(urth) WindyCon 35

[James Wynn]

Here's my report from WindyCon 35:

First of all, Nigel Price is in the hospital. He was taken by ambulance on 
Saturday morning when he could not get out of bed. He does not seem to be in 
imminent danger now (last I heard). But, the doctors were apparently not 
certain of the cause of his problem as of last night. They were to run 
additional tests this morning that hopefully will be more conclusive. Those 
that will, please keep him in your prayers. It is not clear whether he will 
even be able to fly home as planned on Monday.

I arrived at the Westin in Lombard at around 8pm Friday. Michael 
Andre-Driussi, Nigel, and Gene's daughter, Teri, were chatting in the lobby. 
Nigel had been there all day. He had hung out with Gene, Rosemary, and Teri 
most of the afternoon. Gene had panel discussion on children in warfare 
around 4:30pm, but there was an awful screw-up about the room location (I 
won't point fingers except to say it wasn't Gene's fault), so he arrived 
quite late for it. Then the four of them went to supper.

We sat their chatting about Wolfe, movies, books, Chicago, the convention, 
and other things until midnight. We also discussed Michael's and Nigel's 
panel on the future of warfare and it's presentation in science fiction. 
Nigel in particular was very excited about it. Michael, Nigel, and I agreed 
to meet in the lobby at 8am and go to breakfast.

I was met Michael in lobby at 10 to 8. We called Nigel's room but he didn't 
answer. We decided he was on his way or showering so we chatted as we waited 
until 8. I called again at 8 sharp but this time the phone picked up and 
hung up. Uh oh. Nigel must have decided to sleep in. Not surprising with the 
6 hour time difference with England. So we went on to breakfast. We spent 
about an hour and a half talking about books and politics. Walking back to 
the hotel just before 10, there was an ambulance out front. We tut-tutted in 
sympathy went on in. Still no Nigel. We presumed he was boning up for the 
panel. At 10 there was a scheduled book discussion on "Soldier of the Mist" 
with the chicago-sf.org book club. Michael was greeted as a celebrity, and 
it was additionally lucky for them that he was there, because he did a good 
job of reminding me to stick to the topic of SoTM and to avoid bringing up 
the later or other novels in the discussion.

At 11, Michael had book signings. I trolled the con. Still no Nigel. The 
panel discussion was at noon. Wolfe was participating as well. Rosemary and 
Teri were there too. Still no Nigel. I went to the concierge and called his 
room and searched the whole con (perhaps there was another room mix-up like 
the one on Friday). I met Teri on the way back. She told me to go on back 
and she would try to find him. Here is where Teri proved that she had snap 
that was just out of reach of Michael and me. She realized that no one 
travels 1000 miles spending 1000s of $ to be on a panel and not show up. She 
went to Security and gave them Nigel's room number telling them she was 
concerned for him. Indeed, they told her, he had been taken to the hospital 
by ambulance that morning. My call had awakened him, but he couldn't reach 
the phone in time. Eventually, he managed to dial zero for the front desk.

She came back and quietly told me what was going on and that she was going 
to go to the hospital to check on him. She asked me to call her in 10 
minutes so she would have my phone number. After the panel discussion I let 
everyone know why Nigel couldn't make it.

Only family members could get into the ER to see Nigel, so Teri told them 
she was his niece. She got apprised of what the doctors knew so far and 
called Nigel's wife. She helped negotiate the information to ensure his 
insurance would cover all his expenses. Nigel had rented a car so he could 
see some more of Chicago while he was there. So Teri arranged for Michael to 
drive it back when he went to the airport on Sunday. Essentially, she took 
Nigel completely under her wing and became his proxy-wife.

After the panel Gene, Rosemary, and Michael went on to Harry Caray's for 
lunch. As they entered the restaurant (connected to the lobby), Michael 
motioned for me to join them. About 20 minutes later, Teri joined us as 
well.

Lunch ended a little after 3pm. The rest of the day was spent chatting with 
Michael and Teri and wandering aimlessly and happily around the con. Teri 
went back in the evening to check on Nigel. And I spent the rest of the 
evening in the lobby watching the people in costume pass by and talking to 
Michael about movies.

At 11pm, Michael and I agreed to meet for breakfast at 8am on Sunday which 
we did. Coming back to the lobby, we met Gene and Rosemary coming out of 
Harry Caray's. He admonished us for not joining them for breakfast. Of 
course, if we had realized that that was an option, we surely would have. I 
took some pictures with Gene, Rosemary, and Michael then. Unfortunately I 
had to leave at 10am to catch my shuttle for the airport.

I probably did less "con" activities at WindyCon than at any convention I've 
ever been to, but I doubt I've every had so much fun.

J