When Irene and I decided we would replicate our honeymoon on our 35th anniversary by returning to Walt Disney World and staying in the same hotel we stayed in back then—the Contemporary (the one that has the monorail going through the building)—we had no idea of the sort of celebration Disney had in store for us. Because over the course of the weekend, we were wished a happy anniversary by hundreds of people each day!

I’d mentioned while making the reservations that we’d been at Disney World back in 1976, and that information made it into our profile, which meant that it all started when the driver of the Magical Express bus announced over his loudspeaker as we were being driven from the Orlando Airport to our hotel that there were two very special guests aboard celebrating an anniversary—us!

And when we checked in at the Contemporary, we were each given one of the buttons below to wear, resulting in us getting a cheery “Happy anniversary!” from every employee and many of the regular folks as well, which gave the weekend a party atmosphere.

We were far from the only ones there celebrating an anniversary—we chatted briefly with another couple who were celebrating their 67th (yes, 67th!) anniversary. So now we’ve got something to aim for! (more…)

… that two were made one.

Just in case yesterday’s pics weren’t enough for you to figure out where Irene and I spent our honeymoon and where we returned to celebrate our 35th anniversary, here are two more which should definitely give it away.

And if those don’t help you, all I can say is … what planet are you from, anyway?

Irene and I will be heading off shortly to celebrate our 35th anniversary—which is officially the day after tomorrow—in the same location we spent our honeymoon in 1976. We’ll even be staying in the same hotel!

Where are we going? For now, my only answer will be to share these photos from that long-ago honeymoon.

Some of you will immediately be able to ID the background and guess where we’re going. As for the rest of you, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow morning for some honeymoon pics which will DEFINITELY give it all away.

Irene and I will celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary the day after tomorrow after tomorrow, on September 4th. Here’s a photo from the day before yesterday before yesterday before a whole lot of other yesterdays, taken early on during our courtship.

Two questions.

Does anybody still use the word “courtship” anymore?

And—how is it that I’ve gotten older and she hasn’t changed a bit?

Sunday, September 4th, will be our 35th wedding anniversary, which Irene and I will celebrate at an undisclosed (for now) location. As you might expect, that’s made us a wee bit nostalgic, and sent us back to our photo albums to look at how all began.

So here are a couple of pics from when we were but tadpoles, back in the mid-’70s when we both worked in the Marvel Comics Bullpen and would have first met.

Can you believe that cutie ever took a second look at that doofus?

If you weren’t in Reno for Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, you missed my reading of a new short story. Heck, even if you WERE in Reno for Renovation, you STILL probably missed it, because it was scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, August 21, when many attendees were already packing up and getting ready to leave.

Whichever of those categories you might happen to fall under, I’ve got your solution right here.

Thanks to the video below, you can see me read my as-yet-unpublished short story “In a Strange City Lying Alone,” which is due to come out on 9/11/11 in the anthology Why New Yorkers Smoke from Nonstop Press.

The anthology is edited by Luis Ortiz, and contains short stories from Carol Emshwiller, Barry Malzberg, Paul Di Filippo, and a bunch of other writers before whose talent I fall back in awe.

Hope you enjoy it!

I shared my favorite Worldcon moments the other day, but I know what you foodies out there really wanted to hear about was which casino in Reno made the best Awful Awful.

What’s an Awful Awful? A humongous burger that’s been made by two competing casinos in Reno since back before the Big Mac existed.

As those of you who attend conventions with me know, I get most of my food tips from the TV show Man v. Food, but since Adam Richman has yet to hit Reno, I had to instead base my excursions out of the convention center on the show Food Wars. Here’s the recent episode of that latter show that alerted me to the existence of these legendary burgers.

Before I get into the burgers themselves, check out how the two joints tout them with posters inside their casinos. On the left, The Little Nugget, and on the right, John Ascuaga’s Nugget.

But posters are one thing. Let’s see what the real thing looks like. (more…)

If you’ve been wanting to read a new story of mine, but skipped my last four stories because, oh, I don’t know, you HATE zombies, it’s time for you to head over to Daily Science Fiction and read my fantasy, “How Amraphel, the Assistant to Dream, Became a Thief, Lost His Job, and Found His Way.”

It’s been live over there since last Friday, August 19, but I was too busy living Worldcon and then recovering from it to let you know that here. (See why Twitter is so valuable? You’d have learned about it immediately!)

Amazingly, this is my first publication in an online magazine. Which might also mean—since you can read it right now for free—that it could also be my most widely-read story to date.

So why not read it right now?

I arrived home from the Reno Worldcon late Monday night, and as you can tell by the absence of recent posts, I failed to live up to Edelman’s Schadenfreude Rule of Convention Reporting, which states that all blogging must occur while a con is still in progress, so you can see what you’re missing while it’s still going on. If you were following me on Twitter or Facebook, you got a taste of the action, but I was just having too much fun to pause to tell you about it here until my return.

Well, now I’m back, and it appears I still don’t (and won’t) have time for a lengthy con report, so these few highlights will have to stand in for the long weekend. Here are my 12 favorite Worldcon moments:

Singing along with Dr. Demento

I started listening to Dr. Demento’s warped radio show in the early ’80s, which is how I first learned about everything from “Fish Heads” to Weird Al. So I made sure to catch the opening night presentation of some of his most-requested songs, which he shared via audio and video clips. He also sang “Shaving Cream” live while hundreds of us in the audience sang along to the chorus, which, you’ll forgive me, had me a little giddy.

Never heard of “Shaving Cream”? Here’s Benny Bell’s original version of it from 1946. Now imagine 500-800 fen (I’m no good at counting crowds) singing along. If you weren’t there, you missed a good time.

Dinner with John Scalzi and Cory Doctorow

After yucking it up with Dr. Demento, I headed off with John and Cory for dinner at the Atlantis Steakhouse, where we dined on aged beef, had a great conversation, and realized that Renovation was the second consecutive Worldcon to be held in a city with legalized brothels. (What’s that? You don’t remember prostitution being legal in Melbourne. Well, it was.)

By the way, we only discussed this hypothetically. No. Really. I mean it. (more…)