Just got back from seeing Connie Willis speak

[sweetloukillbot]

For those who don't know her, she's a sci-fi grandmaster who has won more Hugos than anyone else.
She started off light and funny, told some stories about her vacation, read a story about aliens during the last solar eclipse, then started talking about her Time Travel books. By the end, as she was talking about St. Paul's Cathedral during the blitz, the subject of one of her short stories. she said, "Hitler was defeated by those he deemed weak and useless. Remember that there is always something you can do." It was an incredible moment, and I just felt I had to share it.

[Catmusicfan]

1. I will have to check out her writings.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Love most of her writing, especially Doomsday Book.

She has a couple I didn't know about; will have to get them.

[sweetloukillbot]

3. The Doomsday Book is probably my favorite novel

That book destroyed me. I still get choked up thinking about the ending. Fire Watch and Black Out/All Clear, her time-travel books about the Blitz, are powerful also.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

4. She is one of my absolutely favorite writers.

I've had the good fortune to meet her several times at cons, and she's delightful in person. She is funny, smart, and can be quite acerbic when necessary.

Where did you see her speak?

[sweetloukillbot]

5. She's guest of honor at a sci-fi con in Phoenix this week

It's been incredibly intimate - rooms only hold about 30 and she's been approachable and chatty with everyone. And so, so funny, but also really emotional and passionate. When she was talking about the Blitz yesterday she had people in tears.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. Every time I've seen her she has been approachable and chatty.

I consider her a goddess.

The very first time I met her, about six years ago at a Bubonicon, I came away from the encounter feeling I'd known her most of my life. She has that way about her.

Did she tell the story about when she was doing research on her books on the Blitz, and her husband Courtney came across a group of women who were exactly the people she was writing about? I hope so. It's a great story.

[sweetloukillbot]

7. Yeah.

She also talked about winning her Hugo or Nebula for "Even the Queen" and having trouble describing it until someone "Bob Silverberg or GRRM maybe?" yelled out "It's a period piece!"
This year is her and Courtney's 50th anniversary, so they're celebrating by going on a road trip to see the Eclipse. She read her story about the eclipse and going w/ Courtney, Ed Bryant and her daughter and joked with Ed - "There's a story in here."
He said "Whoever finishes first gets it, and how she was writing in the back seat on the way home."
It was a shame Ed Bryant died earlier this year - he's been a mainstay of Arizona fandom (even though he lived in Colorado). We were talking about holding a wake for him at the Con, but they couldn't fit it into the schedule.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. Yes, it's a huge shame Ed Bryant died.

I'd met him several times at various cons, and he was just the sweetest man ever.

[sweetloukillbot]

9. I saw him on a panel in Tucson last year

He was funny. I'd never read his work and didn't know what a big deal he was. I didn't even realize he was sick...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. I know he'd had diabetes for some years.

And a couple of years back he was wearing some kind of exo-skeleton, a kind of body brace. Don't recall, if I ever knew, just what was going on there. But I never heard him complain about anything.