I had so much fun at the first day of the Nebula Weekend. Let’s see, where did I leave off yesterday…?
Around 3pm I went to one of the hotel bars where people were hanging out. A short time later, I saw Stan Schmidt, editor of Analog walking by and he eventually joined me. We drank beer and talked science fiction. I told him how excited I was to see my story appear in Analog and he told me he’d heard good things about it. He then proceded to ask if I was sending him something soon. So I summoned enough nerve to do what my friend Michael Burstein suggested, which was to pitch an idea to Stan. I won’t tell you the idea, but I will tell you that Stan liked it, said it was good, and agreed that it sounded like a series of stories, not just one. He urged me to write it and send it to him right away. “You have some time,” he joked, “because I won’t be back in the office until Tuesday.” That was all I needed to hear. I am once again jazzed about writing and am going to do my best to make this a fantastic story.
After that was the mass book signing, which seemed to be a resounding success. I saw that Scott Edelman had arrived and he demonstrated some comic book applications on his iPad for me; my iPad should be arriving in the next couple of weeks so I was curious. Although I’ve seen John Joseph Adams at various conventions, I’d never met him in person, but that changed tonight. I met him, and had him sign a book. I also had books signed by Allen Steele, Eric James Stone, and Stan Schmidt. During the signing I mostly hung out with Allen Steele and Michael J. Sullivan, both of whom were seated at the same table. I also chatted with Stan and Bud Sparhawk. I saw Connie Willis’ husband there. I’d met him at Capclave when we sat in the bar together and so I said hello to him. He introduced me to their daughter, who told a funny story about book signings.
Michael Burstein asked Alethea Kontis to kick me for some reason. Well, Michael, this one is for you:
I also finally managed to get a picture with Allen Steele, one of the best writers in science fiction, and one of the nicest fellows you’ll ever meet:
When the signing was all over, I headed up to the bar with Michael Sullivan and eventually, we walked to the metro and I headed home.
I’ll be back there fairly early tomorrow. I plan on attending the SFWA business meeting at 10am. I am attending a workshop from 1:30-4:30pm and then I’ll be dashing home to change clothes, pick up Kelly and head back to the hotel for the Nebula banquet dinner and the award ceremony.
It really was a lot of fun today and I’m looking forward to having a good time tomorrow, as well.
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