Lunacon Trip Report (part 1 of 3)

It became spring the Monday before Lunacon. Birds chirped. Sun shone. I even saw a yellow crocus in bloom.

So naturally, on Friday, the first day of Lunacon, it snowed, it sleeted, and it hailed. Goodbye to plans to drive to Lunacon. Hello to public transportation. One car, one boat, two trains, and one taxi later, I arrived at the Rye Hilton. Yay me!

I then promptly got lost.

The Rye Hilton is also known as the Escher Hilton. To reach anywhere in the Hilton, you must go down three ramps, up four sets of stairs, down five corridors, and across three states. I checked into my room, then merrily trotted off to register -- and ran into a dead end. Retracing my steps, I encountered many kind souls who explained the key to the Escher Hilton: the fourth floor is the same as the seventh floor. To reach registration, I had to go through what is fondly known as "the transdimensional corridor," a down ramp that leads from the fourth floor to the seventh floor. I kid you not. Here's the floor plan for the hotel:

Escher Hilton

I was one of the lucky ones. Some Lunacon attendees have been lost in those corridors since the last time the con was held there three years ago. As you pass through the transdimensional corridor, you can hear them, forlornly filking for all eternity...

I had a light at the end of my tunnel, though: the Lunacon Program Participant ribbon. I could not afford to stay lost with such a prize waiting for me at the end of my journey. Remember how I kind of obsessed a wee little tiny teeny bit about my program participant ribbon for Boskone? Well, Penelope (one of the aforementioned kindly souls) had apparently read that blog entry, and she was in charge of putting together many of the participant packets for Lunacon. So when she saw me wandering in the halls, she told me that she had double-checked my packet to be extra-sure that it had my ribbon. How cool is that? Very cool.

After going down the ramps, up the stairs, over the river, and through the woods, I obtained my glorious golden ribbon and embarked on the following activities:

First, I checked out the Dealer's Room. The Dealer's Room at a convention is where various vendors sell books, jewelry, fancy swords, cute statuettes of dragons wearing bifocals and holding umbrellas (I own the one with an umbrella and a rubber ducky), more books, juggling sticks, T-shirts with clever and/or obscure statements (such as, "My name is Bambi. You killed my mother. Prepare to die."), more books... You get the idea. I didn't buy anything, but I did get to chat with the lovely Lucienne Diver, who was selling jewelry, and I loaned a copy of my galley to a nice librarian named Carol who promised to return it before my 7 o'clock panel. It felt like loaning someone my baby, but she returned it in time and said nice things so all was well.

Second, I had my first panel of the convention! It was called "So It's Your First Con," and my fellow panelists were Keith DeCandido, Elizabeth Glover, Victoria McManus, and Lois Fitzpatrick. All of us have been to lots of conventions and had lots to say, so it was a really fun panel. Our basic advice boiled down to: drink lots of water, don't forget to eat and sleep, and please shower. Really, I think this is good advice for life.

Lastly, I attended the "Meet the Pros" reception and the Art Show Reception. The conference organizers gave a free drink coupon to all the pros, so we showed up in force. The Art Show Reception involved free food for all the pros, so we showed up in force there too.

Throughout the evening, I talked with many very nice and very cool people, including but not limited to everyone I mentioned above plus John Joseph Adams, Roger MacBride Allen, Barbara Campbell, Douglas Cohen, Esther Friesner, Leigh Grossman, Glenn Hauman, David Honigsberg, Jean Elizabeth Krevor, Terri Osborne, Josepha Sherman, Andrew Wheeler, and several others whose last names I don't know, such as Emily, Mark, Scott, and Seth. (Once again, I feel the need to point out that I didn't actually talk to them in alphabetical order.)

Coming next, Saturday at Lunacon, in which Sarah talks to many more people and remembers to eat, sleep, and shower.