Who would you want to meet?

Kat and I are off to World Fantasy on Thursday. Part of the reason we're going is because there are some writers attending whom I really want to meet. Folks like Kim Newman (whose take on Dracula-- in his Anno Dracula series-- has been ingenious and entertaining), for one. He's one of the bright lights of alternate history fiction, in my mind, and I hope I'll have the chance to buy him a beer.

There are lots of other SF and fantasy luminaries but my question is: who would YOU want to meet? If you had the chance to drop a few bucks and attend an event where you could talk to one person, who would it be?

Please comment below, I'm interested in hearing.