Spring has come and gone, and there have been some hard times recently, but it’s not too late to share a few photos from my favorite fantasy and science fiction convention. The International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts met as usual in Orlando during spring break, and it was a delight.

The theme this year was “Fantastic Literature and Politics.” Our Guest of Honor G. Willow Wilson talked about how her very existence as a female Muslim comic book author is sometimes marked as political by readers and people in the publishing industry. She read from her new novel The Bird King, which is set in Granada during the Spanish Inquisition, and she shared what it was like developing her comic Ms. Marvel, whose protagonist Kamala Khan is the first-ever millennial-immigrant-Pakastani-Muslim-teenage superhero from New Jersey. Wilson has just completed her groundbreaking run with Ms. Marvel, and Saladin Ahmed–who was the Guest of Honor last year at WisCon–has taken her place. (Also, Wilson has begun a new comic series called Invisible Kingdom, a space opera with space nuns. I’ve read only the first two issues, but I’m enjoying it immensely.)

I met Sarah Pinsker and the very sweet and lovely Fran Wilde, and both signed books for me. There were panels on fairy tales (including a very good one about different versions of Cinderella) and science fiction, lots of great readings, and the chance to support my friend Sandy, who moderated a panel and read an excellent paper.

At the scholar luncheon we sat with the nominees for the Dell Award, all of them brilliant and funny.

Sadly, we did not see any alligators. However, I did get to go to the ocean with my friend Jeanne, and we watched the waves come in.

You can’t have a conference without conference knitting, of course, or fancy clothes. (A nice change from wearing yoga pants all the time.) I chose a beaded bronze evening gown for the banquet on Saturday and on Friday got to wear my gorgeous Dries Van Noten skirt and a lovely scarf made from vintage kimonos. I took a chance wearing all that silk to Harry’s Fish House, which specializes in fried everything, but my clothes survived, and so did I. Below, at Harry’s: Jeanne Griggs and her daughter Eleanor, Sandy and me, and Joan Slonczewski.

At the reception before the banquet, Bill Clemente snapped this picture of Sandy and me. Can you tell we had a great time?