…till the Hugo results are out. Suddenly I’m nervous. I wasn’t before. I don’t expect to win (it really is an honor to be nominated and all of my fellow nominees are extraordinary), but I have a horse in the race and it’s hard not to be a little nervous.
Congrats, btw, to the Melbourne WorldCon! And to Shaun Tan for being Art GoH. Amazing news.
Up too early (this will be a theme), had a lovely breakfast with Karen Haber, hooked up with Sean W afterwards, then to the Dealers Room (which underwhelmed). Had lunch with David Hartwell, before doing a panel on the best SF of the year which went quite well. Coffee with Graham Sleight, Gary and Charles, before back to the Dealers Room where I bumped into Ted Kosmatka at the SFWA table (who was lovely). Chatted with Amelia, Teddy and the gang, before off to dinner. There were sixteen of us having fondue and it was good. A four hour long dinner that was just right. We joked about wild rumours we could unleash, ate, drank and then headed back to the hotel for a nightcap. A quite day, compared to what’s to come.
What a strange day. I was up early and feeling fine. Showered and breakfasted, I was in the LocusMobile at 7.20am and headed to the airport feeling fine. Charles, Liza, Amelia and I arrived in plenty of time, and got ourselves sorted for the flight.  We got our magic SouthWest front row seats, but as I was sitting down I had a peircing pain in my right chest.  The rib I’d bruised (or whatever) suddenly hurt more than it had at any time. That overshadowed what otherwise would have been a lovely flight. I tried to read and ignore it, but was in real pain for the whole trip.
We arrived in Denver on time and headed to the hotel. I then met up with Charlie Stross, we preregistered for the con, and went for drink. Charlie’s a lot of fun, and his knowledge of secret history is fascinating. We talked Laundry novels and other stuff. We joined Dave Hartwell and George for drinks too, before they headed for dinner and me to the hotel. I met up with Sean Williams (yay!) and Gary. Gary and I joined Ken Scholes, Jen and Jon for dinner, which was great. Then drinks with Sean, Liza, Amelia, and lots others. A good day, if painful. I called home before bed, and am now up too early. Another busy day ahead.
It was a work day at Locus HQ. What this meant for your humble correspondent was that everyone was up at CHARLES’s house (except Carolyn, who I missed this trip), but that they were all either frantically finishing work on the latest issue of Locus, or getting ready for Denver.
I woke early again, which is a pattern here that probably will be broken in Denver. It was foggy and cool, so I went upstairs at a little after 6.00am, got myself some coffee, and read more of Pratchett’s Nation. Tim was the first person in at around 8.00am, so we chatted for a while about Locus, publishing, and life.  I then did the online check-in thing for tomorrow, chatted with Charles, Francesca, and Amelia, and got some laundry done. The early afternoon was all about editing columns, and doing some future planning for the reviews. After that, dinner and bed.
I don’t know if any of this quite conveys what it’s like to come back to a place that is so familiar. I first visited Locus HQ in 1994, and have been back most years since then (I missed 1996, 2000, and 2001 I think). I worked here for a year myself. It’s very much a part of my world, though it’s half a world away and it’s good to see it again. I’ll be back, even more briefly, in October, which will be nice.
Oh, since tomorrow is WorldCon, blogging will be light to non-existent I suspect. I’ll try, but experience suggests…
The only way to get in touch with anyone at a monster event like WorldCon is by cellphone. For the duration of Denvention, and the rest of this trip, my cellphone number is 510-282-9480. I pick up a new simcard every trip so it changes every year, but it works really well as a way of managing getting in touch. If you need me, call!