Worldcon 2024 Winding Down

Yesterday’s highlights were some time spent with Gay and Joe (The Forever War) Haldeman, whom we had not seen in years. They are a delightful couple, and probably the best-traveled people we know, always jaunting around the world, visiting friends. We also had a beer and fine conversation with Stefan Rudnicki—co-owner of Skyboat Media, and also well traveled—who recently narrated six of my audiobooks. Though we worked closely together on the books, we had never actually met in person until this con. He’s a fount of knowledge about the audiobook business and a very generous guy. Stefan’s wife Gabrielle de Cuir, also a topnotch narrator and director, is a delightful lady as well. I hope to be working again with them soon.

Later we watched the Hugo Awards ceremony on my laptop, from the hotel room. The audio level was low, so I had to look at the results online today. Many of the works I voted for actually won! Possibly a first. Congratulations, Hugo winners and nominees!

Here a few visual highlights. First is the SEC (Scottish Exhibition Center), with the “Armadillo” theater center on the left, a delightfully idiosyncratic building on the outside, and bizarrely incomprehensible on the inside. On the right is the Ovo Hydro—or, as we called it, the Flying Saucer (it lights up green at night). That’s a sports center, apparently. That seemingly insignificant, triangular-roofed building between them is the main exhibition hall, where most of the con actually took place.

How about a Batmobile or two?

The SEC campus sits right next to the River Clyde, on the far banks of which sit BBC Scotland, an IMAX theater, and the Glasgow Science Center.

I thought I was going to get away without buying anything at the con except a t-shirt, but the art show mugged me and forced me to buy a print of a photo-art piece I particularly liked. Oops.