Because I was certain the food served at the Nebula Awards banquet in Chicago Saturday night would be barely edible at best and not at all edible at worst, I was determined to at least have a decent—nay, superior!—lunch so not all my meals that day would feel wasted. And I found that superior lunch at Big Jones, which I discovered thanks to a post which ran two weeks ago over at Eater.

Chef Paul Fehribach (whose food I was so taken with that I bought a copy of his cookbook as soon as the meal was over and had him autograph it) has long been in love with Southern cooking, and has dedicated his life to tracking down historic recipes and presenting food as it originally was. No molecular gastronomy or deconstructed dishes here! Not that there’s anything wrong with those, as visitors to this blog know, but I love the idea of experiencing the cooking of early last century, and even the centuries before that.

So I took off from the Nebulas with Jaym Gates and Lee Whiteside and headed over to Big Jones, where we were joined by Chicago local Eden Robins, with whom I’ve been trying to share a meal for years. Well, it finally happened (as you can see above) and, as it turned out, in one of her favorite restaurants, too.

It took Big Jones to bring us together. (more…)

I hate, hate, hate eating in hotel restaurants. And given the number of hotels I overnight in while traveling the convention circuit each year, I’m given many opportunities to do so. But I scorn those restaurants with the heat of a dying star.

There’s only one meal a year I’m forced to eat in one of those usually little more than competent dining establishments which tell you nothing about the city in which they’re located but instead represent both everywhere and nowhere. And that’s to breakfast with an elder in the science fiction field (because the conversation is worth it) whom I can never seem to dislodge from the site where the convention is being hosted. But other than that lone annual encounter, I bolt from hotels for all other meals.

Some have said to me, hey, aren’t you missing out on the convention itself that way? But I don’t see it that way.If I wander off for multiple meals with three or four different con attendees each time, I see myself as taking a part of the con with me while experiencing food that represents a city, rather than a chain.

Which is how I ended up Sunday afternoon at the Pilsen Food Truck Social, which was being held about three miles from the Palmer House. I’d found out about it from a squib in Eater, which is a site I always hit before visiting a city to make sure I miss nothing I’d regret. I wasn’t sure who’d end up joining me for that roving lunch, but five of my friends ended up tagging along—Greg and Astrid Bear, Francesca Myman, Arley Sorg, and Jacob Weisman. (more…)

Though the majority of my posts about last weekend’s trip will end up reporting on various foodie expeditions (such as my already-shared visit to Next), I should note that food wasn’t the main reason I was in Chicago. (Though it sometimes seemed as if it was.)

It was SFWA’s annual Nebula Awards that brought me to town, where I got to hang with old friends, make new friends, and channel Groot.

So for those who would rather focus on the people than the food porn, I’ve uploaded all the non-culinary pics here.

As, for example, this one, in which Matthew Kressel and I posed post-ceremony, each cradling a trophy that wasn’t ours—me, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation which I’d accepted on behalf of Guardians of the Galaxy; him, Alaya Dawn Johnson’s Best Novelette Nebula.

Sadly, we were not allowed to keep these. OH, SFWA, YOU TEASE.

Up until Sunday, I’d been to Next—the restaurant that reinvents itself three times each year—six times for five different menus—Sicily, Kyoto, The Hunt, Vegan (twice!), and Bocuse d’Or. For a variety of reasons, I had to miss out on Next’s 2014 cuisines, but once it was announced that the Nebula Awards would be held in Chicago this year, I knew I’d have a chance to go back, and was thrilled.

It will give you a sense of my priorities that the first thing I’ve decided to share with you (well, after my acceptance speech as Groot) is the weekend’s dinner at Next, for which the cuisine was Tapas.

Once I was seated at our table with my three dining companions—Kate Baker, Eugene Fischer, and Barry Goldblatt—the first thing I noticed was a postcard, supposedly sent from Barcelona, because the chefs had travelled to Spain for inspiration.

Also on the table were three varieties of cocas—a type of flatbread—which we found difficult to resist nibbling on before our server could describe them. (more…)

I just arrived home from the Nebula Awards weekend in Chicago, which was—because I was around friends old and new—about so much more than only the Nebula Awards. I’ll tell you of what mischief I got up to once I recover, but for now … hey, how about that banquet?

I had an unexpected role to play Saturday night, because I was chosen to accept the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation on behalf of the creators of Guardians of the Galaxy. And my acceptance speech was somewhat … unconventional.

If you weren’t one of those in the room that night, or watching the lifestream at home, you can see what I mean below, starting at 56:34. Make sure you hang on after I’m done to see how Toastmaster Nick Offerman interprets what I’ve said.

‘Tis a good thing to be Groot. I’ve always wanted to branch out …

I love to time travel, but since I can’t do it in real life, I have to fake it. Which is why each year, when the Nebula Awards weekend rolls around, I take a look back at the one that occurred exactly ten years earlier, to see who we used to be back then.

So in 2013 I travelled to 2003, and last year, I relived 2004.

This year, with the Nebulas being held in Chicago, let’s take a look back at 2005, when the Nebulas were held in … Chicago. (And, as you’ll see, there was more of me than there is now.)

Joe Haldeman and I smooch that year’s SFWA Grand Master, Anne McCaffrey

(more…)

It’s that time again! Another month is gone, so I’m gathering together all the dreams I shared on Twitter during May to see whether they make any more sense collected in one spot than they did individually.

Last month, I dreamt of Robert Silverberg, Bob Hope, H. P. Lovecraft, Elizabeth Taylor, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Joan Collins, and more …

MAY 2015

Napping, I dreamt I visited a shop that sold “pregnant” donuts — that is, donuts stuffed with other donuts’ donut holes. Make this real! May 31

I dreamt I searched for my wife while wearing an extremely lush and feathery chicken suit. Why? I have no idea. But I looked AMAZING. May 31

I dreamt I hosted a Worldcon room party, and served fresh churros. Kept worrying the hotel would shut me down because of the fryer, though. May 31

I dreamt I spotted my father through a crowd, and as we locked eyes, I thought: So it was all a mistake! He isn’t really dead! And we wept. May 31

I dreamt I checked my phone messages, and there was one from my wife shouting, “Wake up!” So I did. Her words, after all, are law. May 31

I dreamt my train was delayed because two pterodactyl-sized birds were battling on the tracks immediately in our path. So we had to wait. May 31

I dreamt I was a drunk Don Draper, sleeping it off on an office couch. When Bert Cooper invited me for lunch, and I knew it was to fire me. May 30

I dreamt a dog I was playing with smiled a human smile, only instead of being creepy, it was actually kind of endearing. May 30

I dreamt I was camping out with friends, but it quickly turned into a horror movie situation, as one by one they turned up dead. May 30

I dreamt I took part in a downhill bicycle race on a road along a mountainside. Things got so fast I was surprised I stayed on the road! May 30 (more…)

Last week, the group behind the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list announced runners-up #51-100, of which I’d been to three. Today, they announced the Top 50.

When the Top 50 was announced for 2014, I was able to say that I’d dined at four of them (though that’s not in a single year, but rather over the course of my lifetime). This year, that number has risen to seven, and you can click through below to see what I thought of each of my visits.

1. El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain
2. Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy
3. Noma, Copenhagen
4. Central, Lima, Peru
5. Eleven Madison Park, New York City
6. Mugaritz, Guipúzcoa, Spain
7. Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London
8. Narisawa, Tokyo
9. D.O.M., Sao Paolo, Brazil
10. Gaggan, Bangkok
11. Mirazur, Menton, France
12. L’arpege, Paris
13. Asador Etxebarri, Bisquay, Spain
14. Astrid y Gaston, Lima, Peru
15. Steirereck, Austria
16. Pujol, Mexico City
17. Arzak, San Sebastian, Spain
18. Le Bernardin, New York City
19. Azurmendi, Larrabetzu, Spain
20. The Ledbury, London
21. Le Chateaubriand, Paris
22. Nahm, Bangkok
23. White Rabbit, Moscow
24. Ultraviolet, Shanghai, China
25. Faviken, Sweden
26. Alinea, Chicago
27. Piazza Duomo, Alba Italy
28. Test Kitchen, Cape Town South Africa
29. RyuGin, Tokyo
30. Vendrome, Germany
31. Frantzen, Sweden
32. Attica, Australia
33. Aqua, Germany
34. Le Calendre, Italy
35. Quintonil, Mexico
36. L’astrance, France
37. Amber, Hong Kong, China
39. QuiQue Dacosta, Spain
40. Per Se, New York City
41. Mani, Sao Paolo, Brazil
42. Boragó, Santiago, Chile
42. Tickets, Barcelona, Spain
44. Maido, Lima, Peru
45. Relae, Copenhagen, Denmark
46. Restaurant Andre, Singapore
47. Ducasse au Plaza Athenee, Paris, France
48. Schloss Schauenstein, Austria
49. Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocatino Hills, New York
50. The French Laundry, Yountville, California, USA

Of all these, I’m happiest for Rodolfo Guzmán and his team at Boragó, who finally cracked the Top 50 by tying for #42. They deserve the recognition.

Will the next twelve months allow me to visit any of the other 43 restaurants on this list? Wait and see!

I’ll be heading off to Chicago in a few days for my third consecutive convention weekend. First it was Balticon, then AwesomeCon, and coming up is the Nebula Awards weekend. Once there, I hadn’t planned to do anything but schmooze and listen to the wisdom of others, but as it turns out, I’ve been chosen to take part in one of the weekend’s panels.

So when I’m not in the Palmer House bar, or in the audience listening to others pontificate, here’s where you’ll be able to find me—

Writing Other Genres
Sunday 11:00-Noon, Salon 8
Another way to diversify your income is to write in other genres. Mysteries seem to lend themselves to SF authors, as they share many qualities associated with sf. What other genres are good for sf authors? What do authors need to know about other genres before starting their own parallel career?
with Russell Davis, Charles Gannon, and Laura J. Mixon

My main words of advice will likely be that if you want a successful career, don’t do as I did. That’s right—I’m there to be a dreadful warning. But perhaps there’ll be something useful to be learned from others.

Check out the full schedule for the weekend here. Lots of great programming! I can easily see a minimum of 3-4 panels I plan to attend.

Hope to see (some of) you there!

Another old comics acquaintance has passed, and though I hadn’t spoken to her for decades, the world still seems a little smaller today.

It’s being reported that Michelle Wrightson has died suddenly, apparently of natural causes. And though I did know her last by that name, I first became acquainted with her when she was Michelle Brand, and not in the flesh, but rather through her groundbreaking underground comics work.

This is how I remember her looking when we finally did meet, as seen in a photo of her and her husband Roger Brand taken by Patrick Rosenkranz.

My acquaintance with her work goes back just about as far as my connection with organized comics fandom itself. I went to my first convention at age 15 in July 1970, which was the same month the all-women’s underground It Ain’t Me Babe was published, featuring Michelle’s “Tirade Funnies.” I can’t say for sure that I bought my copy at that first con, but as I did buy other undergrounds such as Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary that weekend, it was either then or shortly thereafter. (more…)