OK, time to try to catch up on things…

I should start at SFO, because the United terminal has a wonderful new exhibit celebrating the influence of science fiction on American culture. The walls are lined with posters made from the covers of pulp magazines, and there are lots of exhibits of SF-related toys. I was particularly pleased to see a large model of dear old XL5.

Chicago has been a bit of a whirl, resulting in last night’s Gaiman-esque post. It has, however, been very useful, and a lot of fun too. I spent a lot of time yesterday hanging out with Gary Wolfe. One of the things we did was go looking for a copy of Zahra the Windseeker. B&N and Borders both drew a blank, so Gary drove me down to the university bookstore. They had a large sign in the window saying something along the lines of, “we congratulate our regular customer, Barack Obama, on being elected President of the United States of America.” (More on that story from Publishers Weekly.) Would such a store have Nnedi’s book? Of course they did. What is more, the guy on the checkout was reading an ARC of Kelly Link’s new book, Pretty Monsters. We figured this was someone we could talk to, and as Nnedi lives in Chicago we did a bit of PR. Hopefully there will be an event as a result. (Hey, and maybe Mr. Obama would like a copy of the book for his daughters.)

Nearby is a fine antiquarian bookstore called O’Gara and Wilson. It is apparently a favorite of Mr. Clute, and I can see why. It has the best SF section of any antiquarian bookstore I have visited.

Kevin joined us in the evening and we had dinner in the very splendid Grand Lux Cafe, where they make the best beignets I have ever eaten (sorry N’awlins). I was also rather taken by the appetizer of kobe beef hot dogs.