Konrad, Ursula and Powell’s

Well, I had a lovely day today.

Konrad Walewski is in town and we’ve been hanging out doing things while he’s here.  He mentioned that he needed to interview a writer for the Polish edition of F&SF and I instantly volunteered to drive him there.

Why, you might ask, was I so eager to drive him to an interview.

Because he was interviewing Ursula K. Le Guin.

Yes, I thought you might understand my reasons. I’ve actually met her a couple of times before. Bizarrely, in my life as a puppeteer I was contacted to do the scenic design for a puppet production of her children’s book Ride the Red Mare. This was really the first time I’ve seen her since I started writing and was a bit nervous.

Which is silly, because I knew from prior experience that she’s lovely and a gracious hostess.

Konrad had a series of fascinating questions prepared for her and I just sat in the living room to listen. After the interview, we all chatted a bit. Then Konrad and I headed down the hill to have beers and let out our fan squees.

I’ve now taken Konrad to Powell’s City of Books, which he hadn’t realized was a brick and mortar store. The online store, yes. We walked in and he thought he’d need a half hour to browse. Bwahahahaha!  An hour and a half later, he staggered into the coffee shop looking appropriately dazed. Yes… Powell’s. City of Books.

He’s taking one more pass through, having fortified himself with coffee.  Very Portlandian.