World Horror Recovery

Back from the World Horror Convention and a five-night stay in New Orleans. It was an experience (as is, I am told, getting fried chicken from a gas station, though we didn’t do that, so I can’t speak to it personally). It was a good trip, though also often a hectic, tumultuous, and overwhelming one as, frankly, trips are wont to be, and I’m just now beginning to recover from it and get back into the swing of things.

New Orleans was a fascinating town, and I can definitely see why the people I know who love it do so, but it wasn’t really the town for me. Exciting to visit, but I wouldn’t want to stay too long, at least not in the French Quarter, which is where I spent most of my time this trip. Too many people, too much noise, too much going on at all times, very easy for me to get overloaded. And the heat/humidity combo certainly factored in to the overall exhaustion quotient.

Thanks to Julia & RJ Sevin for showing us around the first night, which made the whole trip a lot more pleasant than it might have been had we been forced to fend for ourselves. We spent a lot of time seeing sights, though my timing was off on a good many of them, so we only got to spend about half-an-hour at the cemetery, for example, and I missed the Wax Museum altogether. If I go back again, I’ll try to plan a little better, and make sure that I hit a few places that I missed. We did get to see the Contemporary Arts Center, which was pretty cool, notably a show called Chalmatia, which I think captured the imagination of just about everyone in my group.

I took a bunch of photos while I was there, thanks to my fancy new robot phone having a decent camera. A bunch of them are on my Instagram.

As usual, cons for me are all about hanging out with people, and I tried to catch up with as many folks as I could, though some unavoidably got missed. I spent a lot of time with Bear, Steve, Marlyse, and Diane, as well as Andrew and Maro, who also accompanied me on my one debauched night on Bourbon Street. (Things were done, sights were seen which can never be unseen, the stories are better told in person than on a ‘blog, so ask me about it when you see me next, if you’re curious.) I spent some time at the Dark Regions Press table with my roommate Chris Morey. Caught up with fellow Kansas Citian Alan Spencer and his fellow Samhain Publishing alum Adam Cesare, though neither for as long as I’d have liked. And I probably spent an hour or more sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Monteleone talking movies with Gemma Files, which is an all-too-rare pleasure.

There were others I met, and still more I didn’t get the chance to. I’m sure there’s a lot more to say about the trip, but time and tide and all that, and I’m afraid I must get back to other things. Looking forward to seeing everyone again the next time we’re all together, and catching up with those I missed at the next available opportunity!