Northwest Bookfest

So yesterday (after taking advantage of the sunny weather to work on the lawn and blow the pine needles off the roof(s), I motored over to the Northwest Bookfest located at the Sand Point Naval Station on Lake Washington. This was the first year they were charging admission as opposed to depending on corporate donations, and as a result the aisles were a tad bit more open than previously, and there were fewer booths as well. The staff took advantage of this with creative live performances of people reading - in bed, in a stuffed overchair, at the office breakroom. It was a very amusing gig. As years previously, there were a lot of local bookstores, local publishers, and a smattering of self-published authors. CNN-2 Book TV was there as well taping some of the more interesting panels, of which we were not.

We were late in the day with a panel discussion on Shared Worlds - Duane Wilkins from the University Bookstore put the panel together, and it consisted of myself, Stan!, Dave Gross, John Pelan, and Bill Dietz. Stan! and Dave are buds, and while I had never met John before, I was a big fan of a previous collection of new stories he edited, set in Ashton Clark Smith's Zothique. He's done a recent collection of Sherlock Holmes/Cthulhu stories, and I picked up a copy. Moderating was Bill Dietz, with Star Wars shared world history along with military SF. Bill was an excellent moderator, and while we had about a dozen people total in the audience (we were the last act of the day), it was a fun panel.

Now, readers of this blog know I've been questioning my own future in writing, either in shared world or for original stuff, and I seriously questioned if I had anything to say on this panel (or at least positive things to say). It turned out to be not really a problem, and I warmed to subject readily. It was a nice mental recharge for the writing, which I need right now.

More later,