So I went to go see Samuel R. Delany speak at the Central LA Public Library last weekend ... great talk, beautiful setting. Delany read one of his short-stories, "Driftglass". I enjoyed it quite a bit; I would've like to also hear one of his more challenging works, but I understand that those don't lend themselves as well to vocal readings. Apparently all of his short stories were just collected in one volume, I'll have to read that sometime in the next year. He answered a few questions at the end of the reading, talking a lot about how genres have histories that should not be forgotten, and to try to "legitimize" science fiction amounts to assimilating it into the literary mainstream and abandoning its history.
Mental note: visit the LASFS house at some point this year.
The LA Public Library is a beautiful place. Someday I'm going to take the Blue Line up there and just spend all day wandering. They have a history room on the bottom floor that's just dripping with maps and big tables on which to spread them out. I've been there at least three times, and I haven't even begun to explore it.
I have six gallons of mead to bottle, and no time to do it. Good thing mead lasts. I'm very interested in trying these batches, the first ones I've made using sulfites. It'll be interesting to compare to non-sulfited meads. Watch this space.
Temecula was a blast, even though the festival was quite rainy for the first few hours. This will sound ridiculous, but I was very proud of my ability to put up a tent and stay dry for the entire weekend on my first solo camping trip. Hopefully Dad or Scott will want to go next year, but now I know that things will be fun even if they're busy.