Traveling Man

Apologies for updates lagging a bit behind the last six weeks or so. Since returning from Hawaii, I’ve been on a travel binge that’s pretty unprecedented for me: first South Africa, then on consecutive weekends, Virginia Beach, Oklahoma City, Nashville, and Niagara Falls for convention appearances. The day after Niagara Falls, I hopped a 6 a.m. flight for Orange County, California for a week-long series of meetings at the Blizzard campus in Irvine. So this past weekend was the first I spent at home in a month.

I love traveling, I love to experience whatever a place has to offer. Whenever I go to a convention, I make sure I have time to see something beyond the convention hall walls and the hotel. In South Africa, we went on safari at the Aquila Private Game Reserve (my second visit there), as well as tours of the Cape of Good Hope and a penguin colony, and on our last day before flying home, a tour of the wine country. An amazing excursion to an amazing place.

Virginia Beach was a quick trip, but being close to the ocean is always a pleasure. For Oklahoma City, I met up with my pal and fellow writer Peter Tomasi for a day trip to Tulsa via Route 66, so we could visit the Bob Dylan Center and the Woody Guthrie Center, which are next to each other in the city’s Arts district. Both great, and the Dylan Center is expansive enough that we could’ve spent two full days exploring it. The next morning, we hit the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, one of my favorite museums in the country thanks to its vast collection of Western artifacts and art.

In Nashville, I squeezed in visits to the Johnny Cash Museum, the Country Music Hall of Fame, Jack White’s Third Man Records, and a wander up bar-strewn Broadway. Thanks to my friend and fellow writer Steve Orlando, we were able to secure a Friday night reservation at the newly opened Bar Mar by Chef Jose Andres for what turned out to be a top five meal of my life.

At Niagara Falls, of course there was a visit to the Canadian falls, and the tunnel behind the falls, as well as a dinner on the top floor of the Hilton Hotel with a spectacular view of both falls.  

In Irvine, I landed about 11 a.m. west coast time, and by 1 p.m. I was headed for Disneyland with my friend David Rodriguez, where we stayed until midnight, getting in as many rides as possible. I was finally able to experience the Indiana Jones ride, which had been a bucket list item for me, and pilot the Millennium Falcon (I was a gunner when I did it in Orlando). Then three days of Diablo meetings on the Blizzard campus, where I got to see the famed orc statue in person for the first time.

The last month-plus was a whirlwind that I’ve rarely undertaken, but I’m so glad I did. As I’ve said before, life is about experiences, and I’ve been so fortunate to experience so much lately. All of the conventions were excellent, with enthusiastic fans and attentive con staff.

One note: at the con in Cape Town, I was part of a pretty fascinating panel in which I wrote a page of original comic script, and then that page was interpreted by three different artists (Phil Hester, Sean Izaakse, and Bill Masuku). Next time in this space I’ll show off the script page and the finished art that came from it.  

I’ve got two shows in July, and a few more booked for the rest of the year, but I’ll be spending a lot of time chained to the desk and getting work done. Some new (unannounced) projects are on the horizon, and they all need to get going. More on those as I can. In the meantime, enjoy some photos from my travels.

Raleigh Rally

I’ve been announced as a guest at GalaxyCon Raleigh on July 23-26, my second time at the show, which is a truly massive event. Prior to that, I’ll be at GalaxyCon New Orleans on July 10-12. Hopefully I’ll have time to visit the World War 2 Museum in New Orleans before the show (and the beignets and the jambalaya).

Kennedy Center

I can’t go without mentioning one of the more special nights I’ve had in quite a while. Last month, I attended a book signing and reading by author William Kennedy at the University at Albany, where the New York State Writers Institute, founded by Kennedy, is based. Kennedy is 98, and an Albany icon, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for his novel “Ironweed.” The occasion was to celebrate the publication of the Library of America’s edition of three of his Albany cycle novels.

Kennedy was feted by colleagues, including Colum McCann and my friend Paul Grondahl, who served as editors of the new edition. Kennedy read from his work, and signed copies of the book. Pretty great night, right?

But it wasn’t over. I was with my friend John Curtin, owner of Albany Distilling Company, which produces Ironweed whiskey and hosts an annual marathon reading for charity of one of Kennedys works at their Bottle Company. John is friends with Bill Kennedy, which garnered us an invitation to the afterparty, held at Kennedy’s son’s brownstone in Troy. So I spent the rest of the evening connecting with an intriguing group of literary people, hearing fascinating stories, and then drinking Irish whiskey and singing Irish songs with Bill Kennedy into the wee hours of the morning. Hell of a night.