World Con, 'Dillo Con, et al

I wrote to the ArmadilloCon programming chair and sent my regrets for the Friday night panel on Texas alternate history, "Austin? No, Santa Anna is the capital of Texas!" Great panel, I think I might have suggested it myself in my questionnaire. Oh, well, it's my decision to take the bus. They were nice enough to add me onto a Saturday panel,

"Using Softer Sciences in Genre Fiction" Sat 11:00 AM-Noon Phoenix Central - S. Utley*, P. Griffin, T. Anderson, J. Vinge, L. S. Carl, L. Antonelli. History, Economics, Archaeology, Anthropology -- Where can they take your story?

That's my first panel of the con, since I'll be getting to Austin at about 3 a.m. on the Greyhound bus. Here are my other panels:

"Short Fiction" Sat 1:00 PM-2:00 PM deZavala - L. Antonelli, M. Trimm*, J. K. Cheney, C. Richerson, A. G. Latner, D. Webb. A stepping stone or a different type of work altogether?

"Texas!" - Sat 4:00 PM-5:00 PM Phoenix Central - J. Lansdale*, H. Waldrop, N. Barrett, L. Antonelli, S. Cupp, E. Moon. Texas as a place or idea.

"Is Hard Science Fiction Getting Harder to Write?" Sat 10:00 PM-11:00 PM Phoenix Central - J. Hogan*, A. Simmons, L. Antonelli, B. Mahoney, T. Anderson.

Asterisks mark the panel moderators.

My other stuff:

Reading Sat 8:30 PM-9:00 PM Robertson.

Autographing - Sun 2:00 PM-3:00 PM Dealers' Room, w/ T. Anderson, and M. Cardin.

Four panels on Saturday make the day worthwhile. They're nicely spread out. I'll certainly have some free time on Sunday.

This weekend is WorldCon in Montreal. Lots of s-f people are there, although the poor shape of the economy has kept a lot of people home, more than you think suppose. From what I saw on the web, it's about 75 in Montreal, and 101 in Austin

Some of the folks who are going to straight from Canada to Texas are going to get a rude awakening...