Yes, I am alive. Spent the bulk of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday attending the Potlatch 12 convention at the Ramada Plaza hotel in San Francisco.

Potlatch was fun. I will try to post a more extended con report type of thing once I've had a chance to wake up and deal with some work I've got piled up, but I'll note a few highlights. One major highlight was, of course, seeing some of my fellow Clarionites: Blunt, Liz, Diana, and Dario, as well as Dario's partner Linda, who, like Daniel, has become something of an honorary member of the class of 2002.

I also got to see bunches of other Seattle and SF Bay Area fans and writers. Too many people to list here.

I went to some good panels on comics and on space opera. I heard Howard Hendrix give a prelude to his forthcoming novel, and now I am dismayed that I must wait 11 months for the novel to come out. (And I was startled to discover that Howard Hendrix looks like somebody's handsome high school P.E. teacher, but that's neither here nor there.) Saw a reading/performance of Cordwainer Smith's "The Ballad of Lost C'mell." I spent a lot of time hanging out in the con suite and talking about books. Or hanging out in the lobby and talking about books. Or hanging out in the dealers' room and talking about books.

Hanging out and talking about books is pretty much the point of Potlatch. All other con functions are pretty much subservient to that aim.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend. Talk to you again soon.