41st annual VastiCon.
40 inches of snow.
38 travelers trapped in the hotel bar with booze to drink and stories to tell . . .

In the late 14th century, writer Geoffrey Chaucer provided the work that later generations would remember him for: The Canterbury Tales. Written in Middle English, it depicted the stories of a group of pilgrims on their way to visit the Shrine of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury.

Some centuries later, a group of science fiction and fantasy fans were trapped at a convention hotel thanks to a snowfall of several feet.

Stuck in the hotel for extra days, they had to find something to do to fill the time.

And as they gathered in the hotel bar, with ninjas next to zombies and Amazons next to Trekkies, they told each other stories like the pilgrims of long ago—making sure to remain in character.

Stories by Peter David, Aaron Rosenberg, Robert Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman, Mary Fan, Jo Duffy, Rigel Ailur, Ian Randal Strock,  Patrick Storck, Susan Hillwig, Brenda. Huettner, Robert Jeschonek, C.J. Espinoza,  Paige Daniels, D.M. Rasch, Eugene Ramos, Steve Nagy, Ian Harac, Rande Goodwin,  Martin A. Perez, John Trumbull, Christopher J. Valin and Steve Beaulieu, John J. X. Cihon, Wes Nicholson, Raphael Sutton, Laura VanArendonk Baugh, Susan Staneslow Olesen, R.P. Steeves, Keith R. A. DeCandido, Isaac Sher, Denise Sutton, Andy Allard, Glen Cadigan, John Peel, James Ryan, Josh Pritchett, Steven L. Rosenhaus, and Bev Vincent.