A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Well we got a bit of a late start this morning having gotten in so late last night and then doing some of the things to the website, printing material and other odd jobs that needed to be done.

So, up and at the world this morning. We packed for the hotel. Finished loading the car with stuff for the SFRevu table. Checked that we had everything a couple of time and then took off. Traffic was terrible — it was raining. In most places rain isn’t really a problem for driving but with so many cars around her (DC area) the road get quite slick — but, even so 40 miles an hour on the Beltway was a bit slow even for here. Finally we arrived at the hotel and began unloading the car, only to find we’d forgotten the SFRevu sign for our table. But no way were we driving back home for this.

Before we’d even set up our table, I found that I was needed to sell Reincarnations next to the Registration table until another person arrived to take over. This was rather fun. I got to talk to people after they got their badges and made sure the people who were new to Capclave knew that there was a guide for new attendees explaining some of the activities available and some of the other items that were going on this weekend. I managed to sell two books. Then I got relieved and checked on Hyperion in the Dealers’ Room. I took over there so he could check into the hotel.

Once we had a room and could get rid of the rest of our stuff I thought I’d check out a few panels and see how things went. Instead, I managed to fill two positions on my Capclave 2010 committee. Then it was helping someone find the table they’d asked for to advertise their convention. Then it was taking over for Hyperion again so he could set up our network for a panel on LibraryThing and other online library/book sites. The SFRevu table got lots of browsers and many friends stopped by but we didn’t get another break until the room closed.

Then I ended up helping out at Registration, which had a huge line and needed to reopen for another couple of hours. I hadn’t worked registration before so this was quite a learning experience. Even better, an experienced person was on hand to answer/help with the difficult questions. I now have a better understanding of the process.

Finally, at about 9PM we managed to get away to go find dinner (which was really lunch as well). We just wanted something quick and spotted an Arby’s. On the way back to the hotel. We stopped at a light and heard some strange noises and turned off the heater so that we could hear better. There was a car in front of us and the one in front of that one hit the first car in the line in the rear. The driver got out to talk to the people in the car that hit her. They evidently cursed at her instead so she went to walk to the rear of their SUV to get their license number and they gunned it and rammed her car out into the intersection, where her empty, driverless car managed to miss two cars going through the intersection on a green light and hit a car waiting on the red. The SUV that rammed that car then drove off.

As surprised as I was by this I was just as surprised that the car in front of us just drove off as if nothing had happened. The woman was by this time a bit hysterical since her car was now in an accident and the people who caused it had driven off. We asked if we could help and offered to call 911. Before we could even complete the call the police arrived. We confirmed that she’d been rammed from behind and pushed through the intersection by a car that then drove off. She had only 3 numbers of the plate. Unfortunately, there was nothing else we could do.

I’m still appalled that anyone would do such a thing. Even more appalled, in a way, at the people who just drove off without even a thought to what had happened. The car in front of us who drove off would have had a clear view of the offending cars license plate and could have offered real police assistance. Whatever happened to good citizenship?

Anyway, finally back to the hotel. We checked on a few items to make sure everything was going smoothly and checked with the ConChair to make sure help wasn’t needed. Then we attended the 1984 party. We had a great time talking to a number of people gathering suggestions for Capclave 2010 and catching up with people we hadn’t seen since the last Capclave.

I’m sure by now you’ve noticed what’s missing in this Capclave report — panel overviews. Right. This year, I’m Vice Chair which means I get to help where needed by the Chair and jump in when necessary if the Chair is busy elsewhere among other things. So, if today is just a taste of what tomorrow will be like — actually coverage of panels and talks may be a bit thin. Maybe what I’ll really be reporting on this year is the behind the scenes running of a convention.

Anyway, it’s nearly 2 AM and I need to be up and ready to work the WSFA Press table tomorrow at 10 AM. So, I’m signing off for now.

Capclave starts tomorrow. Today, we had to drive in to deliver the boxes of books filled with Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove (foreward by Sheila Williams). The book debuts at Capclave.

We also helped stuff the registration packets so they’ll be ready when registrations opens. We didn’t stay at the hotel tonight (or should I say this morning) since we have to drive back in tomorrow with the car filled with the SFRevu stuff for our table in the Dealers’ Room. It was a busy and active day but satisfying in that we got to talk to people and catch up on what’s happening in people’s lives, discuss Capclave items and what still needs to be done and what has been done, make some plans for next year based on this years experience, and to just appreciate being with friends.

If you’re in the DC area and enjoy science fiction and fantasy, check out Capclave. Conventions are a great place to meet people who enjoy the same reading material that you do. I’ll be posting daily coverage of the convention here — or as much coverage as I can and still manage a few hours sleep each night.

If you do come to Capclave — say hello if you spot my name tag or see the SFRevu table in the dealers’ room stop and say Hi.

I spent a good chunk of my time today working with a WordPress Plugin to try to get a map of all the restaurants in the vicinity of the Capclave convention hotel.

After hours of work, Hyperion and I managed to get the maps to show. The problem is that it was one map per restaurant. Not good… back to the drawing board. Searching …searching….searching…reading….searching…. you get the idea.

Anyway finally found another plugin that looks like it will easily do multiple items on one map but I’d have to enter all the data again and it has to already be geocoded when it’s entered because it doesn’t do it automatically like the first one did — which is why it was the first one I tried.

Okay, more fiddling and it looks like we can export the database to a file and then import to the new one once we know what it required and in what order — then I’m back in business.

The frustrating part is I have to enter the rest of the restaurant data into the program we’re not going to use to get the geocode for the one we are going to use. That’s another two pages single spaced of restaurants (names, addresses, telephone, number, types of cuisine, average cost of a meal).

I know I’m complaining but really this hasn’t been a wasted day. I’ve learned a lot about geo codes, maps, mapping plugins, and a couple of programming tips. I’m also thinking it’s about time I learned a bit more so I could actually change a program that ALMOST does what I want to doing EXACTLY what I want. (Yeah, I’ll add that to my TODO list somewhere around item 4,789,968,365. That’s it … I just have to live forever if I’m even going to make a dent in this list.)

Meanwhile, if any reader has tackled trying to do a map of multiple items to display on a WordPress page using your own list of places–especially with a roll-over that will list the restaurant when you are over the little marker — let me know what you used.

Hyperion and I only have like a couple of days to get this up and running on the website. Time is getting short and suggestions are welcome — though that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll do more than listen and bang my head on the keyboard for a while for not thinking of whatever myself.

From 1989 to 1992 WSFA Press published one book each year to honor the Guest of Honor of its annual convention, Disclave, and now for Capclave 2009, WSFA Press lives again, returning to its roots, with a new website, wsfapress.com, a renewed focus, and a new project: a limited run of Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove, a short story collection containing six stories never-before-reprinted, an original story, story notes, and an introduction by Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

Issued in both a 250-copy signed and numbered edition, and a 750-copy limited edition, Reincarnations marks WSFA’s first new project in four years, and the first in a new ongoing publishing program to commemorate Capclave’s author guests of honor. Both editions will launch at Capclave, and be thereafter available from selected dealers, including Edge Books, Wrigley-Cross, Zeising Books, and many more, or available for preordering, now, from the new WSFA Press website, at wsfapress.com.

“Harry can count two generations of my family among his thousands of readers. Since you’re holding this book right now, I’m glad that you are, or will soon be, one of those lucky readers, too.”—Sheila Williams, from her introduction

The Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is the oldest science fiction club in the greater Washington area. Its members are interested in all types of science fiction and fantasy literature as well as related areas such as fantasy and science fiction films, television, costuming, gaming, filking, convention-running, and more.

Contact Gayle Surrette or Paul Haggerty, at wsfapress@gmail.com.

This has been under-wraps for awhile and we’ve finally got all the technical, or most of the technical, details of the WSFA Press website ironed out.

From WSFA Press:

WSFA Press is publishing a very special and limited new collection of Harry Turtledove short fiction, Reincarnations, containing six stories never-before-reprinted, an original story, story notes, and an introduction by Sheila Williams, the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

Be one of the first people to own this amazing collection. There is a special rate for those who order early, so don’t miss your opportunity to own a copy. Go to the WSFA Press website: http://www.wsfapressbooks.org/ and order your copy today. Only 1000 hardcover copies will be offered for sale: 250 copies will specially signed & numbered by Harry Turtledove, the remaining 750 will not be signed – unless you come to Capclave and find Harry!

In case you’re wondering why I’m touting this book, it’s because I’m a member of WSFA, on this year’s Capclave committee, and Chair of next year’s (2010) Capclave, and on the Publications committee. I also worked on WSFA Press’ previous book, Future Washington, as copy editor and proofreader. But this time, I’m mostly an observer giving support to a great project.

A bit about WSFA Press:

From 1989 to 1992 WSFA Press published one book each year to honor the Guest of Honor of our annual convention. In 2005 WSFA Press was returned from suspended animation to produce the Future Washington anthology. And now in 2009, WSFA Press lives again, returning to its roots to publish Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove.

We went live with the magazines at midnight on September 1st, but we just finished all the tweaks and polishing of the chrome this evening.  The major problem this month was me.  Yup, me.

I got the flu or a cold but it might be the flu.  Yes, I googled the symptoms and I’ve got all of them so I don’t know what I’ve got.  So, I’ve been dragging around for a couple of weeks barely getting out of my own way and trying to do the things that absolutely had to be done and smoothing over the rest.  That means I OCR documents, put the pages together and proofed  them.  Entered and proofed reviews that were sent to me.  Stared at the screen for inordinate amounts of time but didn’t add a line to my novel.  Sent out the announcement of the finalists for the WSFA Small Press Award. I answered some email and entered books.

And I read.  I don’t know what most people do but when I don’t feel good I read.   I read nearly everything I was assigned this month and then some.  The problem is that, feeling as crappy as I did — I didn’t write the reviews immediately but waited.  I thought, silly me, that I’d write them the last three days of the month since I’d already taken notes and stuck stickies in the books to remind me of things I could do that.  Except I then got laryngitis and Hyperion got sick and several people who normally don’t wait to the last minute did and ….

Well, I ended up adding new material on September 1st and 2nd.  So, now we’re really done with the zines and so, if you already checked it out — check again — there may be new stuff because I combed my email today for everything I missed and now–deep sigh,  it’s time to start all over again for the October issue.

Speaking of upcoming events, I’m hoping to get an interview with Monica Fairview the author of The Other Mr. Darcy in October.  She’s doing a blog tour and I’m hoping she’ll be able to squeeze it in between stops.  I’ve got the list of the blogs she’ll be visiting and will post it closer to the start of her tour and just before I post my review of the book.

Gumshoe is going to be running an interview with Laura Childs in October to go with the release of her new book, Tragic Magic (A Scrapbooking Mystery).  I’ll also be reviewing season one of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.

On the SFRevu side, I need to see what books we’re reviewing for October and start contacting people to line up an interview.  The problem is usually not that there aren’t enough people to ask but that I dither on trying to decide who to ask because I want to ask them all.

Then there’s the knitting.  I’ve got a pair of socks on the needles and the first one is nearly to the heel.  I’ve got a sweater that needs to be steam pressed and hemmed and a button added.  And, I’ve got two other started sweaters that I hope to finish this fall.  Then there’s the spinning of yarn that I need to do.  I’d hoped to get some spinning done by requesting an audio book for review but when it arrived it was print–no problem but I was looking forward to the listening time.

Meanwhile, I’m trying to get my act together to get geared up for Capclave 2010. I’m really excited about the opportunity to be a convention chair and hope that the convention will turn out to be one that everyone enjoys from the Guests of Honor to the Volunteers to the attendees.

Looking this over, I think I may be over-committed…nah…it will be fun.

I’ve known for a while now that Connie Willis had agreed to be a Capclave 2010 Guest of Honor but hoped that the official website would be up by now. But as you know one thing leads to another and the WSFA Small Press Award and the reviving of WSFA Press sort of took over web design and update time but we’re working on the 2010 site and it should be up soon.

So, since I’m so excited by this I wanted to announce it here so you’ll all be as excited and anxious for October 2010 to get here as I am. I’m particularly excited because this is my first time as a convention chairperson. There’s a lot of work to be done and I’m pulling together my committee and developing my time charts and milestones. I’ve just received the emails for the other two guest and will be sending out the invitations tomorrow so stay tuned in case they say yes — should I have a plan B? I didn’t for Connie and she said, “Yes.”

If you haven’t read any of Connie Willis’s works give yourself a treat and try one. I’ve always liked her books and short stories. She manages to pull me in and get me to suspend belief and live in the world she creates along with her characters for the length of whatever form she’s writing in. She can be serious, silly, and penetratingly observant of the human psyche but always entertaining. Some random novel titles to check out: Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Passages, Bellwether, Lincoln’s Dreams, and Remake. There are also several collections of short stories too: Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, Impossible Things, and The Winds of Marble Arch. (Besides you’ll want to have read some of her works before October of 2010 now won’t you).

Capclave is the annual convention of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA). It’s usually held in October and the 2009 Guests of Honor are Harry Turtledove, Sheila Williams, and Rob Balder. It will be held from October 16th to the 18th, 2009.

I’ll occasionally post updates on what’s happening with Capclave 2010 here in my blog and on the official Capclave blog.

The Washington Science Fiction Association is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2009 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction (for stories published in 2008):

“Drinking Problem” by K.D. Wentworth, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008).

“Hard Rain at the Fortean Café” by Lavie Tidhar, published in issue 14 of Aeon Speculative Fiction Magazine, edited by Bridget McKenna.

“His Last Arrow” by Christopher Sequeira, published in Gaslight Grimoire: Fantastic Tales of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Jeff Campbell and Charles Prepolec, Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing, (October, 2008).

“Silent as Dust” by James Maxey, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing, January 2008.

“Spider the Artist” by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu, published in Seeds of Change, edited by John Joseph Adams, Prime Books (August, 2008)

“The Absence of Stars: Part 1” by Greg Siewert, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, edited by Edmund R. Schubert, Hatrack Publishing, December 2008.

“The Toy Car” by Luisa Maria Garcia Velasco, (translated from Spanish by Ian Watson) published in April 2008 edition of Aberrant Dreams, edited by Joseph W. Dickerson.

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction. The award showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2008). An unusual feature of the selection process is that all voting is done with the identity of the author (and publisher) hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by the members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org) and will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 16-18th in Rockville, Maryland.