So, Wiscon was good, as usual. Lots of friendly faces, although I didn't get to talk to everyone as much I'd have liked to. The Ratbastards dance party on Friday night had a lot of good dancers, and the con itself had some really good panels this year. I got to be on a panel about Carol Emshwiller's fiction, which Carol herself was on, and me and Gavin Grant and John Kessel basically got to interview her for an hour and a half. Carol's a real cutie, smart and tough and spirited. I always love seeing her at Wiscon. Ursula Le Guin was at the convention this year, too, and I finally got to meet her, although briefly and unmemorably. I didn't say much, because I didn't want to be the stuttering fanboy that was waiting inside to leap out and sound like an idiot, so I just introduced myself to her when I asked if she'd sign a book for me, and she actually remembered me from the panel I'd been on about Carol.

Didn't get to talk to Tim Pratt and Heather Shaw as much as I wanted to, so I'll have to remedy that next convention with a reservation for dinner, maybe. But I did get to catch up with Susan Groppi and meet her lovely boyfriend, Matt. They go good together, and I'm really happy to see them happy together. Jackie had a good time meeting everyone. Sometimes meeting so many new people got a little overwhelming, and we'd take little breaks for coffee or a juice somewhere outside of the hotel, and be just the two of us outside of the convention, which was nice and relaxing for me too.

The Ratbastard's reading went, erm, pretty good for the most part. It was the first time I'd read at a convention. Before, I'd only read around Youngstown. So it was nice to finally read at Wiscon, my favorite con. I'll be doing more readings later this summer and early this fall, in Kentucky and Cleveland.

We went to D.C. for the a few days earlier this week, and tooled around the capitol and in Georgetown. I bought a copy of M. John Harrison's Signs of Life, which I'm excited to read. I've been reading a lot of his short fiction lately, and really love it. His prose is so fine, soft and hard at the same time. An amazing texture to it.

Jackie and I watched Happy Accidents tonight, and I really liked it. She was uncertain if she liked it for most of the movie, until the script settled into a definite way that it wants you to perceive its logic. I was happy with things up in the air, but I liked how it ended too.

Novel writing is going swell. Soon I'll be at the halfway mark, and that will make me rather happy.

For now, i'm off again. Everyone take care.