Pure Speculation
... was lots of fun! I was Guest of Honour at this small convention in Edmonton this past weekend.
I had blast doing a joint reading with Thomas Wharton, enjoyed defending Robert Charles Wilson's Spin against Canticle for Liebowitz and Dune on an SF-survivor panel, had a terrific GoH interview (conducted by Barb Galler-Smith), and loved spending time with old friends Barb Galler-Smith (who also got me to and from the airport), Kirstin Morrell, Randy McCharles, Val King, James Beveridge, Minister Faust, Diane Walton, Danica LeBlanc, and Susan MacGregor of On Spec, Brian Hades and Justyn Perry from Edge, my writing student Eileen Bell, Cath Jackel, Ty Templeton, Tracy Cooper-Posey, and many others. I also enjoyed getting to know Brittany Trogen, a new (and very fine) writer who had been an intern recently at Analog, and Barb's friend Paulette.
Plus, it was wonderful to see my old friend Val Toronchuk Mitchell; Val and I had been students together at Ryerson 1979-82, and the year after we graduated, she and I worked together for the School of Radio and Television Arts as "Lab Assistants" -- instructor/demonstrators, me in TV studio stuff and Val in video-tape recording. We were quite the team back then, but hadn't seen each other in -- gak! -- 25 years. Incredibly, neither of us had aged a day ...
Most dramatic part of the whole trip, though, was right at the beginning. I was on the toilet at Pearson (Toronto's airport), when the announcement came over the PA: "This is the final boarding call for Flight 177 to Edmonton; all passengers should now be on board; the aircraft door is about to close." I came barreling out of john, and ran, ran, ran to the gate -- only to find that the stupid gate attendant had triggered the wrong message; she had meant to play the one that said, "This is a pre-boarding announcement ..."
Anyway, a great trip, a fine event, and a wonderful time. And now I'm back in Toronto for all of two full days, then it's off to Vancouver on Wednesday for the Surrey International Writers Conference ...
The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site
Posted by Rob on Monday, October 20, 2008
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2 comments
2 Comments:
Now, I can say, "Sorry I missed you." I would have liked to have been there but the job thing got in the way.
I hope they have it again next year and then I'll take the whole weekend off. Sounds like a lot of fun. Now watch for their main attraction, Robert Charles Wilson.
Jim
I was able to attend your interview and the reading that followed it on Saturday. Thanks for taking the time to come speak at Pure Speculation.
It is clear, both through your novels and your 'in person' discussion, how much interest you have in the topics you write about. You communicate that interest with obvious excitement, and I think anyone listening to you (or reading your work) has no choice but to come away having learned something.
I know I went home and started reading more about the topics that came up.
Anyways, thanks, and I hope you can come out here again in the future.
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