On Vacation

I am on vacation, breathing in the mercifully less smoky air of Atlanta, GA. There's lots on my agenda for the long weekend. I'm geeking out at Dragon*Con (for those unfamiliar, they describe themselves as "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US") Plenty of fantasy and science-fiction authors here... Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Timothy Zahn, Charlaine Harris (of True Blood fame), Janny Wurts and Peter S. Beagle to name a few.

As if that weren't enough, this is also the same weekend as the Decatur Book Festival. About a 30 minute train ride east of Atlanta, they claim to be the country's largest independent book festival. I don't know about that! They are expecting a respectable 60,000 attendees, but that's still nothing compared to the L.A. Festival of Books 130,000. Their author line-up looks like a dream for adult librarians: Sara Gruen, Diana Gabaldon, Kathryn Stockett and Lee Child will all be there. But, just like the L.A. Festival, there is a Target-sponsored Children's Stage featuring Jon Scieszka, Kate DiCamillo, David Lubar, Ally Carter and Lauren Myracle among others. If I get a chance, I may try to spend half a day there.

Good times!