In my almost-40 years of life, writing and marketing a book has been one of the coolest projects and most prideful accomplishments in my life. I have, of course, sold paperback and e-reader copies on Amazon since its release back in January and have sold way more copies than I’d ever imagined from Dewayne’s World Comics & Games in Kingsport. I’ve recently gotten my book on shelves at Knoxville-based comic shop Snake Eyes and may have an event set up soon with another local shop. It’s humbling to know that people, most of which I do not know, think the story is interesting enough to pick up a copy.

In many ways, Tune in and Lose Your Mind!: How I Created a Cult Classic in Small-Town Tennessee has helped me mark a number of things off my bucket list, not least of which are publishing my first book, selling more than one copy of said book and gaining distribution. It’s not a New York Times bestseller and I’m certainly not getting rich off it, but I can’t believe I’ve made any amount of money from this project.

There was another dream I’ve had for years, however, but have never written down: I’ve always wanted to be a vendor at a fan convention. And thanks to this very niche book project, I was able to finally achieve that dream after merely being an attendee for two decades.

Enter: CreepyCon Knoxville, 2024.

This year, I’ve made it my mission to take advantage of opportunities when they present themselves no matter how uncertain I feel about them or ill-prepared I feel. I don’t want to grow old and find myself toiling on my regrets because I was too scared to act, asking myself “what if” over and over again because I lacked sufficient confidence to start something. When the con posted about filling vendor spots for this year’s show, I knew I could remind myself how ill-prepared I was to do such a thing, how much effort would be required or how I likely wouldn’t even be in the mood anymore when the day came. This is what I’d normally do and I’d continue on my life not experiencing this awesome event. I knew at that moment that though it very well could be both my first and last convention appearance, I had the opportunity so should take it NOW!

Nervousness and anxiety immediately took over once I booked my spot, but I think they came from a place of excitement. I knew full-well that books don’t always do that great at shows like this and of course nobody there would know me, but they’ll just continue not knowing me if I kept sitting on my hands and promoting my book on my PRIVATE Facebook account, no? Then there was the fear of looking like a n00b in front of the seasoned, veteran vendors – would I embarrass myself? Do something stupid? Is there a hazing process for convention newcomers? 

I know that I’m good with talking with people, especially about a project in which I believe, and I’ve gotten a lot better at making small talk with strangers. I also feel like I had adequate expectations for the event, bringing 95 books but saying out loud I’d be happy selling only one. I would also have my friend and TV show host Shannon “The Cinema Warrior” Wallen by my side the whole weekend to pick up my slack and provide some much-needed entertainment both for me and our adoring fans. All I really lacked was a bomb-ass booth setup, so I got to work.

With merely days left before our load-in at the Knoxville Convention Center, I was fully prepared. I had a 10×8.5’ adjustable backdrop stand, book display stands, a lockbox complete with appropriate bank, a new 27” monitor, a DVD player with the original copy of SATURDAY NIGHT GRINDHOUSE loaded, a 24×27” table runner with TUNE IN AND LOSE YOUR MIND logo, a 4×8’ vinyl banner printed with the book design, 95 books, 1,000 bookmarks and 300 logo stickers. We had products, both secondary and tertiary points of focus, quality print jobs and a smokin’-hot blonde who’s the best interior designer on the planet who would help make our booth look sexy.

Getting to experience a horror convention from the vendor side is a real treat. Make no mistake, it was much harder than I imagined – my feet were killing me every evening and after the event’s conclusion, I was prepared to not use my voice for a full day. It’s kind of like having a seat on your favorite restaurant’s patio because it’s the perfect place to people-watch! Often, when you visit a convention, you’re limited in who you encounter based on where you go and what you do while you’re there. As a vendor, however, everyone that walks through the door passes by your booth.

From our vantage point, we saw many a Ghostbuster, made friends with a surprisingly friendly Freddy Krueger, saw many iterations of Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers (one Mike still had the tag on his mask – we said he must be the Minnie Pearl version). There were many clones of the infamous Art the Clown of the Terrifier series, a charming little kid who depicted the girl from The Ring crawling out of an actual television and more than a couple really good takes on Beetlejuice. My favorite cosplay, however, had to be this one little kid dressed as the original Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. He was running around with his chainsaw above his head, easily the most adorable little psycho killer I think I’ve ever seen.

I got to speak to a number of people, most of which were normal and fun, though a few boring passersby and a handful of others who were crazier than Baby Firefly. I loved chatting with an older gentleman with a t-shirt that said “Old Punks Never Die, They Just Stand in the Back,” a heavily tattooed-and-scary guy selling legit murderabelia and a guy who is a film producer, book promoter and apparently a professional wrestler who seems to have gotten upset with me when I didn’t spend much time at his booth. My bad, big guy.

Oh, and we almost ran over Robert Mukes.

Mukes is mostly known for his role as Rufus J. Firefly (RJ) in my favorite movie of all time, House of 1,000 Corpses. And while it has been several years, I have met the guy and got his autograph on one of my collectable prints.

With it being nine years since our last meeting, I only feel a little bad for not recognizing him. Upon entering the convention center for the second day of the show, Shannon was intrigued by a sculpture in the hallway and had his gaze locked in on it as he continued walking toward the escalator. I saw an extremely tall man (6’10” to be exact) standing motionless, merely feet from the top of the escalator, checking his phone. He was wearing a bloody and torn sheriff’s uniform, much like the one RJ wears as he tosses the kids into the coffin toward the end of the film. Shannon nearly crashed into him but caught himself just before making contact, apologized and walked around. I considered belting out, “Dude, how are you going to just NOT see Rufus J Firefly standing there?” but held my tongue just in case this person was cosplaying as something else.

“Was that Robert Mukes?” Shannon asked halfway down the escalator. 

“I think it was just a really, really good cosplay. And even if it was Robert Mukes, dude needs to not check his phone while standing still at the top of an escalator.” I replied.

About 20 minutes later while touring the convention floor, I saw his booth. It was for sure Mukes. Shannon would later apologize to him again at his booth and would receive a free autograph! Score!

By the time Sunday’s festivities came to a close, we had our booth packed up and I had my load-out pass secured, I was exhausted. I hugged Shannon goodbye and thanked him for a killer weekend, even if we did go in the hole on this project. He went on his way and Katie was out of town, so I pulled the blinds when I got home, ordered a pizza and sat in silence as I watched Terrifier (for the first time). I was incredibly tired, my voice was fried and my feet were killing me, but I was happy with myself for taking this chance.

And though it maybe wasn’t a capitalistic success by any stretch, I definitely moved a few books, spent a lot of time with an old friend and was inspired to get back into that world. Whether that means screenwriting, fiction writing or independent filmmaking, I don’t know, but the fire that used to burn inside me to create was reignited.

And not just to create, but to create something meaningful. Living in Knoxville, I get so sick and tired of seeing the absurd amount of money and attention that gets pumped into this obscene local practice of getting tanked and watching collegiate athletes play a children’s game. Not only do I not enjoy it, I detest all that for which it stands. Our time on this planet is so limited, there’s no logic behind wasting our days following and supporting things that are hollow and trite. And because of this, I must again create.

For what I lacked in the cash drawer at the end of our weekend, I tripled my investment in inspiration.

Special shoutout to the organizers of CreepyCon for providing such a smooth process to load in (and out!) and to my “neighbors”:

• Kevin at Good Water Magic
• The Team from Elite Vixen Paranormal
• Heather and Sarabeth from South Fork Ferals
• Courtney from Sage Advice Apothecary, LLC

And a special shoutout to Duke Raulston and the Tennessee Macabre team who are fighting the good fight out in South Pittsburg, Tennessee.

Buy my book if you haven’t.