Then I hopped - okay, sort of galumphed, really - onto the 194 to pick up my registration from Westercon and attend opening ceremonies. I ended up sitting right behind Greg Bear, and watching his reactions to some of the more flamboyant statements was far more entertaining than the proceedings, usually. Plus I adore Connie Willis, but she was a bit out of sorts - she warned us she was coming off HRT, and I admire her for being willing to attend the con as Toastmaster despite what must be essentially a massive case of PMS. Folks will do well to tread lightly around her this weekend, I'm afraid.
After that was over, I went out to where it had been announced that banquet tickets would be on sale, but they'd packed up and moved on. I hadn't run into anyone I knew other than in an eyes-meeting-across-a-crowded-room sense, and nothing on the schedule really grabbed my eye, so I got back on the bus and came home.
I was glad when I looked through my goody bag from registration that I hadn't yet picked up a copy of Kushiel's Dart, since Tor thoughtfully provided one. I started it on the bus home, and it looks to be one of those Novels Of Intrigue where there are forty-eleven houses named things I can't ever be bothered to keep sorted out. The writing is passable so far - a little florid at the very beginning, but really, that's to be expected of this sort of thing. It is, of course, the first of a trilogy - doesn't anyone write stand-alone novels anymore? or is it all the editors and what they are buying? Hmm, there's a question to throw to Claire Eddy of Tor tomorrow (the Editor GoH). Don't the Nielsen Haydens edit SF for Tor as well? Yes, yes they do.
