I hope to do some semblance of a proper con report, but basically, Comic-Con was a pretty typical mix of "OMG THAT'S SO COOL" and "OMG GET ME OUT OF HERE BEFORE I KILL!"

I met a lot of really cool people. Even though books of the non-comic variety can seem dwarfed by all the other stuff going on, publishers had a much greater presence here than most or all other cons I ever go to.

The panel I was on was moderated by Lev Grossman, Time Magazine book critic, and he posted a little write-up online. Apparently I lobbed a Harry Potter comment that made fur fly, which confuses me, as I saw no furries in the audience, thank you, tip your waitress, try the squirrel.

The write-up here.

Today it's back to work. Doing a bit of polish (with the coarse-grade sandpaper) on the first fifty pages of a new project, and then back to a revision with a deadline that's rushing towards me like a scary fast death monster.

From Last

I had a good time at Conjecture this weekend! In addition to getting to have lunch with voidmonster, kirizal, krylyr, and dustchick, all of whom have real names IRL, I was empaneled on four panels dealing with various writerly topics, and I'm discovering much to my surprise that I actually like being on panels and conversing with and in front of people. Weird.

I was particularly happy to be on a panel with John Skipp. Many years ago, when I was still in college, Skipp was a guest at a little con our science fiction club put on, and I've never forgotten how open and encouraging he was to me when I was just starting out and had written hardly any stories, much less sold any. It's simply good manners to treat newbies with consideration and respect, but not everyone does, and I was glad I got a chance to thank him for his enthusiastic kindness of many years ago.

Oh, hey, and I sold a story to Flytrap, my favorite zine! And it looks like my book has been given a release date: May 19, 2009.

A good writerly weekend all around.