Don't panic!

That’s good news. (Relax. There is no bad news. I told you not to panic.)

I’m really looking forward to the con this year. Don’t know why. I mean, I always enjoy it. But this year I expect it to be especially fun.

Maybe, given recent events, I just really need a con.

It starts tomorrow - Friday, August 27th, running through Sunday the 29th. The Author Guest of Honor this year is Peter David. Artist GoH is Sarah Clemens. Mario Acevedo is Toastmaster. The theme is Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. You probably worked that out for yourself.

It’s all happening at the Zoo at the Albuquerque Grand (Sheraton) Airport Hotel, 2910 Yale Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106. Guests include a wide range of out-of-state pros and fans, plus an array of the Usual NM Suspects. There’re too many to list here so I’ll list none; hit the link the con page to see who’s attending. We always get a boatload of cool people, and this year looks like no exception.

Not there, sadly, will be Debbie Lynn Smith and Connie Willis. Also George RR Martin and Parris will be absent, since they’ve already flown off to the land of Oz for Worldcon. We’ll have to do our best to have fun without them.

(Of course some of our folks are leaving more or less straightaway from Bubonicon to the same destination. We call them masochists. But it’s darned sporting of them to sacrifice their well-being and sanity so that we can have a good time!)

Since you’re no doubt throbbing with curiosity as to when, where, and how you can see me (yeah, right), for what I think’s the second year in the row I’m on the very first panel of Bubonicon: joy. It’s called The Future’s So Bright: Perils of the Near-Future Novel. Runs from 4:00-4:55 PM in the Main Room.

On Sunday (Sunday? Sunday!) from 12:15-1:10 PM I do King Arthur in Space: Long Live the King in the Valle Grande Room. Why, I don’t know. Especially at such an obscene hour of a Sunday. I mean, the sun’s barely up! Or at least I usually am.

In between, in snarling defiance of popular demand, I’ll be emceeing the Costume Contest on Saturday in the Main Room, from 7:30 PM to roughly whenever. It usually runs about half an hour. Though Bubonicon’s a small convention – getting larger every year, though – we get a surprisingly high quality of entrants. So check it out.

And indeed, if you’re in Burque this weekend check out the con. It’s a good time.

And don’t forget your towel!