Judging by the attendees' reactions, I wasn't wrong to call them the Best Goody Bags in the History of Ever. Everyone seemed wowed by just how packed with books the bags were, and there were surprisingly few hand-backs from people who already had something that was included.
I did wind up ceding the role of this year's Vanna to
Since I was on the committee, I spent most of my time doing prep work or manning the registration table, so I only got to see two panels. The first was the Friday night Horror Criticism panel, which was amazing. S.T. Joshi was charming and incredibly intelligent. Ben Indick, who has been walking the Earth since the great apes first stood upright, was hilarious (though perhaps not so hilarious to S.T. after Ben told him to be quiet because he was talking too much) and outed himself as an anonymous PW reviewer. Peter Cannon, also of PW, moderated well, and most of the time it seemed like he was talking directly to me, probably because I was the only one sitting right up in front.
The other one I went to was Saturday afternoon's After the Edit panel, with copy editor
The parties this year were legendary. That's pretty much all I can say without getting killed, though I did finally get to mention the Straubathon to Peter, who seemed pleased that I was reading all his books at once. I also finally got to meet his daughter and her boyfriend, who live quite literally around the corner from me. Apparently I have to travel to Newark to meet my neighbors.
I find convention reports boring, and this one is rapidly approaching my tolerance level. Big shout-outs to all the friends I saw there, especially