World Fantasy Con in Toronto: A Few Photos

Now that I've had a full day to recover from the World Fantasy Convention in Toronto, I'm ready to attempt a write-up. First, I'll cheat and post a Halloween photo of myself. It has nothing to do with the convention, but it'll let you know what I look like.


My half-assed steampunk costume. All about the goggles.

Aaaand my disclaimers: I won't even attempt to list all of the events I attended or the people I met because I will inevitably forget someone or something. Also, I used the crummy camera on my old iPhone. While the quality is bad, the intentions were good.

I arrived in Toronto on Halloween with a number of other Seattle writers. We shared an expensive cab ride out to the hotel. Later we met up at the bar and made merry until jet lag caught up with us. The next day I went on a walking adventure, but it was cold and returned back to the hotel after about an hour. Lunch was at a wonderful Chinese restaurant across the street, where I tried fried noodles, Canton style, for the first time and had some sweetened mashed taro cakes. All excellent company and cuisine.

And then the con started and my narrative begins to skip over huge chunks of time and space.


Patrick Rothfuss reads his work at the EPIC event (EPIC is a collection of epic fantasy stories)


Brandon Sanderson reads his work at the EPIC event


EPIC authors answering questions. Mary Robinette Kowal, Aliette de Bodard, John Joseph Adams, Brandon Sanderson, and Patrick Rothfuss. In the lower right you can also see Andrew S. Williams, my con roommate.


The con hotel was located in Richmond Hill, north Toronto.


Peter Straub reads his work.


Robert J. Sawyer reads his work.


Ada Milenkovic Brown, Cat Rambo, and Deanna Francis


Gemma Files reads her work.


Scott H. Andrews reads his work.


Andrew Penn Romine reads his work at the Lightspeed event.


Poutine with smoked meat, pickles, gravy, fries, and cheese curds from Jack Astor's Bar & Grill. I ate poutine three times on this trip!


Angel Leigh McCoy and friend at one of the parties.


I'm a sucker for signs with closing times listed as "question mark." Also, in this room I discovered the joy of Sortilege Maple Syrup and Whiskey Liqueur.


Hanging out with M. Bennardo. Not pictured: Malki-time.


James L. Sutter and Andrew Penn Romine at breakfast.


Panel about creating cover art. Richard A. Kirk, David Malki, Ed Greenwood, and Charles Vess.

One of the highlights of this con was chatting with Ed Greenwood over dinner at the Fox and Fiddle. The man is amazingly prolific! He'd written 6,000 words just that morning.


Deanna Francis and Cat Rambo before the banquet.

I never managed to take a photo of Nathan Crowder it seems, but I spent a lot of time hanging out with him as well. Overall, it was great to meet so many new people and reconnect with others. I am in awe of everyone's talent and incredibly happy I could have this experience--especially since I can now compare it to last year's WFC in San Diego, my first con.

By the way, the photos I took at last year's WFC are over at Facebook if you'd like to see them. Those were much fancier because I lugged along the Nikon D700.