You’ve heard plenty from me in the past about what it was like to edit Marvel’s British reprint books, which was the job that started my professional career in comics, but what you really need to complete the picture is a few other voices.

For the latest issue of Back Issue magazine, Dewey Cassell, who’d previously interviewed me about the Scarecrow and a variety of other topics, not only got me to chat about those early days at 575 Madison Avenue, but also tracked down old pal Howard Bender and recent Hugo Award nominee Steve Stiles, two artists who drew some of the covers and extra splash pages that were needed. (more…)

As some of you already know, I wasn’t quite myself at Sasquan, the 73rd World Science Fiction Convention. That because two of the evenings I was in Spokane, I was instead … David Kyle.

“So who’s David Kyle?” some of you may be asking.

For those not in the know, this is David Kyle.

Kyle (seen above to the right of me at Readercon in July) attended the first World Science Fiction Convention in 1939, as well as other conventions even earlier than that. He attended every Worldcon since, up until last year’s in London. Once I learned he wouldn’t be at this year’s either, I decided … that was wrong. A Worldcon without David Kyle, wandering the halls in his red jacket emblazoned with a First Fandom patch, asking people with whom he spoke to sign his little book, it wouldn’t seem like a Worldcon at all.

So I decided that for the first time in forty years, I was going to cosplay. (more…)

Sasquan begins today here in Spokane, and normally I wouldn’t have bothered showing up until last night, but I arrived Sunday instead, because I had things to do (some of which I can’t tell you about until my deeds are revealed by others first) and people to see.

Well, not only people. Also … robots.

Because a 50-minute drive outside Spokane, in beautiful Elk, Washington, there exists the incomparable Robot Hut, at which I spent several hours Tuesday afternoon. While there, I was so gobsmacked it was difficult to do more than say “Wow!” over and over and over again.

What’s the Robot Hut? This is the Robot Hut!

And that’s John Rigg, a man who’s assembled what is (as far as I know) the world’s largest collection of robots and robot memorabilia. Some he’s bought, others he’s traded for, and many he’s built himself. (more…)

Irene and I first visited Volt, the restaurant that began Bryan Voltaggio’s culinary empire, to celebrate the 38th anniversary of the day we met, and since then have returned many times, including to check out the tasting menu at Table 21. But that’s not the only Voltaggio restaurant we’ve experienced. I’ve been to Lunchbox, and we were both present at or near the beginning of both Family Meal and Range.

So when I got an email recently announcing that there was going to be a “Maryland Style Backyard BBQ” to celebrate Volt’s 7th anniversary. I immediately knew—I was in.

Here’s the menu that was promised … (more…)

Ten years ago, when those of us in the science fiction field were wandering Glasgow for the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention, Instagram hadn’t yet launched, and wouldn’t until 2010. But that doesn’t mean we can’t see what we would have looked like had Instagram been around in 2005.

With the next Worldcon about to begin in Spokane, check out who were were a decade ago, Instagram-style.

George R. R. Martin, Anne Groell, and David Keck

(more…)

It’s that time again!

Now that it’s August, I’m gathering my July dreams in a bushel to see what happens when they rub up against each other. There were fewer than usual last month, due to too much travel, which always interferes with my usual sleep cycles, and therefore my dreams.

In July, I dreamt of Amy Poehler, Nick Fury, L. Ron Hubbard, Jon Stewart, Estelle Getty, Cersei, and more!

July 2015

I dreamt I saw a skydiver tumble from the sky with a jumbled chute, and then get stuck in the spires of a KFC. People rushed to rescue him. Jul 31

I dreamt that during a conversation with @shunn, he’d keep falling asleep, and when he’d wake up he’d ask the same questions all over again. Jul 31

I dreamt I was reloading a hotel lobby fridge with cupcakes meant to be fed to local deer, and grew upset when people ate them themselves. Jul 31

I dreamt I was in Italy having dinner with my entire family, living and dead, except — my grandmothers had been replaced by Estelle Getty. Jul 30

I dreamt I was in a Providence parking garage with Paul Di Filippo and found boxes of papers I’d thought in storage packed into a parking spot. Jul 29

I dreamt we debated who to bring from an alternate universe with the interdimensional portal we’d invented. I said NO to David Hasselhoff! Jul 28

I dreamt I needed advice on a friend whose trustworthiness I was unable to gauge, and so turned to my close friend Amy Poehler for advice. Jul 27

I dreamt that after a decade working at @TheDailyShow, I was emptying my office and saying goodbye to Jon Stewart, doing shtick together. Jul 27

I dreamt I was the Flash — or at least had his superpowers. And used them to deal with speeding up the refinancing of my home mortgage. Jul 26

I dreamt I was in a spaceship with a full crew, and as we depressurized, I experienced the deaths of all of us over and over from each POV. Jul 25 (more…)

When I shared my tentative Worldcon schedule a few weeks ago, I left out some of the specifics because rooms, dates, times, and even my the identities of my co-conspirators for each panel were open to change.

But now that Sasquan has released its final schedule, I figure I’m safe. So here are the definitive places to find me when I’m not otherwise wandering and schmoozing (more…)

After I told you about our recent trip to visit the Ohio Light Opera as well as multiple ancient Native American sites, it turns out that what you really wanted to know was … hey, Scott, where did you eat along the way?

So here’s where I did eat along the way, which—though it wasn’t our original plan—ended up including three meals of brisket.

Casselman Inn
Grantsville, Maryland

Our first stop the morning our mini-vacation began was about two hours out from home at the Casselman Inn, which had been built in 1842. They supposedly cook up some great fried chicken, but we hadn’t planned on taking time just yet to sit for a meal, so after stretching our legs by looking around the gardens and historic building, we picked up a tray of sticky buns to go in three flavors—pecan, vanilla-frosted, and maple-frosted.

A good start to the day. My only disappointment was that I’d expected nuts under the frosted sections, and alas, there were none. (more…)

During this year’s Nebula Awards weekend in Chicago, I allowed a (how shall I put it?) indiscreet photo of myself to be taken, and have been waiting since early June for it to appear online. Now that is has, some background seems to be in order.

It all began when Steven Silver approached attendees and asked them to pose with a towel to promote WindyCon 42. Why a towel? Those of you familiar with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy already know the importance of towels to science fiction. (The rest of you should head over here.)

So I held up the towel, smiled, let what was probably quite a mundane photo be taken, and figured that was that.

Until later on during the weekend when I saw Mary Robinette Kowal posing like this …

Well, not exactly like that, as I was behind Mary, and so privy to the truth of the illusion she was presenting to the camera. (Yes, illusion. Sorry to spoil your fantasies, folks!) (more…)

After five days, four nights, 1,128 miles, three hotels, four states, four theatrical performances, six ancient Native American earthworks, and more … we’re home from our mini-vacation. The catalyst for the trip was our third visit to the Ohio Light Opera Company in Wooster, Ohio, which we decided to bookend with stops at archeological sites such as Serpent Mound and Newark Earthworks.

We first went to the Ohio Light Opera in 2012, and after skipping a year, returned in 2014. What brings us back whenever our schedules and finances will allow isn’t just the professionalism of the productions, but the rarity of the shows they choose to mount. One year, for example, they put on a 1912 operetta which hadn’t been staged anywhere in the world since a 1921 Hungarian-language production in Manhattan!

Here are the four shows we managed to catch out of the seven they put on this season, which I share in the event you’d like to head out to Wooster yourself, as the 2015 season doesn’t end until August 8. (more…)