Con Report: Lunacon 2008

Ah, cons. How I’ve missed thee. With World Fantasy being my most recent convention appearance (at the beginning of November), it had been quite a while since I’d immersed myself in the realm of fandom, and it was good to get back to it at Lunacon this weekend.

Lunacon was once again held at the Rye Town Hilton in Rye, New York, otherwise known as "the Escher Hilton" due to its funky floor plan that makes you feel as if you’re trapped in an M.C. Escher painting. For example, if you step off the elevator on the fourth floor and walk down a certain hallway (which slopes downward at a slight angle), you end up on the seventh floor; so in fact instead of going down a bit as you might imagine from the slight decline, you in fact somehow climb three floors with nary a slope in sight. In other words, the perfect place for an SF convention.

I drove up a day early to hang out with pal Rob Bland. We had dinner and chatted enough that I got a bit hoarse before the con even started, and then hung out in the room playing Guitar Hero, which I brought with me despite the Rye Town Hilton telling me over the phone that doing so was forbidden (because, one presumes, they have their $10/hour video game rental service). I figured there was no way they’d actually know I brought my illicit PS2 into the hotel so long as I hid it from the maid, so I went for it. And it worked. In case it didn’t, and since I was driving to the con, I brought a small TV with me so shredding would not be denied. Yes, I realize that’s a pretty geeky thing to do. But so is going to an SF convention.

(more…)

Read More

Wastelands Conquers All, Says Omnivoracious

Over at the Amazon blog, Omnivoracious, Jeff VanderMeer has a nice piece about Wastelands, which is, incidentally, awesomely titled "Apocalypse Wow: Wastelands Conquers All." In it, Jeff says: "[Wastelands] has been one of the great success stories of the early part of 2008–selling out its initial print run (and going back to reprint), garnering rave reviews, and just generally conquering all in its path. Given the volatile nature of anthologies, which have a high failure rate, that’s quite an accomplishment. But it’s no surprise, given the careful editing and packaging of Wastelands, which has its own website (including free downloads of some of the fiction) and includes reprinted stories from the likes of Orson Scott Card, Jonathan Lethem, George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, and many other luminaries." Jeff then sprinkles in some commentary by me, along with a selection of first lines from the stories, which he leaves un-identified to entice readers and leaving them to guess which stories and authors they come from.

Jeff says that the full interview he did with me will appear on the book’s Amazon page in the next week or two. Meanwhile, on his own blog, Ecstatic Days, Jeff leaked a bit of the interview, displaying my answer to his question: "Any funny stories in the anthology, and how did you deal with the possible problem of similarity of tone throughout the book?" Click through to find out!

Read More