All in all, what I think of as Chicago had very little to do with this trip. Sure, we took the Skyway in, paid a bunch of tolls through Indiana and Illinois, and I gaped at the buildings and the audacity at which drivers cut each other off. I may have even irritated and with my constant pointing and saying “Train!” every time the CTA light rail went past. All of these things are definitely of Chicago. They make up the personality of the city that outsiders see, and draw them in. They’re part of the American idea of Chicago.

And now, on the way out, there’s the same feeling, albeit in reverse.

During the con, though, it wasn’t like we were in Chicago. It was like that airport feeling, or that McDonald’s feeling, where every con in every hotel is kind of in the same space and time. The people were different, a bit. For some reason, our ribbons weren’t very popular. Neither were the ones that had to publicize his book. Many of the panelists and GoH and such had vertical ribbons, instead of horizontal ones. There was a rumor that the con staff had dropped the ball on the ribbons, and so only those of us that had ordered our ribbons independently had them. My guess is that they’ll be much more of a hit at ConFusion in January.

We only sold one book while there, but that wasn’t too much of a surprise. We found out late in the game that the booksellers in the dealer rooms at cons will take novels on consignment for the weekend. Anything that doesn’t sell, you pick up on Sunday, when everything’s being taken down. Now that we’re armed with that knowledge, we plan on taking advantage of it, once again, at ConFusion in January.

The real professional accomplishment, in my mind, was the teaser CDs. First five chapters, in .pdf format, on CD. Some were in DVD cases with nifty covers (now in color!) that mimicked the book’s cover. Others were in simple white sleeves that showed the CD label (also with the gem on it). had put some down on the flyer table on Saturday morning, and I was bored enough to check the table in the late afternoon. They were all gone, so I put some more down, and went to the ConSuite to set some in the flyer area there. I hang out in the ConSuite for an hour or so, and head back to check the flyer table.

They were gone.

So, I sat the last one that I had down there, and headed back to the hotel to grab more for and more for me to carry around and hand out. Got back to the ConSuite, and the two that I had set there were gone. Gave Benny hers, set some more down in the Suite, and headed out to the main flyer table. Gone. This pattern continued for the rest of the night, until we were out of the ones in the DVD cases. So, upon ‘s suggestion, I went around to all of the flyer posting areas in the hotel, and taped up the teasers in a “please take me” fashion.

This morning, there were only four left. By the time we left the hotel, I’m certain that they were all taken. Every single one. This was such an overwhelming response, compared to Penguicon 4.0. Of course, I actually attended panels at this con, and chatted with other writers, and wasn’t afraid of talking to people about the novel, or about anything. It was a sci-fi/fantasy con. I mean, that’s why we were all there.

We got to do a little shopping, which was nice. I picked up a bag of obsidian Elder Futhark runes that came with a wee booklet and a bag for the stones. didn’t find anything, in the end, that she liked enough to buy in the dealer room, but we both agreed on a print from an amazing digital artist and bought a bunch of cool glowy stuff from a guy wheeling around a sweet toolbox full of chemical, LED, and laser goodness. I have a couple of color-shifting glowsticks (change color every half hour to 45 mins), and picked up a couple of LED candles for nightlights, as well as a LED blinky thing that has to be dangerous for epileptics. He also threw in a sound-sensitive LED pendant. Bass tones activate the red, treble the blue.

Friday night, we walked to the nearby strip mall, in the beginnings of rain, to eat at Panda Express, and then to check out Target to see if they had a backpack for . When we came out, it was pouring, and the wind was whipping across the parking lot from the nearby airport. Cold and wet. After that, we didn’t mind getting gouged at the hotel restaurant so much. The waiter that we kept getting at the restaurant was amazing at his job. We made sure to tip him pretty well each time.

I think that I’ve gotten about a hundred words written for NanoWriMo since Thursday. I’m only kicking myself a little bit, because of all of the promotion that we did for The Remembrance. Also, I’m experiencing a strange phenomenon as I’m finally getting into the meat of The Glass Crown. Even though all of our marketing is pushing for the first book, I find myself wanting to tell people about the second. “Well, yeah, I published that one in May, but there’s this even COOLER one I’m working on now…” I think I may have to re-read the first one, which amuses me greatly. I wrote it, for Bob’s sake. Also, there’s some new info about the new one that I’ll be sharing over on the Google Group, as well as some updates on my other projects. So, if you’re interested, give it a peep or sign up.

It was really good to see again. I think that’s what, the second time that we’ve hung out IRL? I met his excellent and cat-eared lady friend, and they seem very comfortable together, which makes me very happy. I met a guy named Don, native to one of the more Latin suburbs of Chicago, with similar interests in Japan, as well as a wearer of kilts. Depending on how soon he gets a job in 日本, I may see him again at a future convention. Also, he introduced me to Chicago-style hot dogs. You can get them boiled or char-grilled. On top, they put mustard, onion, relish, cucumber, tomato, hot pepper (and I mean HOT), tomato, and celery salt. We stopped at a hot dog joint on the way out of town, and I spared myself the punishment of the hot peppers, and I must say that I was quite impressed. They had coneys too, but they called them “chili dogs”. If only they knew the true power of the coney side of the force. Er…

As we haven’t gotten out there to actually experience the city yet, we will be returning soon. Museums (that Tut guy is still there), aquariums, pizza, the CTA train (the L), clubs, pizza… did I mention pizza? Anyway, we still have a lot to experience in that city, so we’ll be out there again soon.