You would probably not have liked hanging out with me during these past 36 hours. That’s because I was so giddy about getting tickets to the Chicago restaurant Alinea that wherever my conversations with Irene headed, they always looped back to some aspect of the restaurant, whether it was the quest to get a table, the kind of food served there, or how thrilled I was to have actually scored tickets.

As I told you last month when I was first contemplating where’d I’d be eating during the Chicago Worldcon next month:

There are a few other gastronomical wonders I’m hoping for, such as the playground that is Alinea and the apparent perfection that is Next, but neither of those is a certainty. In fact, far from being locks, they may be impossibilities. But I can dream, can’t I?

Amazing, both of those dreams are going to come true!

The reason I’ve been so insufferable is this— (more…)

I’ve been reading—and loving—Rudy Rucker‘s autobiography Nested Scrolls. It’s beautifully written, and in addition to learning more about the guy than I’ve ever known, I’m also getting to see from a different perspective parts of science fiction history I lived through.

Sometimes, though, that creates a mystery. For example, I just caught up with 1985, and an incident that occurred at that year’s NASFiC in Austin.

Here’s what Rucker wrote about an intriguing panel held that year. (more…)

I guess it makes some weird kind of sense that I’m following up a post on how I’m struggling to stay fit with one that talks about what I’ll be putting in my mouth during Worldcon this August. But that’s the way I roll.

I have only one meal nailed down—a 36th anniversary dinner at Girl and the Goat, where I look forward to eating pig face, crispy goat skin, and smoked duck fat. There are a few other gastronomical wonders I’m hoping for, such as the playground that is Alinea and the apparent perfection that is Next, but neither of those is a certainty. In fact, far from being locks, they may be impossibilities. But I can dream, can’t I?

And then there are the less exclusive joints, the sorts of places I’ve been visiting during my travels thanks to tips from Adam Richman of Man v. Food. Will I find the marvel that was Bruges Waffles and Frites, which I visited during this year’s World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, or the disappointment that was the Old Salty Dog in Sarasota? I have no idea. But here’s what’s promised by Man v. Food‘s Chicago episode.

(more…)

I just noticed that when I redesigned my site early last year, a special set of photos disappeared. But they are too good to remain MIA. And so …

One evening in Toronto back at Torcon 3—the 2003 World Science Fiction Convention—I needed to step away from the parties for a moment, and my kindly boss asked if he could borrow my camera until my return.

“Sure,” I said, feeling that if I couldn’t trust my boss, who could I trust?

But when the camera was returned, this is what I saw—plus a couple of dozen pics of science fiction’s finest giving me the finger.

View them at your peril, for your opinion of these kindly souls may change forever!

I’ve been busy lately. How do I know I’ve been busy lately? Because here it is, two months after the Reno Worldcon, and I’m just getting around to uploading my photos to Flickr. I shared a few of them previously in a post after I got back from the con, but most of them remained on my laptop.

Not that there were many. I only took a couple of dozen, as opposed to the hundreds I shot at the Japanese Worldcon. That seems to have been the case for a number of conventions lately. I think I’ve taken to living my life cons with Twitter instead of my camera. But looking back over the past year, I don’t think I like that. I’m going to make sure I start snapping again at my next few cons. Tweets disappear, but photos last.

As proof, check out this self-portrait of me with a holy trinity hovering above me of the much younger visages of Harlan Ellison, Bob Eggleton and … a plumper me.

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…)

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…)

I didn’t get to go to the first Worldcon I’d hoped I would. That’s because the first Worldcon I wanted to attend was Dallas in ’73 and the 1973 Worldcon was instead held in Toronto. Which explains a lot. But not everything.

Come to think of it, I didn’t get to the first comic convention I wanted to either. That would have been the 1969 July 4th weekend con run by Phil Seuling at the Statler Hilton Hotel. But my parents didn’t think I was old enough to wander off to Manhattan on my own while they were at a bungalow colony out in the country. So I had to wait until ’70 for what was to be my first con of any kind.

When I got there, I looked something like in the photo below, which shows me a year later at Seuling’s ’71 con, snapped as I sat in the front row (as always), with Phil at the podium.

But back to my first (almost) Worldcon. I was a supporting member of Dallascon, and I’ve got the membership card to prove it, signed by Tom Reamy, chairman of the “Big D in ’73” bid. In addition to the neat card with that wonderful George Barr artwork, I also received copies of The Dallascon Bulletin, more magazine than progress report.

But the Dallas Worldcon bid collapsed, and since I wasn’t in the loop back then (I don’t think I was even aware yet that there was a loop), I have no idea why. (more…)

Renovation—the 69th World Science Fiction Convention—is just around the corner. Where will you be able to find me during the con? (Well, where will you be able to find me officially?)

Here—!

Will Eisner: Pioneering Comics Genius
Thursday, August 18, 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.
Will Eisner had a very long career in comics. Best known for The Spirit, he wrote some early graphic novels, such as A Contract with God.
I moderate Tom Galloway and Stu Shiffman

The Science Fiction and Fanasy Canon within Comics
Thursday, August 18, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
What are the essential science fiction and fantasy comics?
with Tom Galloway, David Malki, and Andrew Wheeler

Stroll With The Stars
Friday, August 19, 9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
A gentle, friendly 1-mile stroll with some of your favorite Authors, Artists & Editors.
with Stu Segal, Bill Willingham, Beth Meacham, Karen Anderson, Toni Weisskopf, Gay Haldeman, and Joe Haldeman

Autographs
Friday, August 19, 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.
with Katy Stauber , Ian Tregillis, Eileen Gunn, Michael Capobianco, A. C. Crispin, Dean Wesley Smith, and Kristine Kathryn Rusch

KaffeeKlatsch
Friday, August 19, 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
with Eileen Gunn, Adam-Troy Castro, and Tim Pratt

Fantasy and Horror in the New Century
What to look for and where to find it on the darker side of literature.
Saturday, August 20, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
I moderate John Joseph Adams, Susan T. Casper, Ellen Datlow, and Nick Mamatas

Giving and Receiving Critiques
Many writers participate in writers workshops, but it can be difficult, especially for new writers, to give critiques helpfully and receive critiques gracefully. Experienced workshoppers discuss techniques for critiques.
Saturday, August 20, 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.
I moderate Margaret McGaffey Fisk, Daniel Abraham, Sheila Finch, and Tim Pratt

Crisis Fatigue: The Pros and Cons of Cross-Book Universe-Changing Comic Epics
Almost every year, it seems, the comics world has a major multi-book crisis/civil war/semi-reboot. Is it overused?
Saturday, August 20, 5:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.
I moderate Tom Galloway, Lenny Bailes, and Brenda W. Clough

Reading
Sunday, August 21 12:30 p.m.- 1:00 p.m.

I look forward to seeing you there!