Wednesday running around London and ....

[ellen_datlow]

I talked for about an hour to Farah Mendlesohn's class at Middlesex University about the editing process, about what I consider to be encompassed by the term "horror" and how I got into short story editing. Afterwards I went for coffee in the campus cafe with Farah and three of her students.

Then I met Paul McAuley at his flat and we walked to Islington for tea with Kim Newman. After that, Kim went to see a movie, Paul went home to work, and I went over to Rob Holdstock's for a drink before dinner.

Rob, Sarah (his partner), and I drove to a pub called The Woodman that had marvelous English food: roasts, which I love, Yorkshire pudding, excellent roast potatoes and perfect vegetables (NOT overcooked), and dessert. By the time we finished we three were stuffed.

The big adventure was their driving me back to Camden Town--we drove in circles for 45 minutes and the most ridiculous thing was that at least once we were in viewing distance of the High Street but couldn't get there. Sarah, who was driving and I in the front seat with her finally were hysterical laughing at our plight. I was in tears with laughter. Rob was trying to read the map which was utterly unhelpful (not him, but the map). Somehow, after twice reaching Mornington Crescent we managed to find the right street home...Rob asked me not to blog about it but Clute just told me (to make Rob feel better)that he had read that Camden Town has the most complicated traffic patterns of urban streets in the western world. So Rob, I hope this makes up for me blogging about it.


And I saw Jeff VanderMeer's rave on Scifi Weekly for Inferno:

Inferno

Comments

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Well, of course he lives here and must direct cab drivers when driving to the airport since no one has a clue how to drive around here. Many one way streets.

[sacredchao23.livejournal.com]

I know he lives there, but it also just seems like one of the random esoteric things he would just know.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I suspect that if he didn't live here and have to deal with it it might NOT be one of the esoteric things he's know :-)--but obviously both you and I have no idea what we're talking about!

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Honey, if you live in London--in London, as opposed to the suburbs--this is something you know. You'll know it because you'll be stuck in traffic there, either on the bus or in a taxi, as you go from one place to another. Or you'll be lost because of it as you try to find your way home.