I spent today at Balticon. Usually we go and spend Friday and Saturday night there, but this year, with the Arizona trip, and the Nebulas the week before, we cut our Balticon time to just the one day. The con seemed very well attended this year, lots of crowds, but the program didn't come out until Wednesday and seemed to have been done in a hurry because a lot of panelists were seriously overbooked. The hall costumes were great, very heavily into steampunk, like this lady's gorgeous outfit. 
An exception was a kid in fabulous Dalek costume; I wish I had had the phone out when he came by so I could have taken his picture.
Registration at least seemed well organized. We got our badges and promptly ran into Adam Corbin Fusco, whom we had met at
scottedelman 's famous Daffodil Party. Next we ran into Scott himself, proudly carrying the durian he had brought, intending to sample it and test its famous stench when cut open. The thing was spiky and huge; it looked like a primitive weapon and must have weighed closed to 10 pounds.
After schmoozing a bit, I headed for the panel on immortality and longevity in science fiction and fantasy. The panel had some interesting examples (some which were from their own books, naturally enough). Some examples were from movies and TV as well as books; I brought up the TV show New Amsterdam, which I thought did the best job of illustrating the loneliness of immortality.
After the panel we grabbed lunch in the hotel with our friends Sharon, Pat, Cole, Risa, and Sandy, and then I checked out the dealer's room, and then went to the Liar's Panel, in which the three contestants/participants were all given the same 10 questions about events in their lives (e.g, "What was the most embarrassing outfit you ever had to wear?"). Audience members could challenge the veracity of their answer for a buck. Participants had to fork over $10 if they lied and were successfully challenged. Some of those folks had some very strange and equally true stories! A good time was had by all and a fair amount of money was raised for a middle school reading program.
After that I hit the panel on Dr. Who. That was a lot of fun! Everyone in the room was a fan, and we all had a chance to say what we liked and argue about anything we disagreed on. Plus, two young people were got up as Matt Smith's Dr. Who (complete with bow tie) and Amy Pond, so that was a bonus.
Afterwards, I got a few minutes to say hi to Hildy Silverman who bought a short story from me a while ago. She assured me she would let me know before the story appeared in Space and Time.
After that I tied to catch up with John Aneilio, half of the Functional Nerds (the other half is Patrick Hester), but John had two panels back-to-back and wasn't available for more than a quick hand shake. After watching Scott cut open his second durian in the con suite (it seemed much less noxious than advertised), we headed out for dinner with Risa, Sandy, Pat, and Fred.
It took a while to get a table so by the time we were done, I was ready to fold my tents and skulk off into the night— or at least, onto I-83 south— and head for home.
An exception was a kid in fabulous Dalek costume; I wish I had had the phone out when he came by so I could have taken his picture.Registration at least seemed well organized. We got our badges and promptly ran into Adam Corbin Fusco, whom we had met at
scottedelman 's famous Daffodil Party. Next we ran into Scott himself, proudly carrying the durian he had brought, intending to sample it and test its famous stench when cut open. The thing was spiky and huge; it looked like a primitive weapon and must have weighed closed to 10 pounds. After schmoozing a bit, I headed for the panel on immortality and longevity in science fiction and fantasy. The panel had some interesting examples (some which were from their own books, naturally enough). Some examples were from movies and TV as well as books; I brought up the TV show New Amsterdam, which I thought did the best job of illustrating the loneliness of immortality.
After the panel we grabbed lunch in the hotel with our friends Sharon, Pat, Cole, Risa, and Sandy, and then I checked out the dealer's room, and then went to the Liar's Panel, in which the three contestants/participants were all given the same 10 questions about events in their lives (e.g, "What was the most embarrassing outfit you ever had to wear?"). Audience members could challenge the veracity of their answer for a buck. Participants had to fork over $10 if they lied and were successfully challenged. Some of those folks had some very strange and equally true stories! A good time was had by all and a fair amount of money was raised for a middle school reading program.
After that I hit the panel on Dr. Who. That was a lot of fun! Everyone in the room was a fan, and we all had a chance to say what we liked and argue about anything we disagreed on. Plus, two young people were got up as Matt Smith's Dr. Who (complete with bow tie) and Amy Pond, so that was a bonus.
Afterwards, I got a few minutes to say hi to Hildy Silverman who bought a short story from me a while ago. She assured me she would let me know before the story appeared in Space and Time.
After that I tied to catch up with John Aneilio, half of the Functional Nerds (the other half is Patrick Hester), but John had two panels back-to-back and wasn't available for more than a quick hand shake. After watching Scott cut open his second durian in the con suite (it seemed much less noxious than advertised), we headed out for dinner with Risa, Sandy, Pat, and Fred.
It took a while to get a table so by the time we were done, I was ready to fold my tents and skulk off into the night— or at least, onto I-83 south— and head for home.
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Sadly... I also missed running into you.