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)

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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.

Last month, while I was off at San Diego Comic-Con, my wife was having a Comic-Con of her own. And while she was envious of my trip, I was even more envious of hers—because she got to spend the day with Marie Severin.

Of all the people we’ve met in comics, she’s the one we love the most. (Well, other than each other.)

Marie turned 84 today, and the photo above shows how mirthful she was (for those who don’t know, “Mirthful” was her Marvel Comics nickname) exactly one month ago at 83 years, 11 months.

And yes. That is the Incredible Hulk on her chest.

Can’t wait until we see each other again in October, Marie!

I’ve been busy lately, so it’s unusually late in August for me to be gathering up July’s dream tweets to see what poetry they might make all in one place.

Due to Readercon, Comic-Con, and the hacking cough given to me by the latter, I had fewer dreams to harvest during July than any other month I can remember. But still, I has visitations from Bette Midler, John Kessel, Bob Dylan, Dan Rather, Robert Guillaume, Tom Cruise and many others.

Welcome to my subconscious!

July 2013

I dreamt I underwent a physical exam in preparation for my visit to an alien world. Lots of poking and prodding. Never got there though! 31 Jul

I dreamt my son and I somehow got our hands on a huge Green Lantern power ring battery and only used it to project comic panels on the wall. 31 Jul

I dreamt @LenWein and I rode the subway from Brooklyn into Manhattan for a comic convention, only — we couldn’t remember the hotel’s name! 31 Jul

I dreamt I visited @NextRestaurant on my birthday, and was served a special dessert as a result. Don’t think the former likely, so dream on! 31 Jul

I dreamt present-day me waited for younger past me to wander by with his/our/my dad, and then we all posed for a photo. Paradoxes be damned! 31 Jul

I dreamt I was coughing endlessly, which I guess is progress of sorts, because I was only dreaming about it rather than actually doing it. 28 Jul

I dreamt that our table at a wedding was served a giant flan the size of the table! I took it upon myself to spoon chunks for each guest. 28 Jul

I dreamt I was trying to teach a course on the history of public libraries in America, but couldn’t control my class, so had to abandon it. 28 Jul

I dreamt I was Dan Rather, and in a deep philosophical discussion with Lena Dunham at a college party. What did we say? I don’t remember! 28 Jul

I dreamt I was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and when I attacked by five enemy agents, I successfully fended them off. But then there was a sixth! 28 Jul

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Can you believe LoneStarCon3, the 71st World Science Fiction Convention, is only 12 days away? Now that it’s just around the corner, the participants have been given their final schedules, so—here’s where you’ll be able to find me in San Antonio.

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

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

Stories From the Bullpen
Friday, August 30, 15:00-16:00
The Marvel bullpen and the DC offices were magical places in the 1970s and 1980s, full of wisecracking pros, hardworking artists, and tale-spinning editors, if you believe the letters pages. But what was it really like? Get a peek behind the curtain with our panelists!
with Anthony Tollin and Phil Foglio

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

Remember, though, you might also catch me in Austin—if you’re a BBQ nut, that is. (more…)

Sorry for the silence here, folks. Blame the ukulele.

For pretty much every waking moment of Saturday through Tuesday, and for most of Wednesday, I took part in UkeFest 2013 over at the Strathmore Music Center in Maryland.

There were multiple tracks of programming, so it was of course impossible for me to attend everything, but in the classes I got to, Marcy Marxer taught us how to play “Rockin’ the Uke” a la Roy Smeck, Gerald Ross showed us chorded melodies and how to “take it” during a jam, Lil’ Rev (with whom I’m posing below) shared roll strokes, triples, fans, and zig-zag strums, Stu Fuchs went through rockabilly fingering, Cathy Fink took us through the best way to practice so that we’d actually get better … and much, much more.

Now when I say that these instructors taught me all these things, that’s not to say I actually learned any of them on the spot. (So don’t go expecting miracles the next time you see me with a uke.) Because while I understood on an intellectual level everything I was shown, I didn’t necessarily have the dexterity to perform many of the complicated moves.

But that’s OK. I didn’t expect I’d always be able to keep up. But I’m not disappointed, because I know that will come, as muscle memory slowly starts to take over from my natural fumbling.

If you’d like to see more of what this year was like, head on over to Flickr to check out more UkeFest photos.

Can’t wait until UkeFest 2014!

Remember that 5-page Thanos story I wrote way back when dinosaurs still walked the Earth? The one that, surprisingly, ended up being part of Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day promotion last April?

Well, a digital copy is available as a free download right now through both the Marvel app (if you’ve got it) or simply via the company’s site.

I have no idea how long the offer will last, so if you want to check out the sort of thing I was writing in 1977, without having to haunt comics shops in search of a copy of Logan’s Run #6, then now’s your chance.

Back home from my second time experiencing Next restaurant’s Vegan menu, and what do I find? A sneak peek at what the restaurant has planned for us once it switches over to Bocuse d’or, which will run from August 31 to December 31.

Jenner Tomaska, Sous Chef at Next, tweeted (and Chef Dave Beran retweeted) a pic simply captioned, “Bocuse menu testing.” In case you missed it, here it is.

I’ve only been home a couple of hours, and now I can’t wait to get back to Chicago again!