Another Shore Leave has come and gone. What an utter, total, all-encompassing blast that was. Got to meet up with the growing group of fast friends and make a whole boatload of new ones along the way, most notably several members from the latest group of Strange New Worlds winners.

At Friday night's annual "Pocket Books Coming Attractions" show, hosted by editor Marco Palmieri, it was finally revealed that Kevin and I are writing the second book for the Star Trek: Vanguard series, currently titled Summon the Thunder. More info on this as it's appropriate, but know now that the book is currently slated for a July 2006 release...just in time for next year's Shore Leave!

Kevin and I were also pleased to announce that we've written a new short story for a forthcoming role-playing game, Rocket League. "Enemy Unknown!" will be published on the website of the game's creators, Playus Maximus, as well as being included in the game's core rule book. How's that for sweet, eh?

Panels were fun throughout the weekend, particularly the "SNW Extravaganza!" hosted by fellow SNW alumn Kevin Lauderdale. Kevin invited me to help him read his SNW8 story, "Assignment: One" for the audience, which was both flattering and frightening, as I've never considered myself a performer or a great presenter. No one burned the room down, so I guess we did okay.

And as Jim Johnson observed on the Trek BBS, the following new terms have been added to the Shore Leave Trek Writers' Lexicon:

• Monkeys
  
• Headboard
  
• Girlie Puke
  

I'll just let those fester for a while....

Okay, now for the really exciting part: The Voyage Home.

1. Our flight out of Baltimore -- scheduled for a 9:55am departure -- was delayed, due to weather fallout from Hurricane Dennis. The plane for our flight was coming from Atlanta and was running behind, and we were in danger of missing our connection in Cinncinnati -- scheduled to leave at 12:45pm. I should have known that things were going to go bad early on when the Delta ticketing agent suggested that sending us to Atlanta was the most desirable alternative.
   
   
2. Our flight left at 11:30, at which time Delta folks informed us that, yes indeed, we would miss our connection. To soothe the pain, however, she happily told us that she had already booked us for the next available flight from Cinncinnati to Kansas City -- leaving at 5:35pm.
   
   
3. Upon our arrival in Cinncinnati, we proceed to the gate for our connecting flight to check in, only to discover that not only are we booked on the 5:35 flight, but also a 4:15pm flight that the lady in Baltimore didn't bother to clue us in about. Sensing a smidgen of mercy being thrown our way, we cancelled the 5:35 booking and went with the 4:15 flight. When I asked the ticketing agent about our luggage, I was informed that "we put bags on the first flight heading to a particular airport. You'll be fine."
   
   Remember this last point. You will see it again.
   
   
4. It's finally time to board our 4:15 flight to Kansas City. Upon climbing aboard, we're delighted to discover that one of the plane's two air conditioning units is not operating. The cockpit is nice and cozy, whereas eggs are frying on various metallic surfaces throughout the passenger cabin. In order to beat off the heat while we sit on the sun-baked tarmac, our flight attendant offers us an attempted distraction about how she overslept and was late for the first two flights she was scheduled to work that day.
   
   Apparently, that was easier than handing out bottled water.
   
   
5. We're home!
   
   Do I even need to explain here that our bags didn't make the flight? I mean, I realize that four hours between flights is cutting it close when shifting luggage from one plane to another, but I figured that -- with all the inconvenience we've already suffered, somebody might offer up a tiny bit more initiative to perhaps cover this minor detail.
   
   While checking in with the "Baggage Black Hole Office," we're told that our stuff is probably on the 5:35 flight (didn't see that one coming, did ya?). We're also given a brief overview of how the process will work: the bag will arrive; they'll determine that nobody owns it; it will be sent to a central processing center, where it will be sorted into a group of other bags that need to be delivered to waiting owners.
   
   At this point, I should point out that I'm worried that enough bags get lost during any one day that they require sorting by zip code. But, I digress...
   
   
6. All that's left is to hop the shuttle to long-term parking. So we stand outside and wait for a shuttle.
   
   And wait.
   
   And wait some more.
   
   Hey! Here comes one! It's got plenty of room, too! I can see the driver's face! She's looking right at me!
   
   She drives on past without stopping.
   
   
7. Finally get to Kevin's van, it's hot enough to dry meat inside. I push the button to lower the window while the AC cuts in. When it's blowing cool enough, I hit the button to raise the window.
   
   Nothing happens.
   

Next year, I think I'm going to do the con via teleconferencing.