Just got back from a weekend at the World Science Fiction Convention (aka LoneStarCon 3), conveniently located practically in my backyard, just down the road in San Antonio. It was an absolutely great time. Every hour of every day there were at least a dozen panels/readings/autograph sessions/films from which to choose. I brought home a small mountain of books and gave away a few of my own. This con is the big one, the event where the Hugo Award, the top prize in science-fiction, is presented.

I’ll be posting items from Worldcon all week, but first, a few highlights. In case you haven’t heard, the Hugo for best novel went to John Scalzi’s Redshirts. The Best Novella Hugo went to Brandon Sanderson’s The Emperor’s Soul, Best Novelette to Pat Cadigan’s The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi, and Best Short Story to Ken Liu’s Mono no Aware. The Avengers won the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form (also known as: movie), while the Blackwater episode of Game of Thrones won Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. This was my first Hugo awards ceremony, and it was truly exciting seeing some of the giants in the field, talented writers whose work I’ve been reading, in some cases, for decades.

But probably the highlight of the event was dinner Saturday night with Hugh Howey and some of his fans and writer friends. Hugh is the author of the indie-breakout-to-bestseller Wool, and if you haven’t read it, you should pop over to Amazon and buy it right now. Hugh invites fans to events like this everywhere he goes, and he’s the nicest writer you’ll ever meet, a guy who goes the extra mile and then some for his readers. I made some new friends at the table that night, including the writer Michael Bunker and film maker Eric Tozzi. I can’t wait to dive into Michael’s book The Silo Archipelago, and look forward to Eric’s new release, The Scout, in November.

Next installment: Autographs!