false alarm!

Denver Police Brace for Convention

reads the headline in this morning's New York Times. Not unnaturally, I was alarmed. I could understand the cops becoming nervous at the prospect of invasion by the likes of ellen_datlow, Bob Eggleton, Marianne Plumridge, Jane Frank and some three thousand others attending the World SF Convention in Denver this coming weekend, but surely this was overkill. Were my various friends likely to be coming home bruised, battered and with, for the first time in their lives, a profound aversion to handcuffs?

As I read on, however, I was reassured . . .

Federal and local authorities fear that the Democratic
National Convention will become a magnet for militant
protest groups.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/us/politics/05security.html?th&emc=th

Phew!

great news!

 
I've just heard that Steve Upham of Screaming Dreams Press, who had a heart attack a few weeks ago, is now home from hospital and recuperating. This is a huge weight off my shoulders, and I'm sure off the shoulders of all of Steve's friends all over the world -- of whom there are, as you'd expect, many.