I’m here in lovely Denver, attending the World Science Fiction Convention. This annual event is a gathering-place for SF writers and fans — people who want to geek out over books rather than the latest Star Wars series (although there is a fair amount of Star Wars geeking, partly because several authors here have written Star Wars books). I’m not on any panels — just came to meet people and see some readings.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to join a bunch of brilliant SF writers for an afternoon tour of NORAD, the vast underground facility built inside Cheyenne Mountain during the Cold War to serve as a military command center during nuclear attack. Now it’s mostly a museum, but it was still “top secret” enough that we couldn’t see the fabled command center room portrayed in WarGames. Here’s what I wrote about visiting NORAD.

If you’re here and want to meet up, io9 will be having a cocktail meetup tomorrow night at 5 PM in the Hyatt Regency bar. Come drink with us and then go see the Hugo Awards ceremony.

I have finally returned, after a long melodrama involving myself and the new (lovely) WordPress upgrade. In the end, I got help from the awesome Elly with my upgrade. Sorry for the long absence, during which a lot has changed.

First, what hasn’t changed: I am still running the science fiction and science blog io9, which is part of the Gawker Media Network. I’m proud to say that the blog is doing fantastically well, and we hit an all-time high last month with over 8.8 million views. A lot of that had to do with our coverage of geek media extravaganza Comic-Con, where studios and publishers announce their upcoming creations for next year.

What has changed: After nine years, I finally decided to move on and stop writing my weekly culture and technology column Techsploitation. I had a blast writing it every week, and it was great to have a regular outlet where my radical leftist side could team up with my super geeky side. But I had been writing it weekly for nine years (did I mention the nine years?), and I wanted to go out on a high note, before I started to burn out. I was sad to let it go, but I’m happy to put more energy into the posts I do for io9 — many of which are fairly political, and all of which are alarmingly geeky. You can read my farewell column here.