I just ran across a yellowing four-page flyer, “A Field Guide to the Readercon 2 Program Participants,” and it gives an interesting snapshot of who we were back in 1988. Both in that some of the attendees are sadly no longer with us—such as Algis Budrys, Stan Leventhal and John Morressy—but also for the ways in which those of us still around have progressed—such as Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, who back then had just been named (respectively) Tor Books’ administrative and managing editors.

Wonder how that worked out for them?

Take a look below to see what (almost) a quarter of a century has done to us.

Let’s hope that those of us still around have every day in every way continued getting better and better. We can dream, can’t we?

I know that more photos from my strange Readercon journey were taken than I’ve seen and shared with you here and here, because there are a few people who told me they posed with me last month and had others take their (as yet unseen by me) pictures. But since those are not turning up in my inbox, it appears the flood is over, so I’ll share this one last pic I received.

David Lubkin and Filthy Pierre

If you’re in possession of any additional images, and you’ve yet to send me a copy, you know what to do.

Meanwhile, I’m sure you’ve heard the less frivolous Readercon news. I’m sad the events that led to such a statement being necessary occurred, but glad for the statement itself at the same time, because I do want to return to future Readercons for photos which will be of a more three-dimensional me.

I arrived home safely from Readercon this afternoon. Or perhaps I should say … I was delivered home safely.

If that distinction (and the photo above) confuses you, this should clear things up. And this will reveal the story so far.

But here are some further photos to let you see how much fun I had at Readercon. (more…)

ComicCon and Readercon are now over, and surprisingly, I still managed to have fun at the latter even with the sad conflict that kept me away from it while working the former.

How is that possible? I had a solution.

Check out the fun I had, as dear friends and colleagues did their best to help me forget I was missing my first Readercon ever.

Rose Fox

Thank you, committee, for providing me with a name badge! (more…)

Those of you who know that I’ve attended every Readercon since the first in 1987—I believe I’m the only person to have done that save for a few of the committee members—will understand the sadness I felt when I learned that in 2012, it would conflict with the San Diego Comic-Con, which I cover each year on behalf of Blastr.

A Readercon without Scott Edelman? Inconceivable! (Well, to me, at least.) Something had to be done … but what?

This!

One of those two men above is now in San Diego, filing copy, while the other is whooping it up in Burlington. I leave it to you to decide which one of us is where.

If you run across me at Readercon, you’ll see I’ve asked attendees to snap photos with me and either email them or tweet using the hashtag #ReaderconScott.

And what do you know, the first sighting of Edelman in the wild has already occurred … (more…)

I’ve been attending Readercon since it began in 1987. I haven’t missed one yet. It’s my favorite convention weekend of the year, the place where I hang with my tribe and recharge my creative batteries.

I’ve been attending the San Diego Comic-Con since 2007. It’s the most important pop culture gathering of the year, and since I’m the editor of Blastr, there’s no way I can miss it. It’s a must-see event.

During most Julys, Readercon has been two weeks prior to Comic-Con. Last month, it was one week before Comic-Con. In 2012 … well … see for yourself, via screen grabs from the two cons’ sites.

To say that I’m heartbroken is an understatement. But I don’t see any way around it. I’ve got to cover Comic-Con. My unbroken string of Readercons … has come to an end.

If I’m wearing black the next time you see me, it won’t be because I’m channeling Neil Gaiman. It’ll be because I’m in mourning.

When Eric Rosenfield asked me to take part in the Wold Newton Reading Extravaganza at Readercon, in which I was invited to take the stage for four minutes while accompanied by appropriate music from Brian Francis Slattery and his band, my immediate thought wasn’t to read any of my own writing.

No, what popped into my head was Mark Twain’s “The War Prayer,” which he refrained from publishing during his lifetime, and which I’d last read aloud during high school to protest the Vietnam War. It was short, it allowed for histrionics … plus Twain was this year’s Readercon Memorial Guest of Honor.

The other brave souls who took part in what I hope will now be an annual Readercon event were Myke Cole, Jeffrey Ford, Theodora Goss, John Kessel, and Matthew Cheney. The whole thing is well worth half an hour of your time, but if you only have a few minutes, you can see my abridged version of “The War Prayer” from 10:38 to 15:17.

You’ll note I introduced my reading by saying I was about to present an “abridged” version of that famous story. That’s because even though the tale is short, it would still have taken more than six minutes to read, and I didn’t want to get gonged off the stage before I reached the moral.

I hope Twain will forgive me!

Barrry Malzberg wanted me to get up for a 7:30 a.m. breakfast, but considering the fact I didn’t get to bed until 2:30 the same morning, how likely was that to happen? But I did wake at 8:15, which pleased me, because I very much wanted to watch Chip Delany interview Katherine MacLean, the winner of this year’s Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award.

When I’d seen her in the halls the previous day, and told her how much I was looking forward to her anecdotes of the old days, she said, smiling, something like (which I say only because this isn’t a word-for-word quote), “That’s why I stopped going to conventions! All you fans wanted to know about was who we had sex with. Sex, sex, sex! We did more than sleep with each other, you know! We were also interested in ideas!”

I told her, oh, yes, I wanted to hear about ideas, too, trying to make sure she knew I wasn’t one of those fans. (Though, of course, I did want to know about who slept with whom!)

Here’s that wonderful interview, which is one of the best hours I’ve ever spent at a Readercon. (And as you know, I’ve been to them all.)

After wandering the dealers room and doing general schmoozing, I realized I’d hit the wall, and so returned to my room to put my head down for a moment. After all, I didn’t want to snore during the panel on Joanna Russ! Sadly, I fell asleep, and did not wake until it was over. And so, no video … (Sniff!) But I did capture this entertaining interview of Gardner Dozois by Michael Swanwick. (more…)

My Readercon Thursday began with a road trip, and so did my Readercon Friday. Only this time I wasn’t heading toward the con, I was headed toward … durian!

Along with David Shaw and Josh Jasper, I drove over to H Mart at 9:30 a.m. to pick up more of that noxious fruit to serve Friday night to those with adventurous palates. (And if you don’t know from durian, you can read about a previous planned adventure here and its aftermath here.)

But a durian alone was not enough … because upon discovering that H Mart also sold jackfruit, I bought one of those as well. After all, you want a palate cleanser after eating a durian, don’t you?

We returned from our adventure just in time for the 10:00 a.m. panel, “The Readercon Classic Nonfiction Book Club: The Jewel-Hinged Jaw,” with Matthew Cheney, Elizabeth Hand (who moderated), David G. Hartwell, Donald G. Keller, and Barry N. Malzberg. And just because you weren’t there doesn’t mean you can’t be there now, via the video below.

Next came my own 11:00 a.m. panel, “Writing Within Constraints,” which I should have had someone record, just so you could hear all the talk of zombie penises (thanks to my bringing up of the subject), which spread through the panel like a meme. (more…)

As per usual for me and Readercon, my Readercon experience didn’t begin at Readercon. Instead of flying to Boston and bussing it to Burlington, I flew to Providence for a morning with Paul Di Filippo and Deb Newton, which this year also meant some pre-con time with Liz Hand and Michael Dirda. We got a tour of the new Di Filippo/Newton castle and ate a Chinese/Thai lunch before heading out mid-afternoon.

Because programming wasn’t starting until 8:00 p.m., the afternoon and evening was spent in the usual lobby schmoozing followed by a massive dinner for 15 with me and Liz at the heads of the table (though I guess one of us was really the foot) and 13 others between us, including Howard Waldrop, Rose Fox, John Clute, Graham Sleight and many others.

But then—a quandary. My 9:00 p.m. reading was scheduled against one of the two panels I most wanted to see at the con, “The Influence of the Scott Meredith Literary Agency.” Luckily, there was a solution. I decided my iPhone had a sufficient microphone to record me reading solo, and yielded over my Flip camera to Paul Di Filippo so he could record the Meredith panel. Which meant I could be in two places at once.

And now, you can also be in two places at once.

So first, here’s my reading of “Things That Never Happened,” which will be out later this year or early next in an issue of Postscripts.

(more…)