World Fantasy Fever Dreams

Well, I called the hotel and asked if they had free wifi access. Sure enough, they have access all over the place, and it's all free.

So, I said to my wife, it seems to me like I'm looking for a reason not to take my laptop with me. She agreed and said that I would be over-hyper worried about it. And then made a snarkey comment about my obessesive compulsiveness.

Here I am at World Fantasy with my laptop. Ha. Ha. Ha.

"And is it excellent," I can hear you all ask. "It most certainly damn is," is my response.

And it is. I can't talk too much about the surrounding town, except for a almost futile hunt for dinner. The town has a very "walk around and shop" feel to the main throughfare with a "dangerous bar off the beaten path" feel to the side-streets. We eventually settled on a pizza shop that turned out to be decent, but I ordered something way too spicy. Well, I was trying things.

Then my friend Leaf (whom I am sharing the room with) and I came back to the hotel for the ice cream social where I had a rootbeer and goggled the BNA's roaming around. Obviously Leaf and I don't rank as several people took a look at our names and turned around before saying hi (oh well, I didn't recognize their names either, and they should probably read Tobias Buckells "Getting Past Being Joe Blow Neopro"). Ah well. Ran into Josh and Sam down there. Met a few other people.

Then I went to Mary Turzillo's reading. Mary is an excellent writer, BTW. I really feel honored that I know her and I get to talk to her on a regular basis. Mary read from her story about a smilodon, which I've heard before but it keeps on getting better every time I hear it.

Then I went to the party called "Zombies Need Brains." Excellent. There's something delicious about a party that has free beer and books for sale. Also, there's excellent people at this party. First off is Amy, who I keep forgetting her name (sorry about that), but then she doesn't have a name tag on. Amy was very gracious about me being an idiot because she doesn't know me and my sense of humor. Sorry, Amy. I think I carried a joke too far.

Then, as I'm looking for the paperback of SC (Sam) Butler's first book, Reiffen's Choice, I get introduced to a pacel of other writers and editors. Including Matt Jarpe, author of Radio Freefall. Ian Tregillis, whom I am told is an excellent person that we can expect great things from. From what little I've talked to him I believe that. I can't find a website or blgo for him, but here's a story from Trabuco Road of his. Then there was Catherine Cheek, who is a recent graduate of Clarion. I didn't get to talk to Catherine, but she pointed at me while talking to Ian, and I was standing right next to them. So I think I've met her, or something like that. She also seems to be a very interesting person. And last by not least I ended up taking with Matt Jarpe and John Joseph Adams (aka, the Slushgod, maybe you've heard of him). How psyched am I at this moment? BTW, all these and more (I'm sure I'm forgetting people, like the name of the person who registered me in who is the programmer for Marcon).

I've also seen people in the hallways. Big Name people. It's excellent. But right now I've been zombified. And I think it's time for bed. The curse of having a job that starts at 7am and has an hour's commute. Add in the creaping crud from my wife's job and the slight sickness from last weekend. Yes, the eyes are droppy, and the typing is going down hill.

Oh, before I forget, for World Fantasy, as a part of the "welcome gifts" they gave cookies and a duffle bag with books (not filled with books, but a goodly amount). My BNA book inside, Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. How cool is that. I did a little geek victory war dance. This was the book my wife badgered people about last Xmas because I asked for it. I put it on my list as I saw the new NA Edition was out. And now I have a copy! Woohoo!