Walked the art and dealer rooms as we’re oddly connected to both of those worlds. It was all going swimmingly until Codex ran into Dave Kellett, creator of Sheldon Comics. You must understand,  Sheldon is one of the three major comic strips that inspired us to do Tempest in a Teardrop. The other two are defunct. This was like Miles Vorkosigan meeting Admiral Tung or a climate scientist meeting unclaimed grant money.

I guess it turned out okay, in the end. Dave gave us an original signed drawing of Arthur the Duck. A restraining order may or may not be following. He took our flyer but I’m pretty sure you can’t get enough legal information from it alone. Neverless, Codex has agreed to do her “totally thrilled” dance back in the hotel room and not on the convention floor.

Next topic: dinner. Spokane really does have some excellent eats! After imbibing Iron Horse Quilters Irish Ale (“very tasty”, said Q the beer snob), walked back to the convention area, chatting with WorldCon badge-wearers as we went. Then it happened. We were face-to-face with people from the “other side”.

It wasn’t like you see in the movies, when rival cartoonists meet and graffiti covers the town, and slower townsmen, in short order. There was no punching, spitting, or kicking. No acid was thrown. Nobody tried lighting anybody else on fire. We had a pleasant con-versation (heh, get it?), the way non-internet people sometimes do. We agreed to disagree, wished one another well, and moved on.

We’ll see what happens today.