It’s four o’clock on Tuesday afternoon. I’m at work tomorrow and Thursday, home Friday, and then at around six o’clock on Saturday morning I’ll head out to the Perth Airport to begin the loooooong peregrination. As you all know, I’m headed to Columbus, Ohio (birthplace of the always dear EllenK) by way of Sydney and San Francisco/Oakland.

There’s much I’m looking forward to. I believe there’s Mexican food waiting for me in Sydney with Nick, Adrian, Cat, Rob, Deb, Chris and Terry on Saturday. Sunday is the big hop across the Pacific (can it really be my 32nd?) and then I’m staying with Ellen for a night before heading over to Oakland late Monday. I’ll be seeing Amelia for dinner with E, then sleeping at the place formerly known as Charles’s.

Tuesday will be Locus folk and Locus work during the day, and a very, very welcome dinner with Bob and Karen that night. Wednesday Liza and I fly to Ohio together, and then there’s dinner with Alisa (yay!), Gary (yay yay!) and everyone else and the convention.

I will, of course, intend to stay in touch during this part of the trip and the follow on week or so, but I most likely won’t. I’ll try though.

Well, this is just a minor bit of updatery. Things are busy at Merton Way, and only going to get busier in coming weeks. This week is all about prep for Miss Eight’s coming natal transition into her forthcoming persona as Miss Nine, which includes present gathering and the imminent arrival of the very first ever sleepover party this coming Saturday.

At the same time I am busy Really Trying Quite Hard to read a lot. I’ve been making my way through piles of anthologies, collections, and such, discovering some wonderful stories while still looking rather desperately for ‘Awesome Science Fiction’ which seems a little thin on the ground this year.

I am also developing a new Sekrit Projekt, which is actually proceeding quite well, while working on Eclipse Four, Under My Hat, Cyberpunk, two single author collections, and the best of the year. Busy times, and only likely going to  get busier given that I’m heading to the US in a touch over two weeks for World Fantasy.  

I fly out on Saturday 23 October and spend some time catching up with dear friends in Sydney, then a couple days in the Bay Area where I’ll stay with Ellen K and the Locus crew (a night at the house will be interesting) and grab dinner with Bob & Karen, then on to Columbus for the convention, before spending a night with Gary in Chicago. Should be quite the trip, delivering me home on November 4 with a month to finish the year’s best and other stuff  before Christmas!

And amongst all of that I’m reading Howl’s Moving Castle for the first time when I really should just be reading short stories…