Back from Chicago TARDIS

My brain can finally cope with blogging. The con trail is finally at an end. I am definitely getting too old for this “three cons in three weekends” thing.

This was an odd Chicago TARDIS for me. It was a low key, but pleasant convention. Many of our regular friends were unable to attend this year (Bill, Shaun, Robert, Michael L., Gary, etc.), so we were pretty much in a clump with the Mad Norwegians. This was also not a convention where I was very interested in the Guest of Honor, Eric Roberts. Finally, the Sekrit Project was revealed. The end result of all of this is that I am slowly transforming from pure fanboy to fan semi-pro. It’s a bit unsettling.

Thursday night, Lars and Christa stopped by on their way from Iowa to Chicago. It was awesome. They got to meet Caitlin, see the house, and we got to generally catch up. It was nice to see them after a year of emails and phone calls. Lars brought copies of AHistory (2nd Edition) and About Time 6. Both look great. I was one of the Associate Editors for both, so it was extremely cool to see the transformation from manuscripts to real books. The best part was the back of About Time 6. Lars and Christa created an ad announcing the Sekrit Project, now entitled Fluid Links. It’s a guidebook to the Doctor Who novels and audios. I will go into more details about it in a later blog

The next day we dropped the girl off at grandma’s apartment. My mom has been phenomenal for the last few weekends. We couldn’t have done it without her. Then we entered the convention at the new hotel. The Crowne Plaza was very nearly the hotel for the Aicardi Conference, so I knew it well. It’s a nice hotel, but it is very much about nickel and diming you to death. We ended up sharing a room with Lars and Christa, which was fun. It was like a high school sleepover.

Lynne and I spent most of the convention socializing with old friends and meeting new ones. We were able to see and hang out with Tara, Bohus, Ed, Jenny, Michael Z., Steve M., Steve J., Rob, Jason, Arnold, Stephanie, Steve, Scott, Nick, Karen, Kathryn, Jennifer, and Allan. We also got to meet and befriend the wonderful squee girls of Iowa, Heather, John, Heather, and Laurel, They are full of awesome and we really wish that we were closer to their fan club.

The events of the weekend are a blur of geek and drink. I bought toys and books. We went to Gibson’s with a clump that included all of the UK guests. We drank in the bar and in rooms. Lynne became a voice for fangirl squee after being on about six squee panels. Lars and I talked about the book to about 20 people at 10 a.m. on Saturday. I got some books signed by David. My panels went fine. Eric Roberts is what you would expect.

I want to thank everybody working the con for all of their work. It’s not an easy job.

Next year, Colin Baker returns and I should have a co written book in the dealers’ room.

Yikes!

We already miss everybody. We’ll see you next year.