Literary Lions of the Sea

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I've got several friends in San Francisco who would be ticked if I said that the above are my favorite mammals in their fair city. But, oh man, the sea lions at Pier 39! They just moved in one day, some years ago, and as of yesterday there were 1,651 just hanging out, fifteen feet from the tourists. They laze, quarrel, brag, loll, fight, play, and (mostly) goof off. The noise they make is extraordinary.

And the smell! Wet dog ain't even in it. More like rancid cheese. If the rancid cheese in question weighed two hundred pounds and invited fifteen hundred of his friends to join him.

Absolutely charming.

The signing at Borderlands was an enormous success (as it should have been!) and I got to chat with David Drake and to meet Garth Nix, so I was happy. Then into a bus -- imagine what a bus loaded down with writers sounds like; yeah, sort of like sea lions -- and off to San Jose.

The con begins tonight. I'll keep you posted.

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