belated Boskone report and some general updates

[ckd]

Boskone
I didn't see everyone I wanted to see, or get enough time with the folks I did see, but that always happens. Setup on Thursday was enhanced by the wise overlordship of fluffcthulhu; the weather was pleasantly lacking in precipitation, though it was still really cold; food options near the hotel are still not all that abundant, but between the con suite and staff den there were pretty good options for "refueling stop" food. I'm still happy with the hotel's physical layout (the bar/seating area in the lobby is a big win) but I'm looking forward to more food options and better function space next year when the currently-in-progress buildout is complete. Food highlight of the con: dim sum in Chinatown with mnemex and drcpunk.

I didn't get to a whole lot of panels, but those I did were lots of fun. orzelc managed to top Charlie Stross, Karl Schroeder, and Tobias Buckell without even trying; David Weber had some great stories of Jim Baen; the "is this the year for e-books" panel was pretty well distributed across viewpoints, though it dipped into a round of the Eternal Copyright Flamewar there for a bit as well. I did a fair amount of gaming, including many games of Race for the Galaxy. I got to the Tor party, and contrary to my expectations it wasn't wall-to-wall people, so I could actually move, and have conversations, and so on. Unlike some people I didn't wind up with a copy of Cory Doctorow's upcoming book, though I did buy Noreascon I on a Stick. (I bought the cheaper version with the LPs; my sometimes-officemate has both a turntable and an interest in several of the authors on the recording.)

Chad's post also mentions the "graying of Boskone". I'm not absolutely sure that the total attendance is aging quite that quickly; it's my impression that there are a fair number of YA readers attending. (Bruce Covillle as the Special Guest this year would presumably have raised that number, also.) I do think there's a bit of a demographic hole caused by Boskone's years in the wilderness[1], exacerbated by Arisia and Anime Boston drawing in potential Boskone attendees who may not have the time, money, and/or energy for multiple conventions within weeks of each other.

Life in general
It continues, as these things do. The TV's broken, the weather's been doing the traditional New England "wait 10 minutes and it'll be different" dance, and last weekend we got some always-delectable Kelly's Roast Beef in conjunction[2] with a visit to the Natick Mall Collection and then the nearby REI for their climbing wall. (That was for hr_macgirl, not for me. Heights? DO NOT WANT.)

Upcoming conventions: Minicon (N) Readercon (Y) ... and a New (to me)! Exciting! convention
Sadly, no Minicon for me this year (again), much as I'd like to be there. However, I am going to be at Readercon (as usual) in July.

Now, the new! exciting! bit: I'm going to Penguicon in April! SF! Games! Computers! A list of "Nifty Guests" that includes several very nifty folks on my flist! Three hours in Newark Liberty International on the way out, because that was the only way to get the cheap fare without getting to BOS for an 0600 (DO NOT WANT) flight! Okay, that last one's not too exciting. I certainly hope it's not as exciting as my last connection in EWR. The last time I flew through EWR, there was a minor power problem.

As a bonus, the following Monday is a holiday in Massachusetts[3], so I get a recovery day afterwards and can sleep in unlike all the folks living in less enlightened states.

Footnotes
[1] I attended "back-to-back" Boston-located Boskones in 1987 and 2003, and the "last Boskone in the Sheraton" twice (1987, 2006). Boskone 24 (1987) was my first convention.

[2] Not to be confused with InConJunction or Conjunction Junction.

[3] Patriots' Day, aka "Boston Marathon Day". It's also a holiday in Maine, which used to be part of Massachusetts. My favorite minor holiday in Massachusetts is still Evacuation Day, which completely coincidentally is St. Patrick's Day. Totally coincidental. Really.

Comments

[mmcirvin.livejournal.com]

Every year I never get around to going to Boskone, though it seems like the sort of con I'd want to go to, people I know are always there, and it's in town. I think I'm just not much of a con guy.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

I did not know you liked Kelly's. I love Kelly's! I have not been to Kelly's in minutes. I live a block from the beach shack, the origional Kelly's RB, I go there every morning for coffee. Unless it's so cold out that I don't want to leave the house. Then I try to make them come to me. Which they do, sometimes.

[yendi]

exacerbated by Arisia and Anime Boston drawing in potential Boskone attendees who may not have the time, money, and/or energy for multiple conventions within weeks of each other.

[my generic rant about the frustration of all these cons being clustered together, along with Vericon, while the final five months of the year are completely deserted goes here]

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

You may not be going to Minicon this year, but I'm planning on Boskone next year because Jo is GoH! I haven't gone to two cons in a year in a long time, and fortunately, the approval of two generic meds will let me do this. It looks like I might not go into the Medicare Plan D donut hole at all this year.

And you probably shouldn't equate YA readers with younger people. I read a lot of YA and so do other people of my advanced age.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I got to talk to you.

[luned.livejournal.com]

Missed you at Boskone, although I felt like flaming crap on a stick for about half my time in Boston anyway--so you didn't miss anything.

Not going to Minicon either, my trip to Boston ate my vacation.

(Chances I'll return to Boston: 100%; chances I'll return to Boskone: +-10%)

[ckd]

You might give it a taste with a one-day membership (Saturday, perhaps?). The Guest of Honor next year is papersky, after all....

[ckd]

I'm still very amused by the old Rachael Ray "$40 a Day" episode where she goes to Kelly's, and right before her visit there's a shot of her coming out of a T station saying how great it is that you can just take the subway there.

The shot has her exiting Harvard. She's not even on a line that connects to the Blue Line!

[ckd]

At least there's a good reason, though that doesn't make it any less frustrating; the hotels are emptier then because Boston's a frozen wasteland, so it's possible to get large (and slightly cheaper) room blocks.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

I know, that entire episode should be a drinking game for *Not* in Boston. I do feel sorry for the tourist who goes to Harvard Square looking for Kelly's

You can take the subway there, just not that one. Oh and you have to walk for about twenty minutes. Still and all, it's great to have a nice juice roast beef sandwich, or whole belly clams on the beach.

With Byron to scare the gulls away, mostly because he does not want any competition for his own mooching.

[ckd]

I hope you can make it to Boskone next year; it'd be great to see you! Boskone's loads of fun, and strikes me as similar in feel to Minicon (but larger). The hotel is new enough that I would expect them to have pretty reasonable numbers of accessible rooms, too. There's a bit of a bottleneck in that there's a single elevator between the lobby and concourse levels, but next year the hotel will have opened new function space and I think some of that's directly off the lobby; I don't know what the space plan for the con will be.

I wasn't saying that YA readers are all younger (I read it too), just that I suspect that having YA authors pulls in some younger fans as well. (I vaguely remember someone's con reports from a few years back saying that Tamora Pierce had a posse of tweens and teens following her around.)

[ckd]

The Medford Kelly's in the old Krispy Kreme space off Wellington Circle is probably the most T-accessible since you can walk from the T station to the garage behind Kelly's across a covered skybridge.

None of the indoor locations have the real Kelly's ambiance complete with seagulls, though.

[ckd]

I'm glad I got to talk to you, too.

I still love those Peeps photos you took with Geri.

[ckd]

I'm sorry you were feeling so bad while here. Being sick during a con can really take the fun out of it.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

Yup, we have it all, the ambiance the ocean the seagulls. All that's missing are the stoner's, the heroin addicts and the crack whores. And, by missing I mean seriously removed and unwelcome to return missing.

Took the icon picture from the beach walk across from Kelly's. If you bring your nose real close to the screen you might be able to smell the ocean, and the cooking oil, and the clams....

[luned.livejournal.com]

Surprisingly, I didn't have a single sinus headache when I was in Boston. It's really unfortunate that my "sick" wasn't the usual con crud, but severe heartburn.

Also, I dislocated my kneecap on the Sunday of the con. I fail at journaling this stuff.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I wasn't nearly as worried about hotel space as the outdoors. I can't walk on snow or ice and the only practical way for me to come is to take the train and that means taxis, too. It seems to always snow over Boskone!

Oh, I see what you meant -- yes, I can see that YA authors might end up with a retinue!

[ckd]

It didn't snow this year, for once.

The taxi ride from South Station should be very short; Google Maps says it's 0.6 miles straight down Summer St, but it's probably slightly longer than that; I'm pretty sure the cab stand is on the other side of South Station.

While looking to see where the cab stand is, I found a glitch in Google Maps street view! Cool!

[ckd]

Ow! While I've never done anything too severe to my knees, that sounds really painful.

I fail at journaling this stuff.

It's not like I'm Posty McPostalot myself.

Hey!

[smcmullan.livejournal.com]

I was glad to meet you at Boskone, and I was glad to see you at Greg's memorial yesterday. I'm sorry you didn't get to stay afterward and chat; I had hoped to at least shake your hand and thank you for coming, in person.

Re: Hey!

[ckd]

I was glad to meet you as well, and I'm also sorry we couldn't stay longer on Saturday. I hope you'll be able to return for next year's Boskone.