July 21, 2008: Look, kids! Big Ben! Parliament!

After Readercon, Aimee and I have taken a few days to enjoy a morbid little vacation of our own: yesterday we visited Lovecraft's grave in Providence, and today we visited Lizzie Borden's house as well as Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Tomorrow we're going to Salem.

I'm not sure whence the true source of horror in this vacation comes--from the sites we're going to see or from the useless jumbled directions we've gotten to "help" find them.

Every system from Google to Mapquest to the National Park Service seems completely unable to describe the non-Euclidean geography of New England, especially with most of it now under repair.

It doesn't help either that the people of Massachusetts view "lanes" as purely mythological, jostling each other on the roads like the Three Stooges shoving together through a door.

I hate traveling. I like arriving places. The best vacations are just exotic places to read.

Posted by Will Ludwigsen at 7:03 PM | | Comments (0)

July 20, 2008: New and Improved!

I've recently retooled the web site for a little simplicity. Grateful as I am for Deena Warner's excellent design, I've changed my aesthetic slightly in these couple of years, and I hope the new format represents the new beginning.

Indeed, I've deleted lots of archived posts from yesteryear, keeping only the ones in Movable Type. Why? Because who wants to read what I thought in 2002? I certainly don't.

I hope you enjoy the new format and find it easy to use.

(LiveJournalers can see the site at www.will-ludwigsen.com.)

Posted by Will Ludwigsen at 8:54 PM | | Comments (1)

July 19, 2008: Readercon, in Progress

We've had a good time so far at Readercon, reconnecting with Clarion classmates and teachers like Livia Llewellyn, Chris Cevasco, Vince Jorgensen, Sarah Kelly, Holly Black, and Kelly Link. We've met some new people too, like Sandra McDonald who lives five miles away from us in Jacksonville but who we had to meet in a neutral ground like Massachusetts.

The dealer's room is amazing, though my recent resolution to buy only books I plan to read very soon or plan to keep because they're hard to find has reduced my buying. I found a great Ash Tree Press edition of Russell Kirk's ghost stories, though.

When I haven't been kibitzing upstairs (we're actually staying on the floor below the lobby), I've been working on a Sekrit Projekt that I'll unveil soon.

Posted by Will Ludwigsen at 9:54 AM | | Comments (0)

July 16, 2008: Readercon Ho!

Aimee and I (neither of us the titular Readercon Ho) are off for Readercon tomorrow. We're flying into Boston, spending the weekend with other writers and readers in Burlington, and then going on our own to see other points nearby like Salem and Concord.

If you don't hear from me in a week, assume I've made the error of staying a night at Innsmouth's Gilman House.

Posted by Will Ludwigsen at 7:48 PM | | Comments (3)