Between Steampunk World’s Fair last weekend (which was a blast!), and WisCon this weekend (blast anticipated!), I am falling a little behind on the media-consumed section.

This month in general has been a little thin on the ground, entertainment-wise. Usually over a weekend I can rack up half a dozen movies, easy. Since Thursday, my media consumption has been the first third of Conan the Destroyer I had TiVoed and watched as I packed for World’s Fair, an episode of Extreme Couponing that gave me the vapors, and about five seconds of an episode of The Office that someone next to me was watching on the subway this morning. Then I fell asleep. (It’s been that sort of week.)

Tomorrow, a dentist’s appointment (THAT was well-planned!), and then packing for Thursday’s flight out to Madison, where I might eventually cave and just sit in the bar watching the SyFy channel just to get a bad-movie fix. (I have some actual con-type things planned, though – more on this tomorrow, I hope!)

If I’m lucky, they’ll be showing High Plains Invaders! For half a second I thought they had just remade Copperhead (it’s one of THOSE Westerns), but I was mistaken!

The page for this 2009 movie explains that “The Old West won’t know what hit it when cowboys and aliens square off in the ultimate showdown.”

(As I was checking links I saw that High Plains Invaders is actually available to watch right now. Movies, why must you taunt me?!)

So, for those who are around this weekend and interested in fun times, I’ll be appearing at Steampunk World’s Fair in Somerset, NJ! I’m part of their Library of Lost Literature, which is showcasing some amazing books this year, and which I am thrilled to be part of.

I’ll be reading Saturday at 1pm, alongside Ekaterina Sedia, who will be giving a glimpse of her upcoming novel Heart of Iron, an alternate-history romp involving airships, railroad shenanigans, international politics, and Spring-Heeled Jack. Just saying.

We’ll be giving away some gift bags from Prime, with anthologies, novels, ARCs, and steampunk accessories! With any luck, there will also be more kettle corn, because I stamped so many of those bags I will be filling them with things for about two years (OverCraft-itis: it’s a process).

Hope to see some of you there!

I got back from Boskone last night. It was my first Boskone, but given the number of awesome people who were there (including people I don’t see nearly often enough at other cons, like ), I will probably be back!

I largely had a great time, though there was the unfortunate incident where Margaret Ronald and I got into a round of fisticuffs, documented here by Theodora Goss:

(My actual favorite part of this was that, despite having met her only once before, and being in the process of determining who introduced us that single time, as soon as Dora said, “I’m taking a picture,” and I told Margaret, “We should fisticuff!”, she whipped out fisticuff fists instantly. Sometimes the best part of being at a con is that nerd shorthand actually works.)

Dora took several lovely pictures of the con that are up on her blog, including one at the reading that was kind enough to share.

I like that it looks like a scene from a low-budget action flick in which the government officials gather in a boardroom to hear someone deliver the news that, unless that plane lands in half an hour, the President is in serious trouble.

Left: John, playing the Chief of Security. Right: me, playing Indeterminate Bureaucrat who says, “If we could even clear that much highway – but that’s impossible, we could never get those cars off the road!”

Now it’s back to work. (And practicing packing – I seem to bring about 70% of the stuff I actually use or need on a regular basis, and 130% stuff that would be useful in case of bizarre contingencies, such as the soles of all my other shoes falling off simultaneously.)

Tonight, I am packing my bag (questionably, as per usual, and not helped at all by the fact that it’s going to be anywhere from 17 to 55 degrees while I’m there, so I’m thisclose to just packing pajamas and a coat).

Tomorrow I’m headed to Boskone.

I’m mostly going to be hanging around (I have a busy schedule of people I’ve promised to heckle), but after my joint reading with John Langan at World Fantasy, he apparently turned into a glutton for punishment, because we’re going to do it again this weekend! So Saturday at 3pm, I’ll be the opening act for the John Langan Experience. Hope to see some of you there!

This could apply to any of these three things. (Sometimes I’m organized!…this is not one of those times.)

1. I had a blast this weekend at Capclave and the Steampunk Indie Market! There were definitely a few moments of scramble, especially as regards the travel logistics of being in two states in 24 hours (I am still not sure why, no matter what city you are in, Amtrak boarding descends into the race from Ben-Hur), but it was totally worth it to be at both events. Thanks to everyone who came out to my readings! (Special thanks to Raj, who came to my rescue at the Steampunk Indie Market, and did not make a point about the obvious superiority of the battery life of iPhones.)

2. I have an article out today in Lightspeed! “Five Planets that Will Kill You Dead” helps you avoid disaster by pointing out four exoplanets (and one jerk planet in our very own solar system) that are bad choices for spaceship crash-landings. (It also talks about pudding.)

NERD NOTE: This article got scooped by actual science! The originally researched final planet, Gliese 581 d, got overshadowed as a headliner landing zone by the discovery of Gliese 581 g, the “Earth twin” planet also wheeling around in Gliese 581′s habitable zone. AND IT WAS AWESOME. SCIENCE!

3. I will be at World Fantasy this weekend! I will be reading there, Saturday at 1pm, for those who want to hear a teaser from Mechanique!

Otherwise, though, it’s nothing but handmade ice cream for DAYS. I am really looking forward to it all, except possibly the part where I get home tonight and realize I haven’t packed yet. Whoops.