It was a great trip, and also a really epic trip. Lots of trains, not enough sleep. I feel as if I have been away for literally months, that if it is winter here it is more likely next winter than the same one I left... only sixteen days ago. Subjective perception of time is really really weird.
Texas is also really weird. It has more sense of state nationality than other US states I have visited, and it's not easy for an external eye to see quite why. ConDFW was interesting and Thrud's house in College Station is wonderful -- and A&M have a terrific library, with an SF collection and lots of rare books and a wonderful old printing press.
New Orleans is amazing. New Orleans is a very joyful city, a place full of gorgeous buildings and music and arts -- a city of masks and taking masks off. It's playful and genuinely fun. It helped that we had a native guide --
intelligentrix took us to a craft fair and to neighbourhoods we'd never have found on our own. There are ways in which it's very like Montreal, and ways in which it's like Europe. I liked it a lot and would happily go back -- it's such a pity it isn't on the way anywhere and doesn't have a convention. One of the best things was just wandering around looking at the buildings -- "They had architects on the Earth in those days!" So refreshing!I am never, ever, going to catch up on my LJ reading list. I have never been so far behind with it. If anything exciting happened, I missed it and you are going to have to catch me up with it personally.
The UK Tooth and Claw is actually out as a nice paperback with a terrific cover. And there will be various fuss for their paperback Among Others when it comes out later this month, including some posts I have written for various book blogs. I wrote them all at once in Texas, in a giant victory over procrastination. I've also just signed contracts for a French edition.