Nick Sagan Online

Suddenly Speeding

Does a lead foot count as a bionic implant?  I've run into two speeding tickets this past month, which is atypical for me.  In my entire life, I've only received one other speeding ticket and that was years ago.  I'm not sure why I've recently decided to embody a Sammy Hagar song, but I've got to take it easy, as three speeding tickets in an eighteen month period is a big no-no and can zap your driver's license.

So now I'm driving in a slow, stressed, overly paranoid fashion.  Which is maybe how we're ideally supposed to drive.  In the past, I've just tried to be alert to my surroundings and to stay with the flow of traffic, but now if someone's five or ten miles over the limit I won't keep pace with them.

Star Trek style transporters are sounding pretty good these days.  In the meantime, it looks like traffic school for me.   

One Trip Down, One To Go

Just a "raising my hand to let you know I'm all right" entry.  Between the jetlag and a bit of craziness here, I've not had much time to blog.  Today I'm taking another flight; off to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Definitely racking up those frequent flyer miles!

Apologies for the slowness.  I'll get the hang of this "flying and blogging" combination soon.

Obrigado

Some reflections on the time I spent in Lisbon:

Editorial Presença couldn't have made me feel more welcome. Inês Mourão, Ricardo Sabino and especially Raquel Dutra went above and beyond what I'd anticipated, keeping my schedule filled with magazine, newspaper and TV interviews, and making the city come alive in the spaces in between. In the end, they may have done too good a job, as I didn't want to leave.

From beginning to end, Fórum Fantástico was tremendous fun, quite possibly my favorite convention to date. Perfectly organized by Rogério Ribeiro and Safaa Dib. Running one of these is a bit like directing a play; you're responsible for everything, and you're so busy making sure everything happens the way it's meant to, that you don't get to fully enjoy the performance yourself. Hopefully, they got to enjoy at least a portion of it. And Rogério, I'm so glad you made this happen.

A pleasure to meet the other guests. I had time in my schedule to attend Mark Brake's Workshop of Fantastic Writing, and to hear Edward James speak about Medievalism in Fantasy. Both are impressive speakers and extremely knowledgable about science fiction. Plus, they're fun to hang out with; I had a blast getting to know them over a few rounds of Super Bock. Fantasy author Inês Botelho and I shared an interview at SIC television; she struck me as very smart and charming, and I hope to someday improve my Portuguese to the point where I can read her work. Zoran Zivkovic is a Serbian author of over a dozen books, and quite fascinating. Here's a man who's written a novel longhand, without electricity, because his city was in the midst of a war. (I find it challenging enough writing on a laptop in a peaceful college town.) He was kind enough to give me one of his novels; I'm very much looking forward to reading it. As it turns out, Zoran has also translated a number of my dad's books into Serbian.

Briefly, I was able to meet one of my own translators, João Seixas, who skillfully turned Edenborn into Paraíso Virtual. Speaking of which, the book launch was very good, and my sore wrist at the end of it served as testament to the many copies I signed and personalized. The Portuguese fans were exactly what an author hopes for, asking excellent questions, treating me to applause after my reading, queuing up to buy copies, etc. I wish I'd had more time to get to know everyone better. With a long line, people often feel conscious of those waiting behind them, and the "I'd best keep the line moving" impulse tends to get in the way of the "I'd like to talk with the author" impulse. If you missed me, feel free to contact me on this blog or my website. Sometimes I miss a message; apologies for that, and you can always send me a follow up.

Anyway, I could go on and on about Portugal (and I expect to say a bit more about it in the weeks ahead), but I'm catching a flight tomorrow and had best turn in for the night. Before I do, a word of gratitude to the many people who helped make my journey so memorable and so much fun. Obrigado. Thank you, one and all.

Lisbon

Clinnette and I have been having a fantastic time here in Lisbon.  Fórum Fantástico has been a delight, and not the least bit bewildering thanks to all the hard work Rogério Ribeiro and Safaa Dib have done.  At the same time, Editorial Presença has been spoiling me rotten, setting up great interview after great interview with some of Portugal's top reporters, while also finding time to introduce the many sights this beautiful city has to offer.

I'm so glad I could come here; I wish I could stay longer.

I'll write more about my adventures in Portugal when I can, but right now I have to get back to Fórum Fantástico for the book launch and technological utopia/dystopia debate.  I hope to have some time tomorrow to blog about this, but if not it will have to wait until I reach London.

Thoughts From Heathrow

I'm writing this blog entry from a "HotSpot" Wi-Fi access section of Heathrow Airport. The flight from Philadelphia wasn't too bad; I'm a bit rumpled but not worse for wear. In the window I have before I must catch my connecting flight to Lisbon, I thought I'd share a few things:

1.) Hollywood movies on intercontinental British Airways flights don't appear to be edited. That's a refreshing change from domestic U.S. flights which tend to censor and reedit everything. Apparently, the flight back will be showing Wedding Crashers; I've heard that's worth seeing, and it will be nice to see it in its entirety.

2.) Heathrow is impressive and absolutely huge.

3.) I've found three WH Smith shops here in Terminal A, and they all had Idlewild and/or Edenborn in stock. That's always a treat for me, because I never expect to find my books in airports. The selection is usually far smaller, so it's never certain that you'll make the cut. It's an especially gratifying feeling for me to have copies here, because in the years after my parents separated, I spent many trips flying back and forth between Ithaca and Los Angeles as an unaccompanied minor, and the saving grace for those long flights came from whatever I happened to find at the airport bookstore.

4.) The iPod is ideal for long flights.

5.) Today would have been my father's 71st birthday. That's really not that old, 71. Seems like he should be here. I've been a bit down over the past 24 hours or so, and I'd assumed it was stress from the rigors of travel, but of course it's just me missing my dad. November 9th usually doesn't sneak up on me like this. In a way, it's very good that I'm on this trip; it's something active I can do to fight the wistful feeling. By the time I reach Lisbon, I should be considerably less blue.