Me and my daughter at World Fantasy 2007

I'm totally wiped out, coming down with a cold. I slept horribly the whole time we were out there, and dragged through the days like a zombie. I did get some great pics though, which shows that even zombies can handle today's tech with little or no brain activity.

Click the pics to see them larger.

Before I get started: Alice, you made all this happen! We wouldn't have made it to Saratoga Springs without your perseverance, patience, low-sleep driving skills, scrupulous tile-bleaching, and tolerance of my bad behavior. Thank you.

World Fantasy 2007 was simply amazing. I didn't know what to expect. This is a professional and "serious reader" conference with editors and agents and authors running around, lunching, doing business in the halls. I hardly saw Paula Guran, had a five minute chat with her and Matt Cook (Blood Magic), and then she was gone, off presumably doing the things editors do at these kinds of get togethers. When I did see her later, she looked too busy to stop and talk.

I took my daughter Chloe along with me on this one, and we had a good time tracking down her favorite authors, Scott Westerfeld, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Garth Nix, (some of mine, too), and getting them to sign books--which all were happy to do.

We sat in on quite a few panels, but I think these were the best:

• How a Book Cover is Chosen. Irene Gallo, Jacob Weisman, Tom Kidd, Lou Anders, John Picacio.
  
• The Best Fantasy Worlds. Kathleen Woodbury, Delia Sherman, Joel Champetier, Charlaine Harris
  
• Ghosts and Revenants Down Under. Garth Nix, Jack Dann, Robert Hood, Kaaron Warren, Deborah Biancotti


• Reading: Young Adult Writers group reading. Holly Black, Cassie Clare, Sarah Beth Durst, Tiffany Trent.

I'll stop here to point out that Delia Sherman is amazing, and Charlaine Harris is hilarious, but even Charlaine couldn't compete with the Aussies.

The Australian authors were the funniest group there, ranging all over the fantastic map with Australian themes for stories, poisonous insects and snakes, isolation as a fundamental influencer in Australian lit, and they even broke out in song with Garth Nix leading several lines of Waltzing Mathilda.

We hit the autograph session late Friday and got a few more pics. I met Maria Lima, and Chloe scouted out the authors she wanted sigs from.

Fantasy Worlds, Book Covers

Australian authors, YA Reading

The main reception area / me and Lois McMaster Bujold in front of the Prime Books table. (Wow!)

Jim Frenkel of Tor and Craig Shaw Gardner / Chloe with Sarah Beth Durst

Chloe getting (another) autograph from Bruce Coville, and then from Tamora Pierce.

Chloe with Holly Black, and a little later getting Cassandra Clare's autograph.

Chloe and Scott Westerfeld, and Garth Nix signing Sabriel for Chloe.

I am going to do my best to get to World Fantasy 2008 in Calgary. Hope to see you there.