Gustav's guests

Hurricane Gustav is bearing down the coast, and being a good distance inland, and right on I-30 (the interstate that connects Dallas with Little Rock), Mount Pleasant is getting evacuees. The local motels are all full, and the family life centers at the local churches are beginning to fill up. I'm off this Monday, so I have a full weekend off - the first since Armadillcon - and I'm using the time to get caught up with my record keeping.

I took a minute to compile all the lists of story ideas I had sitting around. One list was almost three years old, from Sept. 2005. The first story on that list was "The Witch of Waxahachie". The new list has 70 story ideas.

Summation of Armadillocon

This year’s event was the first time I attended since 2004, and the first time I was a panelist. Conflicts with job-related events kept me from attending the past few years. I must say I was very impressed with the quality of both the panels and the guests. I was happy to buttonhole con chair Kurt Baty on Sunday and tell him that.
Considering that I’m not from Austin, and that I really work on the fringes of the genre, I am very satisfied with what I learned and what I took away from the event. Unfortunately, I probably walked on eggshells the whole time because of my bad experience last year when I attended the NASFIC in St. Louis and ended up in the ER Sunday afternoon. I have perennial problems now with allergies during the summer, and this is right at the time of the year when I get the sickest. Last year a combination of exhaustion and the unintentionally-bad idea of riding the train to St. Louis made my ear explode into a full-blown infection that took a month to beat down (I probably need to mention that when I have allergies, my ears get congested worse than my sinuses – probably a lingering side-effect of being a forceps baby).
This year I was afraid of getting sick again while out of town, but everything worked out for the best and I made it home safe and sound. Now onward to Fencon in October!

Nothing much to report

I have to say that, after finishing and sending off "Dance with me, Henry" and then going to Armadillocon last weekend, I'm taking a bit of a breather. My main project this week was listing a piece of property we own near Cedar Creek Lake. It's almost an acre of land with an undeveloped cabin on it. We bought it for a song at a tax sale five years ago. Unfortunately, I changed jobs and subsequently we haven't lived very close to it. Also, I've used my free time to develop my fiction writing skills. We decided it was time to sell it, since it doesn't look like we'll ever do anythimg with it.

Saturday night report

Saturday night at 8 p.m. at Armadillocn featured the panel on "How to Sell a Story to Asimovs". It was a packed house, and the only panel I was on at the whole con where all the panelists were in attendance.

Don Webb, Maureen McHugh and Sheila Williams recounted anecdotes and gave advice. I was the moderator, so I probably contributed the least, but I tried to keep things flowing. I think everyone in the audience enjoyed it. That's Maureen, me, Sheila and Don, in that order, in the photo.

Later in the evening I visited a few suites. The Fencon suite was lively and friendly; ConDFW was a little more subdued, but Dan Robb was there as usual. The Con Suite itself again the best stocked and maintained I have ever seen.

More on Armadillocon

I know some people reel out these long blog entries, but I really have other things to do in my life, and so I try to blog only so much per day.

My first panel was Saturday at 11 a.m. I left Mount Pleasant at 5:15 a.m. and made it in exactly five hours. I immediately ran into Maureen McHugh - who I had seen at the Nebulas in April - and Andrew Swann, who I had never met. He's from the Cleveland area and knows Maureen from when she lived up there. He's a real nice guy and a very accomplished author. I had them in stitches describing the crackpot plot of my high alternate history book, "Dance With Me, Henry."

Andrew joined me and Rhonda Eudaly at 11 a.m. for the "Stump the Panel" session which was lots of fun. It didn't have a big turnout, but those who came had a good time.

Soon afterwards I ran into Lawrence Person, who was chatting with Steve Utley. Steve had to introduce himself - although we have corresponded and talked a number of times, I had never met him and had no idea what he looked like. Bill Ledbetter came by, as well as Jayme Blaschke (Jayme and I had Steve sign our copies of 'Lone Star Universe') and we all visited for some time. Steve had some fascinating insights in what the Austin s-f community was like in the 1970s and 1980s.

By early afternoon checked into my hotel room and I took a break to recover from the long drive and the start of the con.

2b cont

Report from Armadillocon

I'll probably be posting for the next few days about Armadillocon, but I did want to get this in right away:

Howard Waldrop was going to be a guest at the con, and continue his tradition of doing the closing reading. Of course, he is still recuperating at a VA hospital in Central Texas, and couldn't be there in person, but they figgered out a way he could participate.

Howard is in a VA Hospital in Temple, which is 60 miles north of Austin. I left the Con at 2:30 p.m. because I had a three hour drive to Dallas. My wife grew up in Dallas and I stayed overnight Sunday with my mother-in-law. I finished the drive to East Texas this afternoon.

One reason I wanted to leave the con early was to stop by and see Howard. When I got there Barb Denton, Alan Graham and Howard were set up in a lounge on the floor where he is staying. Apparently Brad Denton laid the plans for the "remote broadcast"

The reading back in Austin started at 4 p.m. and while Howard's pals back in Austin were reading "The Ugly Chickens" we all visited and had a nice time.

When they got close to the end, Brad called and Barb and Howard began to follow along, so Howard was able to jump in and finish up. Howard's spirits and wit remain strong, but he's still a little frail physically (or else he wouldn't be in the hospital). Since I'm a journalist I always carry a camera, and so I took digital pics for posterity of the event.

What impressed me was how, when he began reading,Howard sounded his old self. It was like he was back at the first Armadillocon. I guess that came through to the folks back in Austin, from all reports. After he finished, Howard just sat there for a while listening on the cell phone. Finally he said with a big smile, "they're still applauding".

Afterwards. Barb and Alan left and headed back to Austin. I had to use the facilities and then I said good-bye to Howard. I told him I would mail him a copy a photo taken when he was reading, and I asked him to write down his mailing address at the hospital.

The shudder I got when he started reading his story reminded me of the way I felt when I was a young man and saw the video of Buddy Holly playing "Peggy Sue" on the Ed Sullivan Show. Howard Waldrop is a true genius and a Texas original. It was a coincidence, but I feel very blessed to have been there when he did his reading.

Off to 'Dillocon

Well, I'm ready to drive down to Austin for Armadillocon 30. It will take me 5-6 hours. Thank goodness the price of gas has been dropping lately.

Here is my schedule, by way of a last minute reminder:

Sa1100DZ Stump the Panel
Sat 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
Antonelli, Eudaly, B. Foster, Graham*, Swann
Watch our panelists make up sf/f uses for common objects supplied by the audience.

Sa2000DW How to Sell a Story to Asimov's
Sat 8:00 PM-9:00 PM deWitt
Antonelli*, McHugh, Webb, S. Williams
What is the editor really looking for? What do others -- from a variety of viewpoints -- see in her choices, and how is the magazine evolving?

Su1000R Reading
Sun 10:00 AM-10:30 AM Robertson
Lou Antonelli

Su1100DZ No More Excuses: Making Writing a Part of Your Life
Sun 11:00 AM-Noon deZavala
Antonelli, Kenner, Richerson, Sarath*, M. Wells
Having trouble fitting writing into your life? We'll have tips, tactics, and boot camp-style exhortations to get you to stop making excuses and spend more time writing.

Asterisks indicate the moderator of the panels.

For my reading Sunday, I will be reading from the first chapter of the alternate history I just just completed, "Dance with me Henry". It's currently with an editor at Tor.

I know readings for minor authors such as myself are usually poorly attended, especially opposite strong panels. so I plan a reward for whatever audience I draw:
I will give away an unopened 10-CD boxed set of the audio version of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union". It is a $39.95 value. I got it because it was sent to a newspaper as a revieiw copy. The newspaper didn't even open it, and I picked it up for essentially nothing at a newspaper conference. Whoever sits through my reading can have it. If we have more than one other person, we'll draw lots or something.