I'm now back at my desk following a week in Chicago which, honestly, was not the greatest, considering it involved missing one day to airline chaos (a broken altimeter, really?!) another to what was either food poisoning or the norovirus, and various fandom horrors that are too huge to get into here (but that you'll hear much more about in the future).  In the midst of all that, it was great to spend time with LM Myles, Lee Harris, Emma Newman, Bill Willingham, Kate Kligman, George RR Martin and the Wildcards gang, and many other old friends.  On the last day, Mary Robinette Kowal invited us to her house, and on a blissful evening on the balcony, we watched her lovely Dad play the saw with a bow.

But still, in the midst of all that, the SF Squeecast team won a Hugo!  Here we all are, onstage, clutching our trophies!


(Photo by the wonderful E. Lily Yu.)  From the left, that's Bear ('yes, yes!'), me ('funny story, these two blokes walk into a bar...'), Lynne ('greetings, people of Earth'), Seanan ('imperius rex!') and Cat ('I have a rosy apple for you, my pretty!')  The superdresses made me feel rather louche and offhand in comparison.

I took my Hugo back through the airport in a specially-provided box, leading to a lovely chat with a TSA guy (I think we have a new listener there).  It's got a crack in it, but I treasure that crack, I feel it's an apt reminder of the weekend.

I tried to get to my reading on the day when I had the bug, but having thrown up three times between my room and the elevators, I decided the audience could do without the special effects.  But, bless them, they did show up, and Ferrett Steinmetz took this picture of them...


They've just been told I won't be there.  Is that guy shaking his fist or going 'yes!'?

I managed to do a couple of meet-the-audience appearances.  (And they were brilliant.)  I didn't get to take the temperature of Panel Parity at the event much at all.  (I think strides were made, but also I heard a few horror stories, like the 'Blind Spots of Fandom' panel (which was, amazingly, less than eight hours long), where a woman talking at the end got literally shouted down.)  Parity is of course the tip of an iceberg, and at the end of the year I'm now looking forward to joining up with organisations that'll do more for the cause of women in fandom in a much less silly and bashy way than what my approach in 2012 has been.

It was, all in all, really good to get back to Caroline and Spud, who is now performing daily rhythmic gymnastics routines in the womb.

Meanwhile, back home, Noel Clarke, bless him, has been reading London Falling, and telling the world. 

And Newsarama has put up a preview of several pages of next week's Demon Knights #0, an issue that relates how Etrigan and Lucifer came to be at odds, and how that influenced Etrigan's bond with Jason Blood.

I'm now doing my best to catch up with work (on the weekend, breaking one of my rules).  I must say it was good to meet so many of you in Chicago.  Until next time, Cheerio!