I had a great time at World Fantasy!

I saw a bunch of people I know from other cons: my drinking buddy Saladin Ahmed, who read from his novel coming out next hear from DAW. I had read parts of it in draft form, and the final version he read is even better. BCS author and Sybil’s Garage editor Matt Kressel read from his upcoming BCS story “The Suffering Gallery”; I think I had a beer with him three days in a row. :) Fellow Codexians Corry and Mary, my former instructor now BCS author Steve Rasnic Tem, my Oddfellows drinking buddies, the ever-rosy Mike Allen, and more.

I met a ton of people I know online but hadn’t met before: BCS authors Marie Brennan, Vylar Kaftan, Erin Cashier, Ferret Steinmetz, Renee Stern, Brad Beaulieu, J. Kathleen Cheney, and more. Fellow Codexians Lon Prater, T.L. Morganfield, Jeremy Tolbert, and more. Fellow editors who dig what I’m doing with BCS Janson Sanford (storySouth, The Million Writers Award), John O’Neill and Howard Andrew Jones (Black Gate), John Klima (Electric Velocipede).

The swords & sorcery panel I sat on was quite good. Howard Andrew Jones mentioned many of the classics and the biggest new author out of Black Gate, James Enge; I mentioned Clark Ashton Smith and my favorite current author, Chris Willrich; Patricia Bray and Martha Wells mentioned a number of insightful things, including Charles Saunders and Saladin.

Patricia said that a lake monster in some S&S she’d read years ago felt like “the coolest thing ever.” That I think is a great tagline for the coolness or awe in S&S that all of us love–stuff that’s the coolest thing ever. :)

I enjoyed the panel on epic fantasy–all the panelists had good ideas and were into the discussion. Here’s some online video of that panel. Also here are some quotes of wisdom that Jason Sanford compiled and blogged.

The BCS not-officially-a-party went well–attendees included Steve Tem, Blake Charlton, Walter Jon Williams, lots of BCS authors and fans, and apparently the whole class of Clarion 2010! We only had a little beer left over, and I didn’t mind showering Sunday morning standing in three inches of still-melting ice. :)

Thanks all! It was an awesome weekend.

Tags: BCS, cons, HM, quotations

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