Happy Thanksgiving, all!
This past week was made of crazy. First off was Philcon, for which, of course, I got a nasty cold. The cold decided, “Hey, she’s not inconvenienced enough, so I’ll just take up residence in her vocal cords. Ha!” So from Saturday evening on, I had laryngitis — not too convenient with two panels awaiting moderation on Sunday. I managed to rasp my way through the first one (I did a lot of pointing at the other guests) and Gordon Linzner acted as my voice on the second (I passed him notes).
On the plus side, my kidlet, hubby, and I all still had a lot of fun. Yes, I know folks are cranky about the new venue (Cherry Hill), but I thought the space worked well for the convention — elevators were relatively quick, the hotel staff was responsive, the rooms for panels and events were pretty well grouped, and the guest rooms were comfy and quiet at night. On the negative side, the restaurant didn’t serve the finest cuisine, and because of the location, strolling out to another restaurant wasn’t terribly convenient. Travel was also apparently an issue for folks using public transportation (we’re in NJ, so we just drove — about an hour plus away).
Anyway, I had a nice lunch with Allegory publisher Ty Drago, partied with the SFWA folks, and attended/moderated panels with excellent attendance, including the Space and Time panel. Poor Ty is still scratching his head as to why he was included on that panel (as am I), but we made it work.
Monday night was the annual SFWA gathering in NYC known affectionately as the “Mill ‘n’ Swill.” It didn’t seem as crowded this year as others, but there were still quite a few folks clustered about. I had a wee bit more voice back by then, but still sounded like an adolescent boy, so I couldn’t network quite as much as I would’ve liked. Still, just the thrill of being in the same room as luminaries such as Joe Haldeman, Norman Spinrad, A.C. Crispin, and so many others made the trip into the city totally worthwhile.
Today was a peaceful day of turkey and fixings with the family. I hope everyone else out there enjoyed a happy and healthy (and filling!) day as well. I’m so thankful for everyone who has/continues to support the magazine and me. Best wishes to you all!
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