ArmadilloCon 2006: pre-convention dinner with the guests, August 2006
ArmadilloCon is a science fiction convention that takes place every year in Austin, Texas. In 2006 the Guest of Honor was writer Julie Czerneda and the Special Guest was writer James P. Hogan.
On the eve of the convention, the FACT group — the people who organize the ArmadilloCon — took the guests out to dinner at the Kerbey Lane cafe.
James P. Hogan (second from the left in the picture below) is originally from Ireland, but lived in Florida for many years. He bought a big pitcher of beer and offered to cure the FACT folks of their non-drinking ways. He was nostalgic about the days when parties at science fiction conventions were as parties should be. That is to say, alcohol flowed freely. Nowadays, he said, room parties are a few guys drinking coke and watching TV. The first time he came across a “party” like that, he could not believe that was it.
Left to right: Willie Siros (one of the long-time organizers of ArmadilloCon), James P. Hogan, Kurt Baty, Scott Cupp at the FACT group dinner at Kerby Lane.
Left to right: FACT members Madeleine and Willie, and writer James P. Hogan.
About halfway through the evening someone must have told James Hogan that the woman sitting at the other end of the table was Julie Czerneda, this year’s Guest of Honor, and he went up to her to introduce himself.
Julie Czerneda seemed like a really nice person. She went around the table and introduced herself to everybody. Now I wish I had read at least one of her books. The FACT reading group discussed her latest book some time last spring, but I don’t have nearly enough time to read every book FACT group discusses, nor do I have an inclination to do so, because many of the authors they choose don’t interest me. To put it bluntly, there are so many well-known authors I haven’t read yet, that I rarely make time to read lesser-known authors like Czerneda. There have been many books that I only read because I had an incentive of discussing the with other people. A discussion often turns out more entertaining than the book itself.
And before each year’s ArmadilloCon I often, but not always, make a point of reading at least one book by the Guest of Honor.
Julie Czerneda and her husband
Julie Czerneda and her husband
Me (left), and Julie Czerneda at the FACT group dinner at Kerby Lane.
