I'm Still Alive! Honest!

Yeah, I know. It's been a very long time since things got updated around here. There's no excuse really -- but plenty of good reasons, some of which will be revealed further down the page. Suffice to say that the person who invents being able to be multiple places at once and/or doing multiple things at once will have my undying gratitude. Likewise anyone who finds me a habitable planet with a thirty-two-hour rotation.

Preferably, that planet will have more comfortable temperatures than we've been "enjoying" here at HarpHaven. For the last couple of months, it has been hotter than the proverbial Seven Hinges of Hell, with a 14-day stretch of 100 degrees F or more. Nothing saps my energy quite as effectively as days when the mercury dances between 104 - 106, and there were entirely too many of those. In what can only be one of life's great miracles, the household A/C held the line and kept working, and I reverted to vampire hours. If an errand needed to be run, it got run after the sun went down. Autumn (by which I mean somewhere in the neighborhood of November) is eagerly anticipated.

Story News

According to Amazon.com, Esther Friesner's latest "supernaturals-in-suburbia" anthology (and don't forget the ritual disclaimer: the title is *not* Esther's fault), Fangs For The Mammaries is available for pre-order and is due to be out September 28th. It includes my short story, "Sarah Bailey and the Texas Beauty Queen". You may recall this one is a triple-Tuckerization: two titular characters *and* "death by Chevy Vega". And, yes, I *did* have fun pulling this one off.

Building Trade Town

The story selections have been made and the writers have all been notified. Contract packets are slated to go out as soon as I get back from Dragon*Con. Then I buckle down to the editing process, the "which story goes where" process, and the writing of things like introductions. And if you can't already tell, I'm having a ball!

Con Trails

Having designed the convention schedule so that I had a couple of months of playing hermit in the service of the anthology, I pulled the traveling boots back on in early August and made the trek to Raleigh, NC for a dual-purpose trip: to be a writer-guest at ReConstruction, the 10th Occasional NASFiC, and for a spot of family visitation. Instead of the usual routine (fly in, stay in the convention hotel, and fly out), we found a place renting wheelchair-accessible mini-vans and a good deal on a hotel within convenient distance of both the convention and the family-visitation site.

Let me state for the record right now that when the time comes to replace the current Cripmobile, I've found the configuration I want. Our rental vehicle was a mini-van much like mine, converted for electric wheelchairs. Press the button on the fob and a side panel door slid open, after which a ramp was deployed. Rull up ramp and park where the passenger seat had been taken out. Tie-downs secured and that chair wasn't going anywhere. Push button on dash, ramp folds up and panel door slides shut. Arrive at destination and reverse the process. It spoiled me, for sure.

The roll-up to ReConstruction itself did not look promising. Programming schedules (yes, there were several of them) were, shall we say, inconsistent. The "party" hotel suddenly announced a "corporate policy" of "NO PARTIES!". Doom-n-gloom rumors abounded, including a number from sources supposedly in position to know. We kept hearing the whole thing was hopelessly FUBAR, that we'd be doing panels in rooms that echoed due to nobody but us being in them, that the con was going to lose its shirt, undershirt, slacks & boxers. As late as the first day, a lengthy thread on Facebook was talking about how bad it was. Funny thing: that particular thread, and most of the people posting in it, weren't even in the same state.

Yes, there were problems. Yes, attendance was lower than one generally expects when WorldCon is off the continent. And Australia is, apparently, a serious draw for U.S. fans and professionals. BUT... if ever there was a demonstration of what can happen when fans and pros pull together, ReConstruction was it. Over a thousand attendees, good panels (from both the panelist *and* attendance standpoint), "Meet & Greets" instead of "parties", and my first SFWA Regional Meeting as the Presiding RD, held at an unholy and early hour with SFWA members in seats. And, my favorite part of any convention, getting to visit with fans, friends, and other writers, in full and florious swing. I had a very good time.

As proof that I'm probably several orders of magnitude beyond nuts, my next convention is Dragon*Con. Me and an unknown number over 30,000 attendees taking over downtown Atlanta for the Labor Day Weekend. My programming schedule is first-rate, with three tracks divvying up my tender corpus over the course of four days (and nights) of prime assignments. Among other things, I'm been tapped to host two Q&A sessions with Claudia Christian and Jason Carter of Babylon 5 fame. (You may recall I drew similar assignments with a majority of the B5 cast last year, much to my delight and with a great deal of fun.) Assignments from the SF Lit and Writing Track are equally anticipated, with good topics and panelists with whom I look forward to working.

The current 2010 schedule closes out with World Fantasy Convention, being held over Halloween Weekend in Columbus, OH. I've attended a few of these over the years, and in all honesty, there's a reason or three why they aren't something I do regularly. But the SFWA Annual Business Meeting is being held there, as well as Board of Directors Meeting, and being on the Board means I'll be there. I *am* looking forward to meals, drinks, and conversation with folks I rarely see.

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