WorldCon Report
Sep. 8th, 2004 03:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanThursday: The weekend starts badly when, as
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divanoir and I are driving up, I go on autopilot and think I’m going to Necon instead of WorldCon. Providence? Ah, fuck. But we recover, with only a little additional driving time, and all’s well. Except there’s a computer snafu and nobody can check into their rooms yet. Roommate scarlettina is somewhere on-site but we haven't met up yet. She has also tried to check in and been rebuffed (what did we do at WorldCons before cell phones?) Anyway, fine. I give up on the hotel and go to register, and am greeted by a woman who walks up to me and says “I loved your book!” and walks away. Damn. I don’t know who you are, woman, but I love you….Then I encounter some non-LJ friends (yes, I have a few of those), who, on discovering that it’s 1 and I haven’t had any food or caffeine all day (see above note re: autopilot), take me off to have an Irish coffee before my reading, and feed me crackers and cheese when the inevitable sugar crash happens.
Reading went well – a nice turnout for so early in the convention. Then it’s time for drinks and a quick dinner with friends (and former editees) before I have to go get Dressed for my stint as a Cardinal’s Henchthing in the newest installment of the SFWA Musketeers fundraising events. I’m sure it will be described elsewhere in better details (and if so, I want links, damn it!), but let’s just say that, stage fright aside, I had a blast. And kudos to A Certain Musketeer, who stayed in character enough to refuse a sip from my flask, despite knowing what was in it (a 22 year old single malt).
Friday: 8 am. A Musketeers meeting. Much very tired merriment and plotting, er, planning. I’m still shaky from the sugar crash, though, and again I depend on the kindness of friends to make sure I don’t keel over.
I have an 11 am signing. People actually show up, and I hear the first rumors (later verified) that the dealers’ room has sold out of Staying Dead. I blink, astonished. Then off to a noon reading in the sff.net suite, where I follow anthology editor Julie C’s orders and read “Site Fourteen” from ReVisions. It does indeed read very well, and clocks in at exactly the right time-length.
And then off for another drinks date with a former editee (this is the first time many of us have had a chance to talk since I left Roc), and the panel on Crossing Over (genres, not life/death) which I was moderating. It went well, I think, despite starting slow and then running out of time suddenly. Lots of crossover panels this WorldCon – you’d think they sensed a trend or something. ;-)
Then I had to run to catch a ride to a wedding reception, having missed the actual ceremony due to the panel. Great party – can highly recommend a place called Olives, in, I think, Charleston. I didn’t remember to eat many meals this weekend, but the ones I did were fabulous.
And then back to the Sheraton for the Two Beers and a Story contest. Much typing and swearing and random calls from onlookers/participants of “drink!” and occasional bursting into song, and overall I think the experiment was a success, to the point where we’re thinking of doing it again.
jay_lake won, as expected, but kradical finished with a story that was actually, y’know, coherent (we hadn’t specified the need for coherence in the rules) so I’d say he really won. My battery died so I had to default, but I think I’ve got a thousand words of an interesting and potentially salable story, so that’s okay.Party hopped a little afterwards, but my crowd tolerance has decreased markedly in the past year, and so we ended up in the bar again. Crashed late, after security suggested we leave the premises. This was a WorldCon for late nights. Or early mornings, one of those.
Saturday: My body keeps telling me to wake up, damnit! at ungodly hours. I refuse, however, to go to the gym. Rebel, I am rebel. Sluggish rebel, but rebel nonetheless. Breakfast business meeting, and then I dash for a signing at the SFWA table, having remembered to bring copies of Staying Dead to sell as needed. It’s needed, as the dealer’s room has indeed sold out entirely. I’m told Pandemonium will be able to restock, as they came prepared to sell at our launch party that night. Yay the people at Pandemonium!
Then another dash to the SFWA EMF auction, where we managed to raise a goodly and impressive sum of money for the medical fund, including a Tuckerization in Curse The Dark (and if the gentleman who won that is reading here, please e-mail me soon! I’m on deadline!).
And yet another dash (do you sense a trend here?) to the “What do you passionately read?” panel, which was somewhat disjointed (the moderator had a Plan in mind, but asking writers to talk about books they love is like giving cats catnip. You give up all hope of herding them after that), but I think got out a lot of good reading suggestions.
Then back to my room to prep for the second and final Musketeers/Henchthings performance of the weekend, which likewise I’m sure will be described by observers not myself. Again a blast, although I’m tired and slowing down by now. And then off to a drinks date with l’agent (all hail her!)
arcaedia, and from there collecting fellow stablemate [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] for a “hijack the agent” dinner – we went to Elephant Walk, which is French-Cambodian and just lovely – I did a tasting menu that was scrumptious.And then back for the book(s) launch party for Staying Dead, Dragon Precinct and Metal Sky, which deserves its own section. At some point in the evening, I discovered that my beloved gold watch had Gone Missing. I alerted security, and went on with the evening. What else can ya do? And another late Night/Early Morning.
Sunday: Business breakfast, followed by a panel on the problem of ETs in the service industry which led to a sort of general audience-panel interactive discussion of all employment questions raised by the introduction of various new life forms. I don’t know how much the audience took from it, but I think every panelist had at least one “oh, neat!” story germinating moment. :-) Then I dashed off to the “promoting your first book” panel with
kradical, which I think went very well and they should have given us an hour, rather than a half hour slot, as there seemed to be a lot of interest. Ah well.At this point, the Matter of the Gold Watch got weird, as rumors of its being found were coming back to me.. but when I went to check on it, the watch was not mine. So when I got back to my room to wash up before my evening engagements (specifically, the re-nuptuals of two dear friends) and found a message that no, really, the watch HAD been found, I refused to get my hopes up.
But it had. Kudos to the folk at Intersection, who searched so carefully after they were alerted to the possibility that it had gone missing in their party. Love you guys. I really do.
The re-nup went off wonderfully, with full solemn silence and…ah, who are we kidding. It was a festive family affair, complete with loving commentary from the audience.
And from there I had to flit to the ReVisions panel, where a number of the authors of that antho discussed our stories and read excerpts to a surprisingly (for 6pm on Sunday) large audience.
And from there, I escaped the convention entirely for a “get me the hell out of here” dinner at an old favorite restaurant of mine – 33. Lovely as always, even with the usual Trendy Types at the bar.
And then back to the Sheraton bar, where my clan-siblings and I spent a fair amount of time bonding over booze with the required Unfeasibly Stupid Drinks. I don’t get hangovers, but I felt the next morning as though I certainly should have earned one…
Monday: Breakfast with fellow Luna author Sarah Zettel, and then I dash off to my 11 am kaffeklatch, which, to my surprise, was a full table. Okay, it was filled with ringers (friends who decided to stop by and abuse me) but there were new faces there as well. I was incoherent but amusing enough, I suppose.
And then to pack and go (once I found an ATM in order to get my car out of hock. It didn’t cost as much as I’d feared, but still, ouch!). Pandora has, I think, tentatively forgiven me, so long as I don’t go anywhere for at least another month...
I shall now take an entire week to recover.
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 04:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:19 am (UTC)It was great seeing you again. I will miss you at World Fantasy, but I suppose Paris takes precedence, damn those French! Perhaps we shall see each other at Philcon? One can only hope.
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Date: 2004-09-08 06:28 am (UTC)And, btw, you looked pretty fabulous yourself...
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Date: 2004-09-08 06:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 06:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 07:47 am (UTC)(Well, so long as you haven't now taken one of my vices as your own.)
no subject
Date: 2004-09-08 01:22 pm (UTC)I will not tease you about needing a week to recover--I don't think I could have handled that schedule 15 years ago, much less today.
Hope it was also fun....
Added to your Amazon numbers--my next non-work book (and slow arriving...) %^)
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Date: 2004-09-08 03:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 05:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-09-12 04:22 am (UTC)