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We're having an excellent time at Bubonicon thus far. We got in mid-afternoon on Thursday, settled into our room in the Sheraton, then went out to dinner with Melinda Snodgrass, one of our good friends and fellow writer. Melinda took us to a hole-in-the-wall New Mexican restaurant which looked like it had been stuck in the 1950s but where the food was good.
Just driving around the city was wonderful. I love the landscape in which the city sits: the Sandia mountains, the huge depth of field. This is lovely country, honestly -- dry, yes, but lovely still.
We then all trekked out to the pre-con party at Patricia Roger's house north of the city, where we met lots of people we've known for awhile, and many I've known only by name. Ian Tregillis (who's also the Toastmaster for the con), Walter Jon Williams, Vic Milan, and Sage Walker were all there, so with Melinda and myself, the Wild Cards group of writers was very well-represented. Met Craig, the con-chair, and Pat gave us a tour of their 100-year old adobe house, which is amazing. I signed two of Melinda's boxes of WC books (I've been warned that I will be signing LOTS and to ice my hands…)
Had some great conversations and catch-ups, and really enjoying talking to Patricia about her archeology dig, and Sage about her early days as a young doc here in NM, and learning about the cottonwood tree. Fascinating!
By about 10 or so, though, Denise and I were flagging since we'd been up since 6:00 AM and we were still in Cincinnati time, so it was already midnight for us. We coerced Ian, who was also staying at the hotel, to take us back, and so we called it a night, but not before Scott, Pat's husband, introduced us to the New Mexico sky. Where Pat and Scott live, they're well outside the Albuquerque sky-glare, and the sky is nice and dark. OMG, the stars! It's been so long since I've seen a sky like that that I'd forgotten how stunning a dark night sky is. We city folk have no clue about the wonders that are above us. We could see the dusty band of the Milky Way, and thousands of stars against the satin. I stood there gawking for a long time...
*******
The con officially started on Friday at 3:00, so we had time to lounge around a bit. We had a long and leisurely breakfast with George Martin (alas, the wonderful Parris wasn't with him, though she did come in later that afternoon), and with the Artist GoH, John Picacio (who did the exquisite 2012 "Ice and Fire" calendar for George), who stopped by the table. After some wandering around and conversations, we went out to lunch with Anne, Brian, and Rosie Gray, who just moved here to Albuquerque from Ann Arbor (Brian has a teaching gig at University of New Mexico). We had a lovely time catching up with them (and getting to know Rosie at a year old now -- Anne and Brian are going to be in SO much trouble later on!)
Then back to the hotel, to pick up badges and get ready for the con. My first panel -- on the travails of genre labeling for books -- went well, and after I signed a couple shopping bags worth of books for one fan who seemed to have nearly everything I've ever written, including stories in original anthologies. (The mass autographing session is on Saturday, and friends have been cackling evilly at me and shaking the wrist of their writing hands. "Just wait," they say.)
Opening ceremony was the next agenda item, which was well-run and short. A heavy percentage of the writers whose names Ian announced were, per tradition, "in the bar," but many were there and stood up for their share of applause. Aside from everyone mentioned above, John J. Miller and Gail, Carrie Vaughn, Steven Gould, Ty Franck, Paul Cornell (who I got to meet for the first time, and burbled at him about how I've loved his Dr. Who scripts), Jane Lindskold, Connie Willis, Steve Stirling, Daniel Abraham, Ben Bova… it's a long list (go look at the Bubonicon site: they have the writer guest crowd listed, and it's a LONG list.
The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, honestly. Somewhere in there, Denise and I ate a late dinner at the hotel restaurant, took a short nap, then came back down to the bar, where many of the people named above were sitting. We had the typical rambling bar conversations around a large table. After awhile, George and I went to one of the chess table they had set up around the bar, where George ended up demolishing me in a chess match. I thought I had a pretty good opening against George's Sicilian Defense, but I ended up with the backward pawn that I had to keep defending, and in the middle game, George ended up picking up an extra pawn while I had to double up two pawns, and from there kept pushing the advantage. I think he was a move or two ahead of me the whole time, honestly… as you'd expect from someone who used to have a high ranking in competitive chess.
And from there, bloodied by the battle, we went to our respective rooms and sleep.
Just driving around the city was wonderful. I love the landscape in which the city sits: the Sandia mountains, the huge depth of field. This is lovely country, honestly -- dry, yes, but lovely still.
We then all trekked out to the pre-con party at Patricia Roger's house north of the city, where we met lots of people we've known for awhile, and many I've known only by name. Ian Tregillis (who's also the Toastmaster for the con), Walter Jon Williams, Vic Milan, and Sage Walker were all there, so with Melinda and myself, the Wild Cards group of writers was very well-represented. Met Craig, the con-chair, and Pat gave us a tour of their 100-year old adobe house, which is amazing. I signed two of Melinda's boxes of WC books (I've been warned that I will be signing LOTS and to ice my hands…)
Had some great conversations and catch-ups, and really enjoying talking to Patricia about her archeology dig, and Sage about her early days as a young doc here in NM, and learning about the cottonwood tree. Fascinating!
By about 10 or so, though, Denise and I were flagging since we'd been up since 6:00 AM and we were still in Cincinnati time, so it was already midnight for us. We coerced Ian, who was also staying at the hotel, to take us back, and so we called it a night, but not before Scott, Pat's husband, introduced us to the New Mexico sky. Where Pat and Scott live, they're well outside the Albuquerque sky-glare, and the sky is nice and dark. OMG, the stars! It's been so long since I've seen a sky like that that I'd forgotten how stunning a dark night sky is. We city folk have no clue about the wonders that are above us. We could see the dusty band of the Milky Way, and thousands of stars against the satin. I stood there gawking for a long time...
*******
The con officially started on Friday at 3:00, so we had time to lounge around a bit. We had a long and leisurely breakfast with George Martin (alas, the wonderful Parris wasn't with him, though she did come in later that afternoon), and with the Artist GoH, John Picacio (who did the exquisite 2012 "Ice and Fire" calendar for George), who stopped by the table. After some wandering around and conversations, we went out to lunch with Anne, Brian, and Rosie Gray, who just moved here to Albuquerque from Ann Arbor (Brian has a teaching gig at University of New Mexico). We had a lovely time catching up with them (and getting to know Rosie at a year old now -- Anne and Brian are going to be in SO much trouble later on!)
Then back to the hotel, to pick up badges and get ready for the con. My first panel -- on the travails of genre labeling for books -- went well, and after I signed a couple shopping bags worth of books for one fan who seemed to have nearly everything I've ever written, including stories in original anthologies. (The mass autographing session is on Saturday, and friends have been cackling evilly at me and shaking the wrist of their writing hands. "Just wait," they say.)
Opening ceremony was the next agenda item, which was well-run and short. A heavy percentage of the writers whose names Ian announced were, per tradition, "in the bar," but many were there and stood up for their share of applause. Aside from everyone mentioned above, John J. Miller and Gail, Carrie Vaughn, Steven Gould, Ty Franck, Paul Cornell (who I got to meet for the first time, and burbled at him about how I've loved his Dr. Who scripts), Jane Lindskold, Connie Willis, Steve Stirling, Daniel Abraham, Ben Bova… it's a long list (go look at the Bubonicon site: they have the writer guest crowd listed, and it's a LONG list.
The rest of the evening is a bit of a blur, honestly. Somewhere in there, Denise and I ate a late dinner at the hotel restaurant, took a short nap, then came back down to the bar, where many of the people named above were sitting. We had the typical rambling bar conversations around a large table. After awhile, George and I went to one of the chess table they had set up around the bar, where George ended up demolishing me in a chess match. I thought I had a pretty good opening against George's Sicilian Defense, but I ended up with the backward pawn that I had to keep defending, and in the middle game, George ended up picking up an extra pawn while I had to double up two pawns, and from there kept pushing the advantage. I think he was a move or two ahead of me the whole time, honestly… as you'd expect from someone who used to have a high ranking in competitive chess.
And from there, bloodied by the battle, we went to our respective rooms and sleep.
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From:
Small World, Isn't It
I expect you to have a grand time this weekend (overlooking the RSI from autographing...)