Michael A. Ventrella

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first publication of The Eye of Argon in a small, mimeographed fanzine, ConTinual asked me to moderate a panel to discuss what many consider the worst fantasy story ever written.

Well, come on, it was written by a kid, so give him some slack.

Writers Keith R.A. DeCandido, Gail Z. Martin, Hildy Silverman, Ian Randal Strock, and I discussed The Eye of Argon — But we came to praise, not bury.

We shared hilarious stories about its performance at various science fiction conventions and talked about the history of the story and its creator.

At the end, each panelist reads a section and the viewer can read along as well to enjoy it and see all the mistakes and typos. (If you want to try to read the whole thing, here’s a link.)

Watch and enjoy! (And if you want to see a performance done at a convention years ago with guest author Peter David, click here.)

Filed under: writing | Tagged: Gail Z. Martin, Hildy Silverman, Ian Randal Strock, Keith R.A. Candido, Michael A. Ventrella, The Eye of Argon |