First of all, I had a WONDERFUL time, as always. You folks always make me, and Tony, feel so very welcome it's like a family reunion. No one's uptight, and there's no side to anyone. Great to meet Keith, Dave and Nanci for the first time, too!
Sorry we missed most of Thursday. We arrived just as they were finishing up Rick's memorial (around 9pm?).
I 'think' I managed to navigate the late nights without puking or punching someone, although I seem to remember babbling incoherently about this and that, so if anyone here got their ear severely bent, I DO apologize.
There were some good panels, although I had a few bones to pick with one of them. But, no worries.
Great to see others I hadn't met before - Kealan, Eric, Hal, the great James A Moore, and Mary SanGiovanni (at last!). There were others I really wanted to talk to and the opportunity just didn't arise - OR - I was having a crippling attack of the Shy People. It really was a case of - Okay, I've had a couple of beers, NOW I can go talk to Kealan, and Jim.
Had some lovely conversations with everyone in our group.
The anthology signing was my first. It was awesome, and quite surreal. I bought books, ran out of cash and luggage space or I would have bought more.
Other highlights:
Hal talking about Vincent Price and Dom DeLuise cooking in the same kitchen.
Looking at David's wicked cool cover art, listening to his process, while Keith offered his own insights on the subject. Right at that moment it felt like being at an art convention. SO cool.
Received wonderful rib-crushing hugs from Kurt and Jim Moore, although Matt Bechtel has you both beat.
There's probably more.
