Welcome to Seattle, Mr. Stross! I see you brought the sun with you, so thank you for that.

I'm only a couple of hundred miles away but, unfortunately, in the next country. I would love to join you if circumstances permitted. Enjoy your evening!

Welcome to our town! And yes, what a lovely day it finally is.

Think you'll still be there at 7:30?

I need to be elsewhere by 8pm, so no, probably leaving by 7:30pm.

Oh rats, looks like I will miss you down there, Charlie (previous plans). I will definitely try to make it out to your reading on Tuesday, though.

Welcome to Seattle!

I have a party a block from there at 6:30. I may be able to leave early and see you there!

For other fun things to do in Seattle, I just found out about this

http://www.helloearthproductions.org/

Star Trek in the Park with gender-blind casting. It's that blend of lefty and geek that makes Seattle such a fun place to live (at least for lefty geeks like me).

Wow. I might be able to make this. Rearranging afternoon/evening...

What styles of beer do you prefer? Perhaps we can arrange a few examples for later tonight.

Hopefully you'll have time at some point for some beer tourism while you're here.

I was going to send three-and-fourpence, but then I discovered you were not going to a dance.

If you're looking for me I'm already holed up in the back room. No cask-conditioned beer right now. Rats!

Hey Charlie,

It was good to meet you tonight. My friend who's birthday party I moved on to is coming to a talk you are giving next week - I think he was a bit jealous that he missed you this week!

Meeting Harry for the first time was awesome too!

If Clarion are putting you up in the University District, the nearest place for cask-conditioned beer is the Big Time, on University Way south of 42nd. (The noodle place across the street is worth checking out as well.)

If you're on Capitol Hill, the Elysian at 13th & Pike will offer plenty of choices.

Both the Elysian and Big Time, like Pike Brewing, serve (mostly) only their own beers. The Hopvine on 15th at Republican (near Jordin and Mary Kay's, if that's convenient) has a nice set of taps from various brewers. Similar places I could suggest are the Collins Pub (the best place downtown, set just doors away from the stylishly phallic Smith Tower in the oldest part of the city, the original Skid Road), Naked City (in Greenwood), and the Latona Pub (Latona and NE 65th, a little north and a little east of the U District). All these places are likely to have something on cask.

Yikes! I meant "a little north and a little west of the U District", not east. Pay not attention to the bot behind the curtain...

Mr. Stross,

Are you still in town? Fremont Brewing is about a block from my house. Happy to buy you a pint or four.

To whom it may concern,

The first of the Merchant Princes books is now available on Amazon.co.uk (vols. 2 and 3 were there already).

From the Kindle Store, I mean. Sorry, not making a very good start here.

I'm so jealous. However, I went and had a pint of cask conditioned in Charlie's honor, at Grand Cru, in Baltimore, where I presently reside (having spent 18y in Seattle in An Earlier Life).

I was in Seattle for a few days in 2008.

Came in via the ferry from Victoria, checked out the Sci Fi Museum, saw some bands, drank some beer, hung with some cool people, went to the Museum of Flight and ogled the pretty aircraft, saw some more bands, hung with some cool (and sexy) people (wink wink nudge nudge) and got really bad food poisoning (largely from my own fault).

Still 19 out of 20 wasn't bad and definatly on the list of places I would go back to. :)