LoneStarCon3 : Camera Phone Edition

WorldCon is a Massively Traveling Science-Fiction Convention (MTSFC for short, like an MMORPG but not at all), and is literary based. For its 71st year, WorldCon was hosted by LoneStarCon (3) in San Antonio, Texas, August 29th through September 2.

And I have all the low-resolution camera phone pictures to prove it.

Something I like to call "Clouds, Window Seat" -- on way to San Antonio


View from the balcony of my hotel room overlooking the river walk, to give you a sense of place. My awesome roommate was Andrew S. Williams.

If it's not clear, this recap will be based around pictures I shot around the con like some kind of fancy photo essay, only with less connective tissue and fewer megapixels.

So. First, I woke up early Thursday morning and went on a lantern tour of a cavern.


Kelly Lagor and Nicole Feldringer waiting to start our Lantern Tour of the Natural Bridge Caverns


Infamous lantern


Our guide, plus the actual Natural Bridge in background. Marks the entrance to the living cavern.


Almost the whole tour was in total darkness, except for our lanterns. At the end, our guide switched on the stage lighting so we could take pictures.


Melting rocks, or living calcite formations. You pick.


Self-portrait. I like to take these frequently, just in case one is needed for a Missing Persons Poster.


The first panel of the con I attended was on Fantastic London. Two of the panelists were Paul Cornell and Elizabeth Bear.

I signed up for a lot of Kaffeeklatsch and Literary Beer events, and consider them to have been the most useful time I spent at LoneStarCon. If you've never been to one of these before, it's just an informal hour-long conversation that consists of one person-of-interest with 9-12 attendees around a big table. To join you just had to sign up a half-day in advance, assuming there was space left. Drinks weren't provided, but they were available to purchase nearby -- either coffee or beer, depending on the type of event. Hence the "coffee" and "beer" theme.


Kaffeeklatsch with Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine


Outside the Alamo, twilight


Ghost Tour that left from the Alamo. I only lasted a half hour in the heat before giving up and heading back to the bar for A/C and libations.


Hanging out with Cat Rambo


Kaffeeklatsch with Lee Harris, senior editor at Angry Robot Books

Not pictured: Writers Workshop organized by Oz Drummond. My session was led by David D. Levine and Amy Sundberg. Extremely useful.


Literary Beer event with Kij Johnson


Sunset from the SFWA suite -- I was Cat Rambo's plus one. Thanks, Cat!

After the sunset, I hung out with a bunch of people including Chester Hoster and I tagged along with Sanford Allen and his friends to attend room parties. (mostly not pictured) One of the highlights happened at the Helsinki in 2015 bid party. I sampled a Finnish liqueur called Terva made from the wood and roots of pine, pine tar. Loved it.


Bland Lemon Denton & the Lemonaides - Description from program "Hugo and Nebula nominated Austin author Brad Denton rounds up his band of talented musicians"


Kaffeeklatsch with John Berlyne, agent at the Zeno Agency. (In the process of signing up for this event, I also met Brian C. E. Buhl, who has his own write-ups of the con at his blog.)


An Hour with Lois McMaster Bujold: Lillian Stewart Carl, Lois McMaster Bujold


Kaffeeklatsch with Neil Clarke, publisher/editor-in-chief of Clarkesworld Magazine


Drinks with Authors event at Ernie's Bar: Scott H. Andrews (Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Beneath Ceaseless Skies) and Cat Rambo


Random shot of the Drinks with Authors crowd at Ernie's Bar. How many authors can you spot?


Hanging out at the bar with Chuck Wendig. I took a less blurry picture, but he looked way too serious.


Hanging out at the bar with writers Rob Ziegler, Sandra Wickham, and Tobias Buckell


Blurry picture of the audience for the Broad Universe reading - I read my poem "Shag" that's been accepted by Kaleidotrope for 2014


Literary Beer event with editor Ellen Datlow


Kaffeeklatsch with Dave Wolverton aka David Farland


Riverwalk on the walk to dinner

Instead of attending the Hugo Awards, I met up with some very entertaining authors at the bar and we followed the results on Twitter.


Lettie Prell and Tod McCoy


Cat Rambo and Ann Leckie


Me and Django Wexler

Not pictured, but also making an appearance at the table: Wesley Chu


Literary Beer event with Paul Cornell


Waiting at the San Antonio airport with J.A. Pitts, Brenda Cooper, Nicole Feldringer, Keffy R. M. Kehrli, Cat Rambo, and Tod McCoy. (Not pictured: Mark Teppo, Kay Kenyon, and probably others I'm forgetting)

Overall I had a great time at LoneStarCon3. I know I am forgetting lots of people (like Cormac! whose last name has slipped my mind, and chatting with Rhiannon Held and Patrick S. Tomlinson and Michael R. Underwood and Mari Ness and S. Hutson Blount and Christie Yant and Brooke Bolander and Sara A. Mueller and many others) and I apologize for that. Thanks, everyone, for making it such a great con!