Orycon 33

Went to Orycon this weekend, which I usually do. Missed one when we were living in Port Townsend and got snowed in one year, but mostly I try to be useful at the local shindig. I've toastmastered it a couple times, but am still waiting to be asked to be Guest of Honor. (Since they know I'm coming anyway, though, why would they do that?)


We are getting grayer and our kids and grandkids growing up-this was the 33rd incarnation.


Friday, I MCed the Endeavour Award. My part lasted about two minutes, went fine.


Saturday, I did panels, an autographing, and a reading. Steve Barnes, Rory Miller, and I were on a panel together about kung-fu versus wire-fu, that was fun. We were all booked solidly enough so we couldn't find a matching gap between gigs to do lunch or drinks. Too bad. 


I did a panel on formidable women in fiction and that was also–I thought–both entertaining and enlightening. The panelists were bright, funny, and knew their stuff. One of them, now a small press publisher, was a woman I corresponded with for a time when she was at Dark Horse, and it was the first time we had met. 


I sat next to William F. Nolan at the autographing. A man whose stuff I grew up reading, and whose book (with George Clayton Johnson) was the basis for the move Logan's Run.) Man has written 84 books. He's also 84 years old.


I followed Nolan at our readings. He did a funny short story about a ghost trying to kill his ex-wife. I read one of the Roy the Demon stories. I warned the audience that it was rated NC-17 for language and gave them a choice between that and "Jolly Roger," and they elected Roy.


Had a pretty good crowd for the reading, about twenty-five or so, but it looked smaller–for some reason they put us in the ballroom ...