If you or someone you know is heading to the World Science Fiction Convention in London in 15 days (Aug 14-18), I encourage you to support Kansas City’s bid to host the 2016 Worldcon.  They’ve done a splendid job of planning.

The convention center venue is near the Sprint Center and the Power & Light District.  The area is recently developed with many new restaurants, bars, and an Alamo Drafthouse.  (If you haven’t been to KC in the past five years, you haven’t seen this.)

I’ll also suggest a few literary day-trip options for anyone interested:

• A Heinlein tour.  Robert Heinlein included many KC landmarks in his works.  You can visit those, and his hometown of Butler (1 hour south).
• A Doc Savage detour.  Lester Dent’s hometown of La Plata is about 3 hours away.  The local library has a great collection of his Doc Savage and Avenger material, and his home is still standing.
• A Mark Twain excursion.  If you’re adventurous, Hannibal, MO, is only 4 hours away.  The hometown of Mark Twain has a great new museum and historic buildings, including original Norman Rockwell paintings of Huck/Tom and original sketches from SF classic, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.  The town has some classic kitsch too.

On the non-literary but still legendary front, everyone who isn’t a vegetarian should have Arthur Bryant’s barbecue at least once.  There’s no sauce like it, and no sauce better than it.  Go to the original one on Brooklyn Avenue.