Kallen at Norwescon 38 montage

Norwescon 38 was this past weekend, featuring George R.R. Martin as the author guest of honor.

Both Taylor and I were lucky to attend on Friday and Saturday and met a lot of amazing people. We handed out buttons (did you see our Ink & Cursor buttons?) and even a few stickers!

Jennifer Marie Brisset and Meg Elison (Philip K. Dick Awards at Norwescon)
Authors Jennifer Marie Brisset, winner of the Special Citation and Meg Elison (Winner of the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award) at Norwescon.

This is the third year GeekyLibrary has attended and covered the Philip K. Dick Award for Distinguished Science Fiction.

We covered the ceremony live through our Twitter, as each nominated author (or a representative) read a selection from their book.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, one of the ones I reviewed won the 2014 Philip K. Dick award, with Elysium (reviewed by Taylor) received the Special Citation.

Before and after the award ceremony, we tried to meet as many of the nominees as possible.

Memory of Water with finnish title
After she signed my copy of Memory of Water, I asked Emmi Itaranta to write the original Finnish title (Teemestarin kirja) for me as well.

Four authors out of the six nominated books attended, and we were lucky enough to get signatures from Meg Elison (The Book of the Unnamed Midwife), Rod Duncan (The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter), Jennifer Marie Brissett (Elysium) and Emmi Itäranta (Memory of Water).

It was wonderful to meet Rod Duncan in person, as he is writing a guest post for us in anticipation of his upcoming book, Unseemly Science (out May 7th from Angry Robot Books).

We also attended readings by other authors as well. We live-streamed Kristi Charish’s reading on Periscope and then Taylor won a signed copy of her book, Owl and the Japanese Circus.

We found out the next day that the Adventures in Science Fiction Publishing Podcast, which is co-hosted by Charish, is a Hugo Award finalist this year.

Susan DeFreitas reading at Norwescon
Susan DeFreitas read from a new short story called “Hat Trick.”

Other author readings we attended including Portland author and editor Susan DeFreitas, short story writer Keffy Kehrli, The Ultra-Thin Man author Patrick Swenson, and of course George R.R. Martin’s reading from the upcoming Winds of Winter.

At his reading, we also learned what questions you are not allowed to ask George R.R. Martin.

Hugo Award statue
Someone brought an example Hugo Award statue. Apparently they are all made from the a single mold. They’re heavier than they look!

Martin was so popular this weekend that every session he was a part of caused lines and crowds. I rushed from his reading to the announcement of the Hugo Awards finalists, barely making it in time. This was my first year filling out a Hugo Award nominations ballot so I had a more-than-normal vested interest in seeing the results.

I’ve heard many people were disappointed due to controversy surrounding the 2015 Hugo Award finalists, but I was excited to see that seven of my personal nominations made the cut.

In fact, my nominee for Best Editor, Short Form, Jennifer Brozek, was even in the room when she was announced as a finalist, along with Annie Bellet, nominee for short story.

Another one of my nominees for best novel won the James Tiptree Jr. Award over the weekend, so I’m glad to see My Real Children by Jo Walton is getting deserved attention.

The weekend wasn’t all about books however. We enjoyed the Norwescon Art Show, where I fell in love with a work by the artist Guest of Honor Julie Dillon (also nominated for a Hugo). Couldn’t convince my husband to allow me to buy it for $250, but prints are available online.

In fact, there were plenty of geeky sights to see. I even got to sit in the (non-metal version) of the Iron Throne. We wrapped up our Norwescon experience late Saturday night with some excellent nerdy music from Ukele comedian Molly Lewis, backed by Vixy & Tony.

Kallen and Sasquan poster at Norwescon
Yup, We’re heading to Sasquan next!
(August 19-23, 2015)

It was a busy weekend at Norwescon and we had a blast. Although I’m sad it’s over, we have other events to look forward to.

After the exciting Hugo Award announcement, we’re looking forward to voting and heading to Worldcon.

This year, WorldCon held at Sasquan this year in Spokane, WA from August 19 through 23. The Hugo Awards Ceremony will be held on August 22nd.