Well that was some Goddamn fun I had, spending the weekend at Ad Astra as I did, staying up too late and doing a stink of a lot of panels and flashing the cover of Monstrous Affections in front of very many people who had no idea what was coming. Ad Astra is the local literary sf convention for me, and I always manage to have a good time there. This time was busy, and enlightening. My high school pal Steve Bevan showed up with Gwen and their daughter Grace, and my only regret was not being able to hang out with 'em a bit more.
But damn, it was busy for us Ad Astra panelists.
We spoke about how there is a fine line between screaming horror and Bugs Bunny; we considered how ravenous, brain-eating zombies might be interpreted as an ode to community and cooperation; we looked at a movie made from a Douglas Smith short story. We read stories, Peter Watts and I, until the time was up and we had to give up the room; and we all launched the hell out of ChiZine Publication's spring lineup, including Gemma Files' A Book of Tongues, and Douglas Smith's Chimerascope.
And as Michael Rowe observed, it seemed as though the fans who showed up were getting younger, and better looking, and much faster off the mark. I refrained from mentioning then that it might not be the fans that are getting younger, but we...
You get the idea.
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In an unrelated moment of self-congratulations, I would be remiss if I didn't note that Ellen Datlow wasn't quite finished with me when she gave "The Radejastians" an honorable mention in the Best Horror of the Year Volume 2. Today, she released her long list of recommended stories from 2009. Included was "Other People's Kids" from Monstrous Affections.
So thanks, Ellen!