Diamondraught wrote:Ah, I didn't read this until AFTER the Con. Where was that beer you were talking about?
Next year!
We never did get a chance to do the social chat, John. It was wonderful listening to Donaldson read, and hearing his opinions among such other great authors.
The parties weren't bad either.
You should have tracked me down in the bar - which is where I tend to spend a lot of time (socializing, not necessarilly drinking). I LOVE buying people drinks - the others in my writers group usually yell at me for it, but as I wrote onto the bottom of my nametag, I'm "Hero Support" (and proud of it - I don't think I'd have this much fun if I were able to count myself one of the actual heroes). I had my butt parked in the bar for the whole Wisconsin / Penn State game (fully expecting the local bartenders to hit me in the back of the head for being the only PSU fan in the whole town). It was great to meet you guys, though! But whenever I saw you, it was when I was rushing to or from something. I felt really bad after having to cut things short just before the reading, and not being able to formally introduce you. So it was great that we were able to catch up again before the banquet (although Steve was a bit rushed at that point). Such a bummer that Runes didn't win Best Novel! I had the video camera rolling in hopes that I could catch that on tape and post it on the web.
If you were party hopping on Saturday night, you may have wandered into the one for our writer's group. It was in 611 - across the hall from the room that had the cow decor (Hereford, I think). I had to leave almost before it started to make it to a black tie thing, and didn't get back until about 10:30, at which time things quited down and people started reading from their works in progress (something other parties don't do - but we're the only party hosted by writers and not publishing houses).
Steve read from chapter 6 of Fatal Revenant. Same chapter he read from at Bubonicon, so I can't provide any additional information from Danlo's write-up in the other thread. He's really a good reader - funny, entertaining, expressive, etc. When he first arrived at the room, there were less than a dozen people out front. He explained to his lady fair ("girlfriend" is too weak of a word, considering how long they've been together and how much they're taken with each other) that readings usually don't attract a large crowd. But by the time he sat down, the room was pretty well filled - I'd say at least three dozen or more (but I'm not very good at estimating stuff like this - I have to actually count, usually involving fingers and toes and several calculators).
He started off explaining that noone was likely to understand what he was reading, and warned them that they should leave while they could. When noone moved, he asked me to lock the door (to prevent escape).
One person did try to sneak out during the reading, and he gave them a humorous pause and glare. But several others came in after the start, so I'm sure he saw it as an overall success. But the reading was only for thirty minutes, and he had to run across the hall immediately after for a ninety minute panel - so he probably read less than he did from that chapter in Bubonicon. It is a safe chapter for him to read, though. It brings out an appropriate number of "what the hell is going on" responses (to anyone who's read Runes - or at least the first two chronicles) without giving anything away.
I'll post some pics in the Member Gallery. There's not a lot of room for captions, though, so I'll explain the one pic here. I've been writing an online database program for Steve's agent, Howard Morhaim (no relation to the character, since the two of them got together after The Wounded Land was published). It's something to help him manage his contacts, deals, payments, schedules, etc. A LOT bigger and more complex than I thought it would be. I printed it out to show him the work I've been putting into it (feeling guilty that it's never taken me so long to write a program) and it came out as a stack of paper 8" thick (8pt, single space, no margins). That's thicker than the first draft of Runes (which was 12pt, double space, with ample margins). To thank me for my help, he invited me to his yearly "family dinner" at WFC. It's a black tie event on Saturday night of the con, and he takes along all his clients attending the con. Boy, I don't think I ever had a better time - the list of attendees was a dream list of favorite authors: Steve (of course) and his daughter Perry and girlfriend Jenifer, Robert Vardeman, Michael Stackpole, Patricia McKillip, Jeff Vandermeer, Jeff Ford, Jonathan Strahan, and others (plus editors, wifes, dates, etc. - who were just as engaging and entertaining). We took a group photo before leaving the hotel, and someone told me afterward that it always ends up in Locus magazine (a very good trade mag for the SF&F genres). Yikes!!!!
Oh - can I post the pic I took of you two?
I had actually planned on being there - I paid my money and made arrangements to have a long weekend off from work months ago. But then something important came up with one of my kids, and I felt the need to be there for him instead. I am looking forward to hearing the stories and seeing the pictures of what I missed. 
Who'd you guys say Romeo's av is?