During Readercon, you got to share Thai food with Resa Nelson, eat a full Irish breakfast with Jeffrey Ford, and down donuts with a parade of 15 writers, editors, and fans. Now it’s time to say farewell to Readercon with a visit to The Lobster Stop in Quincy, Massachusetts for (what else?) lobster rolls … and F. Brett Cox.

Brett co-edited (with former Eating the Fantastic guest Andy Duncan) Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic (which featured a story about Randy Newman by yours truly!), and has had fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews appear in Eclipse Online, War Stories, Century, Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Postscripts, and many other venues. He’s also hard at work on a book-length study of Roger Zelazny for the University of Illinois Press.

Over lobster rolls, we talked of the debate we witnessed between Isaac Asimov and Harlan Ellison in 1974 at our joint first Worldcon, how the Connie Willis story “A Letter from the Clearys” made the scales fall from his eyes, why George Saunders is his “favorite contemporary American short story writer,” and more.

Here’s how you can grab a seat at the table— (more…)

As I’ve told you before, Loncon3 was the 40th anniversary of my first Worldcon, which was Discon II. But I wasn’t alone in that—for Discon II was also the first Worldcon for F. Brett Cox.

Brett and I celebrated that anniversary with lunch at AL Masar Lebanese restaurant, after which Jeannie Beckwith commemorated the moment with a photo.

Only a single photo exists of each of us from that 1974 gathering, and I’ve cropped them together with the most recent pic to show what four decades can do to a fan.

Where did the hair time go?

Don’t forget to check back in 2054 to see what another 40 years does to the two of us!

Another July, another Readercon!

Readercon is my favorite convention. I’ve been to every one since 1987. Well, save one, which I missed due to a conflict with San Diego Comic-Con, though some of you might remember than in order to prevent despair, I sent a stand-in. A stand-up stand-in. This year, thankfully, I was able to make it in the flesh.

As has been usual for the past decade, rather than fly to Boston and bus it to Burlington, I flew to Providence, where I spent the afternoon with Paul Di Filippo and Deb Newton, who drove me to the con. But the con really began at Dulles Airport, because Michael Dirda was on the same flight, and we were able to discuss Forever Amber, Henry Huggins, and Rick Brant’s Electronic Adventures without the need of a moderator or microphone.

In Providence, he and I and Paul and Deb were joined by John Clute and Liz Hand (seen with me below), also on the way to Readercon. So there was much fun (and lobster rolls!) before the con proper even began.

Once we arrived at the con, we took part in a massive group dinner which also included Peter Straub, Gary Wolfe, Kit Reed, plus the organizers of the meal, David Shaw and Diane Martin. And then at 8:00 p.m., the programming began … (more…)

The star of my Saturday at Readercon was Maureen McHugh. (Actually, the true star of Saturday may have been my amazing dinner with friends at Journeyman, which lasted around four hours and 45 minutes, but let’s leave that for another day.) Maureen, one of the Readercon Guests of Honor, gave a reading at 10:00 a.m., and then was interviewed by Kelly Link at 5:00 p.m.

First up, here’s Maureen reading a story from her collection After the Apocalypse.

But before we get into that GoH interview, here’s a 1:00 p.m. reading by F. Brett Cox. (more…)

And once again, I’ve been having too much fun at the World Fantasy Convention to have any time left over for a full write-up, so these five photos will have to stand in for the details, which I hope to share in a full report in the future.

Hanging with Andy Duncan and Brett Cox

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So you couldn’t make it to the World Fantasy Convention this year—or perhaps you could make it, but wasn’t able to figure out a way to be omnipresent—and are pissed? Don’t worry. There are at least three readings you didn’t have to be present to witness.

And here they are …

F. Brett Cox

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