Join the esteemed pair of award-wining writer Joe R. Lansdale and acclaimed editor Ellen Datlow alongside author and Tachyon publicist Kasey Lansdale for Camp V-Con, July 15-18.

As we’re sure you already know, Camp Necon will be virtual this July due to circumstances that need no explanation. We’re calling it Camp V-Con, and our goal is to hold an event that provides as close to a full Necon experience as possible without physically being together.

Most of Camp V-Con’s programming will be held on UMass-Lowell’s digital platform. It works just like Zoom, only no one needs their own account or any third party software. Best of all, it’s also secure, so we don’t have to worry about trolls or bigots harassing our Campers. The University will supply us access links for their platform closer to the event, and we’ll provide them to all attendees once they do. We have also set up a Camp V-Con Discord channel to essentially act as our “virtual quad,” and we plan to send out a tech primer with everything Campers will need to know to access Camp V-Con in the coming weeks.

Once again, Camp V-Con is FREE to all Campers who are already registered for Necon 40 (now being held July 21st to 24th, 2022). Registration for all other Campers IS NOW OPEN HERE. The cost is $25.00 for the virtual weekend.

Camp V-Con

There is plethora of events, several with the Lansdales and Datlow.

FRIDAY, JULY 16th

1:00PM ET — 1:50PM ET — Making Your Word(s) Count: The Best Short Fiction of the Pandemic

An online version of our annual “Frank Michaels Errington Five Star Books Kaffeeklatsch, but for short fiction. I’m sure for more than a few of us, short fiction has been a solace during a time where it’s hard to maintain focus.
CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS: Daniel Braum, Ellen Datlow, doungjai gam, Rena Mason, Kyle Rader, Angela Yuriko Smith, Morgan Sylvia, John F.D. Taff, Sheri White

SATURDAY, JULY 17th

3:30PM ET — 4:20PM ET — Are You Jekyll or Are You Hyde: The Art of Collaborating with Another Author

We almost filled this panel only with people who had collaborated with Christopher Golden or Jim Moore, but the UMass-Lowell digital platform caps us at twenty participants.
CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS: Stephen Bissette, Kasey Lansdale (M), Izzy Lee, Charles Rutledge, John Skipp, L.L.Soares, Jeff Strand, Bev Vincent

5:30PM ET — 6:20PM ET — Dead to Rights: The Intersection of Crime and Horror Fiction

At what point does a “suspense” novel become a “thriller,” and at what point does a “thriller” reach “horror” status? A generation ago, we may have asked if these distinctions were remotely relevant for anyone outside of a publisher’s marketing department. Of course, with every author now tasked with marketing their own work, these questions have never been more relevant for authors straddling the crime and horror genres.
CONFIRMED PARTICIPANTS: Dana Cameron, Gabino Iglesias, Nick Kaufmann (M), Toni L.P. Kelner, Joe Lansdale, Tim Waggoner, Doug Winter, Rio Youers