Here are some pictures of the Backbrain with various luminaries at the 2007 World Fantasy Convention (and afterwards). The pictures were (mostly) taken by Cat Sparks, of course.
The Aussie Panel — which was on the topic “Ghosts and Revenants Down Under: Is There an Australian Aesthetic?” — featured (from left) Robert Hood, Deb Biancotti, Jack Dann, Kaaron Warren and Garth Nix.
With Peter Straub in the bar…
Moments after Cat took the previous pic with Peter Straub, Kim Newman innocently wandered by so I grabbed him and made him have his picture taken. Before I could talk to him much, however, a crowd of other vultures descended and whisked him away.
With Jay Lake. I talked to Jay in various places over the weekend, but this pic was taken at the “Aussie authors and friends” reception that took place at the Australian Consulate in NYC before the Con began.
With Aussie publisher Alisa Krasnostein and US fantasy author David Coe. I first got to know David when he and his family were living a few suburbs north of us on the sunny Illawarra coast in Australia. It was great to be able to catch up with him again, on his home soil this time.
Discussing giant monsters with Nick Kaufman at the Orbit party.
Stephen Jones. OK, so I’m not in this one. But it was the first time I’d met Stephen. I was sitting with Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois during the mass signing, my name card dutifully unrecognised in front of me, when Stephen came up and introduced himself. He had published one of my stories once (“Nasty Little Habits” in Dark Voices 3, 1991) and remembered. A nice surprise.
With Kaaron Warren (whose excellent new collection The Glass Woman first made its appearance at the con), Alisa and Cat Sparks, editor and writer extraordinaire.
We next pinned Kim Newman down at the Award Banquet. Again, however, his attention was soon taken by others. It wasn’t until we serendipitously stumbled upon him buying DVDs in the Virgin Megastore in Times Square that we got to talk… brought together by a mutual obsession.
Me and New York: a shot taken from not-quite-at-the-top of the Empire State Building. It confirmed one thing: NYC is VERY BIG.
After WFC, in London now, we had lunch with Pat Cadigan and her husband Chris. After that, our encounters became a lot more familial. Then we flew home.
