I am off to Baltimore tomorrow for Balticon 50, which promises to be a real blast. In honor of half a century of great cons, the fans of Baltimore are bringing in lots and lots of their past GOHs, along with me, their current GOH, so we should have an amazing crowd on hand. Connie Willis, Joe Haldeman, John Varley... oh, the list goes on and on. Go to the Balticon website and see for your own self. And then come to the con. Panels, readings, parties... and there will be CRABS.On other fronts... we had an amazing time at the Jean Cocteau last night, when a sellout crowd assembled to hear Joe Hill. Joe gave a dynamite reading from his new novel THE FIREMAN, led the audience in a kazoo concert, told us about all his forthcoming television and film projects, and signed stacks and stacks of books. Most of which were promptly carried off by his eager fans. But we did lay in extra supplies, so if you're looking for autographed copies of THE FIREMAN, or HEART-SHAPED BOX, or LOCKE & KEY, or any of Joe's stuff, it's available -- while the supply lasts -- from the Jean Cocteau Bookshop at http://www.jeancocteaubooks.com/ -- along with signed books from Neil Gaiman, Stephen Graham Jones, Diana Gabaldon, Joe Lansdale, and many many more.Heated discussions continue about this year's Hugo ballot, and the various proposals being brought forth to reform the voting procedures to defend the integrity of the award against future attacks by Rabid Puppies and other varieties of fuggheads. Some of the proposals are worth considering. I have severe doubts about others. But I don't have time to get into all of that now, so it will have to wait until I return.Meanwhile, I am doing my Hugo reading, and I urge all of you who are members of Big MAC II to do the same. Read, consider, vote.And if you're not yet a member of Big MAC II... well, if there's any chance at all that you can get to KC this August, you ought to join and attend. There's nothing like a worldcon. And the original Big MAC in 1976 was, in my not-so-humble-opinion, the best worldcon that I've ever had the pleasure of attending, so I have high hopes for this year's. The KC fans know how to party. And while they cannot match Baltimore for crabs, they do have BARBEQUE!(I will keep comments open on this one only through tomorrow morning. I expect to be away from my computer while traveling, and don't want hundreds of screened comments awaiting my return).