Convention Mention

Posted on | 3 years, 9 months ago, mid-afternoon | No Comments

So. Penguicon. First of all, I’m forced to confess that I took virtually no pictures; and the pictures I did take came out poorly due to low lights and a hurried composition … so I’m not going to bother with them. Instead, I’m going to indulge in a general overview which will surely contain a link-fest of epic proportions.

This having been said, I live in terror of leaving people out; and it’s not an unreasonable fear. My memory isn’t all that great in the first place, and I met lots of unreasonably cool people this weekend. But here goes.

Friday: Oddly enough, the flight went fine and I arrived in Detroit on time. My “handler” for this event turned out to be the sublimely hot Yanni — a woman with a superlative sense of timing and organization, and a knack for hilarity. Frankly, I’m not sure how smoothly I would’ve navigated the weekend without her.

Yanni picked me up from the airport and we reached the hotel just in time to meet Team Subterranean* en masse: Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette and her husband, and John Scalzi and his wife. We were joined by a very funny Marine named Dave (whose internet contact info I never did pick up edit: this guy), plus Yanni’s husband Bryan. And I thought we had someone else, too …? Grr. Can’t remember. Anyway, very good Thai food was acquired. Goofing off did occur. Then we returned to the hotel and parted company for panels.

At some point before I wound up in panel limbo, I was lucky enough to catch up with Cat Valente and her partner in the hallway — and they introduced me to the infamous ferret and his lovely wife. I tell you, the entire internet must have crackled a little bit from the sheer blogging energy in that one hotel corridor.

At 9:00 p.m. I did a reading/Q&A with the extraordinary Cat Valente and William Jones. Cat shared an amazing fable vignette that was absolutely gorgeous, and I blushed to follow her; but I was reading a story from a very different planet, and I consoled myself with an apples-to-oranges comparison.

Come 10:00 p.m. I talked Steampunk with (according to my paperwork) Aaron Diaz, David J. Hogan, and Bear. Yet I seem to recall that we were short one person …? I might just be crazy. After all, I’d spent all day on a plane and I was stuffed to the gills with Thai food. But Bear was definitely there, and she is easily one of the finest panel moderators one could possibly ask for. Alas, I did not have any steampunk costumes or jewelry to show off. I only brought one piece of carry-on luggage, and I did not want to explain my ray-gun to a TSA-woman with very cold rubber gloves. Besides, half the fun of steampunk accessorization is that it all looks vaguely like the self-defense apparatus of a Victorian time traveler. I would’ve never made it through the airport.

Later that evening, the entirety of Team Subterranean retired to the Scalzi room, where there was something called “Bumpy Cake.” The cake was in honor of Krissy’s birthday. It tasted like a gourmet ho-ho, which is to say, it was awesome and I’m grateful to have gotten a nibble.

Saturday: First thing in the morning I hauled my sorry little self out of bed and managed to catch breakfast at the hotel restaurant. In addition to the assorted members of Team Subterranean plus spouses, we were joined by Cat and company, and probably a few other folks who wandered in and out over the course of the morning. It was something of a special event for me, personally — because besides all the great usual suspects, I also got to meet one of my publishers for the first time. That’s right, Team Subterranean‘s captain was in attendance with his wife, and I was tickled pink!

At 11:00 a.m. I got to be on possibly the grooviest panel ever. Oh, the subject was groovy, sure; but mostly it was the company. That’s right. I was up front with Sarah Monette, Elizabeth Bear, Cat Valente, and Tamora Pierce. I hadn’t yet gotten to meet Tammy, though we’d exchanged an email or two — and I’ve got to tell you, she’s every bit as fun as she sounds online and in-print. And best of all, this turned out to be one of those panels where I didn’t just sit up there and spout things; I learned quite a lot from my fellow table-sitters.

Upon returning to my room, I discovered that I had a masseuse. Oh yes. Subterranean Press knows how to treat a lady. Actually, it knows how to treat a whole string of ladies, as we all got treated to a thorough rub-down, and it was glorious.

At 3:00 p.m. I joined Sarah and Cat again for a discussion of darkness in genre fiction. This was a fun subject upon which to converse, but the panel suffered from a smidge of low turn-out thanks to a mix-up. Even so, I’d like to think we made the best of it. Those two women really know their stuff.

At 4:00 p.m. I had an appointment with Jim Hall from Cult Pop — which was a riot. Jim is a wildly upbeat, charming fellow, and I had a wonderful time sitting for a segment of his local TV show/internet program. Wow, that guy can talk fast. And if you’ve ever met me in person, you know exactly how much weight to put behind that assertion. I’ll link the interview once it’s processed and aired.

Afterwards, Yanni and I went looking for playmates. We found Krissy Scalzi skipping towards the bar and we joined her. Along the way we acquired Jim Hall and his girlfriend, plus one Tobias Buckell — with whom I bonded over the delights of Seasonal Affective Disorder. Hey, he’s a Caribbean man living in the midwest. I’m a Gulf Coast girl living in the northwest. We understood each other. In other news, Toby drives like a maniac. I learned this when we all took off for pizza.

Finally, at 10:00 p.m. I did one of the singularly best-attended panels I’ve ever personally hosted. And I say “hosted” because it was me and one other person, a very nice woman named Wanda who was (if I remember/understand correctly) a real estate agent who was quite interested in the subject of Urban Exploration, but who had no actual experience with it. The room was packed to standing-room only capacity, and it was a decent-sized room to start with. I was frankly intimidated, but willing to wing it — perhaps unnaturally willing to wing it, considering I was fresh from the bar with a couple of vodka-and-cranberry juice doses swishing through my system. I hope I didn’t sound too much like (a). I was encouraging anyone to go break the law, (b). an over-cautious fuddy-duddy, (c). a nervous drunk who had no business speaking on the subject.

After this last panel it was back to the pack of ne’er-do-wells with whom I’d already spent most of the weekend, and we did verily dance around, socialize, gossip, and watch other people in costumes roam the halls. I did not costume. See above, under the “steampunk” heading. I wore jeans, Sketchers, and a too-hip-for-the-room Threadless tee shirt. Yes, yes. So cool. C’est moi. Har.

Sunday: And, well. The next morning I got up early for one more breakfast with the crew — and it was a great breakfast with the crew — but then I had to go back to the airport, and now I’m home. Now I’m also sitting around with a cat draped across my ribcage, and if she weren’t snoring in such an adorable fashion I’d boot her off and run the vacuum cleaner.

But I think I’ve probably spent quite enough time on this recap, and now I need to pretend that I’m a civilized adult who can put away the groceries she bought and/or dress herself in clean clothes that don’t smell like an airplane. Thanks again, and again, and again to everyone who made the weekend so damn wonderful — with bonus thanks to Captain Subterranean and the Attache Queen. The whole experience was amazing, and I hope to give it another go next year … with an extra day or two tacked on for leisure purposes.

Anyway, love to all and back to work for me.
:)


* Yes, I am totally allowed to have a Team Subterranean and a Team Seattle, both. Under different circumstances, this could have just as easily been Team Tor. Maybe at DragonCon …

Category: misc

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