I had a 4PM flight and after changing to a propeller plane in Houston, arrived in Corpus Christi at 8:15.

I left my bags in the room and went in search of the convention. Although programming continued until 11PM, registration shut down at 5PM.

The hottest spot was the bar (surprise:-) and I hooked up with Gay Haldeman, Rusty Hevlin and Cherry Weiner from New Jersey. We talked about Gay’s trip to Callifornia last weekend, and about next Spring’s Bike Florida trip.

We went on up to the 17th floor consuite, which had a nice selection of food, something I appreciated after having only airport food today. Zane Melder & Jo Peshek were already present and Julia Blackshear Kosatka, Lee & George Martindale and other showed up shortly.

The rest of the evening was split between the consuite and bar, with about 30 minutes spent at the Vampire panel. This is a good convention for conversation and hugs.
 
 

The immediate area is fun, but the area isn’t very large, perhaps 3 blocks wide, 8 blocks along the coast. To the north, we are bounded by a river and to the west by a very uninteresting downtown. The harbor is very nice and I enjoyed watching the crews working on the shrimp trawlers

When I returned, the convention was running so I registered and picked up my WFC book bag filled with Prospero’s Children in hardcover (which was also given away at the Nebulas), the first issue of Black Gate, Dark Sleeper by Jeffrey E. Barlough (trade) and three paperbacks: Black Light by Elizabeth Hand, Hero in the Shadows by David Gemmell, and Tropic of Creation by Kay Kenyon.

On to the dealers room, perhaps 17 book dealers, plus three others. Although I spent a lot of time in the dealers’ room, I limited my purchases to Saul’s Death & Other Poems by Joe Haldeman, 1968 (HC 1st) by Joe, Jules Verne: An Exploratory Biography by Herbert R. Lottman and Robert A. Heinlein: A Reader’s Companion by James Gifford.

I stole Jo Peshek away from the Edge’s table for a couple of hours and we visited the Aquarium. It was quite fun, though a little less extensive than I expected. The only mammals were three river otters. Jo made it much more fun.

I had a late lunch at The Dinner, a seafood restaurant about 3 blocks away. Raw oysters, cold shrimp, gumbo, fried oysters and French fries (this IS Corpus Christi). Than back to the hotel where I spent another hour in the dealer’s room and art show. Several pieces were interesting, but I managed to not spend any money in there.
 

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