The Fantastic Books table in the Balticon dealers’ room.

I’m back from Balticon, but still exhausted. I think that’s the sign of a good convention: too much good stuff going on to get enough sleep. SFScope is going to sporadic again this week, because BEA is in town, and I’ll be at the convention and several related events.

But Balticon was great. I spent a lot of time in the dealers’ room (standing behind the Fantastic Books table, but we did really well, so that was good, too). When I was able to escape that ballroom, there was a lot to do. I attended the opening ceremonies on Friday night, at which emcee Mark Van Name introduced the guests of honor (and Joe Haldeman started the meme of wondering which was his first Balticon, and if anyone present could recall seeing him there), and then the awards were presented.

Myke Cole accepting the Compton Crook Award from T.C. McCarthy. Photo by Ian Randal Strock.

As we announced in this article, Myke Cole was this year’s winner of the Compton Crook Award for best first sf novel, for Shadow Ops: Control Point. The award, as is traditional, was presented the previous year’s winner, in this case, T.C. McCarthy. Van Name commented on McCarthy’s comfortable appearance (which was at odds with his more satorial style last year), which contrasted interestingly with Cole (who, as is his habit at award ceremonies, was in his dress Coast Guard uniform). Cole gave a very moving acceptance speech, recognizing the overlap between serving members of the military and sf fandom, and singled out author Peter Brett for special thanks.

Linda Steele and Allen Steel accepting Allen’s Robert A. Heinlein Award. Photo by Ian Randal Strock.

After administering the Robert A. Heinlein Award since its founding, Dr. Yoji Kondo has stepped down from that post, and been replaced by Michael Flynn (who shared the inaugural award with Virginia Heinlein in 2003). Flynn presented the awards to Kondo and Allen Steele. Accepting first, Steele (the winner of three Hugos) commented that this was the one award he had been hoping for. Noting that, in addition to a plaque and medal, the award includes two lapel pins, he then announced that he was sharing the award with his wife, Linda. He called her up to the stage to pin one of the pins on her lapel. Kondo’s acceptance was very brief, but also heartfelt, and he wore the medal all weekend long. Sunday was his 80th birthday, and the event was celebrated with a party and cakes in the con suite.

Robert A. Heinlein Award winners Dr. Yoji Kondo and Allen Steele. Photo by Ian Randal Strock.

My panel assignments this weekend were light, with only three on my schedule. The first, Sunday night at 7, was “Marketing and Promotion”, with Cecilia Tan and Jean Marie Ward. Two hours after that ended, I was on almost the same panel, entitled “Promoting Your Book”, this time with Ward and Michael Ventrella. Two hours wasn’t enough to finish all the suggestions we had, both for and against, but it’s a constantly evolving field, so there really is no “finished” about it. I did, however, get to share an evolving object lesson. One of the books Fantastic Books has recently released is the republication of Tanith Lee’s The Gorgon. Sunday afternoon, a woman dressed as Medusa saw the book on my table, and picked it up to show to her family (Medusa was a Gorgon). She laughed, replaced it, and they continued walking. Moments after she left, I realized I should have taken a photo (the Gorgon with The Gorgon), but I’d missed it. A missed opportunity for an oddball piece of publicity. Between my two panels, there was a book launch party in the con suite, so I spent some time there, sitting talking with friends, when I saw the woman walk in. I excused myself from the conversation, approached her, explained my earlier missed opportunity, and asked to take her photo, which you see here. Thus, at the second panel, I was able to offer the story as a lesson of how publicity opportunities may be lurking almost anywhere.

Dr. Yoji Kondo’s 80th birthday party at Balticon 2013. Photo by Ian Randal Strock.

Finally, on Monday at 11, it was “Why Good Writing Still Matters” with Phil Giunta, Hildy Silverman, and Leona Wisoker, and as much as I agree that good writing does matter, I’m still not sure we came to any conclusion that would convince anyone beyond the limited circle of those of us in that room, who all agreed with the topic before we started; it’s frustrating trying to convince the world that we’re right.

The Gorgon holding a copy of Tanith Lee’s The Gorgon, at Balticon 2013. Photo by Ian Randal Strock.

The evening parties were few but rocking, and the games room was a rollicking hang-out until all hours. The con suite in this hotel is a nice, large, comfortable space that was designed as a restaurant, but doesn’t actually serve that function. The art show was smaller than some similar-sized conventions, but had a nice range of pieces (including a wonderful collection of Guest of Honor Rick Sternbach’s work).

As you can tell, I didn’t get to much programming, other than that in which I was a participant, but there were many tracks of panels running all weekend, special evening events such as a film festival, dance, and masquerade, random opportunities to meet and converse with fascinating people from all over the place, and much more. In and amongst those conversations, I heard a rumor that, due to the success of HBO’s television series Game of Thrones, a tie-in novel by Howard Waldrop is in the works, though the tentative publication date is sometime around 2035. I was unable to find any confirmation of the rumor.

Overall, I’d say it was a great convention, and I’m already planning on going back next year.

For 87 more photos of the weekend, see Michael Ventrella’s Facebook author page.