Worldcon

I have not published for two and half months, and the blog's readership is way, way down. My bad.

What have I done in the intervening time? Gone to the World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City. This involved a long, long drive through Iowa, not the most exciting state in the union. Patrick and I did not see much of KC, though we did get to the Nelson Atkins Gallery, an art museum I have been hearing about my entire life. The European galleries were closed for renovation, but we had a nice time in the Chinese galleries. My favorite works were Tang Dynasty tomb figures, especially a wonderful horse, full of energy, and a pudgy Central Asian woman, nursing her baby while on top of a Bactrian camel. I also liked a group of contemporary Chinese paintings. One was a scroll, so big that it went up to a high ceiling. It showed a mountains-and-rivers landscape, done with a brush so wide you could have painted walls with it. Very handsome. There was also a calligraphy scroll, done in the seal script, and -- like the landscape -- larger than traditional works, though not as huge as the landscape. And there were two paintings of stones, that were quite lovely.

The con was fine, though I am too much of an introvert to fully enjoy cons. I did three or four panels and a kaffeklatsch. I didn't go to any parties, since they are too late and too loud. I didn't find out where the official con bar was, till the end of the con, so I never got there. I saw a bunch of friends, bought a couple of books and a scarf. Then Patrick and I drove home through the endless corn fields of Iowa.