I was so focused on getting my Franklin BBQ mission accomplished during LoneStarCon 3 that I’d completely forgotten I’d also intended to knock a few restaurants off my Man v. Food checklist while in San Antonio. In fact, it wasn’t until during my kaffeeklatch that, thanks to one of the participants who’s as much of a foodie as I am, I was reminded of Lulu’s Bakery & Cafe … and its famous three-pound cinnamon roll.

Since, according to Google, Lulu’s turned out to be only 1.3 miles away, I figured … heck, I’ll walk! Once I got more than a couple of blocks away from the convention center, though, I seemed to be the only one walking, probably because Texans know better than to go for a hike in the sun when it’s 91 degrees. On the other hand, there was no traffic either, so I didn’t have to pause at intersections, which meant the heat couldn’t have been the only explanation. Who knows? Maybe downtown San Antonio is always dead on weekends once you get out of the tourist sections.

In any case, I soon made it to Lulu’s, where my waitress quickly pushed ice water at me. I must have appeared more overheated then I felt. (more…)

I can remember exactly where I was when Avengers #1 and X-Men #1 went on sale, because it was the same day, I only had 12 cents on me, and could therefore only buy one.

I had to choose between them. Can you feel my pain? Imagine my horror?

It was 1963, and I was 8 years old. I was in Joe and Morty’s Brooklyn candy store on Avenue P a few blocks off Ocean Parkway. I visited there nearly every day, not just for comics, but to stay fueled on egg creams and cherry lime rickeys, and to pick up those unfiltered Lucky Strikes my mother needed.

In any case, though I’m 100% certain where I encountered those issues, I can’t say for sure when I encountered them. Only that it wasn’t September 10. Because school had not begun, it was still summer, and in any case, though both books were cover-dated September, comics always went on sale in advance of their cover dates, that date only being an indication to the retailer when comics should come off sale.

And yet … (more…)

One of the first things I do after deciding I’ll be attending a convention is to research the local food scene so that I don’t end up having to settle for hotel restaurants. Not that hotel restaurants aren’t capable of delivering peak culinary experiences—Lai Wah Heen at Toronto’s Metropolitan Hotel and Cafe Bolud at Toronto’s Four Seasons are two examples—but those instances are rare. And so, many months ago, knowing I’d be heading to LoneStarCon 3, I began looking into what San Antonio has to offer.

The first restaurant I decided I needed to hit was Bliss. Opened by chef Mark Bliss and his wife Lisa early last year, it was named San Antonio’s best new restaurant of 2012 by Texas Monthly, and seemed to have a menu capable of delivering what I’m always seeking—food that’s more that just sustenance, but capable of leaving me gobsmacked. Not wanting to take a chance I’d miss out, I emailed the restaurant directly and made a reservation long before OpenTable’s online system allowed, and worried about filling the table later.

Which is how I found myself the Friday of Worldcon pulling up to Bliss in a cab along with Ellen Datlow, Pat Cadigan, Malcolm Edwards, and Eileen Gunn. (more…)

If you’ll be heading to the World Fantasy Convention next month, make sure to drop by the launch party for Psycho-Mania.

What’s Psycho-Mania? An anthology about “psychos, schizoids and serial killers” edited by Stephen Jones, and featuring an introduction by Psycho author Robert Bloch, who’s caricatured on the cover below.

(You can see an earlier version of the cover here.)

I don’t know where at the convention the launch party will be occurring, but if you’re in Brighton over the Halloween weekend, look us up. You want a chance to read my story “The Trembling Living Wire,” don’t you?

But that’s not the only publication of mine coming up … (more…)

So let me tell you how I ended up singing “Pure Imagination” to Aaron Franklin, the magician behind Austin’s Franklin BBQ, just before LoneStarCon 3 began.

Those of you who followed me as I made my Worldcon foodie plans already know all about Franklin BBQ—how Texas Monthly named it as turning out the best brisket in Texas, which means it’s the best brisket in the United States, which probably means it’s also the best brisket in the world. How by the time Franklin opens each morning at 11:00 a.m. there are already hundreds of people waiting in line to eat there. And how if you don’t get there early enough, you get nothing. (Or perhaps you get nothing but cole slaw … like Hitler.)

Which means that instead of flying to Worldcon in San Antonio early Thursday morning as I normally would have, I instead headed there late Wednesday, so that I could rent a car that night and therefore have it ready super early the following morning in order to make the drive from San Antonio to Austin (about 79 miles, or an hour and 13 minutes) to arrive at Franklin’s front door no later than 8:30 a.m. Thursday. That would (I hoped) allow me and my hardy band to stuff ourselves with BBQ and be back at Worldcon by 2:00 p.m.

(more…)

While I was at the World Science Fiction Convention, Next restaurant sneakily uploaded a video touting its new Bocuse d’Or menu, which would have begun service on August 31 had not a power outage created issues with the opening.

But Next is up and running again, and this video will surely make you want to rush over as soon as you can obtain tickets. (Yes, tickets.)

What’s Bocuse d’Or, you ask? Let the video explain …

If you weren’t hungry before, you’re probably hungry now …

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the greying of science fiction fandom—particularly when it comes to the World Science Fiction Convention, where it is more obvious than elsewhere—and whether those already attending conventions are driving away those who could help cons thrive. But amid all the gloom, I felt a ray of hope at LoneStarCon 3, the Worldcon that ended a few days ago in San Antonio.

Yes, there’s been a lot of complaining about various aspects of the weekend, but it must also be noted that this happened—

There were so many Worldcon newcomers this year that the committee ran out of FIRST WORLDCON ribbons for attendees to affix to their badges and had to print up new ones halfway through the con.

So there are people out there who want to be part of this special thing we have. How do we make them feel welcome?

One thing I made sure to do was approach every person I noticed wearing a FIRST WORLDCON ribbon and say … well … “Welcome!”

I told them I was glad they’d decided to join us, and asked the catalyst that caused them to come this particular year. I told them I hoped they were having a good time so far, and said that if they had any questions, I’d try to answer them. I shared an anecdote or two about why I fell in love with Worldcons so long ago.

I asked them what science fiction they loved, and if it didn’t happen to be a thing I also loved, I DID NOT JUDGE THEM FOR IT.

If I saw they’d gone so far as to volunteer (as I could see many were during the Hugo Awards ceremony), I said, “Good for you!” or something similar, and thanked them for helping make the whole thing come together. Sure, I partied with my friends, too, but at the same time, I tried not stay within my safety bubble, not to have the newcomers see us as a collection of cliques. I reached out to as many unfamiliar faces as I could, particularly those faces above the name tags adorned with that ribbon.

Not a big thing, I’ll admit. There are many far more complicated fan issues that still need to be solved. But this outreach—or let’s not call it outreach since that sounds so clinical; let’s call it kindness—is one small thing we can each easily achieve. I hope that whatever else we do as we seek inclusivity, we at the very least let the newcomers know we’re glad to see them.

It’s a start.

After all, we were them once.

No time to post a full LoneStarCon report—I got back late last night from San Antonio and this morning have to immediately dive into the work of the day that allows me to go to Worldcons—so here are six photos to hold you.

And since a picture is supposedly worth a thousand words, consider this a 6,000-word con report!

With Aaron Franklin, the BBQ magician of Franklin BBQ, purveyor of the world’s best brisket (and no, I am NOT being hyperbolic)

(more…)

I’ve just been informed that my LoneStarCon3 panel on “Stories from the Bullpen” has been cancelled—so if you were looking forward to hearing a bunch of comics dinosaurs blather on about the good old days Friday, you’re out of luck.

But don’t worry—you can still catch me at the following events!

Stroll with the Stars
Friday, August 30, 09:00-10:00

Kaffeeklatsch
Friday, August 30, 13:00-14:00

Autographing
Saturday, August 31, 14:00-15:00
with Sanford Allen, Grant Carrington, and Rick Wilber

Playing in Other People’s Sandboxes: Writing Comics that aren’t Your Own
Sunday, September 1, 15:00-16:00
Whether you’re writing Spider-Man, Jonah Hex, the Incredibles, or Fruit Ninja, you never get to really own these characters. But they sure are fun to play with! Hear some stories about what it’s like dealing with today’s corporate overlords.
with Alan J. Porter, Paul Benjamin, and Howard Tayler

Arouse Is Not the Past Tense of Arise
Monday, September 2, 12:00-13:00
Why do so many new writers have problems with grammar? How important is grammar? Has it lost relevancy in communicating with some portion of the reading public?
with Teresa Nielsen Hayden, Ginjer Buchanan, and Alberto Chimal

Reading
Monday, September 2, 14:30 – 15:00

See you there!

Earlier today, when I heard that Julie Harris had died, I immediately thought—ah, how well I remember seeing her on Broadway in The Lincoln Mask.

And I immediately knew I was going to tell you all about her performance, and how I stood outside the stage door of the Plymouth Theater waiting for her and her co-star Fred Gwynne (you can guess which of them portrayed Lincoln) so I could meet them and get their autographs.

I can remember the door opening and them stepping out onto the street.

I can remember handing over my Playbill and getting their signatures.

I can remember …

… well, not Julie Harris, because Julie Harris wasn’t in The Lincoln Mask.

As you can see by this cover to the October 1972 Playbill (I would have been 17), the autographs I got were of Gwynne … and Eva Marie Saint. Who is still very much with us.

So … no Julie Harris story.

But remind me someday, and I’ll tell you the story of how, decades later, I told Eva Marie Saint how difficult it became for me to watch On The Waterfront once I learned that Elia Kazan directed it as an apologia for naming names during the Blacklist—and she admonished me to just get over it.

That story I’m 100% sure I’m remembering correctly.

Trust me.