dragoncon_lj_archive | Amazing Personages of D*C (Reply)

It's probably going to take me days to post and/or fully process all that happened these past few days, but one thing that hits me right away is the number of really cool people I met and hung out with, many of whom I'd never met. I think I've made some new friends!

Among the guests I got to know a lot better, from moderating panels & hanging out:

Anne Sudworth
Although she was mainly confined to her booth at the Art Show, I enjoyed whatever moments with Anne (and Warren) that I could. At one point I sat with her in her booth for over an hour. I love her stuff and love her. I feel like a giddy high school kid when we're chatting. Anne wants me to go to the Whitby goth festival with her and I'm thinking I might look into it. The woman has got to have some fabulous friends and hell, concerts and goth market all weekend? Sounds cool to me!

Neil Robinson
I read his novel Oliphan Oracus a few months back when Storm was editing it for IP, emailed him a lot in advance of the con, then spent a day with his family right when they came into Atlanta. Neil did quite a few panels and I enjoyed his stories of writing, working at a newspaper and his readings. Neil scored some success on the publicity front too, selling a few copies of his book and being invited to a con in Chicago.

Lynn Flewelling
Since I'm the one who invited her, it was a real joy to have Lynn attend. We were on a bunch of panels, with me as moderator, talking about "alterative sexuality and gender" in SF/F, various writing panels, etc. Sunday night she came by the room party in 1215 and managed to chat with me and Storm. Besides listening to those two trade compliments and talk about writing, the highlight of that was Lynn asking me if I'd be interested in becoming her webmaster -- to which I offered a hearty "Hell yeah!" :)

Jacqueline Carey
I also invited Jacqueline so again, was a thrill to have her around! She was on the same panels as Lynn for the most part, plus she did a Q&A with her fans and was on the angels panel with Storm and Rogue. Jaqueline was really cool, not nervous or flustered with the whole con busines, even though this was her first. Even though she's written all this "exotic" amazing stuff, she really was the epitome of a smart, cool, "regular" person who was comfy hanging out with people and not stuffy or being snobby. She was up in the room (Storm's) one night too.

Caitlin Kiernan
Can't say I got to "know" Caitlin and didn't have one single converstion with her (except a couple short ones apologizing for missng a panel) but I was still psyched to meet her. What a presence she had! I enjoyed the way she spoke up on panels disagreeing with people or adding her own bit, rather than just nodding in agreement. Loved this thing she went off on about absinthe. Her costume on Sunday was also incredible!

Rogue
Considering I'd seen him at D*C the past 2 years, idolized his hair, and then since last fall listened to Cruxshadows pretty compulsively, it was totally awesome to get to know him (his mind) through 1) the panels he was on and 2) just hanging out. He was on our goth music, history of goth and angels panels and whooooooooooah, was he a very worthy panel addition! The funny thing was that although he didn't really talk to Storm or me or any of our track people during the con, once it was over we all got to chatting. He sat at our table during the Dead Dog party and yesterday afternoon our group and the band sat around the lobby of the Hyatt chatting for a long time. He and I were trading stories of bad roommates. And now I'm listening to 3 more CDs I bought from them!

I also met a couple of "old" friends I've only known online, like Deb &