incompletely listing worldcon

--with apologies to people, places, books and whatever else forgotten--

people finally, properly or serendipitously met:
Justina Robson*(and husband Richard Fennell)
Patrick Samphire
Niall Harrison
Amy Sisson
Didi Chanoch
Freda Warrington
Geoff Ryman (I managed to contain the inner fangirl. Barely.)
Liz Hand
John Clute
Juliet Ulman
Jude-Marie Green
Susanna Clarke (So nice!)
Greer Gilman
Veronica Schanoes (Ask her about her snake jewelry.)

people we happily got to spend more time with than usual:
David Moles
Jed Hartman
Stephanie Burgis
Chance Morrison
Ellen Datlow
Scott Edelman (who along with John Scalzi was on our replacement flight)

people we got to see, but not nearly enough:
Justine Larbalestier
Scott Westerfeld
Adam Stemple (Ask his "publicist" about his starred Booklist review.)
Lauren McLaughlin
Andrew Woffinden
Benjamin Rosenbaum
Sharyn November
Andy and Sydney Duncan
Greg Frost (whose new collection looks GORGEOUS)
John Scalzi
John Klima (though sadly no Lush trip)
Mark Rich
Martha Borchardt
China Mieville
Stan Robinson

best flatmates in the world:
Hugo award-winning Kelly D. Link (YAY!)
Gavin Grant
Ross Grant

yucky tastes:
absinthe pastilles
mincemeat canelloni

superior tastes:
gnocchi
fresh mussels and the cloutie at Arasaig
mozzarella, olive, red pepper, tomato, garlic baguette at Cafe Gandolfi (good company too)
divine hummus and tzatziki at Konaki Greek Taverna
Hugo Losers Party (although they don't call it that anymore) chocolates
lots of wine and good cider

panels attended**:
Fantastic Cities - A celebration of all the many wild, wonderful, vibrant, dangerous and exciting cities of fantasy literature. Jeffrey Ford, Ian R. Macleod, Michael Swanwick, Claire Weaver (I hear this was interesting, but I fell asleep; jetlag, you are cruel.)

Why Should We Mind? SF/Fantasy & Consciousness - From telepathy to life-after-death, the Singularity and uploaded consciousness, and into the psychotropic, the mind fascinates SF writers. Kelly Link, Alastair Reynolds, Justina Robson, Ian Watson, Connie Willis (By far, the best panel I attended. And not just because Scalzi laughed at the word ape.)

Growth of the Slipstream - Our panellists look at the fiction that slips between traditional genre boundaries, and ask why this kind of fiction appeals to SF readers. Hal Duncan, Colin Greenland, Elizabeth Hand, Kelly Link, Mark Rich, Delia Sherman (Better than your average slipstream panel.)

The Mason-Dixon Line Redrawn: America Divided? - Recent election maps show the US largely divided into urban Democrat states and rural Republican ones. What kinds of stories do the two Americas want to hear -- and should we be telling them? Harry Harrison, Paul Kincaid, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Kim Stanley Robinson (Stan Robinson is the smartest person in any room, period.)

The Green Children of Woolpit - Who were the two green-skinned children that legend says appeared in the Sussex village of Woolpit nearly nine centuries ago? Duncan Lunan explores a remarkable answer to this ancient mystery. Duncan Lunan (Okay, so we didn't actually get to this, but we did meet the guy in the lobby at the Hilton later that night and get a precis of it: evil British lords and ladies supplying an alien colony. You heard it here second.)

readings attended:
Kelly Link
Christopher Rowe
Gavin Grant

books acquired:
Midnighters 3: Blue Noon ARC, Scott Westerfeld (made the trip home almost painless, more to come)
Magic Lessons ARC, Justine Larbalestier (can't wait to read the finished version as the first draft was FABULOUS)
I Live With You, Carol Emshwiller's new collection (about which also more to come)
Air, Geoff Ryman (hardback UK edition!)
Strange Itineraries, Tim Powers
River of Gods, Ian McDonald
Finding Helen, Colin Greenland
the others are in the lost bag and I can't remember their names

amazing things seen:
Alasdair Gray-designed murals at Òran Mór

bags lost:
Two, with actually lots of irreplaceable stuff in them (the little rocket ship clock given to all Hugo nominees by the Los Angeles WorldCon folks, Christopher's certificate suitable for framing, library books (not irreplaceable, but expensive to replace), basically every piece of jewelry Barb and Kelly have ever made for me along with my Grandmother's emerald ring that she bought with the inheritance from her brother's accidental death at the track, and of course, the dress I got married in) so keep your fingers crossed that they turn up

*Witness new Justina blog.
**I would like to take this opportunity to announce the rebirth of the panel