Musings

I got back from New York City at 7:00 pm last night, stopped to pick up some food at the deli at my local market, pretended to eat, tried (and failed) to sleep, and now I’m trying to do laundry, deal with emails, bills and business, and process the past wonderful week. I’m going to do this in stages because it was such an amazing trip.

We headed out on Wednesday Oct. 31st, and got into Albany at around 3:00 pm. There was a shuttle bus to Saratoga Springs, and Paul Cornell, the wonderful Dr. Who writer was riding with us. We had met at the WorldCon in L.A. when I moderated a panel he was on, and we fell to chatting. I kept sneaking glances out the windows of the bus, however, because I’ve never been to upstate New York, and it was breathtaking. The leaves were a bit past peak, but for a desert rat from New Mexico it was so beautiful. The autumn here is all gold and dark greens. The sides of the mountains look like they have been draped in cloth of gold once the aspens turn, but we don’t have that riot of conflicting and yet complimentary colors. It’s not just the reds of the maple trees, there are russets, and bright oranges, and golds and tawneys. The con didn’t officially start until Thursday afternoon so we found a Carribean restaurant for dinner, and got a good night’s sleep so we didn’t start the con exhausted.

Thursday morning it was brisk, and cloudy and drizzling. We started with breakfast at Mrs. London’s this world famous pastry shop and bakery. I drank tea, and ate a croissant, and listened to classical music. Ian won. He ordered an almond crisp croissant, and it had almond powder sprinkled across the top so it was crisp on the outside, and moist and soft inside. My chocolate croissant was excellent, but not amazing. After that we went walking down to the race track. I was fascianted with the architecture. The little towers set on the corners of houses that seem to be peeking shyly through the branches of the riotously colored trees. Most of them were this silvery gray that I found very restful and beautiful. Pots of geraniums lined big porches and I imagined summer evenings sitting outside and listening to the hum of insects.

This time of year the track is closed, but the Horse Racing Museum was open. Ian is very patient and long suffering, and even suggested we go inside. It was great. There were portraits of racing greats — Eclipse, Man of War, War Admiral, Seabiscuit, the founding Arabian stallions. There were massive silver cups that had been won by the Triple Crown winners. Tack, silks, antique weighing chairs, a full skeleton of a horse. It was a great morning.

After lunch we found registration up and running, got our badges, and plunged off to find friends. Within minutes we had located Sam Butler and Susan Jett. Sam (in our opinion) was the official kick-off for the con with his reading from QUEEN FERRIS at 3:30. There were thirty minute readings, and I would have loved for him to have an hour. This is a terrific series, and I highly recommend the books. Book one, REIFFEN’S CHOICE is out in paperback now, and Queen Ferris just hit the stands. Buy them, you will like them.

We spent the afternoon hugging folks we hadn’t seen in a year. Gardner Dozois and Susan Casper were there, and it was wonderful to see them. Gardner had given us all a scare with his heart surgery, but he looked great. I went off to dinner with a group of New York writers, and it was a treat to talk with fellow professionals from another part of the country. This east coast gang had a Zombies Need Brains party planned for that evening. But before I could get to the fun I had to get through my reading.

At 8:00 pm, opposite opening ceremonies. I expected it to be the death slot, but Ian, Sam and Susan came, and Ian counted and said I had a dozen people _I didn’t actually know_ in to hear my reading. This is how we judge how we are doing as writers, can you get people other than your friends to attend your reading. It seemed to go well.

Then it was off to the Zombies party. It was loud, hot, filled with laughter and great conversations. The NY cadre had books to sell, and were even set up to take credit cards. I’m going to suggest that the NM Mafia shameless steal their great idea and have a themed party at either World Con or the next World Fantasy. I wanted to party really late, but my back was still twinging pretty badly and being in pain makes you tired so I gave up at 12:30, and went to the room to read Queen Ferris. Day one was a rousing success. I’ll try to be a little less detailed on my subsequent entries. It was mostly a lot of sitting with dear friends and fellow professionals and talking about writing. We seem to never get tired of it.