Nov. 9
2:26 PM
Belated World Fantasy Recap, Take One
Before we get any more behind I wanna try and recap my World Fantasy experiences before they fade any more than they already have. Neil Williamson, an amazing gentleman I met at the con, summed it up rather perfectly as being a Nice Time. I'll be doing it again next year to be sure, and will hopefully plot my time better to take in more panels and chat with more individuals, but until then:
Day One: After braving an iced-over predawn highway and one of central Colorado's charming October snowstorms, myself and my confederate Molly Tanzer flew into San Jose. We shared a cab with Jerad Walters of Centipede Press and his charming family. We then spent far too long stumbling around the hotel trying to find our room, and bumped into the VanderMeers a few times. Later on Selena and Josh, dear chums from Small Times Tallahassee, arrived and we all stumbled around blinking at things. Gladhanded the inimitable NeilClarke and Sean Wallace in the dealer room, as well as Alan Beatts of Borderlands, who was personally responsible for orchestrating a good bit of the WF events. I met my agent Sally for the first time, as well as her consummate badass assistant Mary, and from there it was a quick pint with the two of them before the Opening Remarks Thingy. All this before five. Ann impressed most at the opening, talking of WF being a sort of family reunion, and by the end of the weekend I could see why she would feel that way.
Gruffled some bizarre cult food at a vegetarian joint run by a bleach blond Supreme Master. As someone with more local vegan friends than omnis and a strong predilection for most vegan food, I reiterate that this was some bizarre cult noms. Crayon drawings on the wall, videos of the Supreme Master playing, unidentifiable but tasty slurm on the plate--an awesome and memorable time, is what I'm saying. From there it was the Last Drink Bird Head Party, LDBH being a charity anthology edited by the VanderMeers and the aforementioned Selena that features stories by myself as well as Caitlin R. Kiernan, Peter Straub, The Fabulous Tessa Kum, Gene Wolfe, Catherine "Kater" Cheek, Michael Swanwick, Drew "Roast Beef" White, Neil Williamson, Nick Mamatas, Rachel Swirsky, and a ton of other quality writers. The party was fun, and I got to meet the aforementioned Tessa, Kater, Michael, Drew, Neil, and Rachel, and guzzle some very decent St. George absinthe. I also met my first random fan, which was a wonderful experience--John, if that was indeed your name, you made my night!
As with any proper party involving the glorious green gutrot, the details become a bit hazy but I do recall having a grand time talking to Neil and Tess and Sally and Mary and Selena and Molly, which was the case whenever our paths crosses. The next day was a good bit more hectic, and I'll post on that tomorrow. And if you were there and we met on Day One by all means remind me, as my brain is still recuperating and may be creating false memories even now.
[Cross-posted to my website]