This year, Arlington Virginia. WFC #40. But not my first rodeo, oh no.

    My first World Fantasy was the 5th, 1979, Providence Rhode Island. And when I looked at the official site’s “archive”, I realized that I attended 17 of the first 25 WFCs.: Providence. Hunt Valley MD. Berkeley CA. New Haven. Chicago. Ottawa. Tucson. Providence again. Nashville. (I skipped London England, 1988—had just been in 1985.) Seattle. Chicago again. Tucson again. Pine Mountain Georgia. Minneapolis. New Orleans. Baltimore. Providence again, 1999. I’ve watched aikido demonstrations, held a real Viking Sword, seen stage combat, been to Poe’s and Lovecraft’s graves, been to midnight poetry readings, and gone horseback riding.

   I took a few breaks, over the years. But this year I’m signed on again—and I’ve been asked for a story to be included in a flash drive to be distributed to the whole convention membership! I selected Where Bestowed, which originally appeared in Rick Gilliam’s Excalibur anthology. (I met Rick at a WFC, after all.) It’s also in my collection Mythos, an Arthurian Miscellany, so if you aren’t going to WFC, it’s 99 cents now for Kindle, with a great Teddi Black cover, and two other Arthurian tales besides.

   I don’t even remember where my first Confluence was. I know who hooked me up with con programming: the Keith brothers, Bill and Andrew. I met them at a mass signing in Greensburg, and it was sometime around the time Pittsburgh Magazine interviewed me. My first Confluence may have been 1996.

   Anyway, I’ve gone with the con to Mars (Cranberry), Moon (township) Downtown (expensive parking), Mars (Cranberry again), Moon (off Enterprise Drive in the RIDIC Park) and Moon (University Boulevard)

   I regret to say, this year’s Confluence, the 25th, has been cancelled. (Hotel was sold out from under them, to become dormitory space for Robert Morris University.) Will Confluence be back next year? Almost certainly. But I’m sad for this year: Bill Keith was set for Guest of Honor, I finally have both a website and a blog, and I was going to launch The Wandering Duke there with a draft cider klatch. (No, I did not inflict a curse upon the con when they left me out of the con program book last year!)
   I am very close to bringing The Wandering Duke out on CreateSpace. Here's the map!