 No Brand Con did what a lot of people thought would never happen this last weekend – we came back from the dead. Like in 2023 we were truly dead, buried, in the ground, and all of us thought the con wasn't coming back.
But a year ago some of us decided to do something truly insane. We decided to resurrect it. We decided to bring it home. We decided we weren't fucking done.
And we took a hard look at what we were doing. We had to scale back the con a bit to bring it back. We had to tighten our belts in ways we haven't had to do since the early years of the con.
And while we certainly didn't do everything perfectly (and we're already compiling ways we can improve stuff for next year), overall it was a success. The con not only brought in significantly more people than we expected, but for the first time in a very long time we're in a solid financial position again in ways we never were in the Wisconsin Dells.
...and I feel like I don't need to comment on Stevens Point.
But what you need to understand is this doesn't happen. When cons go under, they stay dead. They never come back. They get buried, maybe something new comes from the same people... but they die. What we did is just honestly unheard of.
Well except for the time I wrote a storyline about this exact thing happening in UnCONventional. So, uh, I managed to write an autobiographical story before it happened.
It really is such a strange thing though. This weekend was the most fun I've had at a con in the last fifteen years, and I'm so proud to have just been a part of it. Everyone who made it happen should be proud, and I'm happy to call you all my friends.
And with the right friends, sometimes you can do the impossible.
I might talk about the history of the con about here over the next week or two if I have the time. Talk about some of the stuff that happened behind the scenes that a lot of people have never been public about. Nothing awful, there's no deep scandal – just a lot of good people doing their best. It might be interesting though.
- Traegorn
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 So I'm in the middle of prepping for two events: UWEC Barron County GEEKCon on April 25th and No Brand Con the weekend after from May 1-3. And yeah, it's as exhausting as it sounds like.
The con prep for UWEC Barron County GEEKCon is pretty easy at least. I'm going to do a stripped down table setup there as an experiment, to see how well it works. It's just a one day con up at UWEC Barron County in Rice Lake, WI, so the stakes aren't super high if it doesn't work out. I've never done this event (though I've done its sister event down here in Eau Claire several times), so it's all a question mark to begin with. But it's a little one day con at a college, and I usually have a really good time at those, so we'll find out I guess.
What's really occupied my time though is prep for No Brand Con, but if you know anything about me that should not be shocking. I'm a co-founder of that event, and have been one of the most public faces over our more than twenty years of existing. What makes this year even more challenging is that this really is our attempt to revive the event and bring it back to some of its former glory.
I've taken on some responsibilities with this year that I normally wouldn't have in the past, but I'm super excited about the con. No matter what happens, I'm confident that the con will be a very, very, very good time for everyone who comes. Our prereg numbers were right within our targets, and I'm super excited. Like I haven't felt this excited about a con I was helping run in at least a decade, and I'm practically buzzing sometimes.
Here's the thing though, even when everything is going right, running an event like this is incredibly stressful. I am looking forward not just to the con, but maybe also the weekend after the con. I was, at least, smart enough to take the Monday after the con off of work.
Now, obviously I'm not tabling at No Brand Con, since I'm the one in charge of the vendor room and artist alley, and that would be a massive conflict of interest. Ethan is though, so copies of the new Peregrine Lake book will be available for sale there for anyone interested. I won't have my novels on hand, but if you ask nice enough, maybe I'll meet you in the Tony Caponey's parking lot at midnight and we can make a deal. 😆
So yeah, if you want to know why I'm exhausted right now, that's why. And there's more work to do right now...
- Traegorn
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 So say you're sitting down to dinner after a long day of travel. You're in the dining room of one of the historic inns in the Indiana State Park system -- let's say, the Potawatomi Inn at Pokagon State Park on the shores of Lake James. You order food, sit back, and then realize something important.
There's a good chance your waiter is a Nazi.
You see, he's wearing an iron cross necklace. And while it's true that this symbol isn't exclusively associated with white supremacists, in the context of an American wearing that symbol today there are very few cases where it isn't. Like yeah, it's associated with biker culture here too, but nine times out of ten when I've seen someone with this symbol on them (and it wasn't a He-Man reference)... they've been a Nazi.
So you're sitting there, and he brings you your dinner, and in your head you're asking yourself "Is this a Nazi?" He compliments your outfit. He asks if you're staying in the hotel tonight. He's overall being pleasant. But, like, in the back of your head you have to keep asking yourself if you're safe here.
And it sucks, because this place has been a haven for you for over a decade. You stop here a couple of times a year even though it's far from where you live. You've told all your friends and family about it. It's been a part of your personal story for a long time. And now? Now it feels different.
And for the record, I did tip him. Did the normal 20%. Because I might be wrong. He might not be a Nazi.
But I'm never going to find out.
- Traegorn
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 Okay, a lot of you probably know that I am part of the group of people who run No Brand Con. Frankly, if you didn't, you're probably new here. It's an anime con. Wisconsin's longest running anime con to be specific. We're holding it May 1st-3rd here in Eau Claire.
It's neat.
Anyway, because I help run that event (and manage most of its communications), it means that every company trying to sell us something ends up in some inbox I'm in charge of monitoring. The biggest offenders are the folks who make white label con apps and virtual program guides. And let me tell you, some of these folks send us stuff a lot. They all have similar names too, where it's actually hard to keep track of which one is which for me.
To make things more unpleasant, some of these folks just feel aggressive. Like one company literally messaged our Facebook page today, which is, to me, a step too far. That's an inbox we keep open to interact with our attendees -- that message pretty much guaranteed that we will never do business with that company if I have any say in it.
Of course, I don't want to use any of these because, as a policy, I don't reward spammers. If you're confused, any unsolicited sales email is spam, and that's what this is. It clogs up inboxes, and puts a foul taste in my mouth.
Let's be clear -- this does not apply to someone pitching a guest to us or a vendor reaching out, my anger is purely "people trying to sell us a service we didn't ask for." We ask for guest ideas, even if it comes from the potential guest. We didn't ask for this.
The worst part is all of these companies selling white label apps and virtual program guides make terrible software. I have never found a single one of these apps where I wouldn't rather just have a PDF of the program guide, a mobile website, or a Discord server. I have a deep hatred of these apps, and refuse to let them touch my devices anymore (let alone my attendees' devices).
So. A bunch of apps. That I hate. Keep spamming us. And it is deeply annoying. I didn't really have a point here, besides "this annoys me and they should cut it out."
So please cut it out.
- Traegorn
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 This morning I went down to Collector's Con here in Eau Claire. It's a fun little con, and I stopped by last year too. I thought about selling there (since I'm at, like, literally every other con in town) but a week after Evercon was just too much to plan for.
I've done two cons in a row before, and it almost burnt me out. I need at least a weekend off between.
This is convention season though, and events are packed tightly together. Maybe too tightly together. Because, as I literally just said, I was at Evercon in Wausau last weekend. That same weekend I had friends at Anime Milwaukee. Oh, and I also had friends at MarsCon (the Minnesota one). The region had a long running Gaming Con, Anime Con, and Scifi Con happening simultaneously.
And here's the thing -- those are all cons I would go to... and that I'd want to sell at. I mean, sure, AMKE has a highly competitive artist alley and my odds of getting in there are nil, but it'd be nice to, like, have a shot, y'know? And I'm trying to get into scifi cons, but there just aren't that many anymore. With all three on the same weekend, I had to make a choice.
There was a point in time where con organizers went out of there way to make sure they didn't conflict with other events. Hell, we used to worry about being a few weeks away from another con. When events ended up on the same weekend, it was an anomaly. Now? Well, let's just say these three cons will all be on the same weekend next year too.
It's just... it's just frustrating.
Like all three of these events have organizers who I am sure care deeply about the community they serve. Like I genuinely want all of these cons to succeed, but I feel like they're not thinking about the other cons in the region. Like the stronger the entire scene is, the stronger they become. When the Wisconsin con scene was at its strongest a decade ago, it was because all of the events were working together.
I just really hope 2028 won't see this pattern repeat. Because, y'know, I'd like to go to MarsCon or AMKE again some day.
But maybe that's just me.
- Traegorn
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 Convention season is upon us, and it's time to kick off the year for me with Evercon 2026 in Wausau, WI! Well Rothschild, really -- but if Syfy can conflate the two, so can I. I mean, it pretty much is in Wausau.
Just, like, next to it.
I'm going to be in the main vendor room at booth six, roughly in the same spot as last year. I'm going to have all of my books, and will also cheerfully talk about No Brand Con if you stop by.
Like most years though, I won't be the only familiar face you'll find at the con. My Peregrine Lake cohort Ethan Flanagan will be sharing a table with Nerd & Tie's Gen Prock in the artist alley. Gen will, of course, be selling her amazing hand made pillows and plush, and Ethan their amazing art.
Importantly Ethan and I will both have copies of the Peregrine Lake print collection, which isn't officially released until May 1st. We're breaking our own street date on this, so if you want to get a copy before it goes on sale to the general public, this is where you can get it.
If you're looking to collect as many Nerd & Tie folks as you can though, we do want to mention that Celeste will also be there, helping work their spouse's table in the artist alley. That's right, you can spend your weekend talking to four different really cool people you might be vaguely aware of on this tiny corner of the internet!
Evercon is one of my favorite conventions to go to, and I'm excited to return. It's a bummer it's up against AMKE this year, but if you want to go to a fun gaming con and meet some neat people... come find us there. It's a good time.
- Traegorn
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 If yoiu don't spend time in the odd corners of bookish and queer social media, it's likely you've never heard of Paul Castle. Hell, even if you are in them, you may have scrolled on by, never to take note. But for those of us who have had him slide across their algorithmically driven feeds, he's become fairly infamous over the last few years. Paul is a blind creator who makes couples content with his husband Matthew, but more importantly for this discussion, he is the writer and illustrator of children's books that he independently publishes.
Now, I've never read his books, so I can't comment on whether they're any good or not. I have seen the illustrations though, and they, honestly, look very nice. His books are queer positive, and his determination to still create this work with his remaining vision is admirable. If that were all there was to talk about, this would be a potentially feel good story, and I probably wouldn't be writing about it in my personal blog.
But, y'know, this isn't the end of the story by far.
You see, if you follow one of Paul's accounts long enough, you'll inevitably end up on a video where he stands in front of the camera, crying about how some obstacle has gotten in the way of his books getting to people. Maybe a bookstore supposedly cancelled an order. Maybe it was something else. Paul will always frame this as his book getting "banned" and that anyone not working with him directly is an act of persecution. This will result in a spike in sales of his books from his TikTok shop. I won't go into too many details, but others have detailed things on multiple occasions if you want to dig into this. I'm not here to argue about the veracity of his statements. I have doubts, of course, and I've definitely been critical of the tactic of "pity marketing." I made a video in June of 2025 where, after he started talking about how he wanted to start publishing other authors, I said that people should avoid it. My reasoning was pretty simple -- the only advantage to working with a "publisher" that small is that they can help you get into bookstores.
And the one thing Paul Castle has proven is that he's bad at getting his books into bookstores.
I made other videos too, but the pity marketing is not the point of this post. My big problem is what happens after Paul Castle makes his videos. That's where the real trouble begin.
You see, inevitably his millions of followers will go after anyone who criticizes him or does some sort of perceived wrong against him. When one of his videos talked about a bookstore owner named Tanya, his followers went and attacked a completely unrelated woman who shared a name. Now this could be chalked up to an overzealous fanbase acting on their own, but it's rather clear that Paul Castle is more than happy to rile people up on purpose too.
Almost a week ago, Castle made a video on his PaulCastleStudio account dragging up a video from three months ago, claiming that someone who criticized his marketing tactics had been ableist. Never mind that the video he points at doesn't make any ableist statements, and just points out how manipulative his marketing techniques are. Paul claimed he didn't want people going after her, but while he censored the person's face, he didn't censor the name on the wall behind her.
The creator has now received a barrage of harassment across multiple platforms, and has made a response to the entire situation that is chilling. I've gotten a handful of harassing comments on a YouTube Short from October, because people found it looking for her. And it's not the first time he's done this. When an Ingram employee was critical of one of his marketing tales, he went after her. When he printed some books through IngramSpark, and she happened to get assigned to his account, he made another video complaining about it. That person also got harassed by his fans.
He knows that if he calls someone out that this will happen, and since he keeps doing it -- it's apparent he doesn't care.
And I guess I just wanted to write down how incredibly fucked up that is.
It's also interesting to note that he seems to exclusively target women. My masculine presenting, nonbinary ass has never been singled out. Don Martin, who's been highly critical of him, has never been singled out either. Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe Martin has a bigger platform as a traditionally published author. Maybe I've been too specific and controlled in my criticism that it doesn't give him enough ammo. Maybe it's just because the demographics of bookish spaces just lean towards women.
But it's odd that a pattern seems to bubble to the surface.
Anyways, this is a weird post to put a promotional tag on, but remember that pre-orders for Welcome to Peregrine Lake: Peregrine Lake Chapter One can now be made through BookShop.org and Amazon! The book is out May 1st.
- Traegorn
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 It's been a long time coming, but I'm super excited to announce the upcoming release of the first Peregrine Lake print collection.
"Welcome to Peregrine Lake" is officially releasing May 1st, and it collects the first chapter of the comic. Additonally, it has the short prequel bonus story "The Move" (which we made only available for a limited time online) which shows how Lynn and Megan moved from Eau De Puanteur to Peregrine after the events of UnCONventional.
You can pre-order the book right now online through either BookShop.org or Amazon, or your favorite retailer with the ISBN 9798348498733.
Ethan and I have been working really hard on this, and I'm excited that you'll be able to take it home in a physical format finally. If you haven't been reading the comic, this is a great place to start of course. From the back of the book: Bev Armstrong is having a hell of a time. She's recently inherited her uncle's house near a small town called Peregrine Lake. After losing her job and getting dumped by her boyfriend, it seemed like the perfect place to start her life over.
It probably isn't.
The Village of Peregrine Lake is nestled in the western part of the Wisconsin Northwoods. Just another small town with small town problems, but in the cold and dark of Wisconsin winter, something may be watching you out there in the woods.
It may not be safe to be there on your own.
...and also, Pappy's Sunset Bay Supper Club out on Highway P has the best french onion soup you'll find for at least a two hour drive. You definitely have to try it.
This is probably the proudest I've ever been of a comic I've put out, and I'm so happy that folks are enjoying it.
- Traegorn
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 This week Discord announced that to continue to have full access to their platform, all users will be required to verify their ages using either a face scan or a photo of their government ID. This massively intrusive policy goes into effect in March, and if you trust Discord with this kind of data... please remember that in October 2025 there was a massive data breach of over 70,000 records from one of their former vendors.
This is bad. Very, very bad.
Over the last decade, Discord has risen to prominence as a place where people can build niche communities. Both companies and individuals have used the service to build their own "servers" for niche discussions and direct interactions. It's effectively been used to emulate the features of old school forums and chat rooms because people have gotten sick of the toxicity of centralized social media.
But for all of its perceived privacy and siloing, Discord is still just another central company controlling the platform. They own every "server," and you're just using their space. So when a policy decision like this happens, it means we're all screwed.
To me this is just another example of how we need to decentralize the web again. Because we used to have siloed, independent online communities where people could talk about their niche thing and connect in private. We called them forums. Someone would just pay for a little webhosting, install PHPBB, and then boom — there you go. You might make it so only logged in users can read them, but anyone can get them off the ground. Now can they handle everything Discord does? No. Sadly with the death of Skype there are very few good, free options for voice chat out there. But that's not what 90% of Discord communities are used for.
I mentioned this almost a year ago (and touched on it again in November), but modern forum software has come a long way since PHPBB2. We run a Flarum install for Nerd&Tie[dot]Social (the official Nerd & Tie forums), and that works amazingly on mobile. There are other options like Discourse and MyBB too. But you just need one person in the community to get some shared hosting, do the install, and then bob's your uncle. Setting up independent forums is the only way to ensure that our communities are no longer at the whims of corporations that fundamentally do not care about us or our online safety. Use fake names. Hide your personal information. Only share what you want to share.
Use the internet like it's 2006.
I call it being an internet cockroach, some call it the "Indie Web," but either way the only reason that we're at the whims of these companies is because we let ourselves be. There's a simple solution to that problem, and it's just to go do stuff on our own.
Seems like the best option, really.
(Also the old forums for my site still exist. No one's used them in years, but they're technically still up as of 2/2026)
- Traegorn
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