I love geeks. I love nerds. I no longer even have the semantic argument, although I bet everyone here could easily leap into it.

I can already tell that I’m out of my element, though; it’s not often I’m the person in the room who has NOT read F/SF Title Here. I can already tell I’m gonna leave Balticon42 with a book list 17 inches long. Real parchment inches, too, not internet inches.

I’m here to speak on the Late Night Panels, which means exactly what you think it means: me, Nobilis, Helen Madden, and Amber L Rhea are gonna talk about the naughty stuff, like podcasting and e-books. (What did you think I meant?)

Our schedule is:

Saturday, 11pm: Sex-Tech Now and Future
Saturday, midnight: Erotic Podcasts and Sexy New Media
Sunday, midnight: So you want to be a sex podcaster?

My tweets are private but you can follow the public con-related blips at twemes.com/balticon42, if you’re into it.

The rest of this post is general con stuff, not sex-tech: Naomi Novik, Peter S. Beagle, Heinlein Society, plus: 80s dress-up.

I haven’t been to a sci-fi/fantasy con in way too long. I think my last was Comic-Con in … oh my … 1997? But it hasn’t changed. Costumes range from Renaissance Faire to Star Trek to Regency-with-Dragons (to honor Naomi Novik, who is HERE; I didn’t even know that last night when I stayed up ’til 4 a.m. reading her Temeraire series) to the timeless clever t-shirt and regular jeans and sneakers.

After a lifetime of fangirling, I finally met Peter S. Beagle in person. If all you’ve ever read of his is The Last Unicorn, what a treat you have in store — this man can write. Go order the rest of his stuff right now, then come back here if you want to read the rest of this post (but why would you, when you have new Peter S. Beagle stories???)

I bought two of his new books (finally, his work is being freed from various roadblocks, and it’s spilling out now and next year, w00t!) and he signed them both and we had a nice conversation about California. You see, it turns out I’ve been unwittingly stalking him most of my life, living or working or going to college in the towns where he lived. I’ve probably even had crepes next to him, without realizing it. (This is an important time to buy his books, by the way, as he is still fighting legal battles to recover monies stolen by a deadbeat client.)

When I first went in search of my badge, the man at The Heinlein Society pointed me in the right direction. I thanked him and he said “it won’t even cost you a pint!” I laughed and said “but if there are pints to be had, I’ll buy you one.” He replied “we like donations, we don’t buy them” and as I walked away I thought … huh? He wouldn’t have to buy it, I just said I’d buy him a pint. Two hours later I learned they are co-sponsoring a blood drive tomorrow.

And here’s a rather fuzzy cell phone snapshot of my outfit for the New Media Track “80s party meet-n-greet” last night. Note that I bought everything I’m wearing at Target this week, right down to the blue eyeshadow you can’t see in this pic. That’s right, this week. Not 25 years ago.

Oh, I found one of the makeup. That’s an electric razor in the background, not a dildo. In case you were wondering.

In true 80s spirit, my companions and I ate a healthy balanced meal and drank a glass of milk before heading out to the dance, where we did not partake of the sneaked-in booze, nor did our high school crushes notice us. Just like old times!