Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious Infomercial on the SFCon Phenomena
Review: Sharyn McCrumb is in top form, setting a blistering pace through what, for most of us, is as exotic as an Amazon rain forest. Science Fiction enthusiasts have gathered at a hotel in a southern city for a conference on the latest happenings, gossip, and technical advances in their field. They are stratified between professionals (authors), gamesters, Trekkies, hard science and fantasists. Ms. McCrumb spares no one; yet is sympathetically insightful to many of society's misfits who seem drawn to these events:"Children stared at Brenda when she passed on the streets; people made remarks about her in public, seeming not to care if she heard them They seemed to think they were giving her constructive criticism, or perhaps alerting her to a hitherto overlooked fact-as if it had somehow escaped her notice that she weighed two hundred and sixty seven pounds." With all the fantabulous people and their jaw-dropping activities, it doesn't seem of major importance that a particularly successful, acid tongued author is dispatched. There is speculation as to how much his autograph might now be worth and some scuffling over the rights to his last manuscript but few are interested in who did the dastardly deed. The voice of sanity belongs to a Scottish folk-singer who just was passing through and was bewildered by and sometimes appalled at this strange group. I confess I was at one with the conners in not caring particularly whodunnit. I didn't want to take time out from the party and seriously investigate. A fun outing, and you will learn something new-the easy way.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious Infomercial on the SFCon Phenomena
Review: Sharyn McCrumb is in top form, setting a blistering pace through what, for most of us, is as exotic as an Amazon rain forest. Science Fiction enthusiasts have gathered at a hotel in a southern city for a conference on the latest happenings, gossip, and technical advances in their field. They are stratified between professionals (authors), gamesters, Trekkies, hard science and fantasists. Ms. McCrumb spares no one; yet is sympathetically insightful to many of society's misfits who seem drawn to these events: "Children stared at Brenda when she passed on the streets; people made remarks about her in public, seeming not to care if she heard them They seemed to think they were giving her constructive criticism, or perhaps alerting her to a hitherto overlooked fact-as if it had somehow escaped her notice that she weighed two hundred and sixty seven pounds." With all the fantabulous people and their jaw-dropping activities, it doesn't seem of major importance that a particularly successful, acid tongued author is dispatched. There is speculation as to how much his autograph might now be worth and some scuffling over the rights to his last manuscript but few are interested in who did the dastardly deed. The voice of sanity belongs to a Scottish folk-singer who just was passing through and was bewildered by and sometimes appalled at this strange group. I confess I was at one with the conners in not caring particularly whodunnit. I didn't want to take time out from the party and seriously investigate. A fun outing, and you will learn something new-the easy way.
Rating: 
Summary: Funny look at Sci-Fi and Fantasy Conventions...
Review: Star Trek fans, computer nerds, DR WHO? lovers and AD&D role-players fill the pages of this book. One of the greatest, funniest AND weirdest "whodunit" mystery you will ever read about. A man is murdered, a famous author, and who wished him dead? The question should be, who DID NOT want him dead! Yet, James Owens Mega, creater of the sci-fi novel, Bimbos of the Death Star, must solve the crime! A crime set among a crowd of barbarians, Yodas, elvies, Gods and dragon slayers! He'll need all the help he can get!
Rating:
Summary: Funny look at Sci-Fi and Fantasy Conventions...
Review: Star Trek fans, computer nerds, DR WHO? lovers and AD&D role-players fill the pages of this book. One of the greatest, funniest AND weirdest "whodunit" mystery you will ever read about. A man is murdered, a famous author, and who wished him dead? The question should be, who DID NOT want him dead! Yet, James Owens Mega, creater of the sci-fi novel, Bimbos of the Death Star, must solve the crime! A crime set among a crowd of barbarians, Yodas, elvies, Gods and dragon slayers! He'll need all the help he can get!
Rating:
Summary: Totally awesome!
Review: Strangely enough, I read Zombies of the Gene Pool first. I was totally entranced by the fandom, the con, all the SF believers and followers. I'm not an SF fan, I'm a mystery buff. This covered both at the same time in such a way that I now want the whole world to read both books. Well done, Sharyn McCrumb..to me still the best mystery author ever!
Rating:
Summary: Give this one to a Star Trek Fan or Sci Fi Fanfic!
Review: The Absolute best! Good things come out of "fooling around" Sharon McCrumb wrote this with serious tongue and cheek ( check her latin jokes in here)basically to annoy her Master's Thesis board and poke fun at her husband's involvement with the Civil War role playing conferences. Instead what you have is pandimonium at "the" Fancom conference where one of the primary authors of a multi-series novel gets killed at the conference. You've got a Star Trek wedding, you've got fans going too far. Never ending jokes about the lifestyle sci fi fans go to, to 'be' their alter egos.
Rating:
Summary: Give this one to a Star Trek Fan or Sci Fi Fanfic!
Review: The Absolute best! Good things come out of "fooling around" Sharon McCrumb wrote this with serious tongue and cheek ( check her latin jokes in here)basically to annoy her Master's Thesis board and poke fun at her husband's involvement with the Civil War role playing conferences. Instead what you have is pandimonium at "the" Fancom conference where one of the primary authors of a multi-series novel gets killed at the conference. You've got a Star Trek wedding, you've got fans going too far. Never ending jokes about the lifestyle sci fi fans go to, to 'be' their alter egos.
Rating: 
Summary: Good SF conventionhandbook, but nothing else.
Review: The blurb for this book... and the reviews here... correctly state that this book is a good handbook for the overall "feel" of a science fiction fan convention. Beyond that, however, the reviews depart from reality. I was expecting a good murder mystery wrapped in tightly written, funny sci-fi insider jokes. I got a grammatically correct novel with weak, unengaging characterizations, unworkable murder plot & plot resolution, and only a very, very thin scattering of humor aimed at things only sci-fi insiders would understand.
This book was written for the sci-fi OUTSIDER, laughing WITH the outsider, not embracing the insider fans & trade. So, if you're a sci-fi fan, or looking for an engaging murder mystery, then look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Good SF conventionhandbook, but nothing else.
Review: The blurb for this book... and the reviews here... correctly state that this book is a good handbook for the overall "feel" of a science fiction fan convention. Beyond that, however, the reviews depart from reality. I was expecting a good murder mystery wrapped in tightly written, funny sci-fi insider jokes. I got a grammatically correct novel with weak, unengaging characterizations, unworkable murder plot & plot resolution, and only a very, very thin scattering of humor aimed at things only sci-fi insiders would understand.
This book was written for the sci-fi OUTSIDER, laughing WITH the outsider, not embracing the insider fans & trade. So, if you're a sci-fi fan, or looking for an engaging murder mystery, then look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: How to be graceful when peeved...
Review: The only cons I've ever been to are FoxPro Dev Cons (the other kinds do sound fun, though), BUT I have over the years endured other vagaries of our times, and I have to say that Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbo and Zombie novels, particularly, though also the Elizabeth McPherson novels, offer a perfect model for how to deal with one's own impulses towards inarticulate peevishness in the face of ... well, all sorts of quirks and foibles that humanity is heir to. McCrumb's solution, of course, is to laugh at the silliness. It's a wonderful antidote.
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