(above, left to right: me, Lou Anders, Chris Roberson, Allison Baker)

I’ve been dreading doing this wrapup since I got home from the 64th World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim. Too much good happened last week, too little time to fully relate it all. It was a dynamite show and I had a blast. Here’s a word association game of a few friends from this past week…

Chris Roberson…my homie…my Worldcon roomie…everyone’s favorite World Fantasy-nominated barfly…”What time is it? 10am? Cool. Time to hit the bar.”

Lou Anders…my other homie…Pyr’s editorial director extraordinaire…if you missed the Pyr panel on Friday, then you missed what would happen if P.T. Barnum sold sf…dominant…

Alan Beatts and Jude Feldman…great meal together at the White House (in Anaheim, not 1600 Penn. Ave.)…a fabulous booth for Borderlands Books in the back end of the dealer’s room….it felt like a home back there…booksignings are always so smooth with these guys…

Karen Jones…always there to laugh at my pain, and mock me when appropriate in the bar…currently using the spare seconds of her life to learn Japanese…still the Smartest Woman on the Planet…

Allison Baker…here she is…there she goes…:) (see photo above)

Diana Gill…another Worldcon, another stylin’ Eos cocktail party production…fabulous as ever…

Irene Gallo…the point person for the Hugo Artist resolution, and one of the most dedicated people I know…in her spare time, she’s the 2006 Chesley Award winning-Art Director…she does it all, folks…a pleasure, as always…thanks for everything, Irene…

Dave Seeley…one of my favorite artists, and one of my favorite people…forgot to tell you congrats on your cover feature for ART SCENE INTERNATIONAL, and also congrats on your Worldcon Art Show Award…

Jim Minz…genius Sunday excursion to Laguna Beach…that was brilliant all around…send those rock band photos when you can, and I’ll post ’em.

Liza Groen Trombi…a con would suck without Liza…no one wears expensive food on her head with such style and panache…:)

Amelia Beamer…we trade each other’s badge identities when the mood hits us…just because…

Kirsten Gong-Wong…good to see you, hubby Aaron, and the wondrous Teddy…

Karlyn Pratt…never a dull conversation…that was fun, wasn’t it?…see you in Austin…

William Lexner…great seeing you, your wife, and the entire BWB crew….holy cow, you cats know how to party….THAT was impressive on Saturday night….

Rani Graff…too bad you live halfway around the world…we’ll be in touch in the coming months, I would imagine…great seeing you again…

Sean Williams…wish I would’ve spent more time with this guy…wish he could come to more cons over here….

Garth Nix…we’ve gotta work on our doubles pool-playing, brother. Next time though! 🙂

Jonathan Strahan…he flies across multiple time zones, with family in tow, and somehow makes time for everyone…

Deanna Hoak…how many 40-year-old women get CARDED? I mean, seriously…if you need evidence, here you go.

Jacob Weisman & Rina….get your copies of Tiptree’s HER SMOKE ROSE UP FOREVER before they’re all gone again…congrats, Jacob…:)

Andrew Wheeler…great seeing you at the Eos party…been reading your Hornswoggler blog for a while…we’ll be in touch soon…

Paul Cornell, and wife Caroline…good to see both of you, and thanks for the wisdom re: BRITISH SUMMERTIME (more soon, re: your followup emails, which were much appreciated)…

Jetse De Vries…great(!) INTERZONE party…I’m convinced he’s conquered the need to sleep…how does this man do it?

Cheryl Morgan…from FinnCon to Worldcon, and she doesn’t skip a beat….clearly, sleight-of-hand that I’ve yet to master…thanks for all the wisdom, Cheryl…

Kevin Standlee…speaking of wisdom…presiding over a successful WSFS meeting must be like simultaneously tracking the paths of 400 airplanes in your head…mad skills…also thanks to Deb Geisler, Pat McMurray, and Donald Eastlake…

Tom Kidd…I love Tom’s paintings and it was very cool that he was the one who introduced the Artistic Achievement Chesley, and handed me the plaque…

Bob Eggleton…I enjoyed that impromptu talk we had on Sunday…I really appreciated that.

Kenn Brown…glad we finally met…very good to see you and Chris Wren…

Greg Ketter…DreamHaven rocks…thanks for the COVER STORY signing…

Alan Dean Foster…I’ll Google “Ivan Aivazovsky” later today, and thanks for the kind words re: the SAGRAMANDA cover…

Bill Christ…by chance, started the show hanging out with you, and by chance, ended the trip crossing paths with you at the airport….see you in Minneapolis sometime down the road, hopefully…

Andrea Senchy, Jannie Shea, Mike Willmoth…and all with ASFA…it’s an honor to be this year’s Artistic Achievement winner, and I’m very grateful for the consideration…another great ASFA suite, and thanks for everyone’s hard work for me and all of the other artists…

All Art Show staff…Joni Dashoff, Laura Domitz, Jerome Scott, Elizabeth Klein-Lebbink, Ted and Bonnie Atwood, and all who made this beast run smoothly for the artists…thank you!!

Good to see folks like James & Jeanette Gurney (absolutely loved seeing your paintings, Jim), Mark Kelly of LOCUS ONLINE, Charles Brown, Karen Haber, Cory Doctorow, Robert Silverberg, Deborah Layne, Paula Guran, Jeremy & Jason, Jim Lively, Ian McDonald, Paolo Bacigalupi, George Mann of Solaris, Kay Kenyon, Mike Resnick, Fiona Avery, John Scalzi (glad we finally met), David Louis Edelman (ditto the previous), Liz Gorinsky, Jim Frenkel, John Joseph Adams (the Metal God himself), Patrick and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, David Hartwell (congrats and long-overdue Hugo), Jaime Levine, Jane Frank, Alan Beck, Erik Gist, Ben Yalow, Betsy Mitchell, Betty Ballantine, Marty Halpern, Edward Morris, Samantha Ling, Lisa Rogers Lowrance, Jae Brim, John Lorentz, Jill Eastlake, Craig Miller, and I-know-I’m-forgetting-people-but-it’s-time-to-draw. It was a dynamite show.