[	mood	|	accomplished	]
[	music	|	Vienna -- Ultravox	]

I realized the other day that I hadn't done a spring book announcement yet, which was rather silly of me. I typed one up and was ready to post it when I stopped and thought it looked darn boring, just a list of titles and all. After a few days of tinkering, and the help of theoblack, I now can do it with jacket art. So, without further ado...

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mood

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exhausted

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I've been back from Madison since early Monday morning, but this is the first chance I've had to do anything other than catch up on work and sleep.

I had a great time at my first World Fantasy Convention. I admit I spent much of the first day or so feeling like a complete fish out of water. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and every where I looked I was seeing authors whose work I've been reading for years. One big reason, I realized, was everyone's name tags simply had their names...no flag or ribbon reading "author," "editor" or "agent;" I was just one with the crowd. Fortunately, both blackholly and suricattus helped by introducing me to many people, which made an enormous difference. By Friday evening I was feeling more at ease, though I still had moments of feeling like a complete newbie.

This was a very different con than anything I've attended professionally. First, for the most part, everyone attending WFC is a professional: many are published authors (and I don't just mean in some small little magazine or newspaper no one's ever heard of), editors, agents, reviewers, etc. There aren't really that many panels, and it often seemed that most attendees considered going to panels kind of odd. There are multiple parties every night, lots of eating, drinking and merriment, and more in-jokes than you can shake a stick at.

I've misplaced my program, on which I'd made some notes, so I'm not going to be able to do the thorough report I'd hoped (which is probably a good thing, as it most likely would have been dreadfully boring). Of the programming I attended, there were two panels I particularly enjoyed. The first was called something like "Fantasy on the Fringe" with Kelly Link, Jeff VanderMeer, Graham Joyce, Patrick O'Leary and Matthew Cheney. The five panelists clearly knew each other pretty well, and they were so comfortable and casual that I felt like I was listening in on a private conversation, even though we were in a pretty crowded room. For those who don't know, all of these writers tend to be given some rather odd labels ("new weird," "slipstream" etc.) which, as they explained, are simply marketing labels used to sell books. Holly pointed out after the panel that for writers who are supposedly writing such weird, complex work, they were incredibly down to earth and accessible. I'm not doing this justice at all, but I found most of the discussion fascinating as the panel explored what being on the fringe meant, both over all and to each of them personally. The other panel I liked was one highlighting the state of fantasy in Australia, and the writers to be watching. (And yes, I was definitely taking notes on which ones might not yet be published in the US and might need a US agent...hey, I was there on business remember!)

One of the things that left the biggest impression on me was the health and breadth of the small press community. There are some amazing publishers out there, including Night Shade Books, Small Beer Press, Prime Books and many others, putting out gorgeous hardcover collector editions and lovely, inexpensive chapbooks, giving genre writers a myriad of opportunities to get their work in front of an audience hungry for it. They get to publish things that, in many cases, mainstream publishers might not touch, and the word of mouth on these editions can be tremendous. I wonder if it would be possible to do this specifically for the children's/YA market, because I love the homegrown feel of it. (And I'd like to take a moment to plug The Rose in Twelve Petals & Other Stories by Theodora Goss, which Holly introduced me to. Goss's writing is simply magical, and I can't wait to read more.)

There were lots of great moments throughout the weekend, but I'll just highlight a few:

Facepalm moment of the weekend: riding in the elevator, I found myself face to face with Garth Nix (whom I'd avoided introducing myself to the previous night, hoping his US editor, Ruth Katcher, would introduce me once she'd arrived at the con, because I was just too nervous to do it myself), who looked over at me and said (come on, you all knows what's coming) "Oh, I've read your blog." Aaagh! Garth Nix reads my blog! Good thing about it was that it totally broke the ice...and it made it even funnier when he said the same thing to Holly, who reacted similarly.

Although Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld had to cancel at the last minute (poor Scott got some nasty bug, which I'm certain is the parasite world's revenge on him for revealing so many of their nasty secrets in his new book Peeps), Justine had kindly made reservations for dinner at a terrific restaurant, Harvest. Since we had extra seats available, Holly and her hubby theoblack invited Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman and Caroline Stevermer joined us (yea, yea, I know I'm shamelessly name dropping, but really, I was in fanboi heaven, and just desperately trying not to grin too hard). Dinner was as fabulous as Justine had promised, and I just felt lucky to be part of it. The best part was when one of the waitstaff recognized Holly as the author of The Spiderwick Chronicles and proceeded to tell her how much she and her nephew loved the books, as Holly's face glowed redder by the second. It was lovely and sweet, and I wish that I'd had a copy of one of the books for Holly to have signed for her.

A very late night in a hotel suite, chatting with Garth Nix, Justin Ackroyd, Jonathan Strahan, Ellen Datlow, Christopher Schelling, Holly and I, which, in spite of the fact that we really weren't drinking, grew increasingly silly. I'm certain that none of the things that had us in fits of near-hysterical laughing would translate if you hadn't been there, but suffice to say that I will forever carry an image of a mini-temple to Bast in Mesa, Arizona.

Trapped in the dealer room with suricattus, a truly powerful enabler, who tempted me beyond control with shinies. I am now the proud owner of a simply stunning silver and black star sapphire ring in the shape of a dragon's head (I'll try and post a picture later). But was she done? Oh no! I also bought a gorgeous necklace for Libba, which she loved. So, thanks Gilman...but I'm still not going anywhere near another dealer's room with you around!

Getting to meet so many LJ people in person, especially janni (who had thoughtfully made LJ name stickers for everyone), and aynjel (who really does look fab in her tuxedo corset and silk top hat, and who only taunted me once with her ability to play City of Villains).

Hearing the fabulous news that Margo Lanagan won two World Fantasy Awards, one for her collection Black Juice, which I think is absolutely brilliant, and another for the first story from that collection, "Singing My Sister Down." I'd originally heard she might be attending, and I'd so looked forward to meeting her, but alas, she stayed in Australia.

Finally, and best of all, was the opportunity to spend loads of time with Holly, who was using WFC as her mini-break in the middle of another long Spiderwick tour. Although Holly is one of the clients I get to see quite frequently, it's usually quick gatherings in the city, and often business related. We rarely just get to hang out and talk, and the more we did, the luckier I felt to be working with her. You folks in Denver, Houston and Austin, go see her if you can!

I'll definitely be going again next year, especially since it's in Austin, one of my favorite cities. Hopefully next time I won't geek out quite so much when meeting the likes of Gene Wolfe, Peter Straub and Charles deLint. Aww, who am I kidding?