World Fantasy 2018, Day 2 – Thoughts on the Day

Originally published in November 2019 - Here's the next in my series of articles written last weekend... So, I’m here at World Fantasy, I’ve geeked over Earthsea among other fantasy fans, then switched to author mode. I did an hour at the con’s Indy and Small Press consignment table and autographed some of my books. When author David Drake came over, who I had not the slightest idea was going to be at the con, I told him my favorite book of his was Forlorn Hope. He told me that the book had originally by sold to Ace as the first book of a series, then they suddenly passed on it and the book was published as a standalone by TOR. Well, I guess  you never know who you’re going to meet at a con…

It was a pleasant hour. This was the first time World Fantasy had accommodated the Indy authors like myself or the small presses, who could not afford to have a presence at the convention. The convention's consignment area had a few tables set up outside the Dealer’s Room, which was largely one big bookstore of vendor and publishers. The fan in me bought books there, one of which I snagged so I could get an author’s autograph for the Mass Signing planned later in the day, but it was paperbacks of Elizabeth Moon’s sequel’s to Vatta’s War that seemingly found those books in my hand. I’m going to read them way too fast… I love the Vatta series!  Yes, I’m a geek and definitely in the right place.

That said, I went to three author readings today. First, I went to Joe Haldeman’s 10 a.m. reading, as did twenty authors. As it was the first reading of the morning, I went early. Joe arrived fifteen minutes early and talked to us about the early days of being a writer… I’d never seen Joe before, but his books were among the first few dozen I’d bought through the Science Fiction Book Club as a teenager decades ago.

I also learned that Joe Haldeman taught writing at MIT for thirty years. When asked if any of his students went on to writing careers, he chuckled. “They were at MIT to become engineers, not writers. “ He acknowledged a number of them wrote very good stories for his classes, though.

I then stayed to hear Lawrence Schoen do a reading— as did Joe. Now, I like Lawrence a lot and the short story he read which is being featured in a new SF magazine, Future Science Fiction Digest, edited by Alex Shvartzman coming out in December is amazing, though there was not time for him to read it all. Seeing Joe Haldeman in the first row applauding like I was at the end of Lawrence’s reading… I’m never going to forget that— whether I think of Joe Haldeman as one of Lawrence’s fans, I’ll always know he’s a true fan of the genre and appreciates his fellows in the craft.

Oh, one thing about World Fantasy, there are not a lot of sessions. So, I spent time in the Hospitality Suite and talked to a few people, one of whom later bought one of my books at the consignment table during my signing. I went down to the bar to network and initially turned away. What can I say, networking in a bar feels a bit clique' to me. A bit later I returned and said hello to another author I knew and learned there would be a gathering of some of the alumni from the writer’s workshop we’d attended after the Mass Signing.

I got together with them near the bar after experiencing life at the Mass Signing. I do mean experiencing. They did a table tent name card for everyone attending just in case they wanted to sign a book, one of their illustrations, whatever. I’d signed up on the first day of the convention for a spot along the main “thoroughfare,” so everyone literally walked past me, or got trapped in the long lines. That's how someone I knew in line introduced me to a friend who lived near where I do. We talked while they waited to see L.E. Modessitt Jr. That new friend later came back after buying one of my books for me to autograph as a gift for their wife. That made my day. The place was wall to wall fans and authors and later when the crowds had thinned, I grabbed one of the books I’d wanted to get autographed and made another author’s day by asking for their autograph. She smiled, “So you’re the one who bought this.”

Socializing with workshop alum brought my day to a end… when, not quite, I read one of those Elizabeth Moon’s book for a while first. Yes, I’m a true fan…

D.H.