Working with the authors - Scalzi, Sanderson, Wendig, etc. They are almost uniformly nice people and totally accessible to fans. In Phoenix they would all hangout at the bar and just chat amongst themselves and their fans.

Authors rarely get input from their readers so this is their chance.

That’s what The Lion’s Head in Greenwich Village used to be for political and social issues writing. I recall conversing with Nat Hennig there. Some of the writers and actors I met there are still friends today.

I’m sure you are having a fabulous time, Poindexter.

I haven't been to Phoenix Comicon, but hanging out in the bar is what happens a lot of the time at these things. Earlier this evening I was hanging out in the bar with the Guest of Honor and the Toastmaster, who I already knew from earlier things. Plus another major s-f writer who I already knew.

I regularly attend Mile Hi Con, Bubonicon in Albuquerque, COSine in Colorado Springs, and the Jack Williamson Lectureship in Portales, NM. And I recently discovered Soonercon in Norman, OK, and that is now on my regular attend list.

It falls right around some other Cons I attend so it hasn’t happened yet.

Bubonicon is one of my favorite cons, and is the first local (to me) con I started attending a few years after I moved to Santa Fe. Among the things I love about it is the name. Yes, Bubonicon means exactly what you think it does. Bubonic plague is endemic to New Mexico, and almost every year we have one or two people who get it. Unfortunately.

Every s-f con I've ever attended has been wonderful, and I have always met and talked with amazing people, especially s-f authors.

Don't know what other cons you attend, but in 2019 I went to SoonerCon, in Norman, OK. OMG! It was wonderful. They had a very huge variety of programming, and I was entranced. Of course, the Pandemic cancelled the 2020 and the 2021 SoonerCons. But 2022 happened. Hooray! I persuaded my sister, not a science fiction person at all, to attend, because I knew that they had a lot of programming that was not necessarily s-f connected. Well, my sister loved it. And she immediately realized that at least one of her grandchildren, and possibly all three, would just love SoonerCon. So tentatively, we will all be there next year. Hooray!

I do love the science fiction world.

Among the many things I love about these cons, are the names. I often have to explain to non s-f people, but you clearly get it.

A lot of the same people, artists, writers, and fans attend both Mile Hi and Bubonicon, because they are not that far apart. For me, one of the appeals is that Connie Willis is almost always at both of them, as well as at the Jack Williamson Lectureship.

If you don't know who Connie Willis is, please Google her, and then come back.


Okay now. I happen to really love her writing. I often recommend The Doomsday Book to people who think they don't like science fiction, and I get converts. Her husband, Courtney, recently retired from teaching physics, and makes quilts and collects sewing machines. Back in May, at ConQuest in Kansas City, there was an old Singer sewing machine in the charity auction, and as soon as I saw it I knew I needed to buy it to give to Courtney. I won the auction, hooray! and today gave it to Courtney. He was suitably impressed. From the serial number on the machine, it was made in 1862. It's just gorgeous, with mother of pearl inlay that is in perfect condition. I also sat in on his lecture on the history of sewing machines, which was absolutely fascinating.

These are the kinds of things I love about the world of science fiction.

I did programming for Westercon about 6 years ago or so? Seems like a lifetime since the Before Times. She was our Guest of Honor. She was so much fun and her panels were great.
One of my friends is her webmaster actually!
And Doomsday Book is one of my favorite novels. And so sadly relevant now…

(the s-f book club in Kansas City, which I belong to, and does their thing on zoom) did it for their book club several months ago. I was also able to get Connie to show up and participate. Hooray!

What I liked best about it was how she explained stuff about how she wrote the book. You know the kid, the one who sneaks inside the quarantine line and hangs out, sort of interfering with things? Connie said she realized she needed some way to explain stuff to the reader, and of course didn't want the "As you know, Bob" nonsense, and decided that if she had a 12 year old kid asking questions, that would allow the adults to explain what needed to be explained.

That was utterly fascinating to me. I've read that book at least four times. The very first reading, I wanted to know if her descriptions of the Plague and surrounding events was accurate, so I pulled out a book about the Plague and fact-checked her. No surprise, she had everything absolutely correct.

Have you read Blackout and All Clear? If not, you need to get them and read them, then come back and reread what I'm going to report here. She was in London, doing research in some library for the book, when her husband Courtney came in and said, "Connie, you need to come with me." She resisted, he insisted, and he brought her to a reunion of a group of women who had been in the Blitz, who'd been nurses and such, the very women that are well-described in those two books. Connie talked with them at some length, and at the end, asked them, "What was it like? Was it worth it?" And to a woman they said, "Yes! It was the best time of my life."

I want to read them, but Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing About the Dog were such emotional reads I need to be prepared. Her short story Fire Watch hit pretty hard too.
As I understand she has a new Oxford Time Travellers novel she is working on. I think her next novel is about a road tripping alien in Roswell.

The Road To Roswell won't come out until October, 2023, and I haven't a clue why it will take that long, as the publisher has the manuscript in hand. Probably some nonsense about coming out for the Christmas sales. Don't they know that Connie's fans are dedicated and will read anything she writes? Heck, I'd read "Connie Willis's shopping list" if it were available.

The Doomsday Book can be a downer, but the humor of To Say Nothing About the Dog more than makes up for it, in my opinion.

Black Out/All Clear have a lot of humor in them, along with the serious stuff. It's just up to you, and what you know you are willing to put up with.

I expected her to do a reading from it at Westercon, but it was the year of the eclipse and she read her story about aliens visiting earth to view the eclipse.
I’m not sure why it’s been delayed, if she’s been finessing it or something, but I think it was supposed to come out before Crosstalk.

She had started it, then put it aside to work on Crosstalk. Apparently, from what she said at one or two cons, was that she was trying to reconcile the real world of Trump with her need to have reasonable FBI agents, or the like. Perhaps she made huge changes to eliminate that problem, I don't know.

I will tell you that I got to see the 2017 eclipse with Connie, her husband Courtney, and their daughter Cordelia. At COSine in January that year, Connie mentioned they'd be seeing it in Nebraska. I'd been long aware of the eclipse, and originally intended to see it in Oregon, where my younger son was living. But in about September of 2016, I looked at hotels on the Oregon coast, and they were already completely booked. Darn. So when Connie mentioned seeing it in Nebraska, I hesitantly went up to her and said, "I'd love to see it with you. Where will you be staying?" Well, she was completely on board with that. We stayed at different hotels in Kearney, Nebraska, but they collected me on the morning of the eclipse and we drove to Ravenna, found a park, and settled in to see the eclipse.

The atmosphere at the park was wonderful. Everyone there was happy to see the eclipse, and we talked to lots of people. Everyone was sharing stuff. I'd made chocolate chip cookies that I handed out to one and all until they were gone. Others passed out watermelon and apples and grapes. It was fabulous.

I had never seen a total eclipse before, only several partials and the annular eclipse of 2012, which was amazing, but NOTHING like a total eclipse. So now I have plans to go to Texas for the eclipse in 2024, and hope to see the total eclipse of 2045. That last one, which will happen just before my 97th birthday is one all of you younger than me need to see. It will have a path similar to the 2017 eclipse, so for me, if I'm still around I'll head up to Colorado Springs because that city will be in the middle of totality. And the reason you want to see this eclipse is that totality will last 5 or more minutes, depending on where you see it. The one in 2017 was a bit over 2 minutes. Do the math. And see the eclipse.

Trust me, there is NOTHING like totality. I've seen, as said before any number of partial eclipses and even an annular eclipse, but totality is something else entirely. Don't fall for the, Oh well, it will be 97% here, so why get any closer and get yourself to the path of totality.

Phoenix isn’t getting much from the next one, but Bluff is right smack dab in its totality. I’m trying to convince my team lead we need to do our annual team meet up there instead of Phoenix…

I have the good fortune to be old and retired, so I'm not constrained by work.

There was a total eclipse in March, 1970. I was an airline ticket agent at DCA, Washington National Airport, at that time, and was well aware of the eclipse and that I couldn't travel to where totality would be which was maybe 50 miles south of me. I have a vivid memory of waiting to take the bus to work, and noticing the odd aspect of the sun, because where I was it was a partial eclipse.

Several times in years since I've experienced partial eclipses, and one annular eclipse. Several years ago I was driving from Santa Fe to Denver, Co, and about halfway there realized I didn't need my sunglasses. Weird. There were no clouds in the sky, but the sunlight wasn't as strong as it should be. After I got to my hotel, I spoke with My Son The Astronomer who asked, "Did you see the eclipse??" Headsmack! I'd been slightly aware of it, and then totally forgot. But yeah, not needing sunglasses in the middle of the day is a clue.

Now that I have seen totality, I understand why people who can, will travel far and wide to see a total eclipse.

Turns out there will be another annular eclipse that I'll be able to see next year. Hooray!