I’ve been too busy at Worldcon to spend much time keeping up here. Even my tweeting has been unusually limited for a con environment, since to avoid insane international roaming charges I’ve been dependent on free wifi, which I’ve only been able to access at the hotel and in the dealers room, and not while watching or participating on any of the panels.

But before throwing myself out into the maelstrom once more—I’ll be attempting to moderate Bob Silverberg, Nancy Kress, James Nelson-Lucas, and Bill Willingham on the 11:00 a.m. panel “What Makes a Good Story?”—I’d like to share one of the more joyous moments I’ve had so far.

I very much wanted to see David Kyle this weekend. He was one of the Futurians, and a co-founder of Gnome Press. Dave was at the first Worldcon, and even at what was supposed to have been the first SF con before the Worldcon, which I believe occurred in 1936 when a group of New York fans drove to meet with some Philadelphia fans in the back of a bar owned my somebody’s father. (Any fan historians out there, feel free to correct me!) A Worldcon isn’t a Worldcon until I catch up with Dave, and I never got a chance to do that last year at Denvention.

I spotted him between panels early yesterday afternoon, rushing along to get to his next panel, with no time to talk. But just seeing him, hale and hearty at 90, bursting with energy as he passed me by and promised we’d get together later, made me happy.

Later, though, I did get to sit with him and chat for half an hour. We talked until I had to meet some friends for dinner and he had to rest a bit before heading out for a night of partying. I would have liked to have hung out with him all night, talking of the old days and the days still to come. Dave’s one of those people I hope to be like when I grow up. If you see him this weekend, be sure to say hello!