A belated Nebulations report

[deborahjross]

Different but nonetheless enjoyable. As usual, far too many people I wanted to talk to for the available time. "Ships passing in the night" or "friendly waves across a crowded room." Hello to everyone on LJ to whom I intended to talk, and as usual badly underestimated the amount of time.

Still, the drive down was pleasant and mostly free of obnoxious traffic. The Hotel Luxe was very strange: the decor was Everything Is Square (square soap, lamps, bathroom fixtures...) in shades ranging from cocoa to chocolate, way too dark for me. The opening event was the usual mixer, in which I got to stand in for Mary Rosenblum as Nebula nominee and grab a bunch of friends for dinner. Shared an otherwise-prohibitively-expensive room with Diana Paxson and Juliette Wade, so in-room time was a bit like a pajama party and definitely relaxing and fun.

Saturday morning began with a mixer for SFFWA and WGA members. Very cool getting to talk to people who write scripts for TV shows (some of which I'd actually heard of -- I got to go, "Squee! My daughter loves your show!" -- nicely omitting that I myself had never seen it -- to one of the writers for EUREKA, and the first thing he did after looking Very Pleased was to ask her age and tell me she was in the right demographic. Do any of you sff/f writers out there think about such things?) Also connected with Cynthia Felice, who critiqued my first attempt at a novel with unbelievable tact and kindness.

Lunch -- did we have lunch? Yes, we had lunch somewhere in the blitz, and then Kevin and Rebecca Moesta Anderson and I trundled over to the LATimesFestivalofBooks (chauffeuring courtesy of one of Kevin's students, thank you!) where we all signed books at the Mysterious Galaxy Booth. The Festival was h-u-g-e. And inspiring -- wow! all these people, all these different people, all here because they love books! Two high points: a fairly young woman spied the copy of Lace and Blade I had brought to wave about, since MG did not stock it, and went, "OMG! I love this book!" (pause for thrilling palpitations of an editor's heart) (resume narrative) The second was meeting an old friend from my PTA days in LA who just happened to recognize me. She's gone on to become a teacher at that same elementary school, so we fast-forwarded through the last decade and told each other how great we look!

Then back to the hotel to get all shiny (somewhere there are pics, but I can't find them -- I'm resplendent in a red silk tunic with a golden dragon, and black crushed velvet pants) and banquetize. norilana had its very own table. Janis Ian was Toastmistress, and brought down the house with an amazing filk that was a love song to all the worlds and authors who inspired her. You can read her own comments and see pics of her with various sfnal folk here: http://www.janisian.com/news.html

The next day was Everyone Going Home. Except me and a few local-er folk. I spend the afternoon and dinner with manawolf, otana, and sartorias. Had Amazing Chinese Food and returned to the hotel, minus the load of dishes I'd brought down for them and with a happy tummy and even happier heart. Drove back.

Spend 2 days playing Mad Catch-Up, then worked and did Hebrew class and now back into Catch-Up mode. Great to see you all!

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Huh? Was I there in ghost form? I sure couldn't afford it in person! :-)

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Yup, you were. Didn't realize it, did you? Right there at the norilana table.

I did a little preliminary negotiation on behalf of Lovely Husband and hence, yourself. The two of you should touch base about it when you have time.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Coolness!