World Fantasy 2009 hospitality recap...

I don't think I've ever seen so little of a convention, particularly one we were there extra days for. Then again, we were running consuite.

Wednesday we moved in the stuff at our house. 4 car-loads, I believe.

Thursday we decorated and opened. Yvette and I did the "perishables" run. Costco came through with our business delivery, barely on-time. Spike and one of her friends did our first ice run. We provided support and space for the Vandermeers' most excellent party.

Friday we opened again. Well, Rich, Spike and Yvette opened (this was the pattern). There was a slight miscommunication on when lunch should come out and when breakfast should end, but that was solved for the next day. I did a giant Costco restock run; it's a miracle the car survived.

Saturday we opened again. I did the BevMo run for Amontillado, and Edgar's birthday cake was delivered.

Sunday we opened again. Coffee was a bit late because we ran out and had to get more at Safeway. We didn't close at 1:00, but started taking down and packing decorations. K picked up the Rug Doctor to do the carpets, and we did our second room. Around 5:00pm we brought out all the left-overs and dead dog party started.

Monday morning (after way too little sleep) we cleared out the suite and did the rest of the carpets. Moved out all of hospitality, only 2 car-loads going out.

Big thanks to:

• Cindy, for keeping track of our dollars; come Friday morning I knew I had to trust the receipts and not my personal spreadsheet
• Aaron, for getting the logistics runs that we really needed done done.
• Ann and Jeff Vandermeer and their crew (Victoria and Neil particularly), for keeping the ideas flowing and inspiring us to take the theme places we never expected
• Rich, for sound advice, even when in some cases we knew already because it helped us adjust our priorities, and for getting up every morning to open things
• LaMont, for always being there, and taking the job he was worried he wasn't experienced enough for
• Radar and Lisa H, for all the help moving in, and all the help keeping things going
• Spike, for repeatedly coming up with process improvements that made things run better (and for offering her help at the last minute when we hadn't even really thought of asking)
• Johno and Chriso, for getting the food processes organized enough we could just carry through on them
• España, for being her cheery self and pouring a lot of drinks
• Jo and Krys for always keeping up with the restock demands
• Henry and Letha for finding the time in their busy schedules and Letha's help with move-out
• Mark & Yvette for decor, haulage, and a lot of work
• Mo, for the most amazing Poe portrait and those wacky tikis (and a lot of work)

Seriously, we had the best crew and a great committee. I'm not sure I'm interested in working on another WFC (but ask again in a decade when someone out here feels like doing it again), but it was a great time working with everybody.

World Fantasy 2009 personal recap

There's a part of me that wishes we could put WFC on the annual calendar. The people who attend are so much fun, and surprisingly (as this is a mostly professional conference) I didn't feel like a fish out of water.

It's hard to write a WFC report without sounding like I'm dropping a lot of names, but then again, it's WFC. Well, there's also "running hospitality" so dropping names is all I've got left.

Jetse de Vries is a total blast. Jim Minz and I got some time to sit down, drink chipotle vodka, and tell stories from back when we were both total nobodies. Drinking with Jeremy Lassen may be good for the soul, but it's not good for the liver. Jeff and Ann Vandermeer are a total runaway train, you never know where things are going to end up with them. Garth Nix is just incredibly nice and fun to talk with. Nora Jemisin... kind of like Minz, I knew her (online) before she was published and we had a nice time chatting about the old days. I don't think Tempest Bradford's brain ever stops running, or even slows down for that matter. Victoria Blake isn't nearly cynical enough to be in publishing, but it looks like she's going to succeed at it in the long term. Neil Clarke is just amazing. Liz Gorinsky is really cool.

The rest is a blur.