In which Seanan goes to BEA and DAW.
Jun. 7th, 2011 08:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seanan_mcguireBack to New York!
Tuesday morning found me oversleeping, since all that puking the night before had left me totally exhausted. I eventually staggered out of bed and made my way downtown to the convention center where BEA was being held. Luckily, it was in the same convention center as New York Comicon, so I was able to find my way with relative ease, and did not wind up wandering lost through Manhattan for the rest of time. It could happen!
Alex at Orbit had already given me my badge, so I swung by registration to pick up a lanyard (v. important, lanyards) and called The Agent to let her know I was on-site. She promptly swooped in, grabbed me, and whisked me hither and yon to see people that needed seeing—including Toni and Charlaine, which was a wonderful way to begin the convention. Hugging and happiness followed, and then they settled in to do a signing while The Agent and I ran over to the Orbit booth to acquire copies of Deadline for their enjoyment. Happiness is giving early copies of books to your friends.
With the hauling about portion of our program complete, The Agent freed me to wander where I would. So I wandered.
Book Expo America is a lot like New York Comicon, scale-wise, which probably explains why they fit in the same convention center. Only instead of toys, you have books. And instead of media goodies, you have books. And instead of scantily-clad booth babes, you have booth librarians, which is kinda more awesome. And did I mention the books? It's like lit-geek Disneyland, only without the teacup ride.
Which is sort of a pity.
All too soon, I had to leave the convention center and head for DAW. Because I was running late, I cleverly decided to take a taxi. Unfortunately, my streak of "always pick the taxi with the driver you have no languages in common with" continued, and my request for the PATH station resulted in my being dropped at Penn Station. Argh. I found my way to the PATH (only about three blocks away) and hopped on a train, which delivered me promptly and without fuss to the correct locale. Hooray for trains!
Better yet, hooray for DAW, which was exactly as welcoming and familiar and wonderful as I hoped it would be. DAW is one of my favorite places to spend a day, and not just because I can usually cadge someone into taking me to visit the "take" shelves of free books scattered around the building. I love everyone there, and I'm comfortable there, which is rare for someone as twitchy as I am.
I had a nice talk with The Editor, and got my revision notes for Discount Armageddon, which is next on my agenda for working on. Eventually, The Agent showed up, and we all went out for delicious Indian food dinner, where I ate goat and chicken and mushrooms and fish and naan and om nom nom Indian. Seriously, we ate so much Indian food it ached. I wanted to go home and collapse.
...which was naturally the cue for me to be hauled through half a dozen BEA after-hours parties. Good: I saw (and hugged) Cat and John Scalzi, who looked as terrified of the noisy crowds as I did. I also saw (and hugged) Tempest, who had a fan, and looked totally at ease. And I met Scott Westerfeld! Serious awesomeness.
Eventually, The Agent noticed that I was wilting, and I was loaded into a cab with a driver who understood where I wanted to go and took me to the PATH station. I returned to Jersey City, staggered home, and collapsed into bed too tired to die. Which meant, of course, that Wednesday was going to be the big day in town...
Next: Wednesday at BEA, mojitos in my eye, and signing Deadline.
Tuesday morning found me oversleeping, since all that puking the night before had left me totally exhausted. I eventually staggered out of bed and made my way downtown to the convention center where BEA was being held. Luckily, it was in the same convention center as New York Comicon, so I was able to find my way with relative ease, and did not wind up wandering lost through Manhattan for the rest of time. It could happen!
Alex at Orbit had already given me my badge, so I swung by registration to pick up a lanyard (v. important, lanyards) and called The Agent to let her know I was on-site. She promptly swooped in, grabbed me, and whisked me hither and yon to see people that needed seeing—including Toni and Charlaine, which was a wonderful way to begin the convention. Hugging and happiness followed, and then they settled in to do a signing while The Agent and I ran over to the Orbit booth to acquire copies of Deadline for their enjoyment. Happiness is giving early copies of books to your friends.
With the hauling about portion of our program complete, The Agent freed me to wander where I would. So I wandered.
Book Expo America is a lot like New York Comicon, scale-wise, which probably explains why they fit in the same convention center. Only instead of toys, you have books. And instead of media goodies, you have books. And instead of scantily-clad booth babes, you have booth librarians, which is kinda more awesome. And did I mention the books? It's like lit-geek Disneyland, only without the teacup ride.
Which is sort of a pity.
All too soon, I had to leave the convention center and head for DAW. Because I was running late, I cleverly decided to take a taxi. Unfortunately, my streak of "always pick the taxi with the driver you have no languages in common with" continued, and my request for the PATH station resulted in my being dropped at Penn Station. Argh. I found my way to the PATH (only about three blocks away) and hopped on a train, which delivered me promptly and without fuss to the correct locale. Hooray for trains!
Better yet, hooray for DAW, which was exactly as welcoming and familiar and wonderful as I hoped it would be. DAW is one of my favorite places to spend a day, and not just because I can usually cadge someone into taking me to visit the "take" shelves of free books scattered around the building. I love everyone there, and I'm comfortable there, which is rare for someone as twitchy as I am.
I had a nice talk with The Editor, and got my revision notes for Discount Armageddon, which is next on my agenda for working on. Eventually, The Agent showed up, and we all went out for delicious Indian food dinner, where I ate goat and chicken and mushrooms and fish and naan and om nom nom Indian. Seriously, we ate so much Indian food it ached. I wanted to go home and collapse.
...which was naturally the cue for me to be hauled through half a dozen BEA after-hours parties. Good: I saw (and hugged) Cat and John Scalzi, who looked as terrified of the noisy crowds as I did. I also saw (and hugged) Tempest, who had a fan, and looked totally at ease. And I met Scott Westerfeld! Serious awesomeness.
Eventually, The Agent noticed that I was wilting, and I was loaded into a cab with a driver who understood where I wanted to go and took me to the PATH station. I returned to Jersey City, staggered home, and collapsed into bed too tired to die. Which meant, of course, that Wednesday was going to be the big day in town...
Next: Wednesday at BEA, mojitos in my eye, and signing Deadline.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:33 pm (UTC)Booth librarians do indeed sound awesome.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:48 pm (UTC)Incidentally, 'BEA' keeps tripping me up, I'm used to it meaning British European Airways (now BA), or the US software company (now part of Oracle). But I see it also stands for a load of other interesting things...
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 03:59 pm (UTC)TMA! (Too Many Acronyms -- or Tycho Magnetic Anomaly!)
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 04:03 pm (UTC)... which could be amusing from a safe distance.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 04:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 03:29 am (UTC)re Indian food and the ache
Date: 2011-06-07 05:10 pm (UTC)Re: re Indian food and the ache
Date: 2011-06-07 10:25 pm (UTC)Re: re Indian food and the ache
Date: 2011-06-07 11:46 pm (UTC)There's some fairly decent buffets here in town.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 05:16 pm (UTC)Glad you're having a great time!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 07:33 pm (UTC)I had the opportunity to tag along on a visit to DAW once. Not only did they let me loot the shelves, they were nice enough to ship them home for me! Fan for life now!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:38 pm (UTC)*marks it down on life goals list*
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:42 pm (UTC)Dream bookish.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:45 pm (UTC)And, Scott Westerfeld? How awesome is that??!!!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 10:58 pm (UTC)Seconded on the Booth Librarians sounding awesome.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-09 02:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-07 11:25 pm (UTC)I BOUGHT DEADLINE TODAY!!!!!!!! AND SO FAR IT IS TOTALLY AMAZING AND AWESOME!!!!!
*ahem* Okay, done now. :P
The guy at Barnes and Noble actually looked all over the store to find me their only copy left. It was cool. Enjoy the rest of your trip!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 06:08 pm (UTC)I'm actually home already; this is a two-weeks-ago travelogue.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-08 06:06 pm (UTC)