Today we are working on some fundraising items for the coming year. They ought to be fun for all!

More soon. Watch this space for the details.

They preserved the original one-room schoolhouse of Columbia, SC.

Guess what we used for the first time this year yesterday?

• 11:32 @newscientist what was that URL? #
• 11:32 @newscientist what was that URL? the one for Hot or Not goes geek? #

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Y'all seem to enjoy my forays into southern culture here in the Greater Columbia, SC area. Here, then is another post on the subject.

* There are about ten or fifteen colleges within driving distance, but "The Campus" always refers USC, the University of South Carolina. It takes up a good portion of metro Columbia.
* USC vs. Clemson is an epic battle reminiscent of U of M vs. Ohio State, or the Yankees vs. the Red Sox. It's a disease, but thankfully not a contagious one.
* I would have gotten quite a score this week if I were playing Roadkill Bingo. Yes, that was a badger. The beaver and the gator got away.
* Okay, I was kidding about the gator. But in the warmer weather I am told that the three local rivers have them, a fact that has considerably dampened my enthusiasm for canoeing.
* Speaking of wildlife, in NY I had to worry about mice and spiders sneaking inside for the winter. In SC, I mainly have to keep getting rid of "Palmetto bugs" trying to come in and get warm. Yessir, now I know why they call it "The Palmetto State." It has nothing to do with palm trees, folks.
* The Spit & Argue (points to photo). Need I say more?

Jane Jewel and I are in the "mosh pit" at WFC.


A foggy morning. This was taken from my front porch.


The Columbia Canal Bridge: part of where I take my exercise walks.


saycestsay, msisolak, retrobable and I get together at WFC.


saycestsay, jaylake, calendula_witch, and Ken Sholes


A picture of a picture: Brian and I enjoy a retirement party for his co-worker.


Tigre.

The good news is that if I get an interview somewhere, I am now free to say I have no other offers. The bad news is that another company got the bid for the big Boeing job. So my "conditional job offer" has become a rather worthless piece of paper, except for this: it tells me I am not going to suffer a drop in pay from NY rates once I start working again, and when and if I am in salary negotiations this information can help me get a higher salary.

I was abandoned by my Ex a few months before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the day before the Wall fell I was reeling with the fact that he had moved out of state to avoid paying child support. I was in no frame of mind to appreciate it as I should.

For this week's anniversary of the event I spent my time watching YouTube videos of it, my reactions untainted by the closer evils in my personal life. In 1989 my ex robbed me of the full wonder of the moment. 20 years later, I think I've finally recaptured a lot of the awe.

Some ornamental metalwork that caught my eye in Atlanta.

It was a friend's birthday on Halloween, necessitating this cupcake graveyard:

Goodbye, San Jose.

Sleep-deprived Wendy here. Highlights of the 2009 World Fantasy convention for me:
• Seeing old friends like retrobabble and msisolak
• Just hanging out with saycestsay and Tempest.
• The Artist's Reception: elegant and fun
• Deepening friendships with people like Jane Jewel and clarkesworld
• Seeing Dave Gallager and meeting his wonderful wife, Spring.
• Peter Heck asked to review The Best of A&A Vol. 1 - in Asimov's!
• Michal Swanwick will send A&A flash and asked me to email him to remind him.
• Nice talks with Scott Edelman, Gayle Surrette, GVG and Deanna Hoak.
• At the book signing we had lots of genere folks sign A&As publication e-list
• I finally met Jenny Blackford, therinth and Vylar Kaftan
• New friends like Shawna Roberts, Chris Collins...too tired to remember them all
• The parties!
The best parties on Sat: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction's, Weird Tales' (live music!), a book launch for a regency novel with tons of French maids and French food, and in the con suite a 200th birthday party for Edgar Allen Poe with a cake in the shape of a huge hot air balloon.( Con photos behind a cut. )
Last night I slept about 11 hours to make up for being up until 2:30 AM Pacific Time three nights in a row. I'm at SFO. Home flight boarding soon. Catch you all later!

Kij Johnson at the 2009 World Fantasy Convention, reading her disturbing sensory deprivation story, "Spar," story that made such a stir when published in the October 2009 Clarksworld.



And yay Kij for winning Best Short Story at World Fantasy!!!!

Here are the 2009 World Fantasy Award winners.

Lifetime Achievement: Ellen Asher & Jane Yolen
Best Novel (tie): The Shadow Year, Jeffrey Ford (Morrow) & Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan (Allen & Unwin; Knopf)
Best Novella: “If Angels Fight”, Richard Bowes (F&SF 2/08)
Best Short Story: “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss”, Kij Johnson (Asimov’s 7/08)
Best Anthology: Paper Cities: An Anthology of Urban Fantasy, Ekaterina Sedia, ed. (Senses Five Press)
Best Collection: The Drowned Life, Jeffrey Ford (HarperPerennial)
Best Artist: Shaun Tan
Special Award – Professional: Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant (for Small Beer Press and Big Mouth House)
Special Award – Non-Professional: Michael Walsh (for Howard Waldrop collections from Old Earth Books)

Congratulations to all the winners!

Chris Garcia of The Drink Tank, at the 2009 World Fantasy Convention hospitality suite, brandishing the ancient 96-column computer punch cards he uses as business cards.

• 10:19 theft of consciousness! the WFC hotel has no in-room coffee! woe... #

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From the art exhibit at WFC.


That's a brain in a cage she's carrying. A brain with hands.

Lots of travel yesterday: because of my ride's schedule I was at the Atlanta airport at 6 AM for an 8:30 AM flight. Delta did their usual great job, except for the fact that I was offered 17 (I counted) peanuts as my "snack" on a 6+ hr flight. But I'd packed my lunch and more so it was all good. Sadly, my ride to the con from the SF airport (choose a flight near where I live! said she) had an emergency. The shuttle van to the very distant San Jose Fairmont Hotel, it should be noted, costs $49. Ouch.

I got to sight-see through the Silicon Valley while driven to WFC. The San Jose Fairmont is across from two art museums, one of which has a traveling Star Trek exhibit. We are surrounded by restaurants. There are fountains, and palm trees: these not such a novelty as they were before I moved to South Carolina but there are more varieties of palms.

The 2009 WFC Opening Ceremonies.

People I have seen so far include saycestsay, msisolak,Paolo Bacigalupi, Scott Edleman, douglascohen, jaylake, mercuriodrivera, j_cheney, Michael Swanwick--who was kind enough to ask me to remind him to send A&A some flash fiction as he has a backlog of it--and Kij Johnson. The GOHs Jeff and Amy Vandermeer were fun to be with, as was clarkesworld. I'm looking forward to finally meeting, camillealexa tomorrow and hear that retrobabble will be here Saturday. If I forgot anyone, and I know I did, blame it on my jet lag.

Neil Clarke gets the first annual Neil Clarke Award from the Vandermeers.

My Thursday place to stay near the con (same person as ride) evaporated. And not only was the con hotel sold out but I could not have afforded it if there were room. saycestsay found a greenroom/hospitality con worker with a free bed up for grabs. I owe this godsend person something, for sure. Never has a bed felt more welcome, and it was in a President's Club room. When I came to the next morning I noted details like exquisite views of the city, thick cotton terry robes, dimmer switches on the lamps, a huge flatscreen TV, and a powder room.

There is, alas, no coffeemaker. I shall venture forth to be caffeinated.

Me missing my new husband, sitting in a cafe in San Jose.

More of me at the MLK site. I'm getting a really bad turkey neck, folks. *cringe!*

Tuesday I was at the Martin Luther King memorial in Atlanta.