Radcon recap #1

What a trip! I flew to Portland and had lunch with family. Then I had a cuppa with M.K. (Mary) Hobson. I also interviewed her using my Blackberry to record the interview. We had a great time talking about writing and the industry. Afterward, she showed me the church of Elvis. Apparently, you can feed it money for a fortune and call a number to have an Elvis impersonator marry you. She said this little shrine has moved all over Portland over the years.



I'm still kicking myself that I didn't have someone take our picture at Backspace. It's a gamer coffee shop, complete with LAN room in the back.

The train was on time and I had a little bit of daylight to see the view over the river, but I was so tired that I started nodding off looking out the window. Of course, I got my second wind when it was dark with nothing to see. I did manage to get some reading done and start on a new story for an anthology.

I had dinner in the hotel restaurant around 10PM. Then crashed as it was an early day in the morning. 8AM found me off to the airport where Washington State University has labs set up for the United States Transuranium & Uranium Registries.


Yes, that's what's in the freezers.


And more in the boxes.


And they're eventually burned down to get at the metals.



And then the chemical separation occurs here.

I wonder if you can guess what's in this well-traveled trunk?


The first panel was on writing non-human protagonists. Larry Niven was on this panel, as was C.S. Cole, Christina York and Katherine O'Kelly.

I shared the Short Story Markets panel with Jennifer Brozek, Bobbie Benton-Hull, Harold Gross and DiAnne Berry. So many aspiring writers were whipping their pens across their notepads. I managed to plug Broad Universe and Other Worlds Writers' Workshop, too.

I was drafted to participate in the Opening Ceremonies. The list of GOHs for this con was ever changing. Originally, Ben Bova was the Guest of Honor. Sadly, his wife passed away recently. Also, Jay Lake was to be the Toastmaster. His health prevented him from attending. And Gaye Haldeman was to be the fan guest of honor and bring her writer husband in tow. Joe Haldeman has also had health issues of late and couldn't make it either. Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith came to the rescue. Another writer that was slated to appear was Ken Scholes. He also could not make it, but stayed home with the little ones while his wife went. In a warped ghost of Radcon future scene, Sue Bolich and I were his grown daughters.

That brings us to the rousing game of writers vs. artists game of pictionary. The writers were Lizzy Shannon, Rhiannon Louve and myself. We competed with and dominated (at last amended count) the artist Joey Jordan and others. The artists were great at guessing.... >evil grin<

I finished up the evening dancing with my Broad Universe buddy, Carol (C.S.) Cole. At one point the DJ put on Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and the whole room was belting it out. All 200 or so of them.

I'll cover Saturday and Sunday tomorrow or Thursday.

And here's what was in that trunk. It's a leg bone encased in a substance that is the same density as human flesh. It's used to calibrate radiation measuring devices.




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