So I am utterly delighted to be returning to Borderlands Books in San Francisco, California this coming Saturday, March 25th, where I will be celebrating the release of Magic For Nothing alongside the fabulous Mishell Baker, who is celebrating the release of Phantom Pains. In my case, that's the new InCryptid; in her case, it's the new Arcadia Project; in both cases, it's guaranteed to be a good time.

With two authors and double the word-y goodness, we're not bringing the full band this event (also, we accidentally scheduled it on top of Consonance, which means most of the band is busy anyway). We will have a raffle, and if the cupcake place gets back to me, we'll have cupcakes (no answer as yet). On the off chance that we don't, remember that the cafe sells delicious baked goods, and would be happy to hook you up with something yummy.

The event will begin at 5pm. If you can't make it, please contact the bookstore ahead of time to place an order for a signed, personalized book: we're happy to hook you up. I'm collecting raffle prizes and packing my bags, and I can't wait to see you all!

TWO NEBULA NOMINEES ENTER. TWO NEBULA NOMINEES LEAVE. IT TURNS OUT THIS IS NOT A DEATH MATCH.

Roll on San Francisco!

It's almost time: this weekend I will be a guest at the one and only (and sadly final) AnomalyCon in Denver, Colorado. I...keep swearing I'll never go back to Denver, on account of how I get blazingly terrible altitude sickness, and then I keep going back because people ask nicely. But this still could be the last time!

Where will I be?

Friday, catch me at "Reinventing the Wheelchair" at 6pm in Mesa Verde C, or at "Sex in Young Adult Fiction" at 7pm in Windstar A.

Saturday, find me at "Submitting to the Process" at 10am in Wind River B, "Future Accessibility" at 11am in Windstar A, "Writing Villains" at 6pm in Mesa Verde A, or at "Hell Hath No Fury" at 7pm in Wind River A.

There might be additions to my schedule, so check your program book (and don't ask here, as I have no guarantee about how much internet access I'll have). And of course I'll be signing and smiling and looking faintly confused by the lack of oxygen all weekend long.

Come on down!

This weekend (by which we mean "Thursday through Sunday," because the weekend is a negotiable time period, and doesn't Thursday look fetching in that tiara?) you can catch me at Emerald City Comic-Con in scenic Seattle, Washington! Join me for thrills, chills, and a smashing good time!

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE.

Thursday night, come catch me a Shipwreck, where six great authors destroy one great work of literature. We're doing The Sandman. And I do mean doing. This is not an all-ages event. This is porn. I am a porn lord. Endless help me.

Friday, I'll be signing at the University Books booth (2pm) and the Penguin Random House booth (5pm), and then it's off to Worldbuilders for a fun night of gaming and merriment. Seats are limited but still available as I'm typing this!

Saturday, it's Geek Geek Revolution at 1:30pm and the Death of Belief at 4pm, both followed by signings.

Sunday, come see me at the University Books booth (1pm), and then at the Orbit Books panel (2:30pm). And then watch me run for freedom and the comforts of my own bed, because I expect to be exhausted.

I will have prizes with me every day of the con for folks who find me and answer the trivia questions I will be posting on Twitter. First-come, first-served.

See you there!

I am in Iowa! I am enjoying the company of my adult friends, who are awesome, and their three-year-old, the Skeleton Girl, who is amazing. I am not the biggest fan of tiny humans, which is why I never elected to construct one of my own, but SG? Is the best tiny human. She's just amazing. I could play with her for hours. I have played with her for hours. So Iowa is awesome.

But! I came here for a con, and a con I shall have! This weekend in Cedar Rapids, the fun begins. Ain't no party like a corn state party, because in a corn state, I am at the height of my powers. BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.

Thursday.

Pre-con signing event, 6pm. Before the con gets started, a bunch of the attending authors will be signing at the Cedar Rapids Barnes & Noble! No membership required. We hope to see you there.

Friday.

DreamCon Introduction, 1pm. This special con-within-a-con for teens is aimed at teaching writing skills and improving understanding of the science fiction community.

DreamCon Community Building, 1:25pm.

DreamCon Ask Me Anything, 3:05pm.

Opening Ceremonies, 7pm. Let's get this party started!

Saturday.

Zombie Mania, 10am. Whee.

Flipping Fairy Tales, 2pm. Watch me throw things at Jim Hines for an hour while we pretend to be professionals!

Author/Artist Meet & Greet, 3pm. Way too early to start drinking.

GoH Interviews, 4pm. ...but maybe it's a really, really good idea anyway.

Round Robin, 9pm. Once upon a time, there was a girl named Seanan, and she stole her whole panel away to the corn...

Sunday.

In Conversation with Seanan, 11am. I have a moderator? So this is not really an In Conversation... so much as it is some sort of interview that I do not fully understand. There may be a mutiny.

Vogon Poetry/Bulwer-Lytton Contests, 2pm. Welp.

Closing Ceremonies, 3pm. Goodbye, everybody! See you in the corn!

What: Post-NYCC Author Coffee Klatsch

When: Monday, October 10 at 11:00AM-1:00PM (revolving door event; guests do not need to arrive at a particular time)

Where: Random House offices—1745 Broadway, NYC 10019 (between 55th and 56th streets)

RSVP: Please RSVP to delrey@randomhouse.com with “RSVP” in the subject line and the full names of everyone in your party in the e-mail body.

Details: Guests will sign in at the front desk upon arrival and security will direct them to the 2nd floor Club Room for coffee and mingling with authors. PRH will be stocking the first-in-series book for every attending author to sign and give away. Books will not be sold at this event. Readers are encouraged to bring any books they wish to be signed as there will be a limited supply of giveaway copies.

If you're in or around New York, I hope to see you there!

Because it is written in the stars that 2016 should be a month of near-constant travel, I am about to hop on yet another plane and soar off to New York, where I will do business, hug people, and oh yeah, appear at New York Comic-Con, the East Coast's Geek Prom.

So where can you find me? Other than staring longingly at the Marvel editorial team, trying to literally will them into hiring me to relaunch the X-Men?

Thursday.

Mira Grant signing, 2pm, Orbit Booth. I don't actually have booth numbers, but it will be listed in the program/exhibitor guide as either "Orbit" or "Hachette Books," and I will gleefully sign things for you. With my actual hand!

Friday.

Shipwreck, 8pm. This is a separately ticketed event, but believe me, you want to attend. Come and see several professional word people wreck a great book--in this case, The Princess Bride. Mara Wilson is our guest reader. This is also the launch for Loose Lips, the first ever Shipwreck collection. I wrote the introduction!

Saturday.

Scream Queens, 2pm, BookCon @ NYCC - 500 W 36th St. It's a Mira Grant panel, which means it's a party in a haunted house while the corn is closing in. Come for the fun, stay because we won't let you leave.

Signing, 3:15pm, BookCon @ NYCC 6th Floor autographing area. We will sign things, and probably not eat you.

Sunday.

Seanan McGuire signing, 2pm, Penguin booth. Again, I do not have booth numbers, but this one should be listed in the program book as "Penguin Random House." Come see me, and I'll congratulate you on surviving the convention!

It's time for bullet-point updates! Hooray!

* Tomorrow (Tuesday, June 21st) marks the release of RISE, the complete Newsflesh short fiction collection. This book gathers everything from "Everglades" through Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus, along with two never-before-published pieces, All the Pretty Little Horses and Coming to You Live. It's not intended as an introduction to the world--at least four of the novellas are post-the original trilogy, which makes them great whopping slices of spoiler--but I'm incredibly proud of this material, and over the moon about finally having a short fiction collection of my very own. I feel like Stephen King. It's pretty awesome.

* Today is the last day of the Unicorn Empire T-shirt pre-sale for their gorgeous Toby Daye design. Don't miss out!

* CrossingsCon is this weekend! The first ever Young Wizards fan convention, and I'm one of their guests of honor! I keep closing my eyes and remembering standing in my middle school library with So You Want to Be a Wizard in my hand, and I'll be honest: I feel like a wizard right now. In Life's name, and for Life's sake, I feel like a wizard. Because somehow, I have willed the adulthood I wanted into being, and for all that it's not perfect, it's the imperfection that makes it all seem real.

Everything is amazing.

I will be at the Kinokuniya Books at 1073 Avenue of the Americas this coming Saturday from 3:00pm until we're done! The plan has me reading from Every Heart a Doorway before chatting merrily with whoever shows up, answering questions, and getting distracted by Pokemon.

I hope to see you there!

By this time tomorrow morning, I will be at the San Francisco International Airport, drinking overpriced airport beverages and waiting for my 8am flight to New York. I will have kissed my cats goodbye and walked through the Bay Area house for what will be, in many ways, the last time: when I get back from New York, the house will still be here, but everything I own will be gone, packed up and pulled down and shoved into the moving truck, already making its way up the coast.

From June 3rd to June 28th, I will be on the East Coast, doing business (numbers, numbers, math math math), doing pleasure (people who know how badly I need to be distracted from what's happening in California have made sure I will have many good distractions), doing appearances (I will be at the Manhattan Kinokuniya on June 11th; details are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1547988148830559/ ), and doing conventions (CrossingsCon, in Newark, New Jersey, with my beloved Mark Oshiro).

Things I will not be doing: mailing stuff. All my stuff will be a) on the West Coast, and b) in a moving truck. Replying to email with anything resembling alacrity. Sleeping much, between "New York in June" and "did I mention people are touching all my stuff and my cats are very far away?". Breathing.

If you're in the New York area, I hope to get a chance to see you this trip (looking at you, The Swarm). If you're not, please be patient with me while I navigate what has been a huge and stressful endeavor, but which seems to be coming, finally, thankfully, to a blessed end.

I'm off to Kansas City, and ConQuest! A city I've never been to before, and a con I've never been to before! It's an adventure! (Note, before the comments can start: no, I am not going to WorldCon this year. I'm moving instead. All conventions I am attending are listed here, in the inchworm girl posts, and on the front page of my website. So this is your only Kansas City chance to see me.)

Wanna know where to catch me? Well...

Friday.

The Making of a Great Hero/Heroine, 5:00pm. "Writers discuss what attributes successful heroes and heroines should and often have." This can't possibly end badly!

Opening Ceremonies, 7:00pm. Now, those of you who have seen me during one of these things, you know I have a good time. And since I'm sadly missing closing ceremonies due to the timing of my flight, you should try to make this.

Saturday.

Surviving the Apocalypse, 11:00am. "Listen to panelists come up with a plan for surviving an apocalypse be it zombie or other. You'll want to bring a notebook..." Note that I am much more likely to be the cause of the apocalypse.

How To Become A Published Author, 2:00pm. "Authors and editors discuss the road to success in publishing." Yup.

Autographing, 4:00pm. What it says on the tin!

Sunday.

The Worlds of Seanan McGuire, 10:00am. "Hugo-nominated editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt will discuss the works of Seanan McGuire with Seanan." They were smart and made sure this panel was being conducted by one of my editors, which means it's waaaaaaaay less likely that I set something on fire. Shucks.

I hope I get to see you there! I'll have ribbons!

It's almost time for Marcon, Columbus, Ohio's own genre extravaganza! I'm their Author Guest of Honor this year...but where can you find me? Well.

Friday.

5:30PM, Union C: "Writing Non-Human Characters."

7:00PM, Union E: "You Got Your Song in My Book! You Got Your Book in My Song!"

Saturday.

1:00PM, Battelle South: Seanan McGuire in concert, featuring Dead Sexy! This is one of my favorite iterations of my ever-shifting backing band, and we are going to blow your socks off. Like, seriously, if you only come to one of my events this weekend, this should be the one.

5:30PM, Fairfield: "In Conversation With Seanan McGuire." It's the usual gig: you ask me questions and I will answer them, which means the quality of the event is entirely up to you. Show up, ask me stuff, and find out what kind of ridiculous reptile stories I'll tell while in the grips of an adrenaline crash after my concert.

Sunday.

11:30AM, Regency Ballroom: Autograph Session.

ISFIC will have copies of the new Velveteen book for sale, along with everything else they have to offer; we'll have CDs and some of the remaining T-shirt stock (rarities all!) at the concert merchandise table.

Hope to see you there!

I will be appearing at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, California tomorrow at 6pm, to celebrate the release of Every Heart a Doorway! Le gasp!

I will have the last of the lovely promo postcards Tor.com did for the book, in case you missed them before; I will also have a special surprise reading that no one has heard before.

If you are unable to attend, remember that Borderlands does mail order, and would be happy to send you a signed (and even personalized, if you so desire) copy. They ship all over the world, and have very reasonable postage rates.

I hope to see you there!

If you're in the San Francisco area and looking for an adventure, may I suggest you spend tomorrow night, Thursday, April 21st, at the downstairs room of the Armory Club, enjoying a delightful evening with Inside Storytime? Where else can you get me, Charlie Jane Anders, Daryl Gregory, and other people who I don't know but who are probably incredibly cool, all in the same place?

The event begins at 7:00pm at the Armory Club (1799 Mission St.). There is a five dollar cover. Come for the stories, stay because the building is surrounded by terrifying wasps the size of puppies and no one who goes outside comes back again.

Hello, happy people! It's time for Emerald City Comic-con, Seattle's largest gathering of pop culture nerds in one building! Like, if the alien invasion comes this weekend, we're screwed. Anyway, if your boots are on the ground in Seattle, and you want to know where to find me, have I got the schedule for you.

Thursday.

I have no official programming! Hooray! So I will be wandering the show floor, seeing people, spending money, and remembering that I am a fan first, and an unstoppable alien terror second.

Friday.

The Orbit Books Panel. 2:45 PM, Room W603. Come join me and a host of other Orbit authors as we talk about the company, our works, and our plans for the future. Also whether harvesting the humans of Earth for food is really a sustainable invasion practice.

Saturday.

Signing at University Books. 3:00 PM, Booth 5100. Come get things signed! I like signing things.

Sunday.

Crafting Characters in Science Fiction and Fantasy. 12:00 PM, Room W603. A good story is nothing without great characters, and this couldn’t be truer when it comes to the tales woven in science fiction and fantasy books. Come and hear authors Peter Orullian (Trial of Intentions), Seanan McGuire (October Daye, InCryptid), Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicles), Peter Brett (The Demon Cycle), and Bob Proehl (A Hundred Thousand Worlds) talk about what goes into creating a great literary character. Moderated by Paul Constant of the Seattle Review of Books. Y'all, I am super excited about this: Bob Proehl's A Hundred Thousand Worlds is one of the best books I've read so far in 2016.

Signing. 1:15 PM, Autographing Table 29. We'll sign things!

Hope to see you at the con!

I am excited and ecstatic and overjoyed to remind you all that I will be appearing at San Francisco's own Booksmith on Monday, April 4th for the launch party of my newest novella, Every Heart a Doorway.

The story of what happens on the other side of the portal fantasy, Every Heart a Doorway follows the students of Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children as they try to deal with the reality of their pasts, presents, and futures. And a little bit of murder, naturally.

The fun begins at 7:30pm; RSVPs are appreciated but not required. There will be books for sale. Signed, personalized books can also be ordered through the Booksmith website.

It all begins with a doorway...

It's time for Minicon, the annual convention of the Minnesota Science Fiction Society! I am this year's Guest of Honor, and I'm feeling fancy. So where can you find me?

Thursday.

Guest of Honor Reception, 8:00 PM, Ballroom. Come and meet the guests! Including me! Except a lot of blank smiling and hand-shaking, since I will still be all turned around after my flight from California. It's a party!

Friday.

It's Tough To Be An Introvert These Days: Promotion in the Days of Social Media, 5:30 PM, Ver 3/4. Ahem: "Artists in many fields and are notoriously introverted, but must be able to promote themselves on social media. How has social media changed the promotion of a creator's work? What are some effective strategies for self-promotion that don't feel like self-aggrandizement? What's so bad about self-aggrandizement?" So basically, it's the "how to talk about yourself when it makes you uncomfortable" panel. Yay!

Opening Ceremonies, 7:00 PM, Ballroom. LET THE WILD RUMPUS BEGIN.

How to Survive a Horror Movie, 10:00 PM, Krushenko's. "Well now you've gone and done it, or somebody in your Scooby gang has ... you're now in the middle of a monster movie plot. How do you avoid doing something incredibly stupid that is going to result in making you a tasty, late-night snack? What gear do you need to scrounge up to be able to make it until daybreak? Should you split up (duh)?" Apparently, no one told these nice folks that the best way not to survive a horror movie was to refuse to let me sleep.

Saturday.

Seanan McGuire's Kaffee Klatsch, 10:00 AM, Bar. Okay. The blurb I have for this says "in conversation." Around here, "in conversation" means something specific, and this is not that. This is a Kaffee Klatsch. Sign up if you want to talk to me, in the company of a small group of people, for about an hour. Please do not sign up if you want to attend an "In Conversation...", as this is not that. I'm sorry.

GoH Interview, 11:30AM, Ver 3/4. I dunno who's interviewing me.

Psi Phy - Mental-Based Superpowers in Comics, 2:30 PM, Krushenko's. Quote: "Psionics used to be huge in written SF, but appeared to drop in popularity in the late 20th century. However, in graphic media such as X-Men, psionic concepts such as Professor Xavier's telepathy and Psylocke's psychokinesis are readily accepted. Was this due to the counterculture of the 1960s when such stories originated, rites of passage for teens, or something else?" Thrill as I try to make people's heads explode with my mind.

Parasitology, 5:30 PM, Krushenko's. "Parasites! Parasites! Parasites! Micro-organisms! What are the pros and cons of having a microbial symbiont in a person? What defines a parasites? How much knowledge do we not have about parasites? What's the difference between a parasite, a virus, a symbiote, and bacteria? Probiotics and Antibiotics fight it out! Two microbes enter! One parasite leaves!" I...what?

What's to Love About Horror?, 10:00 PM, Krushenko's. "It can be argued that horror is one of the more maligned sub-genres of SF. Why is it so underloved? What do horror fans enjoy about a scary story? What makes a good horror story? Why is dark fantasy still relevant, and how do the monsters of an era reflect culture? Which tropes still work, and which tropes need to be bludgeoned with an ax?" I'm not sure if this is "let's give them lots of room in the panel topic," or whether it's "let's see who hits who with a chair first."

Sunday.

Mermaids, Sirens, Selkies, and Other Water Creatures and Spirits, 10:30 AM, Krushenko's. "Oceanic water creatures have captured the imagination of humans since antiquity, as well as fresh lake mythological creatures. What are the differences between types of water spririts, such as Naiads, Nereids, and Rusalka? Why have some been portrayed as benign and others as dangerous?" Does it live in the ocean? Yes? THEN IT CAN DROWN YOU DO NOT ANNOY IT.

Interact with the Fae? Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be!, 1:30 PM, Krushenko's. "What are faeries? What are the rules of proper interaction with members of the Fae, especially the Seelie and Unseelie Courts? What types of behavior are especially condemned by the Fair Folk? What means of protection can mere mortals use? How does a creator make meaningful interactions for fae?" I am not responsible if you come to this panel and then get yourself turned into a donkey.

Closing Ceremonies, 3:00 PM, Ballroom. I'mma nap on stage.

Sometimes sitting on news is hard.

I mean, part of my job involves not telling people things until I'm given permission. I'm bad at remembering who I've said what to, and so usually, I just tell people everything, sometimes eleven times; that isn't always an option these days. I have to accept that it's not lying when I refuse to talk about embargoed information. Sometimes I have to accept that it's not lying even when it is, when people go "hey, do you know anything about ________?" and then respond to "I'm not allowed to say" with a smug grin and a "that means yes!"

Silence doesn't always mean "yes," but sometimes people thinking they've tricked me into saying something one way or another can mean that the thing doesn't happen, because now I've run my mouth off and can't be trusted and so I'm off the project. So I sit on news, and I say nothing whenever possible, and I tell absence of information lies when I'm backed into a corner, and I twitch a lot.

Here's my latest point of twitchy goodness:

HOLY SHIT Y'ALL I'M A SPECIAL GUEST AT THE 2016 SAN DIEGO INTERNATIONAL COMIC-CON!!!!!!!!

Me! A Special Guest! At the con I've been attending since I was sixteen! Me! I AM A FANCY LADY AND I AM MAKING A NOISE THAT ONLY BATS CAN HEAR!!!

Sitting on this one was hard. But wow, was it worth it.

Come see me this Friday from 4:00 to 6:00 PM at the Concord, California Half-Price Books! I'll be signing (and selling author's copies) until the cows come home!

...yeah, this is a short post. Oh, well. Hope to see you there.

Next weekend will find me in Dallas, Texas, where I'll be appearing alongside my beloved John Scalzi as Guest of Honor at ConDFW! Updates to the schedule will appear on the website (and may not appear here, depending on my internet access), but here's my basic plan:

Friday.

3:00PM, Madison: "Google Maps is Your Urban Fantasy Guide." Join me, along with Gloria Oliver (M), Paul Black, Sue Sinor, and Bradley H. Sinor, as we talk about finding the perfect location for an urban fantasy story. I know none of these people, and I'll still be adjusting to a new time zone, so this should be fun!

5:00PM, Jefferson: "Reading." Right. Apparently, I'm going to "treat" people with a reading from my work. Given how much I hate readings, this is unlikely to actually happen; show up and see what I do instead!

7:00PM, Jefferson: "Opening Ceremonies!" John Scalzi and I get into a slap fight while the con chair tries in vain to control us.

Saturday.

10:00AM, Jefferson: "Don't Quit Your Day Job!" This is a con that loves its exclamation points. Join me, Marshall Ryan Maresca (M), Kathy Turski, Rachael Acks, Melia Newman, and Sue Sinor as we talk about what actually goes into earning a living in a creative field, and what's necessary to survive until that happens.

12:00PM, The Gallery: Signing. I will just be signing. Things. If there's not a filk dealer, this will also be where I sell CDs out of my backpack.

2:00PM, Jefferson: "Q&A with Seanan McGuire." Someone I have never met is going to ask me questions! Because that never goes poorly for anyone!

4:00PM, Jefferson: "Magic vs Technology II: Exploring Technology in Urban Fantasy." This is part two of a panel where part one happened last year, so I'm going to, I don't know, horn in on the party and maybe take a nap beneath the table? Or build a rocket out of paperclips, I guess. Come see me get confused.

6:00PM, Jackson: "Celebrity Artemis." I get to drive a spaceship. Hopefully I can be the science officer. We'll find out!

Sunday.

12:00PM, Hamilton: "The Wand of Deus Ex Machina." Join me, Kristi Hutson (M), Michael Ashleigh Finn, Paul Black, and Bradley H. Sinor as we talk about that time one of my high school GMs wouldn't let my character have a machete, even though you could totally buy one at the local flea market for five dollars, so he was just being a jerk because I wouldn't go out with him.

2:00PM, Hamilton: "Location, Location, Location: House of Horrors." Join me, Katherine Sanger (M), Michelle Muenzler, Aaron de Orive, and Jeff Dawson as we talk about scary places. Like that awesome abandoned slaughterhouse in Tuscon, AZ, where I made my GoH handler take me before dinner.

3:00PM, Jefferson: "Intelligence is Overrated." Thrill as I probably miss what sounds like a really interesting panel about protagonist psychology to run for the airport!

Will I see you at the con?

If you're at all aware of the U.S. musical theater scene (and there's a sentence), you've probably heard of a show called Hamilton. In case you haven't: it is, quite literally, a musical about the life, career, and death of Alexander Hamilton, the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. I...yeah. If you were to make a list of "historical figures about whom a musical should be written," Alexander Hamilton probably wouldn't make the top fifty. He is, sadly, too obscure (or was until very recently); most people think of him as "the dude on the ten-dollar bill," if they even know that dude's name.

So it was a bit of a shock to basically everyone when suddenly Hamilton became the hottest ticket on Broadway. Written by Lin Manuel-Miranda, who had previously written In the Heights and contributed to Bring It On: The Musical, the show seemed to go from zero to ABSOLUTELY FUCKING EVERYWHERE. Several of my friends became obsessed. As is often the case with the people I tend to surround myself with, they began talking about it constantly.

Have I told you about the power of my irritation?

See, when something starts to annoy me, I have a very narrow window to learn to like it or wind up hating it forever. As I was about to go to New York, I declared my intent to see Hamilton, so as to keep myself from hating it. Several people pointed out that it was, you know, sold out until next year. Whatever, I replied. I was going to see it.

Come the day we had reserved for Hamilton-going, Diana and I went to the theater, where she already had a friend at the front of the cancellation line. Said friend was able to get us three tickets at face value (one for each of us, one for herself). Sarah and Katie joined us, and put their names in for the lottery. Now, when you do a show lottery, the popularity of the show pretty much decides your chances. A show like Hamilton means they're not...good. So we're standing there as the names are being drawn, and name after name does not belong to any member of our party.

"This is our last draw for the night," announces Daveed Diggs (Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson)...and reads Sarah's name. Our entire group makes a terrifying, drawn-out screeching noise, like we have been possessed by the spirits of every velociraptor currently in residence at the Museum of Natural History.

The five of us proceed to a local Italian place for dinner, bolt our spaghetti, and meet up with Josh in line. Josh has secured a ticket through the simple, if nerve-wracking expedient of waiting for the StubHub prices to drop back to "just trying to recoup my investment" levels, and then running from their last-minute ticket office to meet us. So yes. The power of my spite* got six people into a completely sold-out show at the last minute, all with good seats, no one paying scalper prices. Behold the power of spite.

(*Odd as this may seem as an ordinary superpower, I have never lost a ticket lottery. Either I or someone in my immediate group has always won. It's weird, but useful.)

Hamilton is very simply staged: there are few props, even fewer sets. It's mostly just stark wood and people implying their surroundings through context. The cast is intentionally diverse, representing America as it is today through the faces on the stage. And it never stops. Not for one second. Even the slow moments are fast by the standards of most shows.

I hoped to like Hamilton. I didn't expect to love it. I certainly didn't expect to sob through great swaths of it. The soundtrack is available now, and there is so little speech in the show that just listening to it is more than enough; you'll get basically the whole show.

But I am so glad I got to be in the room where it happens.

Some of you may remember that I went to New York for, essentially, the month of November. This is not an unheard-of occurrence, me going out of town for an entire month: when it works out, logistically, it's easier on me to go, stay, get everything I need to done, and then come home to sleep for a few weeks. I recognize that this is a privileged way of doing things, predicated on my a) having a job I can do from anywhere, b) being able to actually do that job while traveling, and c) having someone to feed the cats while I'm away.

Some of you may also remember that I adore musical theater. It's customary for me to try to catch a show with my editor from DAW while I'm in town; for this trip, I had selected Fun Home. Fun Home is based on the memoir of the same name, written by Alison Bechdel, chronicling both her relationship with her father and the process of her own coming out. I had read the book once, years ago; I knew the author mostly from her work on Dykes to Watch Out For; and I had seen one of the musical numbers, "Ring of Keys," performed at the Tonys. That alone had been enough to make me want to see the show.

Originally, it was going to be me, Sheila (my editor), and Betsy (also from DAW). Sadly, Betsy couldn't join us, for personal reasons. Thankfully, Josh (also also from DAW) was able to take her place, so her ticket wasn't going wanting (not that we would ever have a problem finding someone to come with us to a good show). We met up at the office and proceeded from there to Sushi Zen, aka, "the place we seem to keep winding up before we go to a show." I had the sashimi boat. I always have the sashimi boat. If you ever have the chance, have the sashimi boat.

I also had the edamame and the steamed mushrooms. Both were excellent, although not as good as the sashimi boat. Mmmm, sashimi boat.

Ahem.

We decided to skip dessert and head straight for the theater, which turned out to be a good thing, as the show started in twenty minutes and was performed without an intermission. I am so grateful to be walking better. I was able to bolt for the bathroom, pee, and meet up with Sheila and Josh with five minutes to spare (no small trick in a theater with only one girls' bathroom).

Fun Home is performed in a theater in the round. Our seats were front row, right on the "stage," so that the actors would be passing only inches away at certain points. It was amazing. Like, genuinely amazing. We got settled. I started reading my Playbill, and squealed when I realized that Bruce Bechdel, the male lead, was played by Michael Cerveris, aka, "September from Fringe." Sometimes I am twelve.

All I really knew about the show as a show was the song "Ring of Keys." Even after seeing it live, I feel like all I really know is "Ring of Keys," because that's where I started sobbing and didn't stop.

Alison (there are three Alisons in the show, portraying the author in various stages of her life: small, medium, and large) and her father are at the diner, having breakfast. A woman walks in. And Alison, small, tomboy, brilliantly rebellious Alison, looks at her, and sees her, and knows her. Knows her for being the same as she is; knows her for being alike. There's this feeling of glorious recognition in the song, of "if you are, then I can be too, and if I am, then we are, and neither of us is alone," that I recognize from my own clumsy, confused process of coming out.

The whole show is glorious. It's confusing and confounding and brilliantly staged, and I hope it goes on tour so I can take my sisters. But that moment, that song...

I would take the whole show for just that song.

It's time for CHESSIECON! I will be found this coming weekend in scenic (and increasingly chilly) Maryland, doing my con thing along with some of my favorite humans, including Ursula Vernon, Tamora Pierce, and the lovely ladies of Lady Mondegreen! Where can I be found? Well...

Friday.

Reading: Seanan McGuire 3:00 GS3-5
Signing: Seanan McGuire 4:15 GS3-5
Different Strategies for Attracting Female Readers 6:45 GS3-5
Questions From a Hat 8:00 GS3-5

What will I read? No one knows! What will I sign? Whatever you put in front of me! What the hell is "Questions From a Hat"? WE'RE GONNA FIND OUT.

Saturday.

Seanan and Ursula Have a Chat (Maybe About Frogs) 11:15 GS3-5
In Conversation with Seanan McGuire 1:45 GS3-5
Concert: Lady Mondegreen 5:30 GS3-5
Group Book/Art/CD Signing 6:45 Atrium

Apparently, I am going to talk a lot. And then I'm going to sing! This will be the first time the three founding members of Lady Mondegreen have performed together on stage since 2007. So come see the trainwreck!

Sunday.

KaffeeKlatch: Seanan McGuire 11:15 C6
A Princess With a Sword Is Still a Princess: Modern Adaptations of Fairy Tales Sunday 12:30 GS3-5

...it's gonna be a fun con, and I hope to see many of you there. I will have a limited number of albums for sale (limited because I can only carry so much).

New York is exhausting.

I have been running hither and yon for the past two weeks; people keep being surprised that I'm still gone, and sometimes "people" involves me. I just woke up from a nap where I dreamt that Thomas had been here in New York with me this whole time (just Thomas; even my subconscious can't imagine putting Alice recreationally on a plane), and I nearly cried when I opened my eyes, because I just needed my kitty.

But I am having a wonderful time. I went to a cheese and champagne party in my honor (mine! As if I were a cheese and champagne event!), spent two days at DAW lounging and reading and being home, saw Fun Home and Hamilton on Broadway (and lost my shit when I realized that September from Fringe was playing Bruce Bechdel in Fun Home), and did lots of other good things. And I still have almost two weeks and a convention to go.

I'm trying to get back into the habit of blogging. I've fallen out of it for a lot of reasons, some good and some bad and some just overwhelmed, but I'm trying. I think I need some balance, and writing things down helps. So expect another post about Fun Home, and one about Hamilton, and one about the life-sized T. Rex at the Times Square Toys R Us, and please remember that I am not home until December 2nd, so communications will continue to be slow and unwieldy, but I am trying, and trying is a lot.

That is all.

...the taxi's not waiting yet (and is also my mother), but in very little time, I will be kissing my cats on their foreheads despite their grumbles and complaints, heading for the airport, and embarking on another adventure. Specifically, an adventure in changing climates and trying not to freeze. Yes: it's once again time for Seanan Goes To New York.

At least it's not February this time.

I have bunches of events while I'm there; so bunches that the best place to find out where I am, when, is by checking the Appearances menu on my website. I try not to steer y'all away from here, since everybody hates to click things these days (so weird to me), but there are too many for me to be sure of not missing one if I try to translate them over. Also, the Appearances page gets updated constantly, and blog posts, well, don't. So if you're in New York, I hope I'll be seeing you soon!

As always, my mother, sister, housemate, and very large dog will all be here while I'm out of town, so the house is not actually primed for robbing. I may be even slower than normal to respond to non-emergency inquiries for at least the next week, while I get used to East Coast time. Thanks for understanding, and rock on New York!

I have arrived in Tuscon, Arizona for TusCon 42! I have slept, been fed, and visited ALL THE RATTLESNAKES. My handlers have already lost me repeatedly. We're off to a good start. But where can you find me? Well...

Friday

6pm: Apocalypse: What is the likely cause?
7pm: Meet the Guests

Saturday

10am: Why are the people who say they they are so open spending so much time demanding "these girls" get off their lawn?
12pm: In Conversation...
4pm: Mass Autographing

Sunday

9am: How Possible Are Zombies?
12pm: I WILL KILL YOU
2pm: Bring Back Your Dead

...gotta say, the proximity of those last two panels should worry people.

Arizona! See you here!

This weekend I'm pleased to be appearing at CONtraflow 5/DeepSouthCon 53, alongside Julie Dillon, Robert Sawyer, and many others—including one variation of my musical swarm: Dr. Mary Crowell, Bill and Brenda Sutton, and more!

My schedule is as follows:

Opening Ceremonies, Friday, 5pm, Event 1
The Scariest Movie I've Ever Seen, Friday, 10pm, Panel Room 2
Saturday Concert, Saturday, 12pm, Event 1
In Conversation..., Saturday, 5pm, Panel Room 4
Speculative Poetry, 8pm, Panel Room 3, Saturday
Good Habits of Successful Writers, 12pm, Event One, Sunday
Writing Urban Fantasy, Sunday, 3pm, Panel Room 4

I don't have panel descriptions, but those seem pretty self-explanatory, and it should be a rousing good time. Plus, New Orleans! Who could ask for anything more?

I hope to see you there!

Who likes to party?

Tomorrow I will be at Borderlands Books in San Francisco, California, appearing as part of the Tacos and Tecate Tor event alongside Greg van Eekout and Fran Wilde! Both cool people with cool books!

Since my Tor.com book, Every Heart a Doorway, will not be available until April of next year, I will be representing the fabulous The Doll Collection. To properly honor this, I'm bringing a bunch of my creepy dolls for people to admire. The fun starts at 6pm, so bring yourself, your book budget, and your willingness to get into a staring contest with a bunch of scary resin and vinyl people.

It's a party!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Tomorrow's Party Schedule!

The Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show is returning to our home of homes at Borderlands Books, and we couldn't be happier about it. SEE! The Amazing Amy, imported all the way from Wisconsin to enchant you with her wicked ways! HEAR! The Incredible Jeff and Maya Bohnhoff, masters of the rocking arts! GAZE IN AWE! At Paul and Beckett, guitar and harmonica, as they ensnare your senses! And I'll be there, of course.

Our evening...

4:00 PM: Setup, sound check, and final details. You can show up, but we may ignore you if you do. Sorry about that.
5:00 PM: Welcome to our party. We're done ignoring you now. Would you like to say hello?
5:15 PM: How about some music?
5:45 PM: Perhaps you would like to win things.
6:00 PM: Now there will be cupcakes and autographing.
6:30 PM: More music?
7:00 PM: More prizes?
7:10 PM: Q&A and book discussion.
7:40 PM: Let's raffle some more stuff off.
7:50 PM: Thanks and final questions before we close the evening.

This iteration of the Traveling Circus and Snake-Handling Show will be in the cafe; the bookstore will be open throughout the evening. The cafe will also be open, and they've promised to have plenty of bread and delicious pastry this time. Raffle tickets will be available through the two standard methods: show up, or buy something from the bookstore.

All performing musicians will have CDs for sale, because we're predictable like that. There may also be T-shirts. There will be cupcakes provided in the bookstore as part of the party, and a whole cafe full of delicious things to purchase and enjoy. If you can't come, remember that the store does phone and email orders, and will be happy to provide you with a signed book.

It's gonna be a good night. Hope to see you there.

Having survived 2014, which was supposed to be the Rising (curse you, zombie apocalypse, for not happening on schedule), it's time to return to San Diego, California for the annual San Diego Comic-Con, a pop culture gathering of ridiculous and sometimes painful proportions. Running into someone you're looking for by chance is hard, so here's where to find me!

Thursday.

I'm Sleeping With the Lights On: Horror and Thriller Authors Discussion. 4:00pm, Room 25ABC.

Horror and thriller novels have an amazing way of keeping readers up at night. Whether it is demons and zombies, from the historical settings to the seemingly mundane, authors find bone-chilling ways to make sure the reader keeps turning the pages. Join Del Howison, owner of Dark Delicacy Bookstore, as he chats with distinguished horror and thriller writers J.T. Ellison, Kevin P. Keating, Matthew Reilly, Mira Grant (that's me!), Diana Rowland, and Robert Brockway about what motivates them to scare you.

Signing. 5:30pm, Autographing Area AA09.

Friday.

Signing. 3:00pm, Hachette Book Group Booth 1116.

Saturday.

Monster High. 11:30am, Room 5AB.

I am not on this panel, but I am attending it, and woe betide any who trouble me while I am in my happy toy place.

Signing. 2:00pm, Penguin Book Group Booth 1520.

This is a signing to promote the upcoming anthology Press Start to Play. Several authors will be appearing, including Hugh Howey, as will the editor. We may have early copies of the book; I don't know. (My contribution is an InCryptid story, if that sweetens the pot.)

Choosing The Best Publishing Path for Your Manuscript: Traditional, Small Press, or Self-Publishing. 7:00pm, Room 25ABC.

Authors Sarah J. Maas, Seanan McGuire, Cora Carmack, and Elizabeth Briggs, along with editor Adam Wilson (Simon & Schuster) and literary agent Holly Root (Waxman Leavell Literary Agency), discuss the various options for publishing fiction and how to determine what works for different genres. Moderated by author, former literary agent, and all-around publishing guru Nathan Bransford.

Sunday.

Signing. 12:00pm, Mysterious Galaxy Books Booth 1119.

As always, I am susceptible to bribery: I'm looking for this year's Monster High and Ever After High con exclusives, and while I only need one of each, I would really like to get two MH and three EAH, for the sake of people who have asked me to get them dolls. So please feel free to show up with toys, for which I will gladly give you both money and praise, and maybe other goodies, depending on when you catch me.

San Diego!

This time tomorrow, I will not only be at Disney World, I will have been there for three hours. So you'll please excuse me if my current connection to linear reality is, um, not so solid. Nope. Not really. Here are things you'll need to know!

To anyone who wants anything from Seanan between now and May 13th:

I am very, very, very much in need of a break, and that is why I am boarding a big metal sky-bird and soaring off to the House of Mouse, where no one who isn't actually in my party will be able to find me with any reliability. I will have Wifi, and I will have my phone, but I will not be tethered to them as I am in the real world, and I won't be home, which is where things like "the mailing supplies" live. At this time, all giveaway prizes and contracts have been mailed, and there are still about twenty shirts pending (not counting the ones omitted from the original delivery). Two shirts have been returned to me due to address issues. This will all be dealt with when I get back.

Mail sent through my contact forms will go through Kate and Vixy, as always, with a catch: Vixy is going to Disney World with me. So if you're using the www.miragrant.com contact form, please expect delays all around.

To anyone who thinks it might be fun to rob my house:

They say not to tell the internet when you're traveling, because it tempts thieves. I get that. I also get that the nature of my life makes it hard to hide when I do something like "I'm going to drop offline for thirteen days and fill my Twitter feed with pictures of Disney World." So...

Please don't rob me, nebulous internet baddies. I have a housemate, a large dog, and a house-sitter. More, I really don't have anything valuable in the traditional sense; my only real electronics will be in transit with me, and most of my dolls are haunted. Save yourself. Stay away.

To anyone who thinks it's weird for an adult to be this excited about Disney:

I think it's weird how excited adults get about professional sports, but you don't see me coming into their space and harshing their squee. I even let Shawn tell me how the Red Sox are doing every season, despite my total lack of fucks to give. So please don't tell me my passions are strange or immature. I don't care.

Disney time! See you all on the rested, refreshed, wind-blown, sunburnt flip-side!

So I went to Eastercon recently. Hooray! If you don't know, Eastercon is the British national science fiction convention, held every Easter weekend. This year, I was one of their guests of honor, which meant hey, I got to go to England! Hooray x2!

Only, see...I get the jet lag. I get the jet lag badly. I always have. I wrote an entire romantic comedy about jet lag (Chasing St. Margaret, not coming any time soon to a bookstore near you). I am not a girl who switches time zones quickly or easily. Normally, I deal with this by giving myself time before the convention to adjust. Sadly, this time, that wasn't an option, as I was a Special Guest at Emerald City Comic Con the weekend before. My schedule looked like this:

Monday morning, fly from Seattle back to San Francisco.
Tuesday morning, get my hair done.
Wednesday morning, fly to England.
Thursday morning, land in England.
Friday morning, the con begins.

...not ideal. And maybe it would have been okay if I had been able to sleep on the plane (I usually can), but this time the guy next to me wouldn't stop snoring, and I had a cough from the cleaning products at the airport, and it was no good. I was awake all the way to London, reading and fussing and trying not to be the worst person anyone had ever shared a plane with.

My handler picked me up at the airport and delivered me to the hotel, where I proceeded not to sleep. And not to sleep. And finally to sleep for twelve hours, which resulted in my sleeping through a panel. When I finally woke up, I went looking for her to apologize, and had literally upward of thirty people laugh and tell me they'd missed me.

Things not to do to people with anxiety: remind them thirty times that they are a failure.

I had a full-blown panic attack, complete with inability to breathe, and stopped sleeping again, since sleeping now equated directly to fucking up. HOORAY. I didn't sleep until I got to Teddy and Tom's after the con, where I crashed for thirteen hours, was up for three, and then napped. I never did get quite onto UK time. I've been home for over a week, and I'm barely returning to normal.

Jet lag sucks.

I am pleased to be able to officially announce that I will be Author Guest of Honor at Minicon 51, held over Easter weekend in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Well, "in or around," so it may be just outside Minneapolis. The hotel info will be posted soon. And let's face it, if you're coming from, say, Oregon, it's the same difference. Hence why I usually tell non-Californians "oh, I'm from Berkeley.")

The Artist Guest of Honor is Sara Butcher Burrier, whom the website describes as providing a "lighter" view of Faerie. It's gonna be the all-fae, all-the-time convention! Very exciting. Join us from March 25th to 27th, 2016, to learn more.

I get to go to Izzy's*!

(*Izzy's is my second-favorite ice cream place in the world, second only to Jeni's, which bought my love with their pear sorbet. My trips to Minneapolis/St. Paul are basically defined by ice cream and roast beef.)

Well, there we go: the first unmovable object has been dropped into my 2017 calendar, and all else will now need to work around it.

2017. Wow.

I do a lot of conventions. I have a lot of book release parties. I try to get to Disneyland as often as I can (mostly for the sake of my sanity, following the first two items on this list). This means that I am scheduled very, very far in advance, and have to keep careful notes about where I am when, to avoid situations like, oh, Seattle one weekend and London the next. To give a non-specific example that didn't cause me to spend three days awake due to jet lag, honest.

No. Not honest. Lying. I did not avoid that situation, and it's dreadful.

What makes it tricky is that frequently, I can't say "I am booked for Memorial Day weekend in timezone X," because the convention I'm going to be guesting at hasn't made their announcement yet. As someone who used to organize conventions, being able to control that announcement is very, very important, which is why I never say anything without permission. But it means that my schedule may look completely clear, when really, there's a cascade of conventions that's about to be revealed, ha ha, fooled you. (Everything goes on my schedule as it gets revealed, and can be found on the front page of my website.) This is why I sometimes have to decline invitations with a "please consider me for next year." I really do mean it.

I love conventions. I love travel. I love meeting people and doing things.

But oh, sometimes, I want a nap.

Hey hey hey psst hey.

Hey.

If you're in London, come see me tomorrow night at the big Forbidden Planet Megastore, located 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, from 6:00PM until we're done. I will be signing books, of which there will be many, until all the books are signed and chaos reigns supreme. Or, you know. I get sleepy and go home.

Hope to see you there!

I am in England! It is...very early in the morning here. This is because I have the jetlag. Please treat gently with me until at least noon o'clock, by which time I will hopefully have consumed ever so much caffeine.

Friday.

Opening Ceremony, 1:45pm-2:45pm. We have a convention. We'd like to break the seal and get things started. Jim's flight has been delayed, so I may be acting as his understudy. Come see me pretend to be Jim Butcher!

The Things We Learned From Pratchett: An Exploration of Fantasy, Story Telling and Ethics, 3:00pm-4:00pm. I am going to miss Terry Pratchett very much. Come miss him with us.

A Modern Bestiary? "Impossible creatures as the focus of literature and art", 5:30pm-6:30pm. BEASTIES! Come talk about beasties, and try to keep me from talking about Pokemon. It's a fun challenge.

Saturday.

Watching the Detectives, 11:15am-12:15pm. Jim will still be jetlagged. I will not. Come see if I am capable of playing nicely with the other children.

Kaffeeklatsch, 1:45pm-2:45pm. Just me and up to ten fans talking informally about my writing. And Pokemon.

The Brains Trust: A Panel of the Living Dead, 4:15pm-5:15pm. Zombies! With MIKE CAREY! Come watch me try not to fangirl. IT WILL BE HARD.

Concert, 8:00pm-until we stop. Me, Talis, and Playing Rapunzel, sharing a stage! Well. We hope. I seem to have acquired a cough on the plane. So I may be a very quiet partcipant.

Sunday.

Truth, Justice, and the Home Office, 11:15am-12:15pm. Yay I get to hang out with Charlie for an hour and it's work!

In Conversation With Seanan McGuire, 3:00pm-4:00pm. It's a daytime edition, which means less swearing, more Pokemon.

Monday.

Faeries, 11:15am-12:15pm. Me. Jim Butcher. Fae. What could possibly go wrong.

Not for the Squeamish, 1:45pm-2:45pm. Let's talk about medical science!

There will also be closing ceremonies, as what has been opened must be closed. I hope to see you there!

10. Seattle is beautiful. I know this, because I am currently in Seattle, at least until Monday (the 30th), when I will fly back to California, have my hair done, do my laundry, sleep, and get on a plane to England. I won't be home for more than a day until April 15th. My accountant is thrilled.

9. Emerald City Comic Con is this weekend! I have posted my schedule. It's very packed and very pretty, and I am super excited about all the good things to come. Whee!

8. Before I left California, Kate and I did a massive post office run, and I mailed another huge batch of domestic shirts, as well as about a third of the remaining international shirts. I will try to send another batch before I leave for the UK (although I can't guarantee it). Also, my mother called to let me know that a box from the shirt shop has shown up, which I presume contains the shirts that weren't printed in the initial delivery. Hooray! I won't be able to sort these until after April 15th, but hopefully this means we can finish fulfillment sooner than later. Thank you all for your patience.

7. Still not writing the X-Men. Give me time.

6. Rolling in the Deep comes out next month! On the seventh, to be exact, and it is fancy. Seriously, this may be the fanciest book I have ever written, at least in terms of awesome production values. What a fancy, fancy book. Also it is filled with murderous mermaids and ill-fated ocean voyages, which are two of my favorite things. Because this is a Subterranean Press book, there's no guarantee it will be coming to a bookstore near you, and it may need to be ordered directly from the publisher.

5. This morning was the San Diego Comic-Con hotel scramble, and it says something about how stressful this is on an annual basis that I was on the Air B&B site shortly after, looking at local condos and thinking "maybe this wouldn't be so bad." I need help, and the con needs a better way of handling hotel assignments.

4. We are getting pedicures today. Because we are fancy ladies.

3. Speaking of fancy ladies, I am seeing so many of my favorite fancy ladies this coming weekend that I can't even express how happy I am. Like, I try, and all the words go away and then the flailing happens and sometimes I just really love my life, okay? Sometimes my life is best.

2. Zombies are love.

1. I will be going to Disney World for the first half of May, so if I seem a little AHHHHHHHHHHHH for the next few weeks, it's because I am literally three conventions and six weeks away from Disney time, and I need Disney time so bad y'all, I need it so bad I can taste it.

What's shiny and new with all of you?

For justice!

I will be a Special Guest at the upcoming Emerald City Comic-Con (ECCC). But where, you may wonder, will that put me?

Friday.

Signing. 12:00-1:00PM, location TBA. Me, Myke Cole, and Django Wexler will be signing copies of Operation Arcana, the new, awesome military SF anthology from John Joseph Adams

Hard Sci-Fi Made Easy. 1:30-2:20PM, Hall B (WSCC 602-603), moderated by John Lovett. Join me, Sarah Remy, Dave Boop, and Kevin J. Anderson as we have a SCIENCE PARTY. To be followed by a signing at JJ 10/11. Books will be available for sale from the University Bookstore, located at booth 2803.

Saturday.

Defense Against the Dark ARCs: Dealing With Trolls, Controversy and Criticism. 3:30-4:20PM, Hall B (WSCC 602-603). I will be discussing the darker side of life in the Internet age, alongside Emma Michaels, Patrick Rothfuss, Isaac Marion, and Heather Reasby. To be followed by a signing at JJ 10/11. Books will be available for sale from the University Bookstore, located at booth 2803. Up against the Rat Queens social club, so I will totally not blame you if you're not there.

Sunday.

Transmedia Storytelling. 12:30-1:20PM, Hall B (WSCC 602-603), moderated by John Lovett. It's the transmedia panel! Join me, Holly Black, Frank Beddor, and Myke Cole, and thrill as Holly and I insist that talking about our cats for an hour is TOTALLY TRANSMEDIA. To be followed by a signing at JJ 10/11. Books will be available for sale from the University Bookstore, located at booth 2803. (I cannot recommend picking up Holly's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown strongly enough.)

When not on a panel, I can usually be found at my table, located at KK10, right between Myke Cole and Isaac Marion. Look for the mantis shrimp hair if you're not sure which one of us is me.

If you can't find me, why not visit some of my friends and colleagues and favorite humans?

Amy Mebberson and James Silvani will be at I-09, and taking commissions daily.
Espionage Cosmetics will be at 303 / 2811—visit them for awesome nail wraps, including Mira Grant designs!
Optimystical Studios will be at 306, and will have new, original, highly limited Toby Daye and InCryptid jewelry.
Unicorn Empire will be at 1221, with great fannish designs.
Kory Bing will be at 310, and has all the InCryptid Field Guide post cards available for sale.
Dylan Meconis will be with Erica Moen at 1318; visit them both for big wows.
Girl Genius will be at 704, for SCIENCE.
Randy Milholland will be with Danielle Corsetto at 1312. I like Randy. He sends me cat pictures. Adore him.

Torrey, who allows me to use her kitchen, would like me to also remind you all that Comic Book Characters For Causes will be doing photo ops to raise money for Camp GoodTimes this year. Camp GoodTimes is a no-cost summer camp for children with cancer, and it's a great cause. Meet an awesome superhero (and there's a cornucopia to choose from), have your picture taken by a professional photographer, and be able to tell anyone who thinks that shot of you and Captain Marvel is a little weird that you did it for charity. They also have calendars and T-shirts for sale, and can be found at the Cospitality Lounge, located in the Skybridge Lobby. Do good with do-gooders this year.

It's me and Andy Weir (author of The Martian) talking about the state of science fiction and the creative writing process on Thursday night at Books Inc. in Mountain View. Come see us jabber on, and enjoy the excitement of not knowing whether two authors who have never met before will suddenly start hitting each other with chairs!

Our life is an exciting poem, and we hope you'll be able to come and read it. While this is officially a "Mira" event, I'll still sign my own books, and the store has them in stock. So that's pretty awesome.

Sleep is for the weak.

So as I write this I am in Jersey City, New Jersey, preparing to tear down my computer and head for the airport, where a big metal sky-bird will carry me to Chattanooga, Tennessee, land of the Chattanooga choo-choo, endless Cthulhu parodies, and ConNooga, an awesome media convention with the good taste to ask me to be a Guest of Honor!

My schedule for the weekend:

Friday, 4:00 PM, Room 12: Writing Dialog.
Saturday, 1:00 PM, Room 12: Reading, Q/A: Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant.
Saturday, 5:00 PM, Room 12: Diversity in Fiction: What is it, How to do it, and Why.

I will be in the main exhibit hall a great deal of the time, happy to sign things, meet people, and complain bitterly about the cold.

I hope to see some of you there!

Despite some confusion about my flight times, I am packed and ready to depart for New York City tomorrow morning. I have lain in food and litter for the cats, so that they are not forced to kill and eat my mother. I have charged my electronics and synched my iPod and had my sister wash my hair for me, just in case the purple dye sets off the bomb sniffers again. (Seriously. The dye sometimes sounds a false positive on the TSA equipment. So it's best if Youngest Sister washes and blow-dries me the night before I fly, just to be safe.)

I'm sorry I was unable to get the hardship giveaway winners picked and packed before I went; that will happen as soon as I get home. I'll be at ConNooga in a few weeks, and I do hope to see you there. In the meantime, I'll be running around visiting my publishers, seeing my girlfriend, and missing my cats and creepy dolls and bed.

I miss them all already.

Wish me luck.

I am extremely excited to remind you all that I-as-Mira Grant will be returning to San Francisco's own Borderlands Books on Tuesday, November 25th, to celebrate the release of Symbiont.

In this sequel to 2013's Parasite, everything that was bad already gets much, much worse, with the war between the humans and the tapeworms reaching a horrifying new peak. As a reminder, this is a trilogy now: I couldn't wrap everything up in just two volumes, and Chimera will be coming out in 2015. So while I really, really want you to buy this book and feed my cats, I can't promise to put a tidy bow on things just yet.

Actually, I can promise the exact opposite.

On a sideways but related note, Borderlands also has a limited number of copies of Harvest Season, the new anthology from the SF Squeecast. With cover art by the lovely Ursula Vernon, this book boasts three never before seen novellas, two short stories, and a poem. The copies in the store are also signed by all the authors, and the cover artist. So they're super-special, and way pretty, and make great gifts. (Because copies are so limited, they are not on the Biblio page: you need to contact the bookstore directly. Retail is $25 USD.)

I hope to see you next week!

FRIDAY.

I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue, 4:00 PM, Lilac C. The antidote to panel games. Two teams enjoy a battle of wits and are given silly things to do by the moderator. Come and place your bets on SF Squeecast versus SF Squeecast. With game host Heath Miller. Me, Heath, Lynne and Michael Thomas, Catherynne Valente, all the fucks I have to give. ALL THE FUCKS.

Opening Ceremonies, 7:00 PM, Junior Ballroom BC. Quote, "Don't miss out on this rare chance to see all of our Guests together in one room! Join us as we kick off the convention weekend!" So, you know, there we shall be.

ISFiC Press Book Launch Party , 9:00 PM, ISFiC Suite. Come by for the official release of the SF Squeecast's new anthology from
ISFiC Press, Harvest Season. The authors will be there and there will be cake. What's not to like? Also, this is the best place to obtain our brand new book, with a brand new Fighting Pumpkins story! Hooray!

SATURDAY.

SF Squeecast Podcast, 11:30 AM, Grand Ballroom GH. We're recording the Squeecast! You can come and watch! It'll be fun, we promise.

Reading, 2:00 PM, Boardroom. I'm reading stuff. I'm probs reading from Harvest Season. Come and read along!

Seanan McGuire & Friends Live In Concert, 4:00 PM, Junior Ballroom BC. Did you know I was a musician? Did you know I knew a lot of musicians? Did you know I was dating a musician, who will probably have to fiddle the Devil for my soul very soon? Yeah. Come see the concert, maybe buy some CDs and T-shirts, enjoy music, watch Amy make the fiddle-bliss face. It'll be fun! It will also be followed immediately by Bill and Brenda Sutton in concert, so hey, you don't have to move again until it's time for Barfleet!

SUNDAY.

Autographs, 11:00 AM, Autographing Tables. I am signing! I am signing with P.D. Anderson, J.L. Nye, and M. Resnick. Yay!

Closing Ceremonies, 2:00 PM, Junior Ballroom BC. Again, to quote: "This is your last chance to see all of our amazing guests. The party award winners will be announced, and you will find out what we have in store for you next year!" See you there!

I had never been to Germany before. But since the convention I was going to be a Special Guest at (Filk Continental) was in Germany, it seemed like a good time to show up.

Tom helpfully drove me to the station near the house, where I got a head shake from the station agent, who disapproved of my (admittedly expensive) "take the Heathrow Express from Paddington" plan. I pointed out that I was a clearly foreign woman with a giant suitcase, and that sometimes we pay to not take stairs. He replied that he would have made different choices with his money, and gave me my ticket. Jerk.

Ahem. The Heathrow Express proved to be a quick, pleasant way to get to the airport, and I highly recommend it. Yes, it was more expensive, but the savings in terms of both time and stress cannot be overstated, even if I did promptly get off at the wrong terminal. (This is a big deal in Heathrow, which is one of the largest airports in the world.) I found my way to the right terminal, and then the right gate, and finally the right seat on the right plane, and all was right with the world.

My flight was short and uneventful, and eventually dropped me in Hannover, where I was collected from the arrivals area by Rika and Rachel. I went to sleep in the car. Then I went to sleep on the couch at Rika's lovely apartment. Then I got up for breakfast with some lovely filkers who live in Rika's apartment complex, and whom I would see a great deal of over the weekend (yay!). They had an assortment of cheeses. YAY CHEESES. And then I went back to sleep for several hours. This would prove to be a good thing later.

The drive from Hannover to the convention, which was being held in a lovely little youth hostel near a castle, was lovely, uneventful, and long enough for me to watch two episodes of Leverage. We got there, got checked in, and I went to poke Vixy with a stick, since I had missed her dreadfully during my "out of time zone" adventures. She felt unwell. I still had my cold meds from when I'd first arrived in England. The circle of cold meds closes, and all is complete.

Sunnie and Betsy were in my room when I came back downstairs, making it our room, and the weekend had officially begun.

First up was dinner with the concom, at a local restaurant that had passed their stress test, but did not so much pass the "twenty people would like to be fed and Seanan is about to pass out from low blood sugar" test. Boo. It took about three hours to eat, and by the end of it, I was a murderbunny. I ate half of Betsy's dinner, which helped. Going to bed also helped...although it would have helped more if I'd been able to sleep. Unfamiliar place + thin walls + thin bed = Seanan begins her three-day ordeal of stumbling through life, dreaming of sensory deprivation chambers. Boo.

The next day was Friday, and kicked off the convention. We rehearsed for our various concerts, attended opening ceremonies (awesome), and opening concerts (even more awesome). I went to bed early, in hopes that I would sleep. I did not. Sigh.

Saturday was my concert, followed by Vixy and Tony's concert. Since we both used Sunnie and Betsy extensively, we were basically solid walls of sound, and everything went amazingly. The whole audience stood up and held hands during "We Are Who We Are" (Vixy and Tony's latest song, which is awesome), causing Vixy to wander around looking stunned and asking if that had really just happened. Hee.

Sunday was workshops, more concerts, and the final request concert, where Steve Macdonald and Katy Droege did "Cold Butcher" at my request, I did "Still Catch the Tide," and Vixy and Tony closed the con with a repeat performance of "We Are Who We Are." The Dead Dog that night was awesome, and I even stayed up for several hours to enjoy open filk before staggering off to bed.

The next day, Steve and I got a ride home from Syb, while Katy drove Vixy and Tony home. We all met up in Hamburg, where we had a lovely steak dinner before crashing at Steve and Katy's place. The next day, Steve got me to the airport to begin my incredibly long journey home.

But that's another story.

I am pleased as punch to report that I will be appearing at the Forbidden Planet super-store in London on Wednesday evening, beginning at 6PM and continuing until they throw us out!

I will be signing whatever people have to hand, although the event is specifically celebrating the release of the first three InCryptid books in their beautiful new UK editions from Corsair Books. There is no charge to attend, although the bookstore would, as always, appreciate it if you bought something. Bookstores are like that.

This is my first big London event, and I really hope to see you there!

When last we left our intrepid heroine (me), I was on a plane to Scotland, to visit Amal and Stuart for a week. Basically exactly a week, which was simultaneously a long, long time to go stay with someone I had never stayed with before, and nowhere near long enough to stay with a dear friend in a city I had never visited.

My flight was smooth and uneventful, and landed in Glasgow a little early, which was good, since it had been marred by navigation issues which caused the cabin crew to say "all electronics must be off, yes, even your Pokemon machine, yes, even your iPod." It was a sad, sad situation for a Seanan. When I landed, it became even sadder, as my phone had run out of minutes while I was in Ireland, and I thus could not call Amal to let her know I was there. I mooched back and forth in the airport for a while, sadly, until she materialized, all smiles and hugs and help with my luggage, and got me out of there.

When we arrived at the apartment, everything smelled like home. There was a chicken roasting in the oven and a pot of stock simmering on the stove, and I promptly decided that this was the best of all possible worlds. I was set up in the guest room, added to the wireless, and introduced to the two fabulous resident magpie cats. Amal quickly discovered that she could thrust things at me, and that I would then read them. This became a popular party game over the next few days.

Oh, the places we went! Oh, the things that we did! We visited the two biggest cheese shops in Glasgow, and assembled two glorious cheeseboards, including Bonnet (goat), Isle of Mull Cheddar (yellow), VJ Cabrales (DEATH BLUE), Old Lochnagar (cheddar-ish), and Dunsyre Blue, all from I. J. Mellis, and Isle of Mull Cheddar (white), Killeen (goat-gouda), Basajo (white-wine blue with grapes!), and Coulommiers (Brie), all from George Mewes. There was not a bad bit of cheese in the bunch.

I must, however, take a moment to focus on the Cabrales. This cheese was given in response to my request for an aggressive blue. "Aggressive" does not begin to cover it. This cheese was the Ghost Rider of cheeses, judging your sins and refusing to forgive them. It was so strong it was physically painful to eat more than a sliver at a time. I am in love. I want twenty pounds of it.

Amal and I walked Glasgow, enjoyed cake at Once Upon A Tart, and bought heather gems. She saw me have my first Victoria tart and my first rose lemonade, both of which engendered bliss face. We watched Doctor Who and made plans for the future and chatted about anything and everything, and it was lovely. I cooked her and Stuart goat. I snuggled their cats.

On Friday, we drove two and a half hours to Amal and I could hike off into the fields of Carterha and touch Tam Lin's well. This will be a post all of its own, and soon.

On Saturday, we went to the Scottish Owl Centre, which was perfect and sublime and like nothing I had ever done before. I want to go back.

Sunday we shopped, rested, ate, and made our farewells, and Monday morning, I got on a train bound for Swindon. It was nowhere near long enough. It was the perfect length of time. Scotland was beautiful, and its people even more so.

I want to go back.

All my life, I've known that my mother's people were from Ireland, but apart from one very short stop during a visit to England several years ago, I had never been. The country that shaped my grandparents was a mystery to me. Part of why I was so pleased to be invited to be a Guest of Honor at Shamrokon was the opportunity to see Ireland, and because of that, when James (one of the con chairs) asked if I wanted to stay in Dublin for a week and see a bit of the country, I leapt at the opportunity.

The Monday after the con, I saw Amy off and went to the Porterhouse Central with Wes and Mary for the Dead Dog. We quickly ditched out of there and went first to the bookstore, then to grab a quick bite at The Farm (a local food restaurant) before heading back in. I got to see Charlie, Bill and Brenda, Merav, Terry, and Jon, and a bunch of lovely locals (including one very excited boy who came over to talk Skullduggery Pleasant with me, at length) before James scooped me up for the drive to his home in Drogheda (a small town about forty-five minutes outside the city).

I stayed awake the whole way home, but only barely, and collapsed into bed as soon as we'd finished supper. The next morning, he took me to the grocer's for provisions, and we spent most of the day recovering from the con. Come Wednesday morning, the rest was over. He went to pick up his second houseguest, a very nice woman from Chicago named Leanne, and we basically went straight from unloading her bags to the tombs at Newgrange and Knowth.

Newgrange and Knowth are heritage sites, places where passage tombs still stand. Walking around and into them was like walking into history. Here were these mounds, these great gobs of earth and stone, that were there long before America existed; long before the Christians came to Ireland. We went into the passage tomb at Newgrange, and it was so quiet and still, even full of tourists, that it was more than a little sobering. I wasn't sure how exactly to feel about it. I'm still not. Absolutely gorgeous, and I'm so glad I went.

There were blackberries on the way to the tombs, and sheep in the roads. It was glorious.

Thursday we lounged about. Friday we went into Dublin so I could get souvenirs for my mother, and while we were there, we met up with Brian and Shevy and went to the Leprechaun Museum.

Yes, you read that correctly.

It was a really lovely little museum, with some very engaging storytellers who were happy to enlighten us about the sidhe. Also, there was giant furniture I could climb on, and I appreciated that.

Saturday was Doctor Who and laundry and mailing things and bidding Leanne farewell, as she was leaving early the next day. Sunday was packing and figuring out what needed to happen before I could head for my next stop: Glasgow.

Monday morning, James and I both got up early, and he drove me to the airport before heading to work. I wound up in the longest airline line I've ever been in (hooray for always being two hours early), and then it was off to Scotland. Yay, Scotland!

It was a good trip. I'm glad I went, and would like to go back sometime with friends, so that we can explore all the wonders the country has to offer.

Next up, GLASGOW.

Amy and I left France on Thursday morning, following a ride in a cab operated by a surly but talented driver (we didn't die!), and some exciting airport escapades that I have already detailed in the "Paris" post. Our flight, operated by Aer Lingus, was short and pleasant, although I had never encountered "pay for your soft drinks" on a plane before (I prey Southwest never starts doing that). We landed in Dublin a little early, and made it to the car park with the assistance of a very nice local wheelchair operator. (Airport wheelchair services, for those who've not used them, generally consist of young, athletic people who are willing to push people who need it from one terminal to another. We tipped well, and everything was lovely.)

Gareth from Shamrokon met us at baggage claim, and loaded us into his car for the first of our odd transits. See, Sheila—my editor—and Betsy—my publisher—had both come to Dublin, and Thursday night was the only night that was really good for us to have dinner together. So Amy and I needed to be dropped off at the restaurant, while he took our luggage on to the hotel. Good thing he's a good sport! We wound up in a Michelin-starred French restaurant attached to their hotel, where we spent four and a half hours eating, drinking, talking, and enjoying cheese. So much cheese. It was a really divine dinner, and I completely understand why people make such a big deal about the place.

So much cheese.

Friday kicked off the convention. I had a panel with Tim Griffin and Jordan Kare, during which we talked about filk and how to be comfortable in the filk community; Kathy Mar attended, as did Teddy and Tom, and we had a lovely time making them do the heavy lifting for us. After that was opening ceremonies, and then, concert prep!

Yes, we did a concert, largely due to the tireless efforts and incredible talents of Dr. Mary Crowell, who herded all the cats so that I could look good. She is amazing. My band consisted of her, Amy McNally, and the Suttons, and everyone was splendid. We did basically the same set as Loncon, which was fine, because there wasn't that much audience overlap between the two cons, and it was really lovely. Brenda sang my part on "Wicked Girls," while I sang Vixy's, and a good time was had by all.

The next item was "In Conversation With Seanan McGuire," the solo version of the panel I like to do with Cat, where I will answer everything I am asked. We ran about ninety minutes over, and it was beautiful. Some very serious topics were discussed, like depression and OCD and the difficulty of talking about feeling suicidal. (One well-meaning man asked "Well, have you tried being sad without hurting yourself?", and while I hate the question, it opened the door for some very good discussion.) It was uncomfortable but important, and no one left the room, so I'm calling it a win.

Saturday, I had my Guest of Honor interview, with Janet as my interviewer, who had smartly brought Kinder Eggs. Every time she felt I'd answered a question sufficiently, I got chocolate. A+ interviewing technique, would be interviewed again. My panel on pseudonyms went well, and ended early enough that Amy and I were able to go out and grab dinner before the Doctor Who season premiere at eight, or the filk jam at nine.

I did not stay up to close out the jam. I am weak.

Sunday, I signed stuff; talked about zombies with great enthusiasm; and talked about toys with equally great enthusiasm. Then we closed the con, and I darted off with Amy and Wes to join the fabulous dinner already beginning at the Winding Stair, where the food was traditional and delicious.

Monday was the off-site Dead Dog at the Porterhouse downtown, and Wes and Mary and I had a lovely time, after bidding our beloved friends adieu. We swung by the nearby bookstore, which had my picture in the window, and bought books, before handing me off to the con chair, James, to go back to his place for a week's Irish tourism.

On the whole, Shamrokon was absolutely lovely. A good con, well-run, by extremely friendly people. Would guest again.

Next up, IRELAND.

It's no secret that I love Disney Parks more than is strictly normal. While my friends start saying "maybe we could vacation somewhere, you know, else," I am still going "HAUNTED MANSION WOO HAUNTED MANSION LET'S GO." So when I had the opportunity to go to Paris, it was pretty inevitable that I would actually be going to Disneyland Paris (still often referred to as "EuroDisney" by people who haven't gone alone with the name change).

Problem the first: the cost of the Disneyland hotels was so high that it seriously made more sense to go in on a very nice, very expensive apartment on Rue Rambuteau, which is like saying "it cost so much to get a manicure that I decided to buy a new car." These things should not even be in the same discussion. But they were, and so we decided to stay with our friends and have some wonderful non-Disney experiences to go with the wonderful Disney experiences that we were already guaranteed.

Problem the second: we didn't actually know how many days we wanted to spend at Disneyland Paris. I mean, there's the quick and easy "all of them," but that didn't really address the fact that we had no idea how my foot was going to have held up during Loncon (surprisingly well, as it turns out), or how much walking we'd have to do to get to the Parks (annoyingly large amounts), or even how much there'd be to do inside the Parks, which are more spread out and still slightly sparser in some ways than their California equivalents. In the end, we decided to buy our tickets when we got there, since that would give us more flexibility.

Monday, we went down and wandered around Disney Village, and I started my multi-day campaign to collect all the pins I'd never had the opportunity for before.

Tuesday dawned bright and (relatively) early, considering that we were all sort of sleeping with no concept of time or how long things would take. Vixy, Amy, and I departed for the train station, and were basically the annoying giggly tourists all the way there, since "We're going to DISNEYLAND!" was continually appropriate.

Upon arriving, we joined the first mighty queue we found: the bag check. This took a dauntingly long time, and was followed by an even mightier queue, where we bought tickets. All three of us got Park-hopper tickets, two-day for me and Vix, one-day for Amy. I was already almost out of steps by the time we got through the gates and entered Disneyland Paris, so Vixy and Amy parked me on a bench while they went and got me a wheelchair.

This is where I say "we fell prey to thinking that because it was a Disney Park, it would be like all the other Disney Parks, and nothing could possibly go wrong." I had looked at the website previously, trying to figure out what we needed to do in order to have me in a chair without a problem, and had not realized that we would be banned from the main queues of even rides where I could physically go through the queue in a wheelchair. Instead, we would have to use the back entrances for everything, and would need to have an Access Pass. Why would this be a problem? Because at Disneyland Paris, unlike at Disneyland California, you need a doctor's note to get an Access Pass. Even if you clearly cannot walk. So...

Amy and Vixy returned with a wheelchair, and we proceeded into the Park. Being long-time Disney Park people, we immediately beelined for the Phantom Manor (the local equivalent of the Haunted Mansion), using the Frontierland signs as our landmarks. I admit, I teared up when I saw the Manor for the first time.

The queue area involved stairs. Amy followed the wheelchair signs to the back entrance, where we learned about the Access Cards for the first time. Oh, we said, and made our way back to City Hall...which is where we discovered that we were supposed to have a doctor's note. Which was a problem, since a) we didn't have one, b) my doctor was in California, c) we were in Paris, and d) my doctor was not going to get up at local 3am to fax over a note saying "her foot is messed up, she cannot walk." Vixy, as our main French speaker, tried to explain that we hadn't known before we got there and was there anything we could do. Amy looked distressed. I tried not to cry, while wishing I could sink into the floor. I hate this, I hate it, I hate having to do research on lifts and where I need a doctor's note and not knowing, day to day, whether I'm going to be able to walk. And sitting there not knowing what was being said, just that it was being said about me, made me want to die.

I can say "it was all my fault, I didn't dig deep enough into the website," and that is true. I can also say "spending a day confined to a wheelchair for the privilage of using the back entrances, not seeing the queue areas, not getting on the ride any faster, and being sneered at for taking up space, is not fun; it is not something I do for shits and giggles," and that is also true.

Eventually, Vixy was able to get across that my injury was temporary, rather than being a permanent disability which was why we didn't have a placard or anything. The very nice man in City Hall basically went "Americans" and gave us an Access Card that was good for me and one other person to use the back entrance (again, not priority access: we had to wait for the length of the line before we could get on the rides, which was totally fine by us).

We returned to the Phantom Manor, where Vixy went through the line while Amy and I waited in the back. Multiple people checked my Access Card to see if it was legit, which...we were not getting priority access. We were not "cutting" or getting a special magical show. We were, instead, fighting across cobblestones in a manual wheelchair, having people run into us, and basically being treated like we didn't deserve Disney because I had the audacity to be in an assistance vehicle. I was miserable. I was sitting in the Phantom Manor, feeling like a cheat and a fraud and a liar, because everyone was treating me like one. The Cast Members I usually count on to be on my side were acting like we were trying to pull something over on them.

I have never felt more like a burden to my friends and loved ones.

But the line moved, and we got on the Phantom Manor, and Vincent Price laughed for me, and I gradually reclaimed my Disney spirit. It was not easy. It hurt, and that was new and strange and awful. But I did it. Amy and Vixy and I proceeded to a BBQ place, where we ate lunch, and then enjoyed the Park.

Alice's Curious Labyrinth! Space Mountain Mission 2! The Nautilus! The Tower of Terror (across the way in Disney Studios)! The new Ratatouille ride, which used the trackless 3-D ride format from Mystic Manor, and was splendid! And so so so so so so so so so so so so so many pins. Oh, the pins. AN INFINITY OF PINS. I traded constantly, and got glorious pins from cast members, and it was wonderful.

Space Mountain Mission 2 was jerky and weird, but it was a coaster Amy had never been on, and we loved it so. We hit the Ratatouille ride just before closing, and the Cast Member on the door kindly let us ride together, even though I still had to use the wheelchair entrance. Dinner was at a little cafe on Main Street, and included the best ham and cheese sandwich I have ever had. We returned home tired but okay.

The next day it was just me and Vixy. We had already decided that our main objective would be a) pins and b) trying to eat lunch at Cinderella's Enchanted Table, so Vixy could meet the mice (Suzie and Perla). I decided not to get a wheelchair. It just wasn't worth it, and I knew I could turn back at any time; we didn't need to close out the Park.

It was my first day on foot in a Disney Park in more than two years.

To say that I was nervous would be an understatement; so would to say that I was overjoyed. I could climb stairs (slowly). I could step up curbs (also slowly). I could do anything I fucking wanted and it was magical and I only cried a little from the pain. I really am getting better. (Note that this would not have been possible had I not been in a wheelchair for the whole previous day.)

Vixy and I started by going to see the dragon that sleeps beneath the castle. It was a glorious piece of animatronics, and leaving put us right near Cinderella's Enchanted Table, where lo and behold, they had just started service, and we were able to get a table. She was ecstatic. I was amused. We spent two and a half hours eating a very slow lunch, ending with flaming ice cream balls, and she got her picture with the mice. She then declared that it was ANYTHING YOU WANT O'CLOCK, since I hadn't stabbed her with a fork during the very slow dining experience. Yay!

I elected for Pirates. Their queue led through a smuggler's tunnel into Tortuga, and it was a glorious piece of ride design (the ride itself was pretty awesome, too). From there, we went to Indiana Jones (totally different from the California ride; this is a single-track roller coaster with a full inversion), Phantom Manor, and then out, marking a day with very few rides, but with a lot of pins. So many pins.

On the whole, Disneyland Paris was gorgeous, and I wish I had been able to take more time to really drink it all in. But I couldn't have done any more time than I did on foot, and being there in a wheelchair was so unpleasant and dehumanizing that I don't think I could have loved the Park if I had spent any more of my time in an assistance vehicle.

Glad I went; may go back someday; will not go back until I am absolutely sure I can spend the whole trip on foot.

Next up, Ireland, and Eurocon!

When I realized that I was going to be staying in Europe between Loncon and Eurocon (I mean, I'm staying much longer than that, as witness the fact that I am writing this entry from a kitchen table in Ireland, but that realization came later), I immediately turned to Vixy and went, "Let's go to DISNEYLAND!"

Yessssssssss.

Brooke, who is a genius of travel planning, used Air B&B to find us a glorious Parisian apartment with four bedrooms, disturbing murder art on the walls, a full kitchen, a hot tub, sauna, and steam room, and wifi, all on the ground floor, which meant I had zero obligate stairs. It was perfect. Vixy and I checked in first, on Sunday, to be followed by the rest of our party (Brooke, Amy, and the Crowells) on Monday.

Sunday was the Eurostar, followed by checking in, a wander around our temporary neighborhood, and dinner at an outdoor cafe, where I had a ham and mushroom pizza that had been very generously outfitted with ham. We showered in The Serious Shower, which I think I will dream about for the rest of my life, and planned our adventures to come. I misidentified the train station we'd need to get to Disneyland Paris. This will be important later.

Monday, we decided to take the train to Disneyland Paris and wander around the Disney Village (their equivalent of Downtown Disney) for a few hours, just to get the lay of the land. We were not going to go into Disneyland that day, and indeed, we didn't. Instead, we walked roughly a mile in the wrong direction in our attempts to find the right train station, and when we arrived, we visited all the shops. I traded pins with a bunch of cast members, who viewed my single-minded approach with amusement and bewilderment. Vixy bought things. I did not. A good time was had by all.

When we got home, our housemates were there, and we gloried in the hot tub and not being at a convention. We spend so much of our time traveling to and from cons that sometimes it's nice to just be together, without a program grid dictating what we do and when we do it. Amy was delighted that we had refrained from going into Disneyland Paris without her, meaning that her first time on the Phantom Manor would also be my first time on the Phantom Manor.

Eventually, we slept.

In preparing for this entry, I had time to give a lot of thought to the essential question of whether I wanted to do one big Paris post, or one Paris post and one Disneyland Paris post. The latter won. So here are the Paris pieces:

Tuesday, Amy, Vixy, and I went back to Disneyland Paris, following what I thought was the correct route. It was sort of very wrong, and while we got there just fine, we had a bit of a "tired people navigating places" tiff on the return journey, ending when Amy brilliantly hailed a cab.

Wednesday, Amy went off to see Paris, while Vixy and I finally went to the train station the right way, which was much, much shorter. We also returned home earlier, content and perfectly tired. Vixy and Amy went out with Brooke and the Crowells to have Fancy French Dinner; I stayed home with Simon, the Crowells' teenage son, and had Leftovers and The Internet. Everyone was happy.

Thursday, Vixy, Brooke, and the Crowells went out to a museum, while Amy and I went to the airport. The ladies at the Aer Lingus counter were pleasant, but recommended we call a wheelchair, given the size of the airport. We called a wheelchair. We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After half an hour, we walked to our gate, since otherwise, we might have missed our flight. We were off and running for Ireland, and our French adventure was finally complete.

When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were arriving at the Aloft, hence to set up base camp for the convention. Hooray! Only...not so much hooray, as my bank had turned my credit card off for fraud after seeing it used at Heathrow Airport and our initial hotel. In England. Where I had told them I would be.

I called the bank and had a borderline hostile conversation, ending when they turned my card back on and I was able to check us into the hotel. Wes and I then went to pick up the wheelchair Amy had booked for me. (My walking difficulties are continuing to improve, but "improving" doesn't mean the same as "better," and we very much wanted to be sure that I would be able to walk both in Paris and at Eurocon the following week.) It turned out that, despite us having put the booking in ultra-early, there were no independent mobility (IE, "big round wheels") chairs left, and I was put into a hospital-style chair that required someone to push me. Not so awesome.

We got me checked in and were off to my first panel, on pseudonyms. While I was there, Wes took the hospital chair back to the mobility desk and got me upgraded to a mobility scooter, on account of I did not have the independent movement I had been promised and no one wanted to have to help me get to the bathrooms. Everybody wins! (Vixy and I did not have a fully handicapped-accessible room, but had decided that parking the scooter in the shower was better than, again, no independence at all.) The panel went well, and we borked off for supper with a lot of my favorite people—Mary and Simon, Talis and Pippa, Brooke and Amy and Vixy and Wes—at the Indian restaurant at the end of the walk. We ran into Wesley Chu on the way back, and a good time was had by all.

That night was I'm Sorry, I Haven't A Clue, hosted by Lee Harris, and we had a splendid time. It was me and Cat "vs." Paul and Emma, and everyone acquitted themselves handsomely. I was still struggling with the tail end of my cold, and so made plans to tap out if necessary (Heath was ready to be our stunt Seanan), but I was able to get through the whole session, and only coughed so hard I stopped breathing once. Meg was seated in the front row, and was able to interpret my pantomime and get me my cough syrup. Life was very good indeed.

Friday passed in a blur. For my reading, I did half of "We Are All Misfit Toys in the Aftermath of the Velveteen War," and followed it up with an impromptu hallway signing that lasted no shit half an hour, courtesy of my not having an actual signing. (This was not the fault of the convention; I was the one who mis-booked the train tickets.) The queue was remarkably orderly, and crowned by Hisham walking over and offering me Pokemon. I LOVE YOU HISHAM. Pokemon: the way to my heart.

Saturday's panel on girl scientists was excellent, and I basically used Amanda as my guide. "Does this piss Amanda off?" I would ask myself, and then ask the question.

My concert was splendid and the filk track organizers were brilliant when they forced me to accept the big room (I had said I would be perfectly happy with the normal filk concert space). It held three hundred people, and we near to filled it. Dead Sexy was wonderful, as always. (Dead Sexy is the version of my backing band consisting of Bill and Brenda Sutton, Amy McNally, Dr. Mary Crowell, and Michelle Dockrey.) We scrapped "What A Woman's For" at the last minute, due to concerns about my voice and our arrangement, and dropped in "Still Catch the Tide," because it's something we can do without lyric sheets or practice. Talis was in the audience.

She'd never heard us do it live before.

I made Talis cry.

It was a good night, overall, and I am very glad to have been there.

I stayed on Sunday, just long enough for my panel on fan works, and then it was off to the rail station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. Vixy and I "watched" the Hugos over Twitter from our Parisian apartment (the wireless wasn't good enough to stream), and while I was sorry not to be there, Sunil was so happy to be me that I was honestly glad to have mis-booked the train: he glows in all the pictures I've seen, and I am always happy when I can give good experiences to my friends.

Congratulations to all the winners, solidarity to all the losers (of whom I am one), and I'll see you all next year.

Next up: DISNEYLAND.