ellen_datlow: (Default)
( May. 28th, 2008 10:38 am)
I had a very good time and will definitely attend again-although not next year as I'm toastmaster at Conquest the same weekend.

I seem to have missed the virus that spread around the con like wildfire but I guess I could still come down with it. Keeping fingers crossed.

The flight back started so-so --with a 25 minute delay. I knew that Madison skies were windy but not too windy, and that NYC was having thunderstorms. Well, after 2 hours of flying it turned out that NYC had closed its airports and so we circled high up and far away for awhile....and awhile...and longer. Finally, it was announced that we were running out of fuel, ground control didn't know when the airports around NYC would reopen (supposedly even the trains were stopped) and so we were diverted to Hartford, Ct to refuel and wait. It was about 7pm by then (we were supposed to have gotten in around 5:30.) I had lots of cheese curds and a very good bread I'd picked up at the market Saturday so at least had food to keep me from getting overly grumpy.

We were allowed into the small Hartford terminal to wait but there was NOTHING open --not even drink machines. Everyone from the plane (crew and passengers) were remarkably congenial and calm about the whole thing. So we waited there about 45 minutes waiting to hear the news about whether the airports were reopened.

They were, we reboarded, sat on the plane for about half an hour and then came an announcement...the crew told us that they were informed that they were legally not allowed to fly any longer--they'd all hit their limit (well, it was 8 ours from our original departure, who knows how long they were working before that). They wanted to go to NYC as much as we did and it was only 25 minutes away but no-go.....so we disembarked again and this time were told that the airline would give us vouchers for taxis to LaGuardia.

The passengers started getting together into groups of three whose destination were nearby so we could have the cabs take us to the city rather than the airport where we'd just have to cab in into the city. So....we got vouchers (of $295 --if you want to know the cost of a cab from Hartford to Manhattan) and I found two other women going into Manhattan-and downtown. So we piled into the cab at around 10:45 pm and got to Manhattan about 12:45 or so , with a stop at a gas station enroute so we could use the bathroom and get some food.

Boy was it good to be home after that.
This is a chapbook that was created to raise funds for the Shirley Jackson Award. I've linked to Paul Tremblay's blog posting because he has a button linked to paypal, the easiest and most profitable for the organization way to buy the book. The Shirley Jackson Award website is waiting to be updated so that all this will be on the front page and blogged--when that happens I'll change the link to that.
Jack Haringa Must Die!
You can also order it by emailing: MerricatPublications@gmail.com
or buying it at amazon:
amazon link

Also, Charles Tan is conducting a series of interviews with nominees--I'll add the names of those interviewed here as they go up:
Lucius Shepard about his novella "Vacancy"
Laird Barron about his work
Jackson blog


Finally, there will be a fund raiser held at KGB Bar July 23rd with Peter Straub, David Wellington, Jack Womack, Sarah Langan, Carrie Laben(a finalist), Jeffrey Ford, John Langan, and F. Brett Cox, and Jack Ketchum will be reading from Jackson's work. Entrance will cost $5...An actual pr release about this will be sent out soon.
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