WisCon 2008

I thought I was going to write a coherent Wiscon report, but in fact I will not do so. Here, instead, is a semi-coherent list in no particular order of Clarion West alumni I talked to, saw, or believe might have been at Wiscon: 

Nancy Jane Moore, 1997, with a new book out at Wiscon

Ysabeau Wilce, 2002, with a new book due in September and fabulous chocolate at her party

Daniel Starr, 2003, hair lashed in leather, with an idea for publishing on the web

Kameron Hurley, 2000, with a brand-new three-book contract

Chris Rowe, 1996, who remembered a party at my house twelve years ago in considerably greater detail than I did

Meghan McCarron, 2004, cheerful and omnipresent as karaoke host or Tiptree juror

Deb Taber, 2004, who employed safe food-handling practices learned at the feet of nuns and read a story that I really shouldn't have listened to

Bob Angell, 2004, who tended bar at the Clarion West party and read a story I didn't like; good story, but way too awful and believable a near-future

Debbie Smith Daughetee, 2004, working on a possible short animated film and picture book

Charlie Allery, 2003, helping with party setup and once again writing to deadline

David Levine, 2000, also with a new book out at Wiscon, demonstrating corpse pose at the end of the convention while Scott Custis mused about why Wiscon had never made a contingency plan for the plague

Ada Milenkovic Brown, 2005, with whom I exchanged grins but possibly no words

Cat Rambo, 2005, seen in passing with her pink hair; I saw someone else at Wiscon who looked just like Cat from the back but presumably doesn't write like her from the front

Tempest Bradford, 2003, for whom I never did buy a drink with an umbrella in it, and therefore I will still owe her said drink next year (but I can't remember why any more)

Sarah Brandel, 1999, demonstrating once again that she doesn't write horror stories, just stories that hang out next to horror stories

Ben Burgis, 2006, who said he'll do the Write-a-thon again

Nisi Shawl, 1992, with a new book out at Wiscon, partying and organizing for the Carl Brandon Society

Vylar Kaftan, 2004, spinning off good ideas at a pace unsustainable by ordinary human beings

Simran Khalsa, 2002, whose smile lights up two or three rooms all by itself

Claire Light, 2003, also partying, organizing, and raising money for the Carl Brandon Society

Darja Malcolm-Clarke, 2004, who I saw at the Clarion West party on Friday and possibly again in passing days later

Mary Anne Mohanraj, 1997, with partner and adorable sleeping offspring (I am told offspring is frequently awake), looking forward to teaching at Clarion Diego this summer

Amy Thomson, 1984, resplendent in her newly-purchased froggie pillbox hat, made by me

Therese Pieczynski, 1997, whom I brazenly claimed to have met before, though neither of us remembered the other (odds are good that we had met, since Glenn and I threw the last party during her year at CW)

Wendy Schaffer, 2002, with whom I actually conversed for a meaningful period of time while sitting around with a bunch of other people who live in the same city as she does, none of whom she'd met before

Patrick Swenson, 1993, who made it all the way back to Seattle before coming down with the dreadful Wiscon plague

Rachel Swirsky, 2005, and it's a good thing I talked to her and her students for a while last year, because this year I just saw her in passing

Leah Cutter, 1997, always a bundle of energy, makes me feel more alert just to see her, signed up for the Write-a-thon before I asked her to

Ann Leckie, 2005, talked to might be an overly-generous description of my interaction with Ann, but I nodded to her from across a hall rather than across a room

Ben Rosenbaum, 2001,  I nodded to Ben from across a room, getting ever more distant

Craig Gidney, 1996, this one's really dubious; I was in the same room with Craig twice, but I don't think I ever caught his eye

Jed Hartman, 1991, was in the same room with me, and it's possible he waved cheerfully at me, just as I waved cheerfully at him, but he wasn't looking when I waved, and if he waved, it was at some point when I wasn't looking, either.

I didn't see Alice Kim, 2004, Carolyn Gilman, 1989, Alexander Lamb, 1997, Susan Palwick, 1985, Andrea Hairston, 1999, Gerri Balter, 1985, or James Thomas, 2002, all of whom might well have been visible at various points during Wiscon.

I wave at you all and beg your pardon if we in fact had a long, intimate conversation which I forgot when overcome by norovirus. Remind me of it, won't you? I might be able to find you out if you make it up, but if you can remember me being wittier or taller than I am, go right ahead.

This is the frenetic lead-up period to Wiscon. For some members of the science fiction community, Wiscon is at least as important a part of the year as the worldcon, and it starts later this week.

Clarion West will have a party at Wiscon from 9 PM to around midnight on Friday, May 23, in Room 607 of the Concourse Hotel, to celebrate our upcoming 25th consecutive workshop. I know a lot of you will be there, from all over the US and across the Atlantic, and I look forward to seeing you. Leslie and Neile won't make it this time, but board members Eileen Gunn, Nisi Shawl, and I will be there, along with a number of other volunteers you may remember from your time in Seattle.

I know many Clarion West alumni will be reading, participating in panels, launching books, and talking and hanging out all weekend. On Friday night, be sure to wander up and down the Wiscon party hall. Congratulate Ysabeau Wilce from the class of 2002 at her book launch party in Room 634; congratulate David Levine from the class of 2000 at his book launch party in Room 611; stop into the Carl Brandon Society's party in Room 623 and thank them for sponsoring the Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarships for students of color attending Clarion and Clarion West. Have I been hortatory enough?

 See you there!