Wondercon 2009 was last weekend in San Francisco, but I spent most of the con behind a table in Artist’s Alley. I sold a lot of books with my friends from Writers Old Fashioned, talked to a lot of people, and shook a lot of hands. Of course, being behind the table meant that I didn’t really get to visit panels or walk the floor much, but it was definitely an enjoyable experience.

I spent two hours at the con on Friday, and attended for the full day on both Saturday and Sunday. The sheer emptiness of the aisles on Friday was pretty surprising, particularly combined with the fact that the floor size felt a lot smaller than it did last year. An entire end of the show floor was dedicated to lines and registration, rather than exhibits. My first thought was the obvious one– the economy struck again.

Saturday, though, was much busier. It was, as is normal for cons, extremely difficult to get through most of the aisles. Even the aisles with the retired TV stars and wrestlers seemed pretty packed. Retailers and artists all seemed to have good shows despite the economy, as the constant crowds around the half-off trades booths showed.

Attendance on Sunday seemed to slack again. It rained in the morning, which is brutal for a show that closes at 5. Traffic at the table was slower than on Saturday, which had the added bonus of allowing us to talk to people for longer.

Overall, though, the con was still a ton of fun, particularly from my new perspective. Check out the few dozen photos below to see what the con looked like first-hand. Thanks to Andi Wang, Peter McCullagh, and Keith McNeil for taking the photos while I was otherwise occupied!