Well, I made into Madison last night. The first actual event is the writers workshop this afternoon--I finished my second story critique literally in the final minutes before we got in the car yesterday morning, but I am done with both of them, all printed up and nice like. If either of these people think I have anything useful to say, so much the better. If any of them have anything useful to say about "Crying Wolf," the story I submitted, that'd just be superrogatory goodness all around.

Anyway, Madison is nice. Sort of like a cross between Lansing and Ann Arbor, but with a heightened political awareness not found in either of those places--lots of "Impeach Bush" signs, stuff like that. I'm staying at a cheaper hotel with my brother about five miles away from the hotel the con is taking place in, so (after biking back and forth yesterday) I broke down and got a cab this morning, from a taxi company that advertises itself in the phone book as being worker-owned. I spent the whole ride down hearing from the cabbie (who looked to be about 60) about the solar panels he was planning on getting on his house, etc.

Meanwhile, I've been reading through "Vellum: the Book of All Hours," the first novel of the inestimable Hal Duncan. If Ian Banks were posessed by the ghost of Jack Keroauc, it would read something like this. Lyrical and manic in style, very cool in the underlying subgenre sensibilities and with the sort of politics underlying it all you grow to expect from Scottish sf writers.

There's a Denny's sharing the parking lot with my hotel, which (while it seems ridiculous to go to Denny's in a city jammed with as many nice cafes and restaurants as Madison) is about perfect for staying up late at night ordering coffee refills and sitting by the window reading "Vellum."