yeah, how did that all access? It's again queuing things in the map.

Tally: 24:44

Have it all accessible with you. You didn't have to look anything up.

Mari: 24:48

Right. How did you guys do you have any what was your experience like with the the whole online queuing for for signing? Did you guys get to do anybody that you wanted to have stuff signed? Did you have any issues?

Rich: 25:00

Um we actually, yeah, we actually did have an issue with Gemlin. With Gemlin's on the first day, but it was honestly it was just as the con opened for VIP on the very first day. So it was new, brand new for everybody. And it was just people were accessing the line through the app. But then once you got to the booth to actually get checked in, it was like everything got all out of order. So, like, for example, like I was number three, and like I ended up pretty far back in the line, and like the people around me were like 30, you know, 29, like 64. It was just like people had no idea honestly what was going on. But other than that, right at the start of the con, I used it a I used it two or three more times, and it it always seemed to go pretty well.

Katie: 25:48

Yeah, I used it to get on Opal Rain and Regine Abel's line, and it worked very well for me. I liked that they kind of told you where your spot was. You had if you were waiting in line for another author and you were running late, you could like mark on it that you were running late when it was your time so you didn't get kicked off the queue.

Tally: 26:05

I asked I went to get in line for Regine and reorders or pickups or anything like that. And she was like, Okay, I've got you checked in. If you want to go physical lines a little bit shorter, but I've got you here. And so those volunteers or staff were super chill and amazing, and they were like, Yeah, we got this. Don't worry, we're just gonna go with the flow. And you know, I know some authors had to get added on because lines were weird, and but everybody was just kind of like, I don't know what's happening, we're just gonna go with it.

Katie: 26:41

Yeah, everyone's very go with the flow. It's like if something changed, even like the authors were like, That's fine. The the people there were like it's all good. It's just like everyone wanted to have a good time and wanted to make sure it could run as smoothly as possible.

Kyle: 26:54

Yeah, yeah. The the waitlist thing, I know it had a couple issues the first day just because people hadn't used it before and they didn't really know how. So there were people that were like getting in line multiple times just because they were refreshing the page when they shouldn't have. But once they figured out why and and you know sent down an announcement on the other app, uh Discord.

Mari: 27:16

Oh the other app, you're right.

Kyle: 27:17

Well Discord, yes, but the I'm blanking at the app, which was like the app they used for the con in general, explaining how it should be used, it was very smooth, and I think it was a great idea just to keep the lines down, otherwise they would have completely clogged up that vendor hall.

Mari: 27:34

Right.

Kyle: 27:35

Um, so even if it wasn't you weren't in the exact order that you were signed up in the app, it was like, okay, they you know you're coming up soon, so get in line, and then they'd mark you as there, and then you just wait in a line that's 10 people instead of 30.

Mari: 27:51

Yeah. And it gave you the opportunity to just walk around and look at everything else and and participate in the vending instead of just standing in line. You know, you knew you had the maximum minutes.

Kyle: 28:01

Yeah, and some other cons I know there's been times where it's like you miss several of the panels or other things that you wanted to do because you were waiting in line for a certain author or a certain voice actor.

Mari: 28:13

Yeah, I've heard I've heard horror stories.

Kyle: 28:17

So it was it was real nice to be able to do that. Although I I was feeling a little uncomfortable when I I only used it once to get in Opal Rain's line, and it was like I sign up, okay, I'm a ways down the list, so I have some time to do something else, and then I got a text saying, You're up next. I'm like, wait, what? I'm not ready. Not emotionally ready for this.

Katie: 28:39

That's a good thing because it's a three to five minutes process.

Tally: 28:44

Yeah, I agree. Like my I do think day two moved much faster.

Mari: 28:49

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 5: 28:51

Absolutely.

Mari: 28:52

Yeah, by day two, I was able to like there were parts where you can just go up and and get in line that there wasn't even wait list for people that was waitless on day one, didn't even have wait lists on day two by towards the end of it, because I guess everybody who was on that list already got to see them, so it was easier to just walk up to some of them too. So yeah.

Kyle: 29:11

I will say though, and this may just be my bias, the the Yap app that had like the schedule, the guest list, and the map. I don't think that was entirely necessary because the schedule was linear, meaning there was only one event at any time and there were gaps between because all the cons I've been to like had expansive schedules where you had to choose I want to go to this one or that one. Yes, and it was nice not to have to choose, but I mean, I found you you didn't really need the schedule or the app to see what events there were because there was one panel and there was the vendor hall, and then you know the monster characters.

Tally: 29:48

I did like the digital building map though, yeah.

Mari: 29:52

That was really nice, as opposed to just the vendor map. Yeah, yeah, I didn't access the Yap app, I don't think at all during the con. Because I agree. That schedule was really it was actually it was really refreshing to not have to pick between multiple things. And it was refreshing to be like, okay, this is a time where now it's like lunchtime or go in the room and take a nap time. Whatever. It's time to like refresh your batteries however way you do that, which I think made the entire day more enjoyable.

Kyle: 30:20

Not even just for us as attendees, but for the volunteers and staff and the authors and guests having to enjoy their as well. Right. Having breaks and stuff like that where they didn't have to be at their booth all day. Right. Was really nice for them because that is another thing that I think is a big difference between the anime cons that I've been to and this, where like at anime cons or other cons, there's the vendors that are selling things and then there's the guests that are signing things. Here, pretty much all of the guests were vendors. So they weren't there just to stand at their booth and sell things, they were there to you know interact and participate in panels and stuff like that. So having those breaks and the times for the vendor hall to shut down so they could do the panel or take lunch, I think was a very good way to run a small con like this.

Mari: 31:16

I agree. I think that break for like lunch and that break for for dinner or break in the afternoon as well, I think allowed people to do other things together. Like Opal Rain had a a lunch thing that she did with people from the Discord that you know wasn't officially part of the con.

Tally: 31:33

They couldn't get it was for people who maybe lived nearby but didn't necessarily weren't able to get tickets because I'm on her Discord as well. And I thought, you know, that was really awesome that she was able to do that. And I know a lot of these authors and vendors are and artists are friends, but have never had the opportunity to meet in person. So it gave people the the chance to go get lunch or go get coffee or dinner together, and I thought that was really cool as well. Yeah.

Kyle: 32:00

It also helped with people that have you know strong anxiety and FOMO, fear of missing out. Yes, because when it's a full schedule, it's like, you know, I could go to this panel, right? I could go get lunch, or I can spend some more time in the vendor hall, or go to this panel, or I could go to the panel and then starve. Yeah. So yeah, it freed up people so they weren't worried about having to choose between things.

Mari: 32:27

Right. Just decision paralysis was out of the picture.

Kyle: 32:30

Exactly. It was very, very stress-free.

Katie: 32:34

I also feel like having that nice break in the middle gave everyone a time to kind of just like reboot. So like everyone in the afternoon was like in a good mood. Because like we've been to cons where it's the afternoon and everyone's just miserable because you've been on your feet all day, it's too crowded, you're just it's too much. Where it's like you just get a nice time, recharge your batteries, come back, the vendors are in a good mood, the authors are in a good mood, the guests are in a good mood. Absolutely.

Mari: 32:56

Yeah, I agree.

Tally: 32:58

Um, it also I felt was beneficial because if even if you didn't want to do lunch or something like that, that there was that beautiful atrium, and people just hung out there during lunch and dinner times for trades or just to socialize. And I I did that during lunch. I just would sit there until it was time to head up to the panel and met some really amazing people just kind of chilling. Yeah.

Mari: 33:23

Yeah, there were some really talented people making things and printing things and you know, whatever for the the trades. And it was a good way to like talk to people.

Katie: 33:33

Yeah, I really like perfect segment. Yeah, because it's just like for people who have like social anxiety and it's hard to talk to other people, it's a great way to kind of introduce yourself and just be like, hi, I'm so-and-so. Are you guys trading? You want to trade? And you kind of talk to someone for a little bit and you can get to meet somebody. It's a really nice, easy way to put yourself out there without feeling uncomfortable. Right.

Rich: 33:59

That's always my issue, even at these kind of events where I know people are interested in the same kind of things as I am, is I'm it's once I'm talking to somebody, it's fine, but actually getting up to them and talking to them. It and the trading really was just such a nice icebreaker.

Tally: 34:15

It really, really helped. Oh, yeah.

Kyle: 34:19

Yeah, I had that was part of a lot of the fun that I had leading up to the con was 3D printing all my little trades because I've got my printers and I don't have reason to use them too much, but doing this and you know, showing off the things that I've been making and stuff like that, it was a lot of fun to kind of build the excitement for me. And at the con, you know, people who would seek me out and me seeking others out because we were sharing what we were making to trade or even not to trade, just to hand out was fun. I know I enjoyed I made little 3D printed magnetic penes, and uh I really enjoyed that finding anything magnetic and just kind of sticking them around. Um they were very hard to find.

Tally: 35:07

He was he was trying to do it to people too. People look at him so weird.

Kyle: 35:19

I just kind of like slink up and try to stick it to the handle their book cards, but I'd say like 90% of them were aluminum and not magnetic, and I was so upset. There were a couple that I got, and there was even somebody I was talking to, you know, later, and she was just like, I just found one of these on my handle. I don't I just you know went to grab my cart and suddenly there was a dick in my handle.

Mari: 35:42

That was me. I did that. So uh yeah, good time. Good time.

Tally: 35:50

My favorite was when people would share what trades they had, and they'd be like, Okay, well, I'm at the couches in the atrium, or I'm over here, and then all of a sudden you'd be like, save a dragon dick for me, and people would like humbling, or I hit half of us are in freaking costumes trying to find tiny little three employees for the hotel saying that they were just having a blast watching the people trade. And it was it was just so much fun because you're like, look, I didn't bring anything except my undying love and devotion. People are throwing trades at each each other, and yeah, it was just so much fun.

Kyle: 36:33

And like there's the the three tables out in the atrium that were basically just always covered with random trades, people would spread out their wares, yes, you would just pick through. Oh, this is cute, I want this, and uh like I had done that, set my bag down and went off somewhere else for a minute. I came back and there was like a tentacle pen just sitting on my backpack. Like, I guess somebody traded that with me, but okay.

Tally: 36:58

You know, have a passenger. Well, it's okay because I feel like in that way it also it reduced some of that stigma of getting like, okay, am I gonna give something equal or not equal? You know. So I because I only brought a certain amount, I had laser engraved goodies, so the wooden, I had some earrings and some keychains and some bookmarks, and a lot of people are like, Well, I just brought stickers. Jokes on them. I'm a sticker whore and I love stickers. So I will gladly rifle through a whole bunch of stickers and pull out my favorites, you know. And then there was someone who brought like liquid IV and Pure L. And I'm like, that is the smartest thing I've seen all day. That is the mom in me going out, like, yes, hydration people. Absolutely.

Mari: 37:43

Did anybody go to any of the panels? I did not make it to any of the panels. Did anybody get panels?

Rich: 37:49

I really wanted to go to Friday's panel, but it was one of those deals where when the issue came up with the seating, it was just kind of one of those things where I've I've been at cons before where I like have to wait in line for a really long time to get in panels. And I was like, you know what? It's better that somebody somebody else can have the seat that I were taking.

Mari: 38:06

Yeah.

Kyle: 38:07

So we could make it to both of the panels. Yes, we did.

Mari: 38:11

How were they?

Kyle: 38:13

They were fun. Um they were a little different. Yeah, you're you're kind of getting out a little bit too. But but they were fun. The I was a little surprised that I guess maybe not surprised, but they were different formats. Like the first one, I will never remember anybody's name, let alone the authors, but they had one person who was acting as like the host asking the questions to the series of authors that were sitting up at the table. And it wasn't like an audience QA like I was kind of expecting. They had these set questions and they went through and said their piece, and it was really interesting to see, you know, like the thought process behind the design of the monsters and and that sort of thing. And both panels ended up with a couple rather large dildos on the table. So yeah, it was it was interesting to see, even like for me who doesn't follow the authors, it was still very enjoyable. Nice, and then they have the crowded room was managed well.

Mari: 39:16

Good. Yeah, I'm hoping that they'll do release the audio or or something of it.

Kyle: 39:21

I know they did video record everything.

Mari: 39:22

Right, that's what I've heard.

Kyle: 39:24

Hopefully they'll put it together and release it at some point. I'm not sure.

Mari: 39:27

Yeah.

Kyle: 39:27

Wonder where. Hopefully, we'll see.

Mari: 39:30

But for the evening activities, there was Monster Karaoke the first night, book trivia the second night. Monster karaoke was fun. I do not sing, no one wants to hear me sing, but it there were some talented people there.

Rich: 39:42

We only like the very impressed. Yeah, and honestly, it was it sounded like people were having an absolutely amazing time.

Tally: 39:50

We did go pink pony club stuck in my head for three weeks now.

Mari: 39:56

That's me on a normal week.

Tally: 39:58

Yeah, true. Same. I can't remember. I think it was. I think it was you think it was hot to go or Pink Pony Club, but it's been stuck in my head. I did get up there and sing. You rocked it up. Yeah, you did, and it was terrifying and amazing.

Kyle: 40:19

It was and then, of course, you you sang the Shrek version of I Need a Hero as it should be. And of course, I was surprised to see a little bit later cosplays of Shrek and the fairy godmother were there.

Tally: 40:33

Oh, that's too funny.

Kyle: 40:34

I think that was like, oh man, if they were there a little earlier and her partner was it? That's cool.

Tally: 40:40

Showed up as I think because that's she's the one who wrote the get in my swamp. So if I had to venture, I guess I think it was her partner.

Kyle: 40:49

Yeah, and speaking of a lot of the other authors, like uh Nicole Parker. And yeah, a lot of the others authors dressed up as some of their characters, like was it Latrexanova who wore the Jack Jack in the Box costume?

Tally: 41:05

Yes, they dressed up as the Jack character. Yep. And then Casso Shai also dressed up as Elzbeth from The Rake or Orca who met his match in a Selkie seeking revenge. And I think there was somebody else. There were several Nicole Parker dressed as the Duracell bunny, but you know, the off-brand Duracell bunny. Right.

Kyle: 41:30

Yeah, that was a couple inflatable, you know, lots of mothmen and tentacles. But so I went to the monster karaoke or the costume karaoke for the costume because my little secret, as I was 3D printing peens, I also 3D printed a wolf skull mask for Orpheus from Soul to Keep by Opal Rain. And I put a lot of work into that doing the lights and the you know the modeling. Well, I found files online that I adapted, but when I saw that the first night would be costume karaoke, it's like, okay, I'm gonna go as a surprise. And you know, as Tally and I were getting ready, like I'd gotten into the costume and we had walked over. We were in a hotel next door. We walked over, I realized I had forgotten part of it. It's like, okay, I'm gonna go back and grab that. You go ahead. And as I'm walking back with the rest of my costume, I get a text before I continue that. I have to preface with there was a faunus on Friday during the day, another Duskwalker cosplay. And I talked to them, you know, in the vendor hall a little bit, and I was excited because there was going to be two Duskwalkers there, myself and this faunus. And as I'm coming a little bit late to the costume karaoke, Tally texts me saying, Get over here. There's a Magnar, Magnar's here already. I'm like, Oh, okay. And then I wait, do you mean Faunus? No, Magnar, there was a third Dusk Walker there, too.

Tally: 43:03

Yeah, that's my favorite series. Like, I'm not gonna get them wrong, dude.

Kyle: 43:09

I know, but I just was I remembering it correctly, but yeah, so there was a Magnar there, and uh the Faunus did show up again a bit later, and I was there as Orpheus. The other two were there with their partners, was also cosplaying the respective brides. I was alone.

Mari: 43:27

Well, there was a witch out the the owl witch was there too. There was a person dressed as owl brother.

Tally: 43:31

I think you address your bride, though.

Kyle: 43:33

I know, I know, I wouldn't.

Tally: 43:36

But if there were any other volunteers, I would have well um, but yeah, the owl witch was there, and I I saw her and I should say that you guys getting the attention that you so rightfully deserve.

Kyle: 43:48

Yeah, yeah, it was neat when Opal Rain herself showed up and she started talking to me, and it took a second, but I realized who it was pretty quickly, and she asked, Oh, how well can you see in that thing? I'm like, Ah, pretty well. And she goes, This is Opal, by the way. Looking back at the pictures that people took, it was a lot brighter in the atrium there than I realized. Like, I didn't I thought it was pretty dark in there, but I guess it was just because I was wearing masks the whole time, right? But yeah, it was really fun with the whole family photo with not just three dusk walkers, but three different dusk walkers. There weren't any duplicates like I kind of expected there to be, but they were also from books one, two, and three in the series, right? Yeah, yep, and the brides and the owl witch, which owl, I don't remember what we call her. The and then, of course, the mother of all of them, Opal, were there, so there's some nice group photos, leading away, and then lots of lots of pictures, and it was a good time. I did want to sing something in karaoke, and I was trying to figure out what would be funny for Orpheus to go up and sing, but by the time I, you know, got myself in the queue, my voice was gone and it was too late. It didn't even get close to reaching me anyway.

Mari: 45:08

Yeah, but so it was probably for the best, but um yeah, I almost wish that karaoke had gone for like another hour. I agree, I think it could have easily. Oh, if it did.

Tally: 45:22

I think people were pointing on going out dancing afterwards, and but my 35-year-old body was not gonna do any of that.

Kyle: 45:33

Yeah, there was a group that went to a club about that.

Mari: 45:36

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle: 45:37

And I'm like, how?

Mari: 45:39

Yeah, no, thank you. Like my my 45-year-old self already using a cane just to just to walk around all day. No, it's like I applaud your energy, people.

Jen: 45:50

Also, Kyle, I don't know if it was you or if it was one of the other dustwalkers, but all I know is one of the dustwalkers was playing with Rich and my two-year-old daughter because she was also at the hotel with us during the weekend. And she would go, I think she said dustwalker.

Kyle: 46:09

That was me, yeah. I didn't notice it. I think it must have been one of you who said that she was roaring at me, so she did again. And I roared peeking around the corner at her.

Jen: 46:19

She absolutely loved it.

Kyle: 46:21

That's that's good. Glad to hear it.

Mari: 46:25

Wholesome monster vibes.

Tally: 46:27

I was also surprised by the the 360 camera that was there. Yeah, that was so fun. None of us were expecting it. And I loved that you could could download the videos right away. I felt so awkward doing it. I never know what to do with those things, but I just had fun watching people do it. I loved watching people go as their characters or just kind of goof around. It was I I would love to see all of those uploaded somewhere.

Kyle: 46:53

Oh, yeah, that'd be great. I mean, they are like when you follow the link, it did it did show like all of them. I went through some of them and just looked and and watched. So fun. Um, I don't know how long they get they stay up there, but you could check again.

Mari: 47:12

It was yeah, I did not expect that to be there, but that was a fun little memento of the event. And then a little surprise. Right, right. And then the the last night of it for the evening activity, they had the book trivia. Did did anybody do book trivia?

Tally: 47:26

Yeah, our table was hilarious that we had.

Kyle: 47:32

I think most tables were hilarious.

Tally: 47:33

All a bunch of I mean, it was all a bunch of strangers, and we're all just yelling, and Cassie's trying to run all this thing. None of us can see the dang TV. Also, we got which I was playing with we were detachable penis.

Katie: 47:51

We were no thoughts, just vibes. Wasn't it no thoughts just vibes? No, no thoughts, just vibes.

Rich: 47:56

I'm trying to remember what I think we were like monster DMV or something. Whenever a question came up about Opal's books, she'd like run to other tables and tell them fake answers.

Kyle: 48:07

I love there, there were a few of them where like they asked a question and then the author was everybody looked over to the authors and then they revealed the answer, and a couple times they're like, No, that's wrong.

Mari: 48:20

I've heard it from the horse's mouth right there. So um yeah, my my table was a bunch of strangers. We did not know each other. We we thought we knew our books, but none of us knew the answers. I think we we had like, I swear the lowest points, but we had fun, and that's what it was about. So it's fine. I think we've got to be a good one. At our table, somebody brought Ube cookies. Nice. I think I met that person the first day, like Ube Mache Macha cookies, they were very good. Yeah, uh like asked her for the recipe. Um anything else about the event that we haven't talked about. I never wanted to leave.

Speaker 5: 48:57

Yeah, no, yeah, two days.

Kyle: 49:00

I I think it could have gone three days and been great.

Jen: 49:02

I agree. Absolutely.

Rich: 49:05

Honestly, I asked probably about 25 different vendors and authors. It felt like it was just I like just how they were enjoying it. And every single author, every single vendor that I spoke to, even the even the tattoo artists were talking about how wonderful this convention was. And even after the con and talking to some of them, it is it's just it's become kind of even like the authors referring to it as like the the like the pinnacle of the book cons that they've been to.

Mari: 49:36

And I was nice because there was such I don't know a lot of them sold out, which is good. You know, it's good for their business too.

Tally: 49:42

Yes, I mean Rose Santriello sold out halfway through through the first session, is when they sold out. And I actually overheard, I was walking through the hotel and I overheard Cast. He was so incredible. You guys have been amazing, and everybody's been so kind and polite. And I was sitting there just giggling, going, hee hee hee hee, I know what's happening.

Kyle: 50:13

Yeah, I did kind of want to say on that note, the last round of the bookish trivia was like they showed a piece of artwork from a book, and we they had to guess like what it was and who the author was, and they started saying that all of this art has been cleared by the hotel. I don't know how they got that artwork clear.

Katie: 50:37

Definitely not safe work.

Jen: 50:39

No, no, but it was a good time.

Mari: 50:42

Children's game policy.

Jen: 50:44

Yeah, who knows? Maybe the person who was reviewing it liked that book.

Kyle: 50:50

Maybe, but still.

Mari: 50:54

I mean, that could have been the entire book triview, it's just like pictures and guessing what it's from, and that would have been fun. Like it was such a good time.

Katie: 51:02

Yeah, definitely needed a couple more screens for that though.

Tally: 51:05

Yeah, yeah, I couldn't see. I'm like, I wear glasses, I can't see y'all. Like I kept running up the hands and taking pull a bunch of nerds here.

Jen: 51:14

None of us can see what's happening.

Kyle: 51:17

That is something that I remember Tally talking about, and like when they were discussing ahead of time that Saturday would be bookish trivia and you know, pajama themed. We were expecting it to be like a little cozy kind of intimate event. I don't know if intimate's the right word.

Tally: 51:33

There were so many more people.

Kyle: 51:34

It was like the entire atrium hall of tables. Yeah, yeah, so I think everybody who was at the con and then some were at that trivia. Yeah.

Katie: 51:43

Yeah, I think it was just like it was the last thing. So everyone was like, I have to be there. Yeah, I don't care what it is, but it's the last time I'm gonna get to hang out with all of you. I need to be there.

Mari: 51:50

Right. Agreed. Agreed. Yeah, all in all, it was a great event. I hope I get to go back to to it again if they do it again, and I would 100% recommend it to anyone who likes monster romance. It was a great event. Agreed, 100%. Oh yeah. All right. I think you guys have said some somewhat where people can find you. But if you if there's anything else you want to plug, any projects you're doing, any websites, what you're reading, a charity, whatever. Anything else you want to plug before I do the little outro?

Tally: 52:20

All right. I will. So as I said, you can find me on Instagram at Smutton Stitches. I uh try to do reviews. It's almost all monster romance with some occasional contemporary and fantasy thrown in. I am also a rep for Renegade Romance, and they're an amazing group of people with LGBTQ inclusive, great book boxes, great merch. And then I also have an Etsy shop where you can get the little trinkets that I brought for trade. So bookmarks, keychains, earrings, and my Etsy shop is called Two Black Dogs Co.

Kyle: 53:02

Uh, as I said earlier, I am phaser shift pretty much everywhere, even though I'm not very active. But I will say that doing this Orpheus cosplay for Monstrotica has inspired me again to work on more cosplays. And so I've got another kind of monster-ish one for an anime con coming up, at least planned. And posting about it on Instagram or even anywhere, I don't really share things, but I've posted a couple progress pictures of the Orpheus there. So I'm thinking maybe I'll start posting more cosplays and stuff on there.

Rich: 53:40

Maybe probably not, but yeah.

Kyle: 53:43

And someday I'll start streaming again.

Rich: 53:46

Um once again, I'm I'm Rich. I'm Minotaur Reads on Instagram. I did just create that Instagram account after Monster Alcott because that kind of gave me the kick I needed to start my own Bookstagram that you know wasn't you know, family and co-workers could see. But yeah, I just I mainly post reviews, it's relatively new, but yeah, hop on by. It's just uh hoping to continue off.

Jen: 54:16

Again, my name is Jen Demi Angel2 on Instagram, TikTok, pretty much everything. And yeah, I'm looking forward to the next Monster Radico.

Katie: 54:27

And I'm Katie, I'm Madcat Katie on Instagram. I am currently transitioning to a Bookstagram account, so love to get to know people, reach out, meet some awesome new people.

Mari: 54:38

Nice. All right, so I'm gonna wrap it up. Thanks for listening to Of Swords and Soulmates. Before we go, make sure to check the show notes, rate, review, and subscribe to us on your podcast app of choice. It helps others to find us. Follow us on Instagram at Of Swords and Soulmates. Check us out on our website at of Swordsandsoulmates.com or on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, and Pinterest. Same username. If you'd like to offer a suggestion for future episode or just give us your opinion, reach out to us on any of those methods. If you want to read along with us as we prep for new episodes, follow us on Goodreads at Of Swords and Soulmates or for chapter-by-chapter interaction on the Fable app at the Of Swords and Soulmates book club. And we now are also on Tome at Of Swords and Soulmates. Last but not least, if you enjoy Monster Romance and you enjoy podcasts, we'd love to point you to the Hissin and Kissin podcast. So it's Southern, it's without the G's, H-I-S-S-N in Kissing, K-SSIN Podcast. It's a monster romance podcast. They talk about monsters in general and then books, media, video games, fan fiction, etc. They're good people, good times would recommend. Anything else anybody wants to say before we wrap it up? Thanks for having us.

Kyle: 55:44

Thank you.

Mari: 55:45

Yeah, thanks so much. Yeah, thank you so much. It's been a blast. It was great talking to you guys again. Same, same. Alrighty. Well, bye.

unknown: 55:54

Bye.

Mari: 55:55

Bye.