ConDFW report

First off, I would just like to say that my phone lies to me. It says it’s on mute and vibrate, and it’s not. So I interrupted more panels than I should have and I am so sorry. I would also like to say, however, that I did not do like a couple of people did who took the call and proceeded to talk through the panel. WTF? I thought Lee Martindale was going to kick someone’s ass.

No I just leaped up and fled, which was bad enough.

 Panel Rund0wn:

My first panel was the Aspiring Writer’s Panel, with the effervescent Jim Butcher, the solidly prolific David Weber, Paul  “es muy suave” Black, the aforementioned Lee (“I don’t use this cane to walk”), and me. I figured that as the newbiest of the newbies I could be object lesson number 1, ie, if I can do it…

It was fun. We discussed the odds, our personal roads to publication, agents (Weber doesn’t have one), etc. Some differences of opinion: I don’t believe that people should be discouraged from writing and I don’t think you have to be gripped by the insatiable desire to write to be a good writer.

My second panel was Trends in Fantasy, ably moderated by Adrian “Martini” Simmons and co-paneled with Gloria “what’s Latin for quiet yet firm” Oliver. JM McDermott didn’t show up. He said it was because he was packing a U-Haul. I bet it was because he was scared. This was a wonderful discussion with audience and panel and people had great ideas and it was fun. I also mentioned Gaie Seibold’s “elves on motorbikes” fantasy that will sell and will be a hit, and several people said, “ooh!” and “I’d read that.”

I shared a reading time with Paul Black, who read a cool urban SF which is set in a posthuman New York and I searched the dealer’s room in vain for his books but they were all out at that point so Amazon it is, and you need to go out and buy them too. Good stuff. I read from Red Gold Bridge, chapter 2, and people were sweet and said it was great, etc. They were very convincing.

Networking Rundown:

Adrian. Lee. Stina. Renee and Kimm (yes, we will get together in Austin, but if we feel more comfortable, I suppose we can drive 4 hours just to hang out). Martha Wells. Nancy Hightower who is shopping a very cool book. Gabrielle Faust, whose shoes made an early appearance on this blog. Joe. Tons of other people. We went out to a local Indian place for dinner Friday night and by the end of the dinner we were the only non-Indians in the place and it was yummy, though as it was all vegetarian Troyce and Dane subsisted on naan with a promise to get some meat afterwards.

For most of Saturday Ben and A and I were out of town visiting friends (more about that later) but I got back in for the parties and lasted til about midnight going from room to room. Blue convinced me to give GRR Martin another try (I was just tired of having characters die on me, dammit) and there were various other conversations that have faded away into the ether of dim memory and not enough sleep.

As for the Saturday afternoon: We visited our friends Cris and Kristy whom we have not seen in a long time. They have quite a saga of their own, which can be read here: Jessie’s blog. Their daughter Jessie had to have a hemispherectomy last summer and is recovering and healthy and a real sweet kid. The Halls are up front about telling their story and I think it’s an amazing tale, not just because of the family ordeal but because they tell us how they navigated the healthcare system in the US, and we can all learn from that. Go and check it out. You will be glad you did.

The ConDFW people put on a really good con, and I am already looking forward to next year’s. But right now — exhaustion “R” us. I know I missed a ton of stuff — I’ll try to add more throughout the week.