Hello, hello! Sorry again that I haven’t been posting but I have been super busy and just haven’t been in the reading mood. Haven’t read anything in weeks. It’s probably the first time I’ve taken this long of a reading break in years, which is weird, but here we are.

Just to quickly recap some personal stuff: my mom is doing well and was released from the hospital and was able to go to my dad’s memorial luncheon — which turned out really nice. I got a bad cold (not covid) and it sucked but got better pretty fast. We had some friends over the weekend before Worldcon just to hang out and play games and that was nice because I love my friends. Have been doing loads of housework to keep things in shape for Christmas (which is somehow this weekend already?!) since my mom and brother are coming over for an early dinner. And that’s about it. Phew!

Anyway, yesterday I got back from Worldcon! It was my first time going to that particular convention and because of covid times it was a bit strange but it was still really nice to see people in person. On the first day my husband and I met up with some of my online friends (fellow r/fantasy mods) and we went to the National Zoo. Below are a few of the pictures I took from that trip.

I went to loads of panels! Every panel I went to was amazing. The panelists were fantastic. There was only one panel that felt a bit awkward and that was mostly because people from the audience kept asking weird rambling non-questions. Hard to say what my favorite panel was because I loved so many of them. Great topics and great discussions! I also went to two readings. One was AMAZING. The other one half was amazing (because K.D. Edwards is awesome).

I also went to two kaffeklatsches — one for Jenn Lyons and one for Melissa Caruso. They were both amazing and I had so much fun learning more about them and their writing processes and other things. I never would have imagined that I’d be able to sit in a room with such a small group of people and just hang out and talk to authors I love for an hour. It was so cool! Usually my anxiety gets the best of me in these kinds of situations but I think it helped that friends were also at both of the ones I attended. Other authors I got to meet and talk to a bit were Mary Robinette Kowal and K.D. Edwards–both also awesome.

Went to dinner a lot but I only got a couple pictures of food because I was hungry and started eating a lot before I remembered LOL.

I also got quite a few books signed! Books below were ones I brought with me and got signed while there. Pictured:

• Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse
• The Last Sun and The Hanged Man by K.D. Edwards
• A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
• The Mask of Mirrors and The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick
• Ghost Talkers and Glamour in Glass by Mary Robinette Kowal
• Network Effect by Martha Wells
• The Obsidian Tower and The Quicksilver Court by Melissa Caruso

Then, I bought some other books while I was there and had those signed as well. Pictured:

• The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
• Jade Legacy by Fonda Lee
• Tremontaine by Ellen Kushner (and others)
• Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
• Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko

Then I bought some other books that weren’t for signing (even though a couple of the authors were there — I bought them on Sunday right before leaving). They just looked like good books! And in the case of Legendborn–read it, loved it, wanted one for my shelves. Pictured:

• Wendy Darling by A.C. Wise
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
• The Righteous by Renee Ahdieh
• Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston

So many fun and interesting things happened during Worldcon but it all seems like a bit of a whirlwind now. The best part was getting to see some of my friends in person and hang out and experience the convention together. I’m so glad to be home, but the end of the con was a little bittersweet.

Hopefully I’ll be doing some reading this week! Being around books and talking about books has maybe ignited the mood to read. I think I may re-read The Obsidian Tower and then go into The Quicksilver Court but we’ll see how it goes. I did also receive a couple of other books in the mail over the past three weeks so I’ll leave you with those. And if I don’t check in again before New Year’s…have a great rest of the year! Pictured:

• The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu
• Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu
• The Liar’s Knot by M.A. Carrick (which I promptly took to Worldcon and got signed hahaha)