This was my second World Fantasy, and it has definitely become my favorite convention.  I waited a few days to let the experience sink in a bit.  A few observations:

The awards are administered differently than the Hugos.  It’s partly a voted choice, but mostly a long slog through almost everything “Fantasy” written all year.  The result is that the awards often end up going to works based more on merit and uniqueness than on commercial success or having a wide readership.   Kudos to the judges, who clearly did a lot of work.

I am loosely associated with Patrick Swenson’s Fairwood Press as the secretary of his Board of Directors (which means I take minutes once a year, not that I’m directly involved with the books).  I worked the table for him a few times at this convention.  That was a lesson.  Over half the dealers were booksellers, and my guess is half of the booksellers are “small” presses of various sizes.  They work.  Behind a table is a great place to be (I saw a lot of people I would have otherwise missed and collected and traded out many hugs and greetings), but those sales come hard.  They came one or two or three books an hour in that venue.  The small presses are pretty agile, and they’re all doing well with the Internet and social media, which is more than I can say for some New York publishers (although, finally, almost everyone gets it).  Anyway – lots of action and experimentation, but in the end, the sales are book by book by book.  By the way – why is a small press a “press” and a New York outfit a “publisher?”

Jay Lake did a great job as Toastmaster.  I’ve only seen him do that for small conventions before, and I must say he scaled well.

Pretty much everyone is there.  This time, I ponied up for the next two on the spot.  This is a good party not to miss.  It has replaced Worldcon at the top of my affections for conventions.  There is time to get into long conversations, the programming is great, and it’s less of a “how many panels can you get on” game.  The mass signing is run very well.

Mirrored from Brenda Cooper.

Basilica at Notre Dame in Montreal

First, some observations:

• The people in Montreal have been VERY friendly.  That said, I wouldn’t want to cross any of them.  Montreal seems to be full of capable,independent, strong people.  I would like them at my back, but never angry with me.
• Going through Old Town feels  a bit like a miniature version of Paris, all the way through the language.  There are creperies and water and beautiful old churches called the Basilca de Notre Dame.  There are museums littering the landscape.
• If you need a grocery store, you are out of luck.  The Centre Ville apparently has no need of anything as pedestrian as Nyquil or hamburger helper.
• WE are arriving.  Gisele and I saw our first anticipation badges today.  We will get ours tomorrow.  The party is about to start.

The highlights of the day were churches.  We did a walking tour from the Lonely Planet travel book (2004 edition) and had guided tours of two churches and a museum.

My feet hurt.

The history is lovely.  I sense some steampunk stories coming on.

More pictures are available.

See many of you here soon!  For the rest of you who I know got in early, I hope you are having fun!  I’m not checking mail much, so tweet if you’re looking for me.

It’s nice to be a day closer to Anticipation.

Mirrored from Brenda Cooper.

My schedule…..

Friday from 10:00 AM to 11:30 – Author readings (ME, Julie Czernada, Melinda Snodgrass, Douglas Smith) - I will bring a book to give away

Friday from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM - Friends without benefits

Saturday 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM – When to quit your day job (or not)

Saturday 11:00 AM – noon – Reading in and out of your genre

Saturday from 3:30 – 5:00 PM - Podcasts

Sat 10 PM to 11:00 PM  - Limerick Competition – I am the moderator

Sunday 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM   Putting Philosophy in SF

Mirrored from Brenda Cooper.

This is the bobcat my mom spotted yesterday.  It was lying in a little safe spot in the ravine right next to my parent’s house, and graciously allowed us to watch it and photograph it from the upper deck for about twenty minutes before it wandered off.  Photo credit to my dad, who had his camera ready.

It saw us; from time to time it looked up and kind of nodded and twitched its short tail.  We apparently did not present a threat.  Smart cat.

The neighborhood birds saw it and screeched at it from a safe distance.  They were very funny.  The rabbits generally remained in hiding although one little guy got pretty close and then froze dead still.  Eventually a bird distracted the cat and the bunny moved, and then the cat moved.

Mirrored from Brenda Cooper.

FiRE is a futurist conference that will be held in San Diego in a week and a half or so.  FiRE is put together by Mark Anderson, who is one of the futurists I most enjoy following.  He is an original thinker and I am always intrigued by his blogs and talks.  I have never been down to FiRE, but I’m really excited about it - the speakers and attendees are all top notch.

Glen Hiemstra, my futurist mentor, will be there interviewing me in my role as a science fiction writer, and today he posted a blog about me interviewing him in his role as a futurist.  It’s a nice interview.  Glen says some things worth pondering about what might come after the recession.

This will be my first time on-stage as a writer in a venue that is not for and about writers. Previous science fiction guests have included Vernor Vinge, David Brin, and Kim Stanley Robinson.   There is  a good chance that the interview will be videotaped.

I’m not quite sure what the rules are, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to blog about at least parts of the conference, and link you to other blogs about it.  In the meantime, I’m in Arizona for Mother’s Day, hoping my lilly-white and slug-soft northwestern self doesn’t melt or burn before I get to San Diego.

Mirrored from Brenda Cooper.

First - the border collie loves the bathtub.  if you say the word bath she races up the steps and stands there, waiting.  This is an iphone pic of the border collie and the bath from this last weekend (not our tub - I wish!).  She held that pose for a long time.  The picture came from my iphone.  I'm up at Semi-ah-moo, near the Canadian border, hiding in my room to get writing in before a really busy work-related conference, but I'm going to try to take my phone for a walk in the morning and get some shots of this place.  It's really, really pretty.  If I get a nice one, I'll post it tomorrow.