Authors at Balticon 40

Balticon 40 had such an amazing lineup of authors this year! I had the pleasure of meeting three.

On Saturday, we went to the signing with Neil Gaiman and Peter S. Beagle.

While in line, we saw this amazing fairy.

It took a while, and we actually stood in three separate lines that got progressively hotter. (I felt as if we were descending and then traveling through layers of hell to achieve our goal.) But really, the excitement of meeting these amazing gentlemen was enough to keep our spirits high.

Because of the move, my copy of The Last Unicorn was packed, and I only had my copy of Stardust handy. So I had only one thing for Neil Gaiman to sign and nothing for Peter S. Beagle to sign. But I thanked Peter and spoke to him for a moment and it was fantastic.

I also couldn't think of a thing for Neil to write in my book. Mind. Blank. I'm not an author. I have notebooks of bad poetry that I wrote as a teenager, but really- he's the brilliant author, not me. My friend and I explained our woe, and the fact that we were, indeed, screaming fangirls and that we were exhibiting great restraint and adult behavior he should be assured. He, in turn, told my friend that she was very cool and appeared as if she did this sort of thing all the time and told me it was quite alright and drew a fantastic moon and shooting star in my book and signed his name. It was more wonderful than words.

We also attended a panel discussion with Gene Wolfe and Neil Gaiman. It was more of an interview, really. One gentleman led things, sitting between the two guests. The greatest part about it was that the whole thing seemed to be great fun for Neil and Gene. Or, at least, the two of them are great friends. The whole weekend my friends and I had been remarking on how we'd wanted to adopt Mr. Wolfe as our grandfather. How he cared for his wife, stood up to meet anyone who approached him, and seemed so gentlemanly.
According to Neil, we'd been taken in by the great evil. We shouldn't be had. I loved hearing about it as only a true friend could describe. It was also great fun to hear Gene's description of coming upon Neil's works. Hearing authors talk about reading is much like hearing chef's talk about eating. Its much more about consuming, tasting, and digestion. Sometimes its about reguritation.

I love it.

While the Balticon website was posting preliminary schedules, I was delighted to see a 'Reading' by Neil Gaiman. This was it. I never though I'd be able to travel some place where he'd do a reading live. Unless, perhaps, I traveled a bit. But even then, I didn't see it happening any time soon. But to have come so close to us? Unbelievable.
And then- the 'Reading' disappeared from the schedule. I was very sad. I still enjoyed the con, but I'd been really looking forward to that bit. We did, however, see that he was giving a talk. So off we went.

To my great joy, although Neil Gaiman talking about applying ceiling spackle would bring me great joy, my favorite author chose to read for his time with us. He read a poem, one of my favorites, called 'The Day the Saucers Came' and two short stories. Just amazing.