23 Years Ago

In a Land Far, Far Away…

Dean and Kris had some great times with some friends… Or so the story goes…

That’s right, back in the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s, Kris and I used to travel a lot to conferences. In 1992 it got excessive and we went to 26 different ones.

By 1997, we had cut way, way back and basically only hit a few big conventions and a couple fun ones. One of the big conventions in August 1997 was the San Antonio World Science Fiction Convention. That’s right, San Antonio in August heat. Late August heat, actually.

So it wasn’t the biggest world convention I had seen, but it was a ton of fun because after all those years of being at conventions, Kris and I had a lot of great friends who we only got to see at the conferences.

And at that convention, the Bantam party went above and beyond the call, busing a hundred professional science fiction writers and editors and agents way outside of town to a real old-fashioned roadhouse (without air-conditioning). Turned out to be a lot of fun for those of us who could handle the heat.

And on one fine evening, a bunch of us decided to explore downtown San Antonio by taking a river cruise around the city. Hot, but worth it because of the friends who climbed on that boat with us. Today, while sorting stuff, I found the picture taken after that cruise and it brought back the fun memories. So I thought I would share the picture.

So pictured from left to right is Craig Miller (creator of hundreds of television and movie projects), me, Genny Dazzo (Craig’s wife and major sf fan), Sage Walker, Kris, Len Wein, and Christine Valada.

And yes, that is the same Christine Valada who became a four-time Jeopardy Champ. She was also a lawyer married to Len Wein the great comic book writer and creator of Wolverine, among many others. (We miss you, Len.)

I think, without exaggeration, the cliche applies exactly.

That was a boatload of fun!