EVEN MORE LUMINARIES OF THE SCI-FI WORLD & ME

More pictures of me (Frank Wu) and assorted important and upcoming sci-fi and fantasy writers, editors and artists, whom I have had the pleasure of consorting with.  

TORCON, WORLDCON, LABOR DAY, 2003

Me with the wooden Box of Wonders edition of Greetings from Lake Wu, and Diana Sherman and Simran Khalsa. 

Michelle West and the ever-charming Ken Wharton

During the Hugo ceremony, I wore a brilliant silver Disco shirt under my tux.  Jae Brim (R) made sure everyone saw it afterwards, while Karen Perry looks on.

Ken Wharton (R) explaining the unexplainable unexpected acceleration of the unmanned Pioneer 10 probe as it leaves the solar system. 

Mary Turzillo, ?, Geoff Landis (Hugo winner!), Bridget Coila, me, my pal Christine Robb, Bridget's husband Rick.  Here are Bridget and Rick again.

Jim Terman (center) arguing with a new victim about Canadian politics.  Celia Marsh is at the right.

Jim Terman and Diana Sherman re-enact the poses they struck for my illo for Diana's story "Gordy Taber Was Scared" to be published in Talebones magazine.

The lovely Lenora Rose in her hand-made dress; the wings flap when she rotates her shoulders.  Julie Czerneda with husband Roger with rose and the bright yellow duck she got for winning the Golden Duck award; she carried that thing around with her the whole convention.

Karen Perry (L) looks on as we fight off aliens with our finger-guns: Lori Ann White, Diana Sherman, me, Tom (Roger's brother) Czerneda, Julie Czerneda, Roger, and Jamie Rosen.  In addition to doing art for Diana's story, and being co-GOH with Julie at WillyCon 2001, I got to paint the cover for Jamie's ebook Vessel of Heaven.  I'm waiting for a chance to illustrate stuff written by Lori, Karen and Julie. 

Rebekah Jensen lent me her camera, which may not have been a good idea, since I proceeded to attack people with it:

Julie Czerneda, and Hugo-nominee and Campbell award for new writers (not a Hugo)-nominee Charlie Finlay...

Lori Ann White and Jamie Rosen...

Diana Sherman (with Lori in background) and Karen Perry.

My cover for On Spec (the illo "The Evil Fairy Godmother") had generated a lot of publicity for myself and for On Spec.  Bridget Coila screamed out "Vindication!" when in the basement of the con's party hotel, the Royal York, we found a cigar store - with a magazine cover with Demi Moore elegantly smoking.  So that was cool.

Rebekah Jensen's two roommates, whom I never actually met.  Emily Merrill (L) and Kate (R).

Rebekah Jensen, Jim Terman and I managed to go to the CN Tower, which was right next the convention center where Torcon was held.  This turned out not to be such a good idea, since both Rebekah and I are scared of heights.

Foto of me taking a foto of the Tower. 

The view from above.  Looking down at the stadium where the Toronto Blue Jays had just beaten the Yankees (darn!) 1-8. 

Below are fotos of the glass floor.  Scary!

My con review:

Torcon was a weird con.  Maybe because it wasn't as well as attended as many recent cons, what with SARS, the recent blackout and mad cow - all things Spider Robinson made wonderful jokes about, during the Hugo ceremony.  But a lot of the big name artists I expect to see at Worlcons like Michael Whelan and Bob Eggleton and Frank Kelly Freas weren't there.  Kelly because he'd just broken his hip - and that was the day before he was supposed to be at the Writers of the Future weekend, so I got to miss him twice!  And Bob because of SARS, but I did get a chance to talk to the kindly folks who give out the Japanese Seiun awards, and they told me that Bob Eggleton had been to Japan two or three times in the last year - partially to be filmed as an extra in an upcoming Godzilla movie.  Way to go, Bob!

I do have to say, though, that Torcon would have been a lot more fun if I had won the Hugo for best fan artist I was up for.  Sue Mason won, and she's good, and it was her first Hugo, so I don't feel bad about that.  I was also exceedingly close - I lost by only 8 votes.  8!  Dang - so close.  Next year... Boston.

I did get a chance to meet a lot of editors - I meet a ton of small-press folks, like the people who run Challenging Destiny magazine (David Switzer) and Edge Publications, who recently put out K. A. (Adrian) Bedford's novel Orbital Burn, and I had a lovely time talking to him (he's such a shy guy - but very sweet!) about all things Australian, since he's from there and one of the stories I'm writing right now takes place there.  For the third WorldCon in a row, I slipped a portfolio to Irene Gallo, art director at Tor Books, who actually remembered my name.  The last two years, I bugged her right before the Chesley Awards (where she was up for best art director - and all nervous and distracted, so that may not have been a career move).  But this time I was able to find her in the bar for that quick, "Hi, Irene, I'm Frank Wu, and can I give you my portfolio?" fifteen second conversation.  At Torcon, BTW, Irene won her second Chesley for best art director, and thanks "all the artists."  Way to go Irene!

It was also a weird WorldCon in that I really didn't hang that much with the really famous people.  My pal Julie Czerneda I saw a few times, but not that much.  I did get to tell Joe Haldeman that Forever War was the first new sci-fi book I'd read cover to cover (I think I had read Mysterious Island cover to cover before that, but that wasn't a new book) - and I said I felt bad that he had to go through what he had to go through to be in mental space to write the Forever books - but he recounted all the words he'd written, all it had done for his career in terms of fame and honor and recognition and he said, ok, I guess we're even now.  I did get to talk to David Brin a bit at the pre-Hugo party and we argued about Star Wars and he promised to buy me a drink at Conjecture (San Diego con early in October). 

But mostly I spent time lugging around this huge wooden box I had built for a special Box of Wonders edition of Greetings from Lake Wu due out shortly... and hanging in the bar with people I knew already - or people I sort of knew from the RumorMill - a lot of neo-pros, recent Clarion grads, etc., people averaging two or three pubs each, that sort. Which wasn't bad. I had some really really cool conversations with people about triple-stranded DNA, humans turning into parasites (that's the basis of the story I'm working on right now), and what if the Incans had beat Cortez, that sort of thing. But I really didn't hang out with the powerhouse people that were there, the Nivens and Pournelles. Maybe if I had won that damn thing, I would have hung out with new people more. And drank less beer, for sure.

In any case, here is a brief run-down of the folks I hung out with:

Celia Marsh, who like Hanna Wolf Bowen, was always smiling the whole con; how do you people get to be so happy?

Karen Bennett, formerly editor of Voyageur, who had to get home to pet her cat - I hope you find what you're looking for in life;

Jeremy Tolbert, editor of Fortean Bureau, which, when he said it I misunderstood as, "Hi, I'm Jeremy Tolbert, editor of 'Forty Beers.'" Which itself, at 2 am, sounded like a pretty darn good title.  So good in fact that Jay Lake had already claimed it to write a series of shorts about beers for FB.

Tobias Buckell, of my Writers/Illustrators of the Future class, who showed me the book where his name was misspelled twice as "Bucknell" and explained how it distresses him when people pronounce his name like it's a belt "Buckle."

Jamie Rosen, whose adventures with me have been recounted here already, but like many other RMers listened with the patience one gives a slow child as I rambled on and on about parasites.

Lori Ann White, who accompanied me to the pre-Hugo ceremony, and is the dearest pal

Tempest, who made some buttons out of business cards for me when I ran out, and was just fun to hang with.

Sonya Sipes, who tried to challenge me in Scrabble and I had a board but we could never find each other at the right time, but whom I promised to name a character after in my parasite story;

Lenora Rose, who sold five things in the art show (congrats!), and wore a splendid dress she made herself (two actually, I think), one with wings that moved when she rotated her shoulders;

Jay Lake, who plotted with me our take-over of the speculative literature business and laid out plans for MonkeyCon;

Rick and Bridget Coila, my pals from Norwescon, who played Fluxx with me and Jim and, when she could stand it,

my pal Christine Robb from Rhode Island (who brought me a lobster lollipop to bring me luck next year in Boston);

Leah Bobet, who was totally funny at the Planet Relish reading;

Cory Doctorow, who came up to me and Diana and Simran when we were hanging out on-line in the lobby of the Royal York singing "It's Not Unusual"

Diana Sherman herself, who repeatedly posed with Jim Terman, to duplicate the image that's in her first story (to be pub'd in Talebones, and illustrated by me - http://www.frankwu.com/Gordy.html - and Jay Lake made that comment that in the unlikely event that Diana and Jim got married, she would become Diana Sherman-Terman.

Simran, who gave us a fascinating intro to the Sufi religion, and led us in various, um, intellectually unrestrained discussions of vegetarianism;

Jae Brim, aka Princess, who was lovely and wonderful as ever and was constantly giving me hugs; Jay Lake says he wants you to go around at WFC with a Greetings from Lake Wu temp tattoo;

Karen Perry, also lovely and wonderful, whom I promise to visit if ever in NYC again, and we finally got a chance to see each other again and talk about our writing goals;

Lawrence Schoen, unfortunately wheelchair bound, but whose Buffalo buttons I wore all throughout the con, who introduced himself by saying, Hi, you don't know me, but I'm your roommate (at WFC).

Aynjel Kaye, who always dresses splendidly, whose leather corset started a conversation about large arthropods with exoskeletons and whether or not they could expand and contract to allow breathing

Rebekah Jensen, who went up to the CN Tower with me and Jim, which turned out not to be such a good idea, since both Rebekah and I are scared of heights

Mark Rapacioli, who dressed up in toilet paper for the Planet Relish reading and also hit me on the head with a piece of "Pi"

Samantha Ling, who continued our conversation about "Stuff!"

Geoff Landis and Mary Turzillo, whom I got to sit next to at the Hugo's and watched as he happily leapt from his chair as his name was called after the word "winner". Congrats, Geoff, you've earned it.

Marina Fitch, who was wearing a very soft and pet-able sweater, who was so sweet to me - thanks, Marina -

E-Bear (Elizabeth Bear), who was fun to hang with, and whom Jay Lake says will wear a temp Lake Wu tattoo on her forehead (ok? - It was Jay's idea)

Joe Mahoney, who interview me and Alan F. Beck interviewing each other

Catherine Shaffer, whom I wished I had had more of a chance to hang with;

same with Charlie Finlay, who sat in the same row as me, Ken Wharton and David Levine and Geoff Landis and Lori (and probably others - Wen? - but I couldn't see that far in the dark.

Hanna Wolf Bowen, who was constantly smiling the whole time, ever cheerful, even when she like everyone else was wired and simultaneously sleep-deprived and over-stimulated

Chelsea Polk, who was looking rather unwell one night in the Royal York bar - hope you're doing ok now;

John Hertz, who won the Big Heart Award, and who promised to write some nice things about my art in a fanzine

Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link, whom I showed the limited edition wooden box edition of Greetings from Lake Wu, and seemed to really like it -

I also had a chance to show it to John Grant/Paul Barnett, author and art director at Paper Tiger, who thought it was really cool, too;

Julie Czerneda, who carried around the stuffed yellow duck she received as part of winning the Golden Duck award; her husband Roger, who took really good care of my artwork since Toronto Trek in July, and his brother Tom

Hal Clement, genius among writers, whom I got to be on a panel with,

Derryl Murphy, who has gotten so much publicity out of my Fairy Godmother cover for On Spec

Isaac Szpindel, who lost something like three Auroras in one day - poor guy (though he's won before)

Jean-Pierre Normand, illustrator - he did that Asimov's cover with the red planet and the spider-lander thingie, a really sweet guy, to whom I gave an original Frank R. Paul business card, and in response to which he kindly thanked me on stage at the Hugos when presenting the best pro artist Hugo (which Eggleton, who wasn't there, won).

Anyway, those are some of the many cool wonderful WorldCon memories... That and having all my friends (listed above) screaming out my name at the Hugo ceremony. That was cool. I love you all. 

  MORE LUMINARIES

BACK TO HOME (FRANK WU's ART!)

Indexed list of fotos of me and luminaries (number indicates the page they're on):

Forrest J. Ackerman 1, Daniel Abraham 5, Carlo Arellano 2, Art car artists 3, Kage Baker 3, Greg Bear 10, Gregory Benford 5, Terry Bisson 9, Diana Blackmom 8, Ken Brady 8, Kent Brewster 2, (I'm Just a) Bill 3, Jae Brim 2 5 12, David Brin 7, Charles N. Brown 9, William Brown 1, Tobias Buckell 5, Jim Burns 8, John Burridge 8, Erwin Bush 2, Chris Butler 3, Jason Carter 11, Ted Chiang 6, Eric Choi 7, Andy Clarkson 2, Hal Clement 5, Rick and Bridget Coila 12, Julie Czerneda 1 (big head Julie) 4 7 12, Ellen Datlow 5, John DeChancie 3, Kim DeMulder 7, Vincent DiFate 1, Cory Doctorow 5, James S. Dorr 6, Denise Duff 2, Bob Eggleton's hair 5 10, Harlan Ellison 7, Charles Coleman Finlay 12, Marina Fitch 2, Frank Kelly Freas 1 3 5, Esther Friesner 7, Susan Fry 5, Chris Garcia 10, Michelle Garrison 8, Gil Gerard 11, Lisa Goldstein 9, Kirsten Gong-Wong 9, Erin Gray 11, Kelly Green 10, Joe Haldeman 6, Jennifer Hall 9, Anthony Head 11, Russ Heath 4, Barb and JC Hendee 8, Alea Henle 6, Jay Arr Henderson 1, Raechel "Roach" Henderson and Matt Moon 5, Howard Hendrix 10, Nina Kiriki Hoffman 1 8, Rob Hole Jr. 10, iguana 5, Rebecca Inch-Partridge 1 5 10, Alex Irvine 5, Jaws 5 10, Rebekah Jensen 1 5 10, Lindsey Johnson 1 4 5 8 10, Tim Johnston 2, Mark R. Kelly 5, Simran Khalsa 12, David Kile 7, James Killus 3, Klingon Survivor 11, Greg Koster 10, Jay Lake 4 8, Geoffrey Landis 8 12, Warren Lapine's hair 5, Deb Layne 8, Lenora Rose 6 12, Aurora Lemieux 8, Natasha Levitan 10, Val Lakey Lindahn and Ron Lindahn 1, Samantha Ling 9, David Marusek 5, Fiona McAuliffe 4, Tiffanie McCoy 5, Terry McGarry 8, Jessie McKenna 4, Besty Mitchell 8, Syne Mitchell 8, Mary Anne Mohanraj 2, Mike Moscoe 8, Derryl Murphy 2, G. David Nordley 9, Jerry Oltion 4, Kathy Oltion 4, Diana Paxson 10, Karen Perry 2 12, Bill Pierce 5 10, Tim Powers 1 2, Sergey Poyarkov 2, Ken Rand 8, Jonathan Richman 6, Kim Stanley Robinson 9, Dianna Rodgers 8, Rhea Rose 8, Jamie Rosen 12, Deborah J. Ross 10, Rowena 7, Robert J. Sawyer 7, Ken Scholes 8, Liz Shannon 8, Heather Shaw 9, Robert Sheckley 6, Diana Sherman 12, Gary Shockley 5 9, Felix Silla 11, Robert Silverberg 7, S.N.Arly 6, Wen Spencer 5, Ted Stetson 8, Carel Struyken 7, Patrick and Honna Swenson 2 8, Isaac Szpindel 7, Jason Taniguchi 7, Bruce Taylor 8, Jim Terman 1 5 9 10 12, Helen Thompson 6, Mark Tiedeman 4, Bjo Trimble 5, Jeffrey Turner 8, Mary Turzillo 12, Carol Ullman 6, James Van Pelt 6, Carrie Vaughn 10, Vernor Vinge 5, Nana Visitor 11, Ray Vukcevich 1 4, Garrett Wang 11, Lara Wells 5, Michelle West 12, Ken Wharton 1 3 4 5 12, Leslie What 8, Michael Whelan 8, Lori Ann White 1 2 3 5 6 8 10 12, Connie Willis 5 9, Eric Witchey 2 4, Jason Wittman 6, Gary K. Wolfe 9, William F. Wu 3, Susan Yi 5, Melissa Yuan-Innes 1.

If you are looking for more fotos from various conventions, check out Mid-American Fan Foto Archive.