I’ve finally been to my first World Fantasy Con. It’s a small pro con–small because there’s an attendance cap–and I’ve been wanting to attend almost since I first learned about it. This year’s was in DC, so it was something that Rob and I could drive to, which is one of the reasons we were able to attend.
It was a good weekend; we met new people–Myke Cole (author of the Shadow Ops series) always introduces us to someone new, and Rob was finally able to meet Kat Richardson (author of the Greywalker series)–they’d been talking for a long time online, and he helped her with a leak when she lived on a boat, but we never managed to be in the same place at the same time.
We spent a large portion of the weekend with our friend Richard (though most everyone we know calls him Shecky). He’s a freelance copyeditor–sffcopyediting.com–and it was his first WFC, as well. He kept saying we know everyone, but most of the people we met were through him. Also, he’s damn good at his job; he’s the person that I ask for help when I get stuck.
Laura Anne Gilman, Kat Richardson, Dana Cameron
There was a mass signing on Friday, but we only had books for Kat to sign–we didn’t want to take too many, and we didn’t know everyone who would be there. And I wish I’d remembered to take my old Kindle; Kat’s one of the authors I haven’t gotten to sign it yet.
We attended one panel on Saturday; Shecky was one of the panelists, and it was about editing. We all intended to go to more, but it was incredibly easy to not notice time passing, and when Rob and Shecky are together, it’s a little difficult to get them to stop talking. (Seriously, I’ve had to physically push Rob out the door to get home when we’ve visited Shecky and his wife for the weekend.)
There was a banquet and awards on Sunday, but Rob needed to get home for work, so we didn’t stay for that. We did see several attendees in their awards attire, including Myke (in his Coast Guard dress uniform) and his girlfriend Mallory, and another friend, Jennie (an editor for Fantasy-Faction), who looked great in her dress, before we got our car to leave.
Other highlights–we each got a very nice zippered tote bag full of books, though we haven’t done more than a cursory look through to see what we got. Mur Lafferty (author of The Shambling Guides and last year’s Campbell award winner) gave both me and Rob a hug our first night there, though we didn’t see her the rest of the con–her’s was one of the panels I’d wanted to attend but spaced on the time and missed.
Most everything else is a bit of a blur of names and people, and I don’t remember too many specifics.
