(urth) Seattle report

[Nigel Price]

Mantis gave me permission to reproduce his account of the weekend in
Seattle. Wish I'd been there!

Nigel

-------------------------------------

Hello there Nigel,

>How was Seattle? Did you get to talk to Wolfe at all?

It was wonderful!

There was some stress in getting there (we left immediately from the
last day of school, with heavy road traffic and unexpected road
construction--we had all but given up on making it to that flight,
but by running through the airport, and the public address system
urging us on by name, we managed to get there after all) and some
tedium in getting back, but the part in the middle was magic.

Gene Wolfe had told me in a letter that they would be at the hotel at
around one and I should contact him as soon as we arrived.  I wasn't
sure what day he meant, but I dutifully called, and finding they had
arrived, I left a message for them at around 7:30.  (Turns out that
they were at the museum's costume event, which we had originally
wanted to keep as an open option, explaining why we had booked such a
razor-close flight, but we had not RSVPed for the event, we hadn't
gotten costumes for the girls, and we were frazzled by the day--Cordy
had the ceremony of leaving elementary school, on top of the purely
travel stuff.)

We slept in late.  On the way down to breakfast, I saw a man
coming towards us with a bucket of ice.  It was, of course, Gene
Wolfe.  I tried to take the bucket from him.  He took it back.  He
apologized for not returning the call the night before, explaining
that they had gotten back from the museum at around midnight.  I
introduced my wife and children.  He said we should have breakfast
together downstairs.  And so we did.

It lasted for a wonderfully long time.  Gene's daughter Terri, whom I
had never met in person, came over. Gary K. Wolfe, the _Locus_
reviewer, came over for a while.  Katherine Cramer and David Hartwell
came over.  Laura took the kids away to the museum when they were
done.  We were late in getting away to the first of two panels.

After the second panel I met up with family again and we had lunch.
Then we tried for a nap.  I set the alarm and fell right asleep, but
then the girls woke me up fifteen or twenty minutes later and I
couldn't go back, even as they conked out.

I finally gave up and got up, then I realized that the book signing
was going on downstairs--might even be over.  It was around 4
o'clock, I think, when I rushed down there.  There was just the tail
end of a line. David Hartwell said someone was looking for me,
Michael Straight (from the list), and I found him quickly, or he
found me right there.  I was happy to meet him in person and asked if
there were any others from the list around.  He said James Wynn was,
but he hadn't seen him.  I admitted that I had seen a James Wynn in
the audience at the panel and thought the name was familiar, but I
didn't have a name tag myself at that point.

Gene was just sitting there by himself, so I got Michael to buy the
Dreamhaven chapbook and get it autographed, then we sat there and
chatted with him until he had to leave.  Astrid Anderson Bear (whom
I'd never seen in person) drifted over and sat with us but said
nothing. First she was drinking a red beverage in a martini glass,
and when that was done she took up some knitting.

It was time for dinner and Michael didn't have any plans so I invited
him to join me and my family for sushi.  We puzzled over how to find
James Wynn.  As we were walking to the restaurant, Laura used her
cell phone, which reminded Michael that he had James's cell phone
number (but no cell phone of his own), so right there we called him
up and invited him over.

Dinner was a lot of fun but suddenly it was time to go get ready for
the big event!

Michael Straight and the couple Wynn went ahead.  They thoughtfully
saved places for us at their table.

Gene Wolfe's part was the last segment of the event, and I found it
very moving, to the point of shedding happy tears.

Afterward we were all hanging around in the area where the museum
wanted to take photos of the inductees, but where was Gene Wolfe?
Well, it's like that's my "Bat Signal" or whatever, so I left
everything to lend assistance.  I looked where the Wolfes had been
before, and I looked around from there.  I didn't do much in that
mazy place, but then they appeared at the end where I'd expected them,
and then I jumped into action, clearing chairs from their path
like an icebreaker and opening the doors for them.

My point is that I was only gone for a minute or two, and when I came
back, Michael Straight had somehow found another member from the
list!  So there were three from the list.

The Wolfes left shortly after the photos.

The next morning on our way to breakfast we saw Gene sitting by
himself in the lobby, so we stopped to talk with him.  Gene
Rodenberry, Jr., who was waiting for a cab, joined in.  Laura said
later it was like matter and antimatter--not that they exploded or
anything, it was all friendly talking--just that Wolfe's philosophy
is largely the opposite of Star Trek's.

That's it in a nutshell.  I should try to write down at least an
outline of what was said.  Already I can't remember who was there
when Gene told one story or another--I'll say something to Laura,
assuming she had been there, and find out she hadn't.

Of course there's also the problem of interpretation!

When I tried to take the bucket from him, I heard him say, "Oh, Ma!"
like I was trying to take the kid's load from him before he dropped
it.

Laura heard, "Oh, now!"

And look how simple =that= is, with us being located in a quiet
corridor!  Contrast with the Hatter's Tea Party of breakfast.

=Michael=

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