the worldcon - belated impressions

[sergebroom]

A bit late for a worldcon report, but here goes... There are things I should have done. There are things I didn't do. There are things I did. What I should have done is get mapquest's for the way out of San Antonio, in case it was different from the way in - and indeed it was different from the way in. And I should have kept an eye out for gas stations on the way in, in case there was no gas station near the hotel, and indeed there was no gas station on the way... What I didn't do, and what I did do... I could see the Alamo from our hotel room, but no chupacabra or any Eric Estrada. I bought only one book, a small-press limited edition of Catherynne Valente's "Six-Gun Snow White", but there were things I had to do that kept me from any event she was on, which also meant I couldn't ask her to autograph her story from the anthology "Ravens in the Library". On the other hand, I did meet Seanan McGuire, who autographed *her* story from that anthology, after a panel where she explained that, as long as a mad scientist has a rival mad scientist, there'll always be a way for the good guys to defeat either of them. Of course I attended all of Sue's panels. Teresa Nielsen Hayden gave me a high-five when we crossed paths. I later went to Tor Books' party, where I chatted with a few folks, participated in the masquerade in a Red Shirt group that got a big laugh from the audience, met a Dalek the next day, attended the Hugo Ceremony from a spot normally reserved to concom folks, but my friend Susan de Guardiola had arranged for me to sit there because I'd built the display for all the Hugos... Monday's trip back was uneventful, and I breathed easy once we found a gas station. Sure, we drove past a dead tree with many vultures resting on it, but we were quickly out of their reach. There was a major thunderstorm after we got west of Roswell, but we made it home in one piece, if later than we'd wanted.