Monday, August 22, 2005
Nicole, Spongebob and I are back from Horrorfind weekend in Maryland. Had to return a bit earlier than we would have liked because we simply couldn’t ask our neighbors to help out with the kids any more than two days and nights (thanks, Meg and Emily!)…all in all, HF Weekend was loads of fun. We got there in time to join Kelly Laymon’s annual parking lot party on Thursday night, and had the chance to hang out with Brian Keene, Drew Williams, Norman Prentiss, Bill Carl, John Skipp, Dan Foley, Nikki, Tom Monteleone, Kelly and a host of others. Everyone was on their best behavior (except for me, of course), and Kelly, Bill, Nicole, Spongebob (that party animal) and I ended up at the Nautilus Diner eating pancakes at 2 in the morning. At one point the folks at the table next to us decided to move farther away; I suppose we must have been pretty obnoxious. The waitress (who was fabulous, by the way) reminded us gently that there were kids in the diner. We looked around, and in fact there were a few. Who the hell brings kids to a diner at 2 am on a Friday morning?
On Friday, Nicole and I spent a good portion of the day on our own, shopping and generally having a fine time. Then we stood in line to get our tickets, and after much waiting and confusion, wandered around the huge rooms filled with vendors’ tables. I have to mention one of the vendors here in particular: a little outfit called Teddy Scares. They make teddy bears for kids and adults (with a twist, of course). These bears are still cute–but they’re all dead. Each one has a back story and morgue record, and they come in miniature body bags. We couldn’t resist and bought a small one for our daughter. Check them out here.
We ran into Beth Massie and Mark Rainey near Gina Farago’s table (bought Ivy Cole and the Moon: good book so far), then talked a bit more with Brian Keene, J.F. Gonzalez and John Skipp (very cool guys) in the celebrity room, before heading to Coop’s famous “anti-reading.” After that we spent some time in the bar chatting with Mike Laimo, before heading into the 9:30 Q&A panel with Brian Keene, John Skipp, Brian Lumley, F. Paul Wilson and Tom Monteleone. After the panel, we visited with a few others in the bar once again, before heading back to our hotel for the night (yes, we skipped Cat’s party, which from all accounts was a hell of a good time; but in our defense, we were absolutely dragging by then from the night before—and this was our first trip together without the kids in four years, so we were ready for some peace and quiet).
On Saturday, Kelly Laymon drove down to join us for breakfast at the Nautilus. Our second trip to the diner was considerably more reserved than the first, but it was still a hell of a lot of fun. We sampled the famous chocolate-covered cheesecake before we had to head to the hotel to pack. Before we hit the road, I managed to get back into the conference to drop off a few more Bloodstone cards and flyers, give an ARC to Nanci from Horrorworld, wander around for a few more minutes and say goodbye to a few folks. Then we rushed off to the airport to make our 2:30 pm flight.
One problem: when we arrived at the self check-in, we found a special message waiting for us: “flight canceled: please see attendant.” Apparently some bright bulb at Logan Airport had decided to work on one of the runways, and all flights into Boston were either delayed or eliminated entirely. Seems that the next flight we could take would leave sometime in the next century. So we ended up sitting around the Baltimore Airport for the next six hours or so, wishing (at first, anyway), that we were back at Horrorfind with everyone else.
But our story has a happy ending: we met a group of like-minded travelers at our gate, and ended up having one hell of a fun time together while waiting for good old Air-Tran to send a plane our way. Even the gate attendants got into the act. Special thanks to knitting-girl, taco bell, pizza girl, Coors Light/baja girl, Harley, eavesdrop guy and girl, and gate attendants one and two: may the “Airtran Clan” live forever!
Oh, and a big thumbs up to the gate attendant who upgraded us to first class. Free drinks, extra legroom, and brand name snacks. What more could a guy want?
January 16th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Dead teddy bears in miniature body bags and morgue record! Cute !!!!????? A gift four a child!!!!????? Sick joke!!!!!??????
Barbara