You may wonder why I refer to Thursday, August 18th as Day 1 of the convention, when there were several events on Wednesday the 17th. To answer that I must refer you to Southwest Airlines, which decided to cancel my Wednesday morning flight so that I didn't arrive in Kansas City until Thursday. So for me, Thursday was Day 1.
My plane landed slightly early on Thursday, just after 1 p.m. My first panel was at 2 p.m. Kansas City's airport is 20 miles from the downtown Convention Center, and I had to pick up my badge at Registration. I could hear the stopwatch ticking. Fortunately my cab driver covered the distance in only 25 minutes (but the fare was shockingly high; unless you're in a tearing hurry the way I was, find some other way to get out of KC's airport). I registered, picked up my packet of Program Participant stuff, and slid into the meeting room with a couple of minutes to spare.
That first panel, "Writing Games in Science Fiction," went very well. I was moderator, and the panel consisted of science fiction writers Becky Chambers, Andrea Phillips, and Peter Tieryas; with fantasy author Tim Akers. All of us had experience as either game designers or avid players, and there was a nice mix of gaming backgrounds: some tabletop players, some computer gamers. I may have been a little frazzled at the start, but after a few minutes the five of us settled into a nice rhythm and I think our discussion was productive.
After that I went to the "What's New at Tor Books" panel, hosted by about half the Tor editorial staff. There are some neat books coming up next year, but I don't have one in the lineup. The one I found most interesting is an upcoming fantasy, Sun Born, by Michael and Kathleen Gear.
When that presentation ended I spent some time hanging around with Tor editor Jennifer Gunnels talking about writing projects, and we were joined by my fellow CSFW writers Alexander Jablokov, James Patrick Kelly, and Ken Schneyer.
For pure entertainment I stopped in at the "The Real Lab" panel, which featured five scientists telling fun horror stories about experimental mistakes, clueless lab techs, poorly-designed projects, and amusing disasters. (This is one of the best things about knowing scientists socially: they have some of the most hilarious anecdotes if you can get them talking.)
I dined at a brew-pub called Gordon Biersch, which had some tasty German food. At some point during this trip I'm going to try some of the famous Kansas City barbecue. Recommendations are welcome.
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