{"id":62390,"date":"2024-11-28T19:03:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T03:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/?p=62390"},"modified":"2024-11-28T19:03:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T03:03:54","slug":"loscon-2024-arrival-and-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/?p=62390","title":{"rendered":"Loscon 2024 &#8212; Arrival and Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Happy Thanksgiving!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Normally, Melissa and I would be at home, overeating on a day like this.  I would have prepared a ham with a fantastic glaze, a sweet potato puff that is basically heaven in a glass pan, and there would have been some other sides that are pretty good but not nearly as good as the things I just mentioned.  Maybe there&#8217;d be some stuffing, I don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tonight, we had a couple of greasy cheeseburgers from the bistro near the lobby of the Hilton at LAX.  They were honestly pretty good.  Probably because it was the first real food we&#8217;ve had all day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We woke at 5AM this morning so we could catch our 6:30AM train.  Melissa never traveled by train before, and this was going to be a real treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The train was nice, but we were a little bit unlucky.  We had to share our table with someone who wasn&#8217;t quite all there.  He didn&#8217;t follow social queues, he mumbled a lot, and he wanted to talk about Tennessee, God, Hell, and giraffes.  He said some very provocative things, either because he was crazy, or because he was trying to get a reaction from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the train full and bringing in more passengers with every stop, Melissa and I didn&#8217;t have an opportunity to change seats.  I was a captive audience, and I listened to this weird guy with as much understanding and compassion as I could.  He really did try to get some kind of negative reaction out of me, and I did not take any of the bait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I wanted to write and focus on other things.  Our weird travel companion foiled me on that front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Bakersfield, the end of the line, we transferred to a bus.  By 3PM, we were checking into the hotel.  Not a bad travel day.  Better than flying, for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now that we&#8217;re here, checked in, and have the lay of the land, let&#8217;s talk about my Loscon schedule.  My schedule list will include my thoughts on the panels and the ways in which I can contribute.  If you want the abbreviated details, you can click <a href=\"https:\/\/loscon.lineupr.com\/loscon-50\/lineup\">this link<\/a> and click my name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Name<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>When<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Where<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>About<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Autograph Session<\/td><td>Friday, 5PM<\/td><td>Dealer&#8217;s Room<\/td><td>I love doing these! I have reasonable expectations for how this will go, though. We won&#8217;t have very many of my books on stock until Sunday, so there won&#8217;t be much for me to do.  But I&#8217;ll enjoy doing it, just the same.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Not Lazarus Long? Things You Need to do Before Dying<\/td><td>Friday, 8PM<\/td><td>La Jolla A<\/td><td>The description of his panel is pretty sobering.  What do you need to do to make sure your loved ones are taken care of when you&#8217;re gone?  I was excited to see this panel because I&#8217;ve read tons of Heinlein, and Lazarus Long was one of my favorite characters.  What I actually have to offer on this panel is that I&#8217;ve worked in Life Insurance, and I&#8217;ve survived the loss of parents.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Urban Fantasy: Magic in the Modern World<\/td><td>Saturday, 10AM<\/td><td>Los Angeles C<\/td><td>I&#8217;m excited for this one.  Given that I write urban fantasy, I can talk about this and the various considerations and thoughts that go into blending fantasy with a contemporary setting.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Villains in SF and Fantasy: Crafting Compelling Antagonists<\/td><td>Saturday, 2:30PM<\/td><td>Los Angeles C<\/td><td>I have lots of thoughts about villains and antagonists.  The reality is that none of the antagonists in the stories I&#8217;ve released are particularly exemplary.  This is the first panel I&#8217;ll be moderating this weekend.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Stephen King&#8217;s On Writing, 20 Years Later<\/td><td>Sunday, 1PM<\/td><td>Los Angeles B<\/td><td>On Writing has helped and inspired writers for over 20 years.  I&#8217;m one of them.  During this panel, we&#8217;ll talk about the advice, how it holds up, and maybe what is missing.  I suggested this panel, I&#8217;m moderating it, and it&#8217;s the one I&#8217;ve been preparing for it for days. <\/td><\/tr><tr><td>The Greatest Writing Advice I&#8217;ve Ever Received<\/td><td>Sunday, 4PM<\/td><td>La Jolla B<\/td><td>This one should be relatively light and fun.  Since it&#8217;s towards the end of the convention, I&#8217;m not sure how seriously people will take it.  Again, I&#8217;m moderating, and I hope it is well attended and received.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I&#8217;m not in panels, I&#8217;ll most likely be in the dealer&#8217;s room.  Unfortunately, most of my books won&#8217;t be here until Sunday, which is a tremendous bummer.  I have some copies of <em>The Repossessed Ghost<\/em> and hardbacks of <em>One for the Road<\/em>, but none of <em>The Psychic on the Jury<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, I like what I see of this event.  If you&#8217;re in Los Angeles this weekend, consider coming to visit me at the Hilton near LAX.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Thanksgiving! Normally, Melissa and I would be at home, overeating on a day like this. I would have prepared a ham with a fantastic glaze, a sweet potato puff that is basically heaven in a glass pan, and there would have been some other sides that are pretty good but not nearly as good [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62390"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62395,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62390\/revisions\/62395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briancebuhl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}