San Diego Comic-Con: Day 4

Today started with this panel, masterfully moderated by MaryElizabeth Hart from San Diego science-fiction bookstore Mysterious Galaxy:

10:00-11:00 "Looking at Our World: Eye on the Future": Speculative-fiction authors discuss shaping the future through their fiction and shaping their fiction to the future. Panelists [pictured, left to right]: Comic-Con 2008 Guest of Honor Robert J. Sawyer (Rollback), John Zakour (Dangerous Dames), Charles Stross (Saturn's Children), Alan Dean Foster (author of more than 100 books), William C. Dietz (When All Seems Lost), Tobias S. Buckell (Ragamuffin), and Ann Aguirre (Grimspace)

I'd been afraid the panel was going to be unwieldy with so many of us on it, but it actually came off extremely well, and we had a packed room.



After we all did an autographing session, aided by Toronto TV personality Liana K (co-host of Ed & Red's Night Party, recently added to the line-up of the US cable channel Ripe TV), dressed up as Power Girl.



I was pleased to see that in addition to my Tor titles, Mysterious Galaxy had laid in a nice stock of my new short-story collection Identity Theft and Other Stories, from Canada's Red Deer Press, as well as my earlier collection Iterations (that's John Zakour on the right).



After the signing, Rob Sawyer (me!), Toby Buckell, Charlie Stross, and Carolyn Clink (pictured, l-r), all went to Dick's Last Resort (pub) for a nice alfresco lunch, at which much shop was talked. :)



Carolyn and I spent the afternoon working through the exhibits/dealers' room some more, and Carolyn had her picture taken with one of our favorite actors, Robert Culp of I, Spy and Greatest American Hero fame.

I stopped by the Write Brothers booth, and to my surprise and delight was given a copy of their plotting/story-outlining software StoryView, which I've long been intrigued by; expect a review here soon.

(Other goods scored in the dealers' room today: a limited-edition Enik the Altrusian (Sleestak ancestor) plastic coin-bank figure (just 480 made) from Land of the Lost; a complete set of The Six Million Dollar Man series on DVD -- of somewhat (cough, cough) dubious pedigree.)

I spent some pleasant time chatting with editor Jim Frenkel at the Tor Booth, and ran into David Gerrold again. Later in the day, we ran into Astrid and Greg Bear, and went for a snack together.

Dinner was terrific: Carolyn, myself, multiple Hugo Award-winning author (and San Diego local) Vernor Vinge, and screenwriter David Baxter (who, among other things, wrote for Star Trek: Voyager). We ate outside, and had a wonderful, leisurely dinner.

All in all, a wonderful, pleasant day.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site