Blur Con

Holy crap, that went fast. Of course, I was only at World Con from Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, so I guess that's not too surprising.

Blur though it was, I had a really very nice time. I saw many, many people, and didn't get to spend enough time with any of them. And with the con in my home town this year, I ended up spending a lot of time with Los Angeles friends that I would normally spend with the people I more typically hang out with at cons, and though I regret not seeing more of the people I didn't see enough of, I can't regret at all spending time with the LA friends ... and, wow, what a convoluted sentence. It was kind of a convoluted con.

But I had a really very nice time in the Hilton bar and in restaurants and hallways and room parties. By happenstance, I ended up in the same bar cluster as George Mann from Solaris Books, who surprised me with an uncorrected advance proof of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, which includes "C-Rock City," my collaboration with Jay Lake. Looks like a really cool anthology, one that I will be happy to pimp when it comes out. And I also got to lay hands on my chapbook, which is even prettier than I expected, thanks to the skill and care of Tim and Heather. Always does my heart a little good to touch publications I'm in, and my heart was grateful.

So, in some ways it was a typical World Con, full of the kindness and generosity of spirit and acceptance and warmth that I've come to expect from World Con but try not to take for granted, with only a few experiences I can think of as bummers. Wish it weren't all the way in Yokohama next year.

Oh, and I even went to a couple of panels. Nothing typical about that.