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Cupcakecon Report
Mar. 14th, 2010 06:05 pmYes, I have been Off The Grid for an entire week. If something happened which you want to be sure I know about, please leave a comment here.
I wrote up Cupcakecon as I went, in a somewhat elliptical fashion. Thusly:
Cupcakecon: Prologue
Arrive Madison airport -- Curse Delta for charging $25 to check a bag. -- Reading With Custer's Cavalry. -- Photograph of Comanche, (allegedly) the only living thing found on the battlefield after Little Big Horn. -- I buy a book of logic puzzles in Minneapolis. -- Tucson after dark. -- Five miles is longer than you think. -- The dithering dance of the juvenile rabbit. -- Having not been eaten by grues, I arrive safely at Endicott West.
Cupcakecon Day 1
Scenic horses. -- I startle a ground squirrel. Twice. -- The implausibility of the Tucson Mountains. -- Carriages at the Tucson airport. -- Arrival of Bear and Leah. -- Food, food, and more food. -- The Horrifying Habanero Incident. -- We encounter a stunningly gorgeous Malamute. -- Portrait of four authors in a hot tub.
Cupcakecon Day 2
We decide it is not a smoke detector, but a sin detector.
Cupcakes! -- Chocolate chipotle OMG. [N.b., for those of you in the Tucson area, this is the Red Velvet Cupcakery, which I cannot recommend highly enough.]
Gates Pass. -- Entish saguaros. -- Sonora Desert Museum. -- Do not feed the coyotes. (Also, do not teach coyotes to operate motor vehicles.) -- Petting a gopher snake. -- Mountain lions. -- Black bear. -- Mexican wolves. -- Can you spot the screech owl in this picture? (Hint.) -- The coati is busy and does not wish to see you. -- Otter. -- Beavers. Plural. -- Bighorn sheep. -- Small creatures sleeping underground. -- Cold hummingbirds. -- RAIN.
Beth's ponies. -- Nefer accepts my adulation. -- Saguaros with rainbow. -- Portrait of the author as a scale referent.
Dinner out.
Concerned Cat Is Concerned.
Cupcakecon Day 3
A white tree with a weeping habit.
Bisbee. -- Sacramento Pit and Lavender Pit. -- Delving too greedily and too deep. -- Quest for lunch. -- Leah and I learn about horchata. -- The Copper Queen Hotel. -- Angel gates and fluffy kitty. -- Stairs and steep places. -- French bulldog.
Tombstone. -- Clydesdales & Percherons. -- The Crystal Palace. -- Astonishing roulette wheel. -- We embrace the kitsch. -- Not Doc Holliday. -- I buy books.* -- Leah buys a parasol. -- Bear buys a wallet. -- Emma Explains The Gunfight. -- The Bird Cage. -- Still not Doc Holliday. -- Also not Josie Marcus. -- Tombstone's gilded Black Mariah. -- Duelling organs. -- Mrs. Fly and her Great Danes. -- Victorian racy photos w. Very Patient Dog under the pool table. -- Prostitutes named Cuckoo and Copperhead. -- Not Josie Marcus' crib. -- STILL not Doc Holliday. -- Oh John Ringo no!
The language of squirrels is entirely made up of profanity.
Portrait of three authors in a hot tub.
Cupcakecon Day 4
It is good to have wings. -- Coyote and javelina tracks.
Colossal Cave. -- A bull for Bull. -- 70 degree cave. -- Nineteenth century vandals. -- The C.C.C. -- Treacherous stairs and bad jokes.
Beth's ponies, part 2. -- Portrait of the editor as a scale referent. -- Beth longes Cai; Cory licks Bear. -- Bear rides Surprise; Cory licks me. -- I ride Surprise; Cory licks Bear. -- Surprise is 16.2 hands. A strapping wench. -- Beth is The One True Biped; I am a mere encumbrance. -- We hinder in a helping way. -- Volunteer Dog gets biscuits.
On the way home, my sunblock tries to kill us both, but fails.
Ravening Wolverine Is Ravening. -- Alarmed Cat Is Alarmed.
Portrait of four authors in a hot tub.
Bear and Mole were sisters.
Cupcakecon Day 5
Croissants! om nom nom. -- Nancy Drew lit crit. -- The awesomeness that is ZZ Top.
The Chevy Diva. -- We achieve an Amanda.
New Mexican cuisine FTW. -- Inferior cupcakes. -- We go in search of a climbing gym. -- A brief and unintentional tour of the old barrio. -- South Toule Street is well hidden, but we penetrate its mysteries. -- At higher elevations, it is harder to go up walls without DYING. -- We provide climber groupies for a woman we have never met.
I resurrect old skills and enact a lady's maid.
Quiet evening in for Mole.
Cupcakecon Day 6
The Tucson Festival of Books. -- Signing. -- Airedale with saddlebags. -- Sun. -- Corgi with saddlebags. -- Food. -- Panel. -- Signing. -- Signing. 4 p.m. In a tent. Facing west. -- The yellow face it burns us.
And yet, I am not sunburned. Neutrogena 100+ sunblock FTW.
Guatemalan cuisine also FTW.
Portrait of three authors in a hot tub and two authors in deck chairs. -- Short stories these days: "They lie there limply, twitching a little." "With their eyes shut, audibly chanting England, England, England."
Cupcakecon Day 7
Awake at 4:45 in the morning. -- Almost but not quite worth it for the stars. -- We drive to the airport. -- They call it a blind spot for a REASON, dipshit. -- The airplane does a good imitation of a sardine tin. -- Reading about Doc Holliday, as I do not want to start shouting at Wyatt Earp in public. -- Amazingly good babies. -- HOME.
---
*Gary L. Roberts, Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend; Casey Tefertiller, Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend; Allen Barra, Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends. One begins to sense a theme.
I wrote up Cupcakecon as I went, in a somewhat elliptical fashion. Thusly:
Cupcakecon: Prologue
Arrive Madison airport -- Curse Delta for charging $25 to check a bag. -- Reading With Custer's Cavalry. -- Photograph of Comanche, (allegedly) the only living thing found on the battlefield after Little Big Horn. -- I buy a book of logic puzzles in Minneapolis. -- Tucson after dark. -- Five miles is longer than you think. -- The dithering dance of the juvenile rabbit. -- Having not been eaten by grues, I arrive safely at Endicott West.
Cupcakecon Day 1
Scenic horses. -- I startle a ground squirrel. Twice. -- The implausibility of the Tucson Mountains. -- Carriages at the Tucson airport. -- Arrival of Bear and Leah. -- Food, food, and more food. -- The Horrifying Habanero Incident. -- We encounter a stunningly gorgeous Malamute. -- Portrait of four authors in a hot tub.
Cupcakecon Day 2
We decide it is not a smoke detector, but a sin detector.
Cupcakes! -- Chocolate chipotle OMG. [N.b., for those of you in the Tucson area, this is the Red Velvet Cupcakery, which I cannot recommend highly enough.]
Gates Pass. -- Entish saguaros. -- Sonora Desert Museum. -- Do not feed the coyotes. (Also, do not teach coyotes to operate motor vehicles.) -- Petting a gopher snake. -- Mountain lions. -- Black bear. -- Mexican wolves. -- Can you spot the screech owl in this picture? (Hint.) -- The coati is busy and does not wish to see you. -- Otter. -- Beavers. Plural. -- Bighorn sheep. -- Small creatures sleeping underground. -- Cold hummingbirds. -- RAIN.
Beth's ponies. -- Nefer accepts my adulation. -- Saguaros with rainbow. -- Portrait of the author as a scale referent.
Dinner out.
Concerned Cat Is Concerned.
Cupcakecon Day 3
A white tree with a weeping habit.
Bisbee. -- Sacramento Pit and Lavender Pit. -- Delving too greedily and too deep. -- Quest for lunch. -- Leah and I learn about horchata. -- The Copper Queen Hotel. -- Angel gates and fluffy kitty. -- Stairs and steep places. -- French bulldog.
Tombstone. -- Clydesdales & Percherons. -- The Crystal Palace. -- Astonishing roulette wheel. -- We embrace the kitsch. -- Not Doc Holliday. -- I buy books.* -- Leah buys a parasol. -- Bear buys a wallet. -- Emma Explains The Gunfight. -- The Bird Cage. -- Still not Doc Holliday. -- Also not Josie Marcus. -- Tombstone's gilded Black Mariah. -- Duelling organs. -- Mrs. Fly and her Great Danes. -- Victorian racy photos w. Very Patient Dog under the pool table. -- Prostitutes named Cuckoo and Copperhead. -- Not Josie Marcus' crib. -- STILL not Doc Holliday. -- Oh John Ringo no!
The language of squirrels is entirely made up of profanity.
Portrait of three authors in a hot tub.
Cupcakecon Day 4
It is good to have wings. -- Coyote and javelina tracks.
Colossal Cave. -- A bull for Bull. -- 70 degree cave. -- Nineteenth century vandals. -- The C.C.C. -- Treacherous stairs and bad jokes.
Beth's ponies, part 2. -- Portrait of the editor as a scale referent. -- Beth longes Cai; Cory licks Bear. -- Bear rides Surprise; Cory licks me. -- I ride Surprise; Cory licks Bear. -- Surprise is 16.2 hands. A strapping wench. -- Beth is The One True Biped; I am a mere encumbrance. -- We hinder in a helping way. -- Volunteer Dog gets biscuits.
On the way home, my sunblock tries to kill us both, but fails.
Ravening Wolverine Is Ravening. -- Alarmed Cat Is Alarmed.
Portrait of four authors in a hot tub.
Bear and Mole were sisters.
Cupcakecon Day 5
Croissants! om nom nom. -- Nancy Drew lit crit. -- The awesomeness that is ZZ Top.
The Chevy Diva. -- We achieve an Amanda.
New Mexican cuisine FTW. -- Inferior cupcakes. -- We go in search of a climbing gym. -- A brief and unintentional tour of the old barrio. -- South Toule Street is well hidden, but we penetrate its mysteries. -- At higher elevations, it is harder to go up walls without DYING. -- We provide climber groupies for a woman we have never met.
I resurrect old skills and enact a lady's maid.
Quiet evening in for Mole.
Cupcakecon Day 6
The Tucson Festival of Books. -- Signing. -- Airedale with saddlebags. -- Sun. -- Corgi with saddlebags. -- Food. -- Panel. -- Signing. -- Signing. 4 p.m. In a tent. Facing west. -- The yellow face it burns us.
And yet, I am not sunburned. Neutrogena 100+ sunblock FTW.
Guatemalan cuisine also FTW.
Portrait of three authors in a hot tub and two authors in deck chairs. -- Short stories these days: "They lie there limply, twitching a little." "With their eyes shut, audibly chanting England, England, England."
Cupcakecon Day 7
Awake at 4:45 in the morning. -- Almost but not quite worth it for the stars. -- We drive to the airport. -- They call it a blind spot for a REASON, dipshit. -- The airplane does a good imitation of a sardine tin. -- Reading about Doc Holliday, as I do not want to start shouting at Wyatt Earp in public. -- Amazingly good babies. -- HOME.
---
*Gary L. Roberts, Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend; Casey Tefertiller, Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend; Allen Barra, Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends. One begins to sense a theme.
1. I still have this cold.
2. However, yesterday I was feeling grungy but not unbearably subhuman, so all the books from the auction are in the mail. (Megan, the manuscript stories are going to have to wait until I get a new toner cartridge, because I owe you better print-quality than I can currently provide.)
3. I have plane tickets for CupcakeCon.
4. I am told that the Publishers Weekly review of Jonathan Strahan's Best SF/Fantasy of 2009 praises "Mongoose" for its "humor amid life-and-death peril."
5. And last night on Twitter,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cristalia and I started hashing out a manifesto for Gromitpunk:
@leahbobet (a.k.a.cristalia): Oh hello there, THE WRONG BOOK.
@pennyvixen (a.k.a.truepenny): It's very like the Wrong Trousers, only generally with less penguin.
@leahbobet: And less Wensleydale. :(
@pennyvixen: And no Gromit. ... although, come to think of it, ALL my books have that problem.
@leahbobet: Time to write the Gromitpunk manifesto.
@pennyvixen: oh GOD yes.
@leahbobet: OTOH, a year and four months later, I just found why that first sentence is wrong... *g*
@pennyvixen: Gromitpunk is all about embracing the Zen of one's writing process, goddammit.
@leahbobet: Y'know, it kind of is. Wallace and Gromit ARE the writing process: make up crazy outsized shit, and then Gromit makes it work.
@pennyvixen: Yeah. Wallace takes all the credit and Gromit just sighs and makes another pot of tea.
@leahbobet: 'Zactly!
@pennyvixen: Gromitpunk is also all about tea.
@leahbobet: And dairyfat, and pies.
(If you're curious about The Wrong Book and its new first sentence, look over here.)
Survey says, not too shabby.
2. However, yesterday I was feeling grungy but not unbearably subhuman, so all the books from the auction are in the mail. (Megan, the manuscript stories are going to have to wait until I get a new toner cartridge, because I owe you better print-quality than I can currently provide.)
3. I have plane tickets for CupcakeCon.
4. I am told that the Publishers Weekly review of Jonathan Strahan's Best SF/Fantasy of 2009 praises "Mongoose" for its "humor amid life-and-death peril."
5. And last night on Twitter,
cristalia and I started hashing out a manifesto for Gromitpunk:@leahbobet (a.k.a.
cristalia): Oh hello there, THE WRONG BOOK.@pennyvixen (a.k.a.
truepenny): It's very like the Wrong Trousers, only generally with less penguin.@leahbobet: And less Wensleydale. :(
@pennyvixen: And no Gromit. ... although, come to think of it, ALL my books have that problem.
@leahbobet: Time to write the Gromitpunk manifesto.
@pennyvixen: oh GOD yes.
@leahbobet: OTOH, a year and four months later, I just found why that first sentence is wrong... *g*
@pennyvixen: Gromitpunk is all about embracing the Zen of one's writing process, goddammit.
@leahbobet: Y'know, it kind of is. Wallace and Gromit ARE the writing process: make up crazy outsized shit, and then Gromit makes it work.
@pennyvixen: Yeah. Wallace takes all the credit and Gromit just sighs and makes another pot of tea.
@leahbobet: 'Zactly!
@pennyvixen: Gromitpunk is also all about tea.
@leahbobet: And dairyfat, and pies.
(If you're curious about The Wrong Book and its new first sentence, look over here.)
Survey says, not too shabby.
