Eyes wide shut
Damn it’s easy to not notice things. I’ve been waiting for a new cd from The Blue Nile for ages, and didn’t think there was much chance of one showing up. Now I found out one was released a couple weeks ago. This is good. But I’ve been in a bunch of cd stores during that time and must have walked right past it at least a few times. I guess I must’ve been daydreaming. Gah! Ah well. Now I have to get to a cd store ASAP to see if I can pick it up.

So, where to start? The trip to the US was frustrating, difficult, exhausting, enjoyable, rewarding and a lot of fun. All of the difficulties were related to the mechanics of travel, and aren’t really important (except to say that it would take a lot to get me on a United flight again). Charles did say I could travel Business Class next time, but we’ll have to see .

The best parts of the trip? It was great getting to spend some time in Oakland at the Locus offices. I’m never there long enough, and never really get to see Oakland the way I’d like to (I’d love to get back down to Piedmont and just stroll Piedmont Avenue one more time), but I did get to spend some time talking to Liza and Tim at Locus HQ, and got to meet Carlyn. I also, finally, got to go out to dinner at Kirsten’s home and see Teddy there, which was a real highlight. Kirsten’s a dear friend and Teddy’s a real cutey and it was good to talk Locus-related stuff with her. I got to spend some time with my long-distance collaborator, Olympic-class shopper and all round good person Karen Haber in a coffee shop in Montclair to catch up about things and make sure we were on track with our Year’s Bests (we are), which made the trip worthwhile. We had a great party that Charles set up where too many people to mention showed up (about 35, I think). I met some great people, got to see Mark and Marina, and drank a lot of champagne. Closed the evening out with Tim, Heather, Lisa and Charles chatting lazily on the back deck and acting like carnivores. Great fun. I also got to hook up with Jeremy Lassen, who came up for dinner with Charles, Justin (who’d just flown out from Australia) and I. He’s a cool dude and it was good to see him. The best part of the Oakland part of the trip, though, was seeing Charles at home. I talk to him every week, but it’s nice to just sit down, down a glass of wine and chat about life. We should all have such good friends.

Boston was pretty insane, by comparison. I was supposed to have dinner with David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer the first night in town, but I couldn’t quite get schedules to match up. Instead, Liza, Charles, Marina, Justin and I headed out for tapas. The place was in this really cool business/residential area near the conference facilities, and the food was great. Came back for a couple drinks in the bar, and then sat up with Liza till about 2pm talking about life and Locus. She’s a smart and very savvy lady and I’m sorry I don’t get to see her more often. Wednesday photographer Beth Gwinn got into town and we all headed off to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for a couple hours of tourism, refinement and great shopping. Back at the hotel, we hooked up with Cheryl Morgan for lunch, and then Marina and I went shopping (I bought kid’s stuff and she checked out yarn stores – honest!) I then had dinner with Andy Wheeler from the SF Book Club. I hadn’t met him before, but he’s a really nice guy. It sounds like the book did ok for the SFBC, and we should know soon if we’re going to get to do another. After dinner I ducked out to the Virgin Megastore for a little more shopping, and then back to the bar for drinks and conversation. Hooked up with Jim Minz from Tor and some other folk, which was great.

Somewhere round here things blur a little. I know we all had breakfast together, then went down and set up the dealer’s table and checked out some of the other dealer’s tables. Interviewed Charlie Stross for Locus, and then had a great lunch with Charlie and Feorag. Dinner was with Lou Anders and his lovely wife, Jeff VanderMeer, Chris Roberson, and John Picacio. We talked Argosy and other stuff over tapas, and probably drank too much. Ended the evening in the Locus suite talking with Charles, Gavin Grant and Kelly Link. It doesn’t get much better. Friday was the Locus Awards, lunch with Neil and Jack (a highlight that left me not quite believing it was me sitting here doing this). Friday evening was the Eos party, which was crazy. Everyone was there. Met Paul Di Filippo (what a cool guy) and Debra (who is great), chatted with Ralph Vicinanza (which I needed to do), and generally circulated and had a fantastic time. Dinner was with Ellen, John & Eileen, Paula, David, and Jeff Ford, before back to the bar for a fascinating talk with Rick Berry. I’d been in touch with Rick when I did the Waldrop book back in ’97, so it was terrific to just get a chance to talk. Saturday was fairly insane. Breakfast with Diana, Jennifer and Jack from Harper (who were wonderful hosts and lovely people – Jack has one of the cutest kids I’ve seen), a couple business meetings, then lunch with Sharyn November. Sharyn is one of my favorite people and even if we weren’t doing a book together it would be the coolest thing to see her and catch up. Getting to sit down over sushi, gasbag away, and sign contracts too was just the best. I then got to check out the art show with Diana Gill, which had some great stuff (particularly by Omar Rayyan), then time to get ready for the Hugos and such. Liza and I went to the Ace party, hosted by the wondrous Ginjer, and had a great time, but didn’t eat enough, which meant I was fairly relaxed for the Hugos. The highlight of the pre-dinner party was meeting Liz Hand, who was kind, generous and really nice. I got to wish some friends luck and then we were in the midst of the ceremonies (which have been reported elsewhere). The ceremony went well, Locus won (which was very gratifying), and then on to parties. The best part of the evening was spent in the Locus suite chatting with Justine, Kelly, Chris, Lou and Charles about stuff. Sunday I had some panels, did a signing and did some other stuff. I’ll have to check my notes, and then dinner with Chris and Steve from Del Rey, who were great dinner companions. After that, Monday was low key and Tuesday was Justin and I tooling round shopping, before getting on the plane for the 30hr hike home.

So, was it worthwhile? Definitely. Exhausting? Enormously. Would I do it again? In a heart beat. I don’t see these people often enough, and I got to do some business too. Got an agent, signed contracts for a book, and set up more stuff. What more could you want?