If you blink, you'll miss it. At least that's the way it seemed at WFC 2005, a whirlwind, but a good whirlwind; I'm still recovering from lack of sleep, too much food (and yes, drink) and too many books brought back. (I believe the final count was twenty books, seven magazines. Plus I brought eight to get signed.) I would have bought more, but I waited too long to pick up Charles Coleman Finlay's new collection and Stephen Jones's Horror: Another 100 Best Books.
Seven members of the Clarion Class of 2004 showed up (one more than last year). We had a great time getting together again and a hard time saying goodbye. (More on these wonderful folks next time.)
The panels were mostly good; some were tolerable, some were good, some were very good. The two best were "Fantasy in Unexpected Places" and "The Reader: Foundation of Fantasy" moderated by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer, respectively. Both moderators did a great job of keeping the panels focused and on-task, which I greatly appreciated.
Although I'm normally very passive around people I don't know, I did meet some really great folks, bringing the total number of people I've met in my life to around, oh, say eighty-two?
Many more details to come. Right now I've got to make some room on the shelves...
Now Playing = "Medicine Hat" – Son Volt (Many thanks, Trent)
Now Reading = You name it
Just a few of the new books I'm looking to make room for =
Perfect Circle – Sean Stewart
Weapons of Mass Seduction – Lucius Shepard
Veniss Underground – Jeff VanderMeer
Tainaron – Leena Krohn
Dead in the West – Joe R. Lansdale
Vellum – Hal Duncan
Black Juice – Margo Lanagan
Greetings and Other Stories – Terry Bisson
The Last of the O-Forms – James Van Pelt
2 comments:
Sounds awesome. Glad you had fun. I'll go to Austin; I've already got my rooms reserved (at a Hilton Garden Inn a couple miles away, but it's a heck of a lot cheaper.)
I found a picture of you there:
http://www.midamericon.org/photoarchive/05wfc28.htm
It does seem hard to decide which books to take with you; like, there were a lot of authors in the photos I absolutely love, but then I'd take X number of books, and come home with X number of books more, like I did at Clarion. Boy, was that a heavy suitcase.
Thanks for the photo link, Traci - I hadn't seen that one. I looked for Joan Vinge, but didn't see her there. I did say hello to Charlie for you and talked with him for a bit.
Cool that you're already booked in Austin. I've registered for the con, but haven't done any hotel work.
The book choices are tough - and just because an author goes to the con doesn't necessarily mean he'll come to the signing. "You pays your money and you takes your chance."
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