I was sad to learn that author K.D. Wentworth passed away yesterday. Those who knew her called her Kathy.

In 2005 I had heard about this new medium called podcasting from Paul Fischer and wanted to give it a try to help promote Conestoga, our local science fiction convention in Tulsa. Kathy was very supportive of this endeavor and gave the very first interview. We were celebrating the 10th anniversary of Conestoga, Meisha Merlin Publishing, and Yard Dog Press. Alas, Meisha Merlin and Conestoga is no more but Yard Dog Press is still going strong.

I had the archive of all the Conestoga podcasts posted on another site but is now defunct. I’d planned to repost them here but hadn’t gotten around to it yet. But I felt it would be nice to reshare this one.

Here is Elspeth Bloodgood interviewing Kathy for Conestoga. It was recorded in Feb 2006 for the upcoming Conestoga 10 in July of that year.

Conestoga 10 Podcast 01- K.D. Wentworth [ 14:23 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Just got back from Fen Con V. Had a great time. It’s a very well run convention. This is the third one I’ve been too. Saw a lot of people there that were at Denvention (WorldCon). The Brobdingnagian Bards performed at the con for the last time. Alas, Marc and Andrew are going their separate ways. They have one more performance in Austin. I look forward to seeing how their individual careers progress. Got to see Greg Benford, Jay Lake, and Brad Denton. Also got to see Caroline Spector, The Three Weird Sisters, TM Wagner, Gerald Burton, and David Lee Anderson. Alas Howard Waldrop was not able to attend. He was doing better but the doctors advised against him traveling just yet.

Fen Con has one of the best hotels for holding a convention, Crowne Plaza in Addison, TX. I really liked the way the meeting space was laid out. There were a lot of room parties. I think it would have been nice to consolidate the room parties in one or two of the hotel wings rather than spreading them all out over the floor. It’s the second year at the hotel and it’ll be there next year.

Tulsa fandom was well represented. Saw Curtis & Marylin; Richard & Lynn; Fran, Randy and his wife. There might have been others but didn’t know they were from Tulsa. Mel & I plan on returning for Fen Con VI. Lois McMaster Bujold will be Guest of Honor. It was Mel’s first time to Fen Con. She had a great time too. In fact we liked it so much we are going to adopt it as our home con.

I’m making progress on my Colorado vacation pictures. I have images from Boulder, Fort Collins and Pike’s Peak, a Bujold signing and WorldCon. I’m still processing my pics from the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Cosmosphere in Kansas. I may get around to doing a writeup of the whole experience, but don’t hold your breath.

make to do list.

I’m debating whether or not to do a long writeup of our trip to Colorado. I did take tons of pictures with our awesome new camera. Apparently I was told that I was hogging it. Uhm…well. I wasn’t trying to. So, here’s a brief rundown:

We drove from Tulsa to Limon, CO then got up early the next day and drove to Boulder, CO. Mel was attending a conference at CU Boulder and met lots of her colleagues at house receptions on Thursday and Friday evenings. Saw the Mork & Mindy house. I had lunch with a step aunt and then we went to dinner at my step uncle and step aunt’s house in Longmont. It was out in the middle of nowhere but had a great view of the Front Range. Then we went to Denver to a house concert with Worldcon Music Guest of Honor Kathy Mar. Monday we drove up to Fort Collins for a brewery tour and a Lois McMaster Bujold Q&A and signing.

Tuesday Mel and I took Tim & Mary Miller down to Manitou Springs, CO and rode the cog railway up to the top of Pike’s Peak. Wednesday WorldCon started and didn’t finish until Sunday. I may do a write up of it later. We had a good time though the hotel had some issues. Mel had to go teach in Reno so on Monday I went to the Denver Botanic Gardens and a Tattered Cover. Tuesday we headed home and stopped in McPherson, KS. Today (Wed) we went to the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS and then headed home this evening. Cosmosphere was amazing. It really is worth going out of the way to visit it.

More later. Or maybe not.

I have a traditional view of comic books. Comic books are for kids. And are a good way to get them to read. I read comic books when I was a kid and I grew out of them. I have expressed this opinion on numerous occasions and I get dirty looks from adult readers of comic books. Then they ask me what I read? I’d say DC comics. And they would say “Oh, well that explains everything.” I get the same response from Christians who ask me what I was raised as when I tell them I’m no longer a Christian. I’d say I was raised Catholic and they would invariably respond “Oh, well that explains everything.” Other than annoying me it explains nothing and all it does is reinforce my opinion of both groups.

I’ll save my comments about religion for another blog entry, so back to comics. I lived to read the Sunday comics in the newspaper. I’d read them everyday in the newspaper. I’d get newspapers from my grandmother and aunt who had comics that weren’t in our local newspaper. I watched Saturday morning cartoons when they were only on Saturday. I still watch animated cartoons. My current favorites are SpongeBob and Angry Beavers.

So why don’t I still read comic books then? I outgrew them. I think that response is what annoys the adult comic book fans. I have an exception rule. There are certain genres and kinds of foods I don’t like, but I’ll make an exception if they are really good. I have read a few X-Men compilations. I’ll watch a horror film if it’s really good. I’ll eat chocolate cake or ham if it’s really good as well as Tex Mex. Yeah, I’m a snob when it comes to certain things. I’ll watch mysteries and westerns but not read them. I’ll read the ocasional mystery. I’ll even watch comic books that were turned into movies.

There are just some things I won’t invest too much effort or time in. I don’t expect comic book fans to like other genres or medias. So it bothers me when they say I haven’t read the right comic. That may be true, but I’m not interested. So what prompted me to write this blog entry?

I read an article on the Christian Science Monitor website about graphic novels. Graphic novels are book length comic books. And how it was getting tweens to read more. Tweens are pre-teen children 8-12. And you know what, that is the perfect demographic for comic books. That’s when I read them. It was about the sixth grade when I discovered book science fiction and started my transition to the books.

It’s not about what to read or what format to read. It’s about reading. It’s getting kids to read. So there.
Tweens curl up with graphic novels.