Here are 5 things that I’ve been up to and therefore not blogging about.

1. New SF Squeecast! Episode 35: Literary Influence is a Social Disease  features Sofia Samatar as our special guest!

2. A New Verity! Extra! Summer Reading List episode has come out. The comments contain additional book recommendations from our listeners!

3. We generally had a pretty good time at Phoenix ComicCon. It. Was. HUGE. We were hearing 100K people on the Saturday, and given the crowds, I find that a believable estimate.  Oddly enough, 100K nerds with smartphones = no one can get a signal, data, zip while in the convention center. Hence my lack of tweeting.

Caitlin, unfortunately, did not have a terribly good time, as she came down with a fever on the Friday night, and didn’t recover until Sunday morning. This meant that Michael ended up missing his panels to care for her.  She had a summer virus according to our pediatrician, which meant hydration and tylenol and lots of patience. 😦 The convention folks (including guest services, especially Christy C.) did an amazing job of taking care of us, with runs to drugstores, etc. that made life easier with a sick kid in a strange city. Thanks to ALL of the volunteers who helped us. It made a HUGE difference.

She was better by Sunday morning, which meant we were out and about a bit more at that point. There were tacos. (Kevin Hearne told us about Taco Guild, and I must say, those were some EPICALLY GOOD TACOS.) We had some “interesting adventures” with wheelchair taxis, unfortunately, that resulted in an hour and a half wait to get back to our hotel, but we have emerged relatively unscathed, and are now working on explaining to the taxi company in question how they hosed up, in the hopes that they don’t do so again.

4. Thing that happened at Pheonix ComicCon #1: Charlaine Harris was our guest for the SF Squeecast. That episode (assuming the recording is okay) will go live in a few weeks. I also did a memorial panel for Jay Lake, and a speculative fiction editing panel, all of which were rather excellent. Unfortunately, I was just scheduled enough that I didn’t attend any panels I wasn’t on, and didn’t do any photo ops or anything. Another time, I hope.  Luckily, the Mysterious Galaxy signing tables were directly opposite the booths for John and Carole Barrowman and Bruce Campbell, so I had an excellent view during signings. 🙂 I never spotted Nathan Fillion, though, which was my one minor disappointment.

5. Thing that happened at Phoenix ComicCon #2: The only Doctor Who-related panel I had was “Author Chicks Who Dig Time Lords,” with Elizabeth Bear, Catherynne Valente, Seanan McGuire, Carole Barrowman, and me. Rollicking discussion with an excellent moderator, discussing not only the series itself, but how it influenced our own work as writers and editors.

Oh, and Carole’s little brother decided to come along to the panel. O_O And ask questions from the audience. Never in my life did I think that I’d be answering the “when will we get a female Doctor” question coming from John Barrowman.  And yet he asked, and we answered. I think I managed full sentences, even. (I’m proud of this. I still get rather tongue tied around certain actors, so managing not to squeak in this particular situation is an achievement.)

But hey, if you ever wondered if John was “really” a fan with fannish opinions about Doctor Who (in addition to playing everyone’s favorite omnisexual superhero, Captain Jack Harkness), we had definitive proof at that panel. He demonstrated his proverbial geek cred, and did so without actually making the panel about him. *g*

So, that was Phoenix ComicCon.