Catherynn Valente’s works bring me joy. Her clever and intricate wordsmithing, sense of humor, and the humanity of her stories appeal to me in a big way. I’ve been a reader of hers since I worked on a piece about NANOWRIMO for NPR and almost managed to include her as one of the guests. It didn’t work out then because of timing, but she was very nice. In any case, after corresponding with her a few times, I decided to check out her works. And from Fairyland to Space Opera, I have found pleasure, smiles, and more than a few chuckles. So, it probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that I was delighted to find out that she was going to be one of the Guests of Honor at a science fiction convention that I was also scheduled to attend.
On Friday to my delight, she found my author table at Mars Con. She carried her baby with her and wore the kind of mischief and twinkle in her eye that I hoped for. We spoke very briefly about this and that, but before she left, I took one of my comedy magnets from my table and presented it to her. I wanted to give her a token for all the joy her writings have given me.
Each of the magnets are a one panel comic strip with a pop culture mash-up. This one featured Wonder Woman and Jiminy Cricket with the Amazonian warrior saying, “My conscience is not a male bug!”
She looked at it, read, smiled and then chuckled, and said–
“That’s really great!”
I smiled warmly. It felt like I was giving something back to someone whose works had given me so much.
