Readercon has been so incredibly busy that I haven’t had time to take many pictures. And I’m so tired tonight that I’m not going to try to post about how the convention is going. I’m just going to post those pictures and try to write a Readercon report tomorrow.

But I will tell you that my wonderful editor took me to lunch, and then we discussed the final edits to The Thorn and the Blossom (AKA the Secret Project, but now that the title has been on Amazon for a while, I think I can use it, right?). And he showed me a mock-up of the book. It’s going to be unbelievably beautiful. I can’t wait for you to see it.

This was me, ready for Readercon on Friday morning.  The convention is only about ten minutes away, so all I needed to do was drive there.  On Friday, I went for bohemian.  This skirt was from a thrift store.

Friday was a blur of panels and readings, so I only took a picture of the Meet the Prose party. In our registration packets, we all get stickers with one sentence we’ve chosen from our writing. The sentence I chose was from the YA novel: “Mary Jekyll rang the bell of 221 B Baker Street.” And then we walk around the room, trading sentences. Mine were gone in the first fifteen minutes, but I got sentences from favorite writers and critics like John Crowley, Elizabeth Hand, John Clute, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, and John Kessel.

Saturday, I had more time.  I wasn’t going for preppy, but that may be what I ended up with.  This skirt was also from a thrift store.  And so, come to think of it, was the bag.  I always carry a bag for a notebook, pens, and bottled water.  Essential con supplies.

I had a chance to walk around the dealers’ room and talk to my favorite small presses, like Tachyon, which is publishing Kafkaesque (with my story “The Rapid Advance of Sorrow“).

Here are Stephen, Nivair, and Tempest, standing by the Clarkesworld table.  Three of my favorite people!

And here is the Clarkesworld table.  Clarkesworld published a paired essay and story of mine called “Writing My Mother’s Ghosts” and “Her Mother’s Ghosts.”

And the Prime Books table.  Prime published my short story collection, In the Forest of Forgetting.

And here is Small Beer Press, which long ago published my first collection, a chapbook called “The Rose in Twelve Petals and Other Stories.”  But I’m afraid that sold out (within the first few months, I think.)

On Saturday I had two readings.  The first was the Rhysling reading.  My poem “Ravens” was a Rhysling finalist (but did not win). We had a very good crowd for the reading.  It’s always nice to see poetry getting attention.

The second reading was the Wold Newton reading, where we all read to the music of Brian Slattery.  This is Matthew Cheney reading.  I climbed down off the platform to take a quick photograph.

And that’s all I’m going to include tonight. One more day of the convention. I’m so tired, but I’m also having wonderful time. It’s always sad when Readercon ends and all of my friends go back to their own parts of the country. Fortunately, many of them are in New York, and I’ll be able to see them in August.

I’ll try to write more tomorrow. Right now, I’m going to sleep!