On the road again: Balticon, day 1

The convention actually starts tomorrow, but we drove up today so that I would be certain to be here in time to meet all of my Friday obligations at the con.  "What obligations?" you might well ask.  Here's what I'll be doing this weekend. If you're at the con, please drop by one or more of these and say hi. 

Friday, 5:00, Chase, panelist, Early Favorite Authors 

The con's instructions are for us to talk about the writers we read and valued most when we were young, the ones who influenced our literary preferences and our writing. I'm sure we'll do some of that.  If past experience is any guide, we'll also end up wandering into other, related topics.  It should be an interesting time. 

Friday, 9:00, Valley Ballroom, Master of Ceremonies, Opening Ceremonies

I'll be that guy standing at the mic, introducing a lot of people and telling stories and bad jokes any time the tech crew or the backstage team need me to buy them some time.  One of the coolest parts of Balticon's opening ceremonies is the awarding of the Compton Crook Award for best first SF or fantasy novel.  I had the privilege of winning that award in 2008 for One Jump Ahead, and I look forward to seeing who grabs this year's.  As a special treat, the con is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the award by having multiple past winners attend and speak.  That makes this event a great chance to listen to and, afterward, meet a bunch of cool writers.

Saturday, 12:30, Garden Room, moderator, Baen Travelling Slideshow

See slides of cover paintings before and after they turn (via the artistry of Baen's cover designers) into covers!  Hear inside scoop from me!  Win free cool stuff from Baen!

What's not to like?

Saturday, 4:00, Pimlico, reading 

If enough folks show up, I'll do the first public reading of bits from No Going Back.  If not enough folks show up, God only knows what I might do alone in a hotel meeting room without adult supervision.  All I can say is that I hope the next occupant of the room brings a broom, some friends to remove the broken gear, and something to clean up messes. 

Saturday, 5:00, Salon B, panelist, Collaborative Writing

We're supposed to talk about the joys and agonies of co-authoring work.  I've done a few stories and one book with others, and I've edited two books with collaborators, so I can bring a little relevant experience to bear on the topic.  Not that possessing relevant experience has ever been a requirement for me to talk.  If they decide at the last minute to turn the panel into a gathering to discuss the dangers of man-dolphin sex, well, I'll find a way to talk about that one, too.  Or not.  You never know. 

Sunday, Noon, Garden Room, moderator, Liars Panel

Grab a lot of dollar bills, and head over to this panel.  Watch four of us tell outrageous stories--most of which will be true.  Challenge the ones you think are lies; if you catch us, we pay ten bucks.  If you're wrong, you pay one measly buck.  All the money goes to buy books for kids who can't afford them.

You will laugh your ass off for an hour, and you will help a bunch of kids. 

Do not miss this one.

Sunday, 2:00, Salon A, panelist, Xenoarchaeology Road Show 

Speaking of laughing your ass off, if you're in the mood to keep the good times rolling, come to Salon A and watch as Guest of Honor Jody Lynn Nye and I, along with three other panelists (John Hemry, Christina Ellis, and Grig Larson), examine strange objects from the perspective of archaeologists five hundred years in the future.  The audience will bring some of those objects, and we'll provide others.  It should be a blast.

If you're at the con and can't make any of these, catch me in the dealer's room or the art show and say hi anyway.  If you don't know me and are nervous about meeting me, I can tell you that nothing warms a writer more than someone with a stack of books for autographing.  Seriously, though, no purchases are necessary; just come by and say hello. 

On the road again: Balticon, day 3

Morning came way before I was ready for it, but I got out of bed anyway and spent a half hour on the hotel's treadmill. I discovered that with the right distraction--in this case the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale playing on a TV channel I could get--the time on the treadmill just vanishes.

I'm way past ready for the next Bond film.

Work, shower, work, and then off for lunch to a place I try to visit yearly in Baltimore: Cafe Hon. The food is good but not great, but I still love the joint because it's just such a great little diner.

We then walked through a few shops in the area. Two are worthy of mention.

The first is Squidfire, which in addition to having one of the best shop names ever also offers some amazingly cool t-shirts and hoodies.

The other was perennial favorite, Atomic Books, where once again I bought nothing despite wanting to own more than half the stuff in the place. I think I'm afraid to buy one thing lest I unleash a flood of expensive purchases.

After a little more work, I headed to my first offical con function: a reading. I expected no one to show up, but to my pleasant surprise I ended the session with ten people in the audience--and only two came with me. I read from Children No More and talked about upcoming books, etc.

Dinner was at the same place I go every Friday night of Balticon: Cindy Wolf's Charleston. The food was, as always, perfectly executed--until the desserts. Once again, those, while decent, fell short of the rest of the meal. The service quality has also slipped considerably there, something I hope they address in the future.

I'm working on the show now--and, yes, it's only about 22 hours away as I write this. Plenty of time. I hope.

Actually, I'm quite terrified that I'll blow it, because I should have cast it in concrete weeks ago, but so it goes; shoulda, woulda, coulda, etc. I will do my best, and I'll hope I can make folks laugh until they hurt.

Back to it I go.

On the road again: Balticon, day 2

It's been a long day. I got a modest amount of sleep but on a day when I was counting on sleeping a great deal, the hours I spent asleep didn't leave me feeling refreshed. I ended up having to work until the wee hours last night and again this morning, so after exercising, I was already behind schedule.

We dashed to the Hampton area of Baltimore for a pleasant lunch at Dangerously Delicious Pies. With both savory (I had a slice of steak and chili pie) and sweet (I had apple) pies, this place is worth trying simply because nothing else is quite like it.

Another dash--well, to be accurate, a mix of dashing and crawling due to traffic--and I was at the hotel barely in time for two panels in a row. Both went well, with good panelists, interested audiences, and conversations that ranged far and wide and even occasionally touched on the official topics of the panels.

At the opening ceremonies, I presented the Compton Crook award to Paul Melko for his novel, Singularity's Ring. Though we only got to spend a little time together, Paul seemed like a nice guy, and I look forward to doing tomorrow's Crooks panel with him.

Dinner tonight was at Charleston, a perennial favorite. I enjoyed the meal quite a bit, but I have to say the quality has slipped a tad; no way in the past would the center of a slice of foie gras have been cold.

With so much going on this weekend, I'm going to keep these entries short. If you're in the Baltimore area, check out Balticon. It's a nice con from nice folks.

On the road again: Balticon, day 2

I slept a bit over seven hours last night, and though I didn't awaken feeling a hundred percent healthy and rested, the sleep did help. After some work, we headed out to the Hampden area, which I mentioned in last year's Balticon entries, and lunch at Cafe Hon. The food was, as always, tasty diner-style fare, and the atmosphere was as funky as ever.

We spent a little time walking among the shops and stopping at Atomic Pop and Atomic Books, where I dropped some money on some seriously odd books. As I also said before, I love both shops. I had to leave them early, however, because as a phone call from the concom reminded me, I was due back at the con.

After registering, I walked the dealer's room, signed some books, and was happy to see a stack of One Jump Ahead paperbacks on Larry Smith's table. Go, Larry!

I then headed to a panel on Medicine in SF. The crowd was small, maybe a dozen folks, and only three of the four panelists showed up, but we had a lively and, to the best of my ability to tell, interesting discussion. After a grocery store run and some more work, I changed and returned to the con for opening ceremonies. After they introduced the main guests of honor--Connie Willis and John Jude Palencar were the writer and artist headliners--Naomi Novik, last year's Compton Crook winner, presented me with the award plaque. (I assume the concom will give me the check later; if not, I'm not too bashful to remind them.) The audience treated me nicely, and it was a very touching time for me.

A few minutes later, as the opening ceremonies were winding down, we headed to my favorite Baltimore restaurant, Chef Cindy Wolf's Charleston. Four of us enjoyed an excellent dinner; all of my dishes were, as always there, flavorful and perfectly executed. Because we couldn't start until after 9:00, we were, of course, running late, but that was okay; I'd planned for that.

What I didn't plan for was the over an hour we wasted as the freeway narrowed to one lane and all of the traffic funneled toward an area jammed with police cars whose lights were flashing. We were convinced something terrible had happened.

Nope. Someone in the Maryland government had decided to have the cops stop all cars and perform sobriety checks, then pass out anti-drinking leaflets. Here's how the test worked:

Cop: "Hi. We're the Maryland State Police, and we're performing sobriety tests to catch drunken drivers. Is that you?"

Me: "No. I don't even drink."

Cop: (handing me a leaflet) "Okay then. Have a good night."

Wow, do I feel safer. I understand that the officer might have been able to smell alcohol on my breath, but seriously: if you're going to waste an hour of my time, at least do something that might possibly be useful.

Needless to say, for the rest of our ride our car full of non-drinkers was awash in negative emotions that ranged from annoyance to full anger. I didn't mouth off to the cop, however, because I'm sure he didn't choose to be doing this particular job.

Despite that ending, it was a good day, and I'm grateful for the award and the nice treatment by the con folks.

Balticon, day 1: Big Balti, little con for me

I worked late last night, as usual, but I then slept for almost eight glorious hours, more than the previous two nights combined. I awoke not fully recharged but no longer on empty, and definitely more than a little energetic. Excellent.

Today we were at the con only long enough to register; the rest of the day Baltimore was the star.

We spent much of the afternoon wandering along 36th street, which is in Hampden and is a pleasure to walk. Lunch was at Cafe Hon, which as you can see is fun both outside and in.


The giant pink flamingo is a great touch. Of course, I'd love this place just for the soda fountain even if it had no other virtues. Fortunately, its virtues are many, including classic and better than average diner fare, a great atmosphere, a funky little shop in the corner, and a nice staff. Catch it if you're in the area.

As in any such area, not all shops are to my taste. The one that featured scores of little painted shells tripped my weird meter the wrong way, not because of the concept, which I liked, but because the paintings weren't odd enough.

On the other hand, I can't recommend too highly Atomic Books. It makes me happy to see an independent bookstore with such a strange and varied selection. From art books to counter-culture manifestos to odd sorts of porn, from graphic novels to John Waters material, this place covers a very broad range of strange and fun material. I suspect something in it will offend most shoppers, which I consider a good thing.

I do wish they carried One Jump Ahead, of course, but I turned too shy to ask them to do so. I suspect they would have passed, so I would also have had to deal with rejection, but I probably should have tried. Ah, well, maybe they'll read this and take pity on me. (That particular approach never worked with girls, and I don't expect it to work with booksellers, but I thought I'd give it a try.)

Did I mention a small cardboard box by the door with odd free comics and the handwritten legend, "Because we love you". This place rocks.

And so does its new (at least to me) sister store, Atomic Pop. Down the street and around the corner from the original, this one specializes in strange toys (most of them Japanese), design books, and other related goodies. I picked up several fascinating volumes here, including picture books of street art from Japan and Iceland.

Who could resist such treats?

For dinner tonight we hit one of my favorite restaurants in this part of the country, Cindy Wolf's Charleston. If you haven't eaten here and are anywhere nearby, make a reservation now. The food tonight was, as always, perfectly prepared and wonderful. My friends, Jennie and Kyle, and I enjoyed many courses, a great cheese selection, and very good service. We even managed a few minutes with the chef herself, who was gracious and charming. I want a cookbook from her, and she said one is in the early stages.

I still have work to do, and posting picture-laden entries is more time-consuming than I had realized. I must put the Web weasel on the job and see if she can make this simpler for me.

Tomorrow, the con itself, including a reading I expect no one who is not already a friend will attend, and then to Kyle's for the UFC pay-per-view.

And writing and work, of course, always those.