Rosemary Kirstein

Off on my two-week adventure with fellow Genrette Laurie Marks, her wife Deb, and their dog.

Sad dog waiting.

The place we’re staying, alas, has no WiFi.

Someone associated with this house has been to Asia– very likely South Korea, from other clues.

Also, my phone plan doesn’t extend to Canada.  So, I’m rather at the mercy of random restaurants, libraries, and tourist information centers for brief contact

In theory, this is not a bad thing.  Unplug!  Who needs Facebook?  Internet vacation!

Nature walk.

In practice, however — well, you’d be surprised how often one discovers a sudden urge to confirm some snippet of fact, or look up the available grocery stores, or find out what time the library closes.  All this info is available! But not to me.

Laurie and Deb have international phone plans, however, so they are the official Keepers of Knowledge and Acquirers of Timetables.  I am but a supplicant to their arcane wisdom.

My Readercon report will be somewhat delayed, as a result.  Yes, frustrating for me, too!  But there you are.  I will say, however, that it was a lovely time, and that my readers are the best!  My Kaffeeklatsch was so much fun that the staff-member in charge of the room had to tell us to quiet down; and the questions and discussions were all smart, and illuminating.

My Reading was well-attended, and not only did the audience listen with perfect attention, they actually laughed at the bits that I myself found amusing.  Previously, I’ve been able to elicit a chuckle or two; this is the first time where I had to pause to allow for the audience’s reactions.  (Fortunately, I had previously learned that thing about not waiting for the laughter to completely die down before moving on; otherwise it turns into a brief but awkward silence.)

I want to talk about the panel about the series, but I’d like to do that in a more considered manner than I’m able to at the moment. I think I’ve already said that it was amazing… and the panelists (Cecilia Tan , Yves Meynard, Elaine Isaacs, Kate Nepveu, and Victoria Janssen) are all people I like and admire, and who always have opinions both intelligent and well-thought out.

I’d also like to compare and contrast that panel to the Steerswoman panel that took place at Scintillation last year — but I can’t look up my own blog to check what I said back then!  Frustration.

Next week, we’ll be at a location that does have Internet, and I’ll be a bit freer.

Butterfly does not need Internet. Nor does it write novels.

(Normally, I’d link each person’s name to the books they wrote, or their website — but that’s too tricky to do from the backseat of an SUV in the driveway of the only public library on the island, which is now closed.  I’ll update that later.]

My reading is at 6:30 on Friday night!

I dearly hope we don’t get held up by the rush hour that starts around noon on Fridays in summer.   There’s simply no way to avoid Friday summer traffic in the Boston area.  The hotel, in Quincy, is just south of Boston, and sits on a confluence of three or four highways.  Last year, I spent four and a half hours driving what should have been about two hours.

And my kaffeeklatsch is at 9PM.  9PM?  Who’s drinking coffee at that hour?  And not only that, I’ve been informed that we are Simply Not Allowed to bring goodies, such as cookies.  It’s against Readercon’s agreement with the hotel.  Last time I brought Oreos.  This time, I dare not take the chance, as with my luck, I’ll be the one person they use as an example to everyone else!

I’ve also been Informed in No Uncertain Terms that we cannot sell books at our autographing.  Hm.  I wonder how many people will stick to that — but I shall.  Because: see above.

In other news, Laurie J Marks will be there briefly on Saturday, signing books in the dealer’s room at Reckoning Press table at 3PM.  She’s not an official program participant, so that will be your chance to see her, if you’re of a mind.

I haven’t completely decided what I’ll do for my reading… I’ve read lots of bits from Book 5  previously.  I’ve pretty much used up the non-spoilery possible excerpts.  I’d prefer to not repeat myself — but I might have to.  Or, I’ll read a group of very short excerpts, far enough apart from each other to not comprise any spoilers… Or something else entirely. Hm.  I’m down to the wire here, I have to decide!

Well.  Must go and pack and select and all.

In other news: new bird identified.

Black-crowned night heron.

Not a good photo, but I watched him a while, and accumulated quite a clear impression.  I’ve never seen his like before, but I’m told they’re not uncommon around here.