Convention: A Gen X Coming of Age Novel

By Joshua King

It's 1994, and ConCon weekend is the only time Aric Jacobs feels like he belongs.

A self-proclaimed underachiever marooned in remedial English, a class he could teach. Aric spends his week enduring jock bullies, a teacher with a permanently raised middle finger, and the endless indignity of being uncool. But once a year, at the local sci-fi and comic convention, the social order flips. Nerds rule. And this year, Aric has a mission: finally talk to the Elf Girl.

Packed with razor-sharp pop culture references from Star Wars to DS9, D&D to Dinosaur Jr, Convention is an achingly funny, hyper-specific portrait of what it felt like to be a nerd in the American South before nerd culture went mainstream. Joshua King writes with the wry, self-deprecating honesty of someone who lived it, because he did.

For anyone who ever sat at the wrong lunch table, hid the cover of a fantasy novel, or found their people in the back rooms of a convention hall, this one's for you.

"Even the lies? Especially the lies." - Convention

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G5F5ZLZF
• ISBN13: 9798277654095
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"