No, I´m not going to Worldcon

One of those recent bad news that happened to me lately (see post below) also made my cashflow dangerously approach oblivion. So I regret telling you that I´m not going to Worldcon anymore. (Though I must say I was a good guy and voted for the Hugos - hey, I REALLY was into this!)

This wouldn´t be my first Worldcon. My maiden voyage to a SF convention was to Intersection, in Glasgow, 1995. I got there all by myself and didn´t know a soul. I was amazed, looking around, recognizing at once some familiar faces from magazines and dust jackets. Mike Resnick and Forry Ackerman were among them - I had a very good time talking to them, as well as to Greg Benford, G. David Nordley (who was stunned to know he had a Brazilian fan), Valerie J. Freireich, Geoffrey A. Landis, Kevin J. Anderson, Kathleen Ann Goonan and several other authors.

Sadly, I didn´t get to talk to John Brunner. In the first day of the convention, I just saw him at a distance, and didn´t have the guts to approach him and tell him I was a fan from Brazil and how much I liked The Shockwave Rider and Stand on Zanzibar, to name a few of his greatest novels.

So, all I could do the following day was to share the general shock and confusion and sadness upon learning of the master´s untimely death. If you were there, you know this is not AT ALL a good thing to share - though sharing is always much better than to stand by oneself, alone in the storm. And it´s the sharing that I miss the most. It´s the sharing I always crave for in those conventions and meetings.

All I can wish now is that all those wonderful people I´ve been talking to since I started this blog and are going to Anticipation have a drink for me. Cheryl, Ann, Jeff, Matt, Ana Cristina, all of you. (Is there anyone else I forgot to mention? Please do comment!) Have fun!