World Con was a blast. The convention itself was a bit sparse -- set in such a large convention center, it didn't feel as if there was much there there. So, it was up to the Hyatt, across the street, to be the meeting place du jour. I got to hang out with a number of writers, a few artists (but surprisingly few,) the smaller/hipper/cooler publishers, and the good folks of io9.
The art show was good -- lots of great talent but nothing I wasn't expecting....except that the 3D work stole the show, particularly Vincent Villafranca's bronze work. Vincent is, without a doubt, one of the coolest artists I've run into (thanks to an intro from John Picacio) in years. A little steampunk, a little western, a bit of humor, and a wonderful sense of character and body language. I was surprised to learn that he launches into a piece, without benefit of a clear drawing. 
Shout-outs to my new BFFs: John Joseph Adams -- editor extraordinaire. Writer Paolo Bacigalupi -- who I got to be for 24 hours. I never was so popular. I guess that's what happens when you have three Hugo nomination pins underlining a seemingly random collection of scrabble letters for a name. He, on the other hand, spent the time terrorizing authors with threats of purposefully bad covers. And Blake Charlton -- soonish to be Tor's coolest fantasy writer, if he ever gets that pesky medical degree out of the way. As if saving lives is more important than being a Tor fantasy writer. Whatever.It was great to see friends, John Picacio, who had a stand-out art show showing, including a new shadowbox. Lou Anders, Alan Beck, Bob Eggleton, Alan Beats. Despite staying up until 3:00am each morning, the days always seemed to end too quickly. Come Sunday, I wished I had more time with them all.
I got to be Stephan Martiniere at the Hugos, which was fun until he won the damn thing and I had to nervously stammer in front of a few thousand people. (Congrats, Stephan! I'm stealing the commemorative pen. Feel lucky you get the rocket back.) Liz Gorinsky was my date for the evening. We got to do the whirl of Pre & Post Hugo parties, along with above mentioned BFF posse.
What else...
I got to meet and spar a bit with Bill Willingham. Ken Scholes was sweet to seek me out just to say how much he loves his cover.
What else...
Well, more than I can remember at the moment. Very much looking forward to Montreal in 09!
PHOTOS
TOP SET: Blake Charlton and JJ Adams. Annaleen Newitz from io9. Annaleen, Blake, John. SECOND SET: Charles Stross. Paolo Bacigalupi. John Scalzi, Jim Minz, Lou Anders. Tom Doherty (yay!). THIRD SET: Bear, a big blue bear. FOURTH SET: Warren Hammond, don't know, Matthew Jarpe. Blake Charlton and Liz Gorinski, all dressed up. Mr. and Mrs. Ken Scholes. FIFTH: Scuplture by Vincent Villafranca. LAST SET: Paolo and I, stolen from stolen John Picacio's blog.