Undead Backbrain

We returned from attending the 2007 World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Springs NY on Sunday — via London — and it’s taken a few days to recover from all that chaotic shuffling between zones, dodging temporal glitches, being swallowed by daylight saving sinkholes, and generally feeling as though I’d been removed from the time-space continuum for an indefinite period then shoved back in again once jetlag had fried my brain.

I plan to write little about WFC itself — plenty of others have done that — but should say that it was great to be part of the vociferous Aussie contingent as organised by Garth Nix, Jonathan Strahan, Trevor Stafford and Deb Biancotti and to meet assorted luminaries of the field: publishers, editors, agents and writers. I got to know a few people better, missed talking to some I’d wanted to talk to, ate, drank, bought books and DVDs, made some useful contacts and set up one or two possibilities.

One thing I have to write about is our involvement in a Duran Duran concert on Broadway, fulfilling one of my partner Cat Sparks’ dreams. Later.

Another is to mention the most bizarre event of the trip. Picture the scene: Cat Sparks, Alisa Krasnostein and myself in New York, looking for somewhere to eat. I’ve been on a wheat-free diet, so it hasn’t been easy. “I’d like some decent sushi!” I declare. Cat says, “Well, I want a pizza.” As for Alisa, she rather fancies something kosher. “What we need,” says Cat, jokingly, “is a Jewish pizza and sushi restaurant.” Not very likely. Yet… I kid you not … less than a block further on we stumble across something called Jerusalem 2 Pizza. There’s a big sign in the window: FRESH SUSHI NOW AVAILABLE. We go in. Sure enough, it’s a kosher pizza joint with a new sushi bar area at the back.

Only in New York! Cat began to wonder if it was some sort of sign from God, telling her to convert to Judaism.

After that, we went to the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. Now, WFC was over and much to my regret I hadn’t been able to really chat with guest Kim Newman. Every time I tried we were interrupted by someone and in the end it just didn’t happen much beyond “Hi! Love your work!”

So I load up with horror DVDs and am looking for somewhere to pay for them, when who do we run into but … Kim Newman, also loaded up with DVDs. So we got to chat after all.