Denvention Day 3
In the Dealer’s room, time moves in leaps. Every time I glance at the clock, the minutes are around “29” but the hour has changed. I think this phenomenon is due to the tidal pattern created by the convening and release of panels. Today was slower. There were more breaks, but this was just fine because it meant that the average length of conversations increased. We got to meet people from Codex (an online writer’s forum) for breakfast. Then through the course of the day, several of them stopped by the booth to say hello. We had enough space to invite people inside the booth to sit down and chat. Alas our extra space will be gone tomorrow since the dealers who were supposed to have the space showed up. We enjoyed it while it lasted. Now we know that in future dealer’s rooms, we’ll want two tables for Howard. Unfortunately most of the dealers I’ve talked to are experiencing slower sales than they hoped for. I hope it picks up for them tomorrow.
In the category of “things that make us go squee,” Jay Lake stopped by our booth to say hello and tell Howard how much he likes Schlock Mercenary. I’ve not read any of Jay’s stories, but I hear his name everywhere and his badge was bristling with pins from Hugo nominations, Campbell awards, and other awards. He was a joy to talk to, but he had a panel to go to, so he could not stay long.
Right at the end of the day, Howard returned to our booth with Greg Bear. We’d heard that Greg reads Schlock Mercenary, but it was delightful to have the rumor confirmed. We took a picture of Howard and Greg standing together, both of them saying “Sqee!” Then Greg and Astrid stood at our booth talking while Howard drew a quick caricature. They even bought one of our books. Greg also signed the copy of Moving Mars that we brought with us. “To Howard and Sandra. Great minds laugh alike.” To top it off, Steve Jackson walked past. Howard hailed him and then introduced Steve Jackson to Greg Bear.
Tonight’s dinner was pizza in our room. We needed a quiet space before heading off into the wilds of the Friday night parties. I’m blogging now because I’ll probably be too tired when the parties are over.