Off to AggieCon

I'm driving to College Station tomorrow to attend my first AggieCon. I'm on two panels Saturday - "Breaking the Wall" (writer's block) at 3 p.m. Saturday, and "Cloning and Immortality" at 6:45 p.m. On Sunday, I'm on a panel at 11:15 about Writing Aliens.
I've had a conflict with my job in the past few years that's prevented me from attending.

I wonder whether consorting with some sf types will help recharge my batteries. Truth be told, I was so dismayed at the Hugo nominations that came out Wednesday that I probably wouldn't bother to attend if it wasn't for the curiousity of seeing what an AggieCon is like. 2005 was a year I paid really intense attention to the fiction that was published - for obvious reasons (like my story was published in Asimovs).

When the Hugo nominations came out, my reaction was "what a sorry assemblage of dystopian self-indulgent crap". I guess the cyberpunks really did screw up the genre. I wonder whethe what I read and like really IS science fiction. Maybe it's science fantasy. I really don't know.

My second reaction to the nominations was, "Well, that settles the question of going to WorldCon." This is a not a good year financially - what with Patricia's accident - and I certainly don't want to travels thousands of miles to socialize with such unpleasant people. I guess it's true, artistic types are self-important jackasses. It's obvious the lights in this genre take themselves too seriously. Now I see why some very good writers - Steve Utley and Howard Waldrop come to mind quickly - don't go to many cons, if at all. They're nice guys and probably wouldn't get a word in edgewise.