Member-only story
I recently attended my first writer’s convention IRL since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. I relished the opportunity to reconnect with other horror and science fiction authors at HELIOsphere, feed off the collective creative energy, and to meet authors I’d only known previously from various virtual readings.
HELIOsphere changed the hotel to the Radisson Hotel Piscataway-Somerset, which was undergoing a great deal of construction…I arrived road-weary on Friday afternoon, having traveled non-stop for four hours. The front desk set me up with a room on the fifth floor. When I stepped off the elevator, I had to walk around a treacherous array of tools strewn on the bare floor. The hallway was dusty, and the room numbers noticeably absent. I hastily retreated to the elevator back down to the lobby to politely request a room on the floor that wasn’t in a severe state of disrepair. I wound up with a room on the fourth floor that was far from the elevator with a toilet that lacked adequate water pressure — I wasn’t about to play musical rooms all day — I opted to stay put — at least the bed was comfortable. Get a load of this severe design flaw…toilet paper hidden inside a…
