SF in SF

[madbaker]

klwilliams and maestrateresa came up last night for the first installment of a monthly science fiction reading series that klwilliams is helping run. It's only about a mile from our place, so I suggested they park there, I'd drive, and we could grab dinner. It was a good decision.

I'd checked Chowhounds for some recommendations - the series is being held in the Mission, so obviously there are huge numbers of Mexican places but I wanted a choice. After the eventual success in attempts to find parking, we investigated a Mediterranean place that got some good reviews. Whoops - it's a takeout deli. Maestrateresa wanted some place she could sit down. Well, Ti Couz was across the street... I hadn't actually been there since we moved to San Francisco so I suggested we try that. Norman (as in Normandy) style buckwheat crepes, both savory and sweet. My mushroom and scallop crepe was excellent. The apple jam dessert crepe was decent - the banana crepes that the ladies had were better.

Then on to the college for the reading. Decent crowd, especially since apparently there wasn't much publicity. The plan is that two authors read from their works, then sit and answer questions on a panel. The authors this time were Kim Stanley Robinson, whose books I have not read, and Robert Silverberg, whose books I obviously read a great deal. As the host said in his introduction, "It's hard not to say 'I remember reading Bob's books when I was this tall.'" Both were very good readers. Silverberg in particular - the best adjective for him that we came up with was "smart". If I'm that sharp in my 70s, I'll feel quite good.

Quite worth getting to bed late (by my standards). I haven't heard of next month's authors - the date is the 100th anniversary of the 1906 quake, April 18 - but that's okay. As long as I have the evening free, I'll try to hit this series.

Comments

[tsgeisel.livejournal.com]

Which of their works did they read from?

(The original question was "What did they read?" which is just inviting the answer "Books", so I decided I needed to get more specific.)

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

Silverberg read from The Book of Skulls, and Robinson read from Fifty Degrees Below.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

That was a lot of fun. I'm glad you came.

Next month's readers are Rudy Rucker and John Shirley.