![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.graymanwrites.com\/pix\/blog\/2014\/illogiConCodexDinner.jpg\")
<\/a>\n(At dinner with many of my writing friends. I’m the one in the hat. Photo courtesy of James Maxey.)<\/em><\/p>\n
As with other conventions, the best part was hanging out with my friends. illogiCon<\/a> featured two Guests of Honor, Mary Robinette Kowal<\/a> and Lawrence M. Schoen<\/a>, both of whom are terrific folks, as well as many of our local North Carolina authors who are among my favorite people in the world.<\/p>\n But, holy moly, illogiCon was BUSY!<\/p>\n On day one of the convention, last Friday, I was on two panels: one a serious discussion about how technologies such as robotics and smartphones are impacting our lives, and then “Lies With Words,” in which GOH Lawrence Schoen led five of us through a game similar to Balderdash. (Yours truly came in third; Baen Books<\/a> author Mark Van Name took the prize.) The evening ended, as most of my convention evenings do, with filk — though the filking was pretty subdued.<\/p>\n Saturday was a whirlwind of activity in more ways than one. First was a panel discussion about whether social media and rapid communication are fragmenting society into “A Million Nations,” followed by an enjoyable discussion about science fiction from the perspective of social scientists. A few of my friends came to my reading, which was followed by a recording of the Baen Free Radio Hour — though right about that time we had\u00a0two tornado warnings in quick succession! (The storm was close enough that it damaged trees just up the street from my house.) Once things calmed down, and after the podcast recording, we put on the Baen Books Travelling Roadshow, after which I had a delightful dinner with my friends (as seen above). I split the rest of the evening between attending other friends’ events, visiting with folks in the lounge, and finally more filking.<\/p>\n Sunday started with a panel that examined “Hard SF vs. Soft SF,” and ended with a discussion of “New Trends in Speculative Fiction.” In between I again attended some of my friends’ events, and afterward I came home and, frankly, crashed pretty hard.<\/p>\n I think I went to work on Monday, but I don’t remember much of it. But that’s probably another indication that illogiCon was a pretty good convention!<\/p>\n It took longer than anticipated to recover from illogiCon, because it was such an enjoyable convention. It took longer than expected to post this wrap-up, too — no excuse! (At dinner with many of my writing friends. I’m the one in the hat. Photo courtesy of James Maxey.) As with \u2026 Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>by <\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"