My friend and editor (at Abrams Books) Charles Kochman was in town last week and on Friday, I took him to lunch at the Magic Castle. By one of those great coincidences, I found four friends at the next table and someone took this pic for us before we dispersed. Charlie's the guy on the left. Writer Larry DiTillio is the guy on the right. Larry wrote on any number of popular animated shows including Masters of the Universe and The Transformers.
The gent in the center is Brooks Wachtel, magician and animation writer. His cartoon credits include Tutenstein and Clifford the Big Red Dog. The lady at left is Christy Marx, who was the main writer on the Jem cartoon series and she worked on Conan the Adventurer and many more. The lady at right is Wendy Pini, who along with Richard Pini, gave us the wonderful Elfquest graphic novel series and the more recent Masque of the Red Death series.
And I'm the tall guy in back. That halo over my head is not, as you might think, a reflection of a chandelier in that room. I really am that angelic though the camera doesn't always catch it.