Copyright © 2004 Elisabeth Riba,
All Rights Reserved
Riba Rambles: |
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
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Panels: | Panels (cont'd): |
Oh, it was so much fun. Exhausting and draining by the end, but well worth it.
There's so much going on, that there's no way to attend everything. So, as long as you know you're going to miss some things you want to attend, it makes the decision of which events to attend much easier. [Incidentally, during a conversation in the halls, we realized that's proof that time travel won't be invented on Earth: If it could be, then the 1939 WorldCon would've had much higher attendance.]
Rather than a chronological account of the weekend, I'm writing this somewhat thematically.
It would be too much of a bore to list all the panels I attended, so here are some of the more noteworthy ones. I went thru the initial web schedule to grab the program titles, descriptions, and participants.
Thursday 7:00 p H209:
Ask Dr. MikeWhat can you get for the man who knows everything? Science fiction's wildly acclaimed answer to Drs. Hawking, Ruth, Phil, and Laura asks only for the gift of your most challenging questions about science, philosophy, history, the meaning and origin of life, and that awkward con restaurant invitation thing.
John M. Ford
Upon your advice, I attended this panel rather than participating in the Punday competition. It was quite fun, and Ian even got an important question answered. Later, we sat thru the first half of "A Scene a Minute?/Whose Line Is It?" and the latter half of "Win Tom Galloway's Money," both funny panels, but I was feeling too restless to just sit. [BTW, I was terribly amused that during the final round, neither contestant could identify the woman Miles Vorkosigan was courting in A Civil campaign, nor could Ian. But I, who haven't even read the book, knew the answer right off. How did I know it? From a fanfic, of all places...]
Annoyingly enough, the 10:30 am program item I got up early for on Friday (Only Two Sexes? by Melissa Scott) was cancelled. :(
Friday 1:00 p H304:
Looking Backward: the 20th CenturyIt was a time of terrible wars and great evils and unparalleled progress, ending with democracy triumphant, right? Well…It was also the time of Milton Berle and Cheese Whiz™, love beads and Elvis, and…
Will the writers and fans of the late 21st century look back on the 20th century with nostalgia, with surprise, or with horror? How will people in far future times look at us? Imagine what things about the 20th century that those in the future will look back on in the same way as we view the Roman gladiators.
Esther Friesner (m), Craig Gardner, Terry Pratchett, John Scalzi
Fun panel, particularly given the panelists involved, but also somewhat frustrating. Considering the description talked about how the late 21st century would view the 20th, I was expecting things like Victorians:Steampunk::1950s:?? Instead, it was much more Motel of the mysteries and Diana: Warrior Princess -- in other words, taking a much longer view with more room for misunderstandings. Entertaining, but not quite what I was looking for, imo.
One member of the audience pointed out that people often believe that our ancestors had no sense of humor. We forget that there were small children in historical times as well. Imagine archeologists coming across, say, a Hello Kitty doll and trying to understand its purpose without grokking those two tidbits. And how much of our impression of history is colored by that false sense of seriousness?
Esther Friesner commented upon the disturbing modern formula of taking great disasters in history and romanticizing them, such as Titanic. She was thinking of the Holocaust (which other panelists rebutted with references to Hogan's Heroes and Allo allo). But I was suddenly overwhelmed by the horrific image of that formula being applied to 9/11. Sometime in the future, the TV movie... She's an office worker in the towers; her SO is a rescue worker. Will they survive and be reunited? <shudder> [Or maybe I'm thinking more of the 1970s disaster flicks.] Either way, as tasteless as it seems, I have no doubt it will happen eventually, and probably sooner than we'd like.
Friday 2:00 p H302:
Plot and PaceA story needs to balance both the plot of the story and the pace of the revelation to keep the reader interested. Come learn how to do this critical balancing act in your own work.
Alison Baird, Stephen Dedman, James Alan Gardner (m), Jay Lake, Sean M. Mead, Uncle River
Regarding the issue of "As you know, Bob," James Alan Gardner commented that he's been thinking of writing a story about Bob, and wonders whether Bob is really smart or really stupid.
There was also mention of a 7 point plot structure that Algys Burdrys apparently promotes as a useful analytic/critical tool for writers. Elements novels need (shorter works can leave some out): (1) character, (2) context, (3) problem, (4) effort, (5) failure (repeat 4 & 5 as necessary), (6) supreme effort, (7) validation from some impartial source. If anyone has more information on where this was written up in detail, I'd appreciate it.
Friday 3:00 p H306:
The Future of the FutureThe future looks different to many of us now than it did just a few years ago To what degree is the concept of an open, freely-imagined future under attack in our own culture, from either the right or the left? To what degree have larger cultural currents affected the SF portrayal of the future? And how does SF imagine its own future? (Or is it, too, stuck in a cycle of recurrence, of hankering for a restoration of its own Golden Age? What is the outlook for the future?
Elizabeth Bear, Judith Berman (m), Daniel Hatch, Dennis Livingston, Walter Jon Williams
Okay, I went to this panel primarily to meet Elizabeth Bear, with whom I've been corresponding online with for over a year. Much of the panel was discussing the concept of singularity, which is not one I'm overly familiar with (although I think I picked up the gist). The notion of uploading one's memories and downloading into new bodies gave the QA in me shivers over all the ways it might go wrong.
There was also a fair bit of talk of predicting the future, politically and technologically, and surprise successes and shortcomings. I took a lot of notes during this panel, but nothing really worth blogging about here.
After that, I went to dinner with Elizabeth Bear and her group of friends. I was somewhat interested in the panel on Slashfic, but it was scheduled at 10pm, by which point I was really more interested in party-hopping. And I can get enough discussion on philosophy and history of slash from online.
Saturday 10:00 a H302:
Doorstops: Truly Enormous Books and SeriesHuge books, a never-ending series—why are these herniators so popular? Why does it take so many words to tell a good story? Does anyone edit anymore?
Daniel Abraham, Kevin J. Anderson, William C. Dietz, Beth Meacham (m), Martha Wells
This panel frustrated me so much that I'm going to save my rant for another full post. Though the questions in the description are all critical ones, the panel consisted of four writers of doorstop series and an editor explaining why they were so popular. And unlike "The Future of the Future," where the panelists recognized they were all on the same side of the issue so had to be careful to be fair, these folks just didn't get it. Furthermore, they didn't offer any firm definitions, thus muddying the waters. [For example, I don't consider Pern or Xanth or Discworld to be doorstop series, because books can be read largely independently, in contrast to something like LotR or the Belgariad, which must be read in order.] I could go on, but this is probably a better topic for a post of its own. I can already feel my blood start to boil with the memory, so let's just move along.
Skipped Terry Pratchett's GoH speech to attend Elizabeth Bear's kaffeklatsch and socialize further with her. For a new author, she got a fairly good crowd at her table -- mostly her friends, but still. Ian and I were in the consuite at the time of George H. Scithers' kaffeklatch, and we felt so bad seeing him sitting at an empty table. I really hope that people were just late and he wasn't really being ignored...
I peeked my head into The Rise of the Paranormal Romance, mostly to get a glimpse of the authors in attendance. Briefly drifted in and out of What Do You Passionately Read? but I think that's a topic more suited to group conversation than panelist-audience split. So I wandered into the latter half of:
Saturday 2:00 p H304:
Great Clichés in SF and FantasyHidden powers, quirky sidekicks, true names…bookish teens, rebel cops, sexy robots, haircut aliens…devils' bargains (quashed by lemon laws), and dark lords without impulse control…splitting up to look for the monster!…dueling till the death (or the sequel?).
Take a look at the really good (well, maybe in the eye of the beholder?) clichés of the field, and tell us what makes them so popular.
Don D'Ammassa, Craig Gardner, David Levine (m), Josepha Sherman, S. M. Stirling
Fun panel, though I missed the first half. The panelists were telling tales of real-life mercenaries, as opposed to the ones we see in fiction. Some battle in Italy with 400 mercenaries on one side, 600 on the other, and two deaths: one was heat stroke. The other fell into a ditch. Mention of a Swiss battle where the mercenaries went on strike in the middle of the battle, refusing to fight further until they received their back pay. [If anyone has more historical details to confirm or debunk these anecdotes, please send them forth!] Somebody mentioned a real-world "thieves' guild" in Nairobi which holds regular sales to the public -- discount if you're buying back your own possessions.
Talking about the popular trope that planets have only one climate and one culture, somebody described an episode of Stargate in which the crew ended up in Antarctica, and made all kinds of daft assumptions based on their environment. Of course, that cliché comes from South Sea fiction of the 18th Century. That led to a digression about a Spanish book in the early 16th Century with fanciful depictions of the New World. [Through Googling, I believe they were talking about Las Sergas de Esplandian.] It was very popular among Cortez' soldiers, so you could almost think of them as fanboys acting out their favorite fantasy novel. Tying those two threads together, somebody mentinoed a story "Despoilers of the Golden Empire" by Randall Garrett.
As an aside, Josepha Sherman said the earliest version of the Cinderella myth found dates back to the first century BCE. I'll have to find more about this.
Near the end of the panel, panelists were asking the audience to suggest other clichés. They ran out of time before I could offer mine: Why do scientists (good and evil) only ever seem to have daughters and not sons? My guess is some belief that a daughter would stay home to take care of her father, while sons are presumed to be out among the world. Or that daughters are more likely to explain things to the hero(es).
Saturday 3:00 p H305:
Alternate History Challenge MatchPanelists get a weird alternate present, and have to reverse-engineer how it came about.
Michael Dobson, Mitchell Freedman, Peter J. Heck, Evelyn C. Leeper, S. M. Stirling, Toni Weisskopf (m)
Ian described this one pretty well in his summary. I just made notes that one of the authors mentioned Severed wing, a Sidewise winning alternate history story in with a large modern Yiddish-speaking community. And one of the panelists wrote A Disturbance of fate, which sounded interesting enough for me to note it down.
Saturday 4:30 p H307:
Elizabethan English as a Second LanguageCan thee speak Elizabethan English…or dost thou know that should be "canst thou"? Verily, Elizabethan English is oft misused in historical and fantasy writing. Advice on how to write it correctly or at least mangle it knowingly.
Kage Baker
I knew this panel was a must-see from Day 1. Since it's largely pronunciation-related, it's hard to describe. She recommended an old book she wrote called Basic faire language. As You Like It Productions has some information, and may be coming out with a CD in the near future.
Saturday 5:00 p H203:
SLOFs: Who and Why?The Secret Librarians of Fandom are lurking everywhere, waiting to pounce on you with recommended reading or a good place to research X. Who are they? Why are they in fandom? Why are they librarians? How you can avoid them or find them when you need them?
Mary Kay Kare, Fred Lerner (m), Steve Miller, Val Ontell, Don Sakers
Started with a discussion of why there was such an intersection among librarians and fen, what interests and talents crossed both fields. And considering this panel was about secrets, I think I shall keep my own counsel on the rest...
Sunday morning, I attended Esther Friesner's readings. She chose a work in progress, "Helen remembers the Stork Club." I liked what I heard and hope it gets published soon, so I can read the rest of it. BTW, there will be a new book in the Chicks in Chainmail series, coming out in time for Xmas -- this one a hardcover!
Sunday 1:00 p H312:
Beyond SexWriting sex scenes is easy, but conveying the ebbs and flows of a meaningful romantic relationship is harder to do. How do authors do this successfully?
David B. Coe (m), George R. R. Martin, Victoria McManus, Laura Resnick, Melinda Snodgrass
Just a few random notes from the panel:
Sunday 4:00 p H101:
Jewish Time-Based Mitzvoth in a Lunar ColonyJews have found ways to adapt ancient laws to modern and future ideas. from time travel; (across the International Dateline, at least) to vampirism (yes, you are permitted to swallow some blood).
So, nu? How does someone observe a time-based commandment when "day" and "night" are artificial concepts. Where will a naturally-flowing spring come from for a mikvah on Mars? Our panel of mavens will engage in pilpul on halachic and non-halachic issues.
Nomi Burstein (m), Solomon Davidoff, Janice Gelb, Daniel Kimmel
I know folks have been waiting for this writeup, but it's a difficult one to blog because information was flying around so fast. I no longer recall the context, but my notes include the line "practical, goofy, goofily practical" which I think was supposed to describe the Jewish pilpul in general.
There's a very minority opinion that Jews would be exempted from the mitzvot when off-planet, due to an interpretation of the phrase "all the days of the earth." During space travel, one is not of the earth, so shouldn't follow the commandments. That isn't a very popular opinion, however.
Instead, people have considered such notions as following Jerusalem time or following the local time from the launch site. Ilan Ramon (the Israeli astronaut) followed Houston time while aboard the shuttle, since that's how NASA keeps time.
So, what happens when a Houston Jew arrives on the space station where a Moscow Jew is already practicing? Rule is that when joining a community, you adopt the customs of that community, so the existing calendar would hold. Then came questions about what happens if several Moscow Jews set up a community, then leave, and then Houston Jews show up. I believe the answer on that was left open.
Regarding Mars, Michael Burstein is working on a fiction set on Mars, and got his rabbi's advice on some of these questions. These are not official rulings, merely speculation! Since the Martian day is only about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day, Jews living on Mars should probably just measure a Martian day as a day, rather than trying to keep to Earth time, which could get ludicrous after a while. Yes, it would mean that the calendars would become asynchronous, but that kind of thing happens.
Lots of discussion about travelling on Tisha B'Av. [If at all possible, don't.] On a space voyage, your fast is nearing its end when you land, but the local community is only beginning by its clock. Would you need to keep a 36 hour fast!? The answer I liked best was don't leave the ship nor change your watch until your fast is complete.
For those who wish to conduct their own research, existing rulings for Jews living near the north or south poles (places with long nights) have been relevant, as are rulings about travel across time-zones.
Somebody offered a surprising solution to the issue: all female crews. Women are exempt from the time-based mitzvot, and also wouldn't have to deal with my concern regarding mikvaot (until they returned to Earth, when it wouldn't be a problem).
Aside from time-based mitzvot, there were also several gravity-based practices that could be problematic in space travel: mikveh, lulav, sukkah, dousing the havdalah candle in wine. On the other hand, zero-g hagbah would be easy!
In response to a question about alien Jews, somebody pointed to a ruling 600 years ago in Sefer HaBrit that space creatures cannot be converted. However that is, of course, contradicted in Guest of Honor William Tenn's famous story "On Venus, have we got a rabbi." And, when the issue finally comes up at some point in the future, I'm sure that story will be used as a midrash in the decision.
Links: If you can read Hebrew, this PDF file discusses Torah observance on the moon. An essay by Dr. Wahrman is in English and touches apon some of the opinions. Here's a blog post about Rosh Chodesh on Mars, with its two moons. And while writing this post, I came across A Responsum Regarding Space Travel by the Schechter Institute
All-in-all, it was an excellent panel with a lot of back-and-forth. It could've easily gone on for two hours, as we were all still talking and arguing in the halls after the next panel was due to begin. And once again I found myself craving more of this kind of discussion. I really should see about realizing what I've been calling "Shavuacon" or "Tik-Con Leil".
I would've liked to go to Tanya Huff's reading at 7:30pm, but they had already opened seating for Masquerade, so I just read silently instead.
Monday 10:00 a H311:
Curses!Profanity for fantasy and SF—what makes made-up profanity either work or fail? Panelists can bring in examples of both and share their own techniques for creating profanity that has the same emotional weight that real profanity does.
Hilari L. Bell (m), Susan Casper, Larry Ganem, Mark Mandel, Vera Nazarian, Shara R. Zoll
I didn't get to that panel, so if anybody could point me to some con reports describing what was discussed, I'd appreciate it.
Monday 11:00 a Clarendon:
How to Create Fictionalized Characters from Historical FiguresWalter Scott said real figures should be background characters only. Genre writers ignore that rule. How did our writers do with Clemens, Hitler, Philby and Shakespeare? What lessons emerge from these and other examples? How can the aspiring author work within historical realities?
Elizabeth Caldwell
That one was a bit of a disappointment. Fairly vague advice; it only really got interesting near the end when she went around the room asking people what they were working on. Somebody was working on a story involving Woodrow Wilson and was having trouble writing his dialog. So the rest of the room started throwing out suggestions where he could hear more of Wilson's oratory style. That participatory part was fun, but otherwise I really didn't find it worth it.
Monday 12:00 n H311:
Alternate HolocaustsWhy is this timeline different from all other timelines? There have been some works that have explored Jewish alternate history, such as Poul Anderson's In the House of Sorrows and Robert Silverberg's To the Promised Land. There have also been many potential turning points that could be explored—"What if the Maccabees succeeded in their revolt?" or "What if the Roman Empire adopted Judaism as the official religion?" The panel looks at Jewish alternate history, with special attention to the holocaust.
Michael A. Burstein (m), Evelyn C. Leeper, Susan Shwartz
Whereas the previous Judaica panel focused on Jewish practices, this looked at Jewish history. And all were aware that this was a very sensitive subject, though the panel later drifted to other potentially interesting points of divergence in Jewish history. Most of my notes are references to existing stories:
Links: Steven Silver maintains a website listing Jewish SF. Evelyn Leeper keeps a page for Jewish Alternate Histories.
Somebody's aside near the end of the panel got me thinking about modern Jewish history, and our ambivalence regarding the role of Israel. In the Tanakh, Gd made the Jews wander in the desert for forty years before allowing them into Israel. Gd waited until the last of the slaves died, because people with that mentality were not ready to rule. We say "Once we were slaves," not "We were slaves."
And yet, in modern times, the Jews built Israel on the ashes of the Holocaust, without as much time for healing and recovery. "We were victims." I can't help wondering if that doesn't contribute to the problems...
Monday 2:00 p H312:
How Do You Know When You're Dead?The movie The Sixth Sense was not the first fiction to feature a character who is dead. Niven's Inferno, Connie Willis' Passages, and Philip José Farmer's Riverworld series all have protagonists who are dead or die and continue to be featured players. What other fiction features dead people? (And we don't mean vampires—but why not?)
Are there any restrictions on the actions of dead people? What are some of the reactions of the characters who find themselves dead? Are there advantages to having a dead protagonist?
Should we always fear the walking dead? What do they have to tell us? (Must we listen? Do they lie?) Do they return to harm or advise us? Do they come to warn or blame, comfort or prophesize? Do they offer us forgiveness or courage, or perhaps death itself?
Discuss the use of the returning dead, and explain why they are such fascinating subjects.
Scott Edelman (m), Neil Gaiman, Larry Niven, Terry Pratchett, Uncle River, Connie Willis
Considering its timeslot (right before closing ceremonies) and its panelists (some of the big names at the con), this was booked into one of the larger rooms and was still packed. I slipped out early for one last purchase in the Dealers' Room, but what I saw was entertaining, and often had the room laughing.
Seeing people was one of the best things about Worldcon. Getting to have long conversations catching up with people whom I haven't seen in a long time, people that I only know online, local folks I never get much time with... Lots of great conversations that I won't write up because they wouldn't mean anything to anyone but the participants, but were appreciated nonetheless.
I spent a lot of time the first day of the con staring at people's badges. It's extraordinarily difficult to recognize people whom you only know online based upon 100x100 icons (at best). Still, I eventually found most of the people I was interested in meeting, and (to my mind, at least) we got along as well in person as we did online. I only regret not having enough time to spend with some of them. I do wish the Worldcon badge would leave a place for commonly used nicknames. Ian particularly is better known by his nom de net than his given name which was on the badge. Thankfully, the LJ party had stickers where one could write one's LJ names, but that still meant an entire day of lost potential. I'll have to make up my own before the next con.
On Saturday, I met somebody in the halls wearing a homemade "Kit Marlowe Rocks" t-shirt. You were rushing off towards the Sheraton; I complimented your shirt and gave you my card, but didn't get your name. If you see this, drop me a line. I'd really love to get to know you better. We Marlovians have to stick together!
Also, I'd love further contact with the woman I met at the SFFNet party Sunday night with the Droeshout Shakespeare photoshopped into a furry. You know who you were; used to do background art on 80s animation!? I told you about CafePress.
Both of you have my card -- get in touch with me!
Though I did skim the membership lists for names I recognized, there were still some surprises. At one point, I noticed a woman whose badge identified her as "Beth Hilgartner." After a few minutes racking my brains, I asked whether she had written a juvie set in Elizabethan England. She had -- over a decade ago, though I just read it last month. [I didn't share my criticisms; that just seemed rude.] And now, checking Amazon, I see I've read at least one other of her books, Cats in cyberspace.
Oh yeah, as Ian was leaving dinner Sunday night (I don't recall what he was running off to; I was staying to wait for the bill), he suddenly realized that the older gent just seated at the next table was Forrest J. Ackerman. He took a moment to compliment Forry and shake his hand. While we were waiting (me for the check, the other table to order), I chatted a bit with one of his assistants. Nice chap. He'd been to a number of horror conventions, but Worldcon was blowing him away. And at one point while admiring the architecture out the window, Forrest Ackerman confirmed the walkway to the hotel they were staying at, telling the boys he "liked to get his Berings Strait." Unfortunately, I was chewing on something at the moment, and by the time my mouth had cleared the moment had passed, otherwise I would've replied about being wary of Optical Aleutians. Oh well. Hopefully, another time.
Finally, on the last day when I was wearing my "I'm blogging this t-shirt", Michael Burstein noticed and said I should blog our encounter in the dealer room. So I am.
What can I say about the Masquerade itself? Forty-seven entries, twelve in the young fan division (kids 12 & under). Not a dud among them. A lot of Discworld-themed presentations (I wonder just how many there were). Tech crew was amazing. I've watched a number of Masquerade videos, and usually they're pretty-poorly filmed, offering only distant blurry views of the costumes. In this case, the multiple camera-people were getting good closeups and angles, and my attention split between the stage and the giant live monitors. Good job!
The show was scheduled late, started about fifteen minutes later, and with nearly fifty entries, ran for quite a long while. We initially planned to leave before the halftime show and just find out the judging results later from the newsletter. I mean, it was late, we wanted to party-hop, and the halftime program was preannounced as an hour-long show:
The Masquerade half-time show will be Charlie Ross performing an award-winning one-man show that condenses the entire Star Wars trilogy into one hour, complete with voices, sound effects, and movement.-- Triplanetary Gazette 12a, Sunday Dinner edition
We were walking out as he began, waving his arms like searchlights as he began vocal percussion of the 20th Century Fox theme. And I tapped Ian's arm to grab a nearby seat -- may as well wait for the crowds to die down and at least catch the opening.
We stayed for all three films. He is brilliant and really, really funny. Impressive how the right line of dialog can evoke entire scenes. Actually made me want to rewatch the entire trilogy -- which is quite an accomplishment because over the last few years I've become rather curmudgeonly in my attitudes towards all films but the first.
I'd actually rate the One Man Star Wars Trilogy better than the Reduced Shakespeare Company, because -- let's be honest, the RSC reference every play, but don't actually perform them all. Some get no more than a punchline. Meanwhile, Ross actually does tell the full story from the original trilogy. Of course, audience familiarity with the material definitely helps the show. As I wrote, he's evoking memories of the story, but it's effective. Here's his website, and he's got a 5-minute clip show in WMV format. It's only a hint of the full show, but it'll give you a feel.
I was trying to think of other films with enough of a following to work in this manner, and the Indiana Jones series comes to mind. Fortunately, that's leading in the his poll on future projects, so I can hope. In short, I highly recommend this and would definitely see it again if I had the opportunity.
I did walk through the art show, but, well, I'm generally much more one for words than for visual arts. The Retro Art Exhibit was an exercise in frustration. Most of the works they showcased were cover art from Golden Age magazines. And well, the whole point of cover art was to entice one into reading the related story. Which, of course, one can't do in the art show. So I was walking up and down the aisles just aching to read these stories, because based on the cover art, they looked quite intriguing. Some had the magazines available beside the paintings to show where the art appeared, but I wasn't sure the etiquette there, whether it was permissible to unclip them and read or if that was just to demonstrate that the work was published somewhere.
Lots of strong stuff in the art show proper, although two artists in particular caught my attention: Heidi Hooper, who creates pictures out of dryer lint (no dying; she just washes very colorful fabrics) and somebody named Dave Howell who made some very clever clocks and really cute faux parking stickers for fantasy locations. I wish I could find his work on the web to show people. Neither clock had traditional hour markings: Constantly ticking had marks for e, pi and other mathematical constants. TimeLine measured units around the circumference: hand, cubit, etcetera. Both were pretty nifty.
I did a very good job of showing restraint, looking but not buying, until I came to a dealer selling GURPS Fourth Edition, which wasn't supposed to hit the stores quite yet. They only had three copies; I knew Ian would want to get it eventually, so I bought it and surprised Ian with it. Then, having opened the floodgates, I felt it only fair that I be allowed to buy things for myself of an equal value. [I often have the problem of being more willing to spend on Ian than myself, and then I get resentful for my self-denial.] Ian also bought himself a Mad Scientist labcoat, which gave me allowance to spend even more on myself. :) [Ooh, while looking for the labcoat image, I just saw this shirt!]
Elise Matthesen is an excellent saleswoman. I spent a lot of time at her booth, mostly just hanging out and chatting (when it wouldn't get in the way of the paying customers), and admiring her pretty shiny sparkly jewelry. Family and friends will know that I don't wear jewelry (aside from my wedding ring). She talked me into buying one of her bracelets, and I'm still wearing it around most days, and I attended her panel on jewelry making. [I also bought a sampler of Lush soaps from her. I would've liked to go along on the buying spree to get advice and recommendations from the pros, but Ian's so sensitive to the smells, that he probably wouldn't be able to stand near me for the rest of the day if I did so.] Honestly, if I were to describe my con in proportion to my actual actions and thoughts at the con, this would probably be filled with talk of Elise. But we mostly just talked about nothing, so I don't really have anything substantial to say, aside from the fact she's a nifty person I'd like to spend more time with.
I also had a long and interesting conversation with Colleen Doran, as we talked of sexism and what might've been. During Todd McFarlane's run of Amazing Spider-Man, he took a several month break. Fill-in artists were her and Eric Larsen. Even at the time, before I knew either from Adam, I was blown away by Colleen's art, and hoped she'd take over the title after Todd left. Apparently I wasn't alone. Her issue outsold Larsen's, and fanmail was running 3 to 1 in her favor. However, Marvel was somehow uncomfortable with the idea of a woman helming their flagship title, and Todd preferred Eric so he got the plum assignment. Considering how that was as the era of superstar-artists was on the rise. I don't know that she'd be rich, but it certainly would've spared her some of the financial hardships she's experienced over the last decade. We also had fun dissing Rob Liefeld and talking shop in general.
Though I wanted the Death of Rats mousepad, I waited too long and it sold out. Maybe later via mail order... I was initially tempted by a Clarecraft figurine of the Librarian on a stack of books, but then I saw two other Discworld items in the Pratchett exhibit that interested me more: the Librarian book stamp and a cloisonne pin saying "Ook". [Don't know how many people realize this, but the town we live in has 2 telephone exchanges. I specifically chose a phone number that began 665 because that transcribes to "OOK" and I'm a librarian.]
McFarland Press had a table with some of their books. They only displayed those with an SFF bent, but offered a few catalogs of their other material. And it was those non-SFF items, which I saw described only in their catalog, that truly excited me. Among the books that caught my eye:
And how much of a geek am I that State and national boundaries of the United States (and why they are where they are) really sounds fascinating?
Given my photo gallery from two summers ago, a number of people expected me to have blue hair. Heck, I wanted to have blue hair for Worldcon -- there were many more brunettes than blues in attendance. If I were really desperate, I could've bought a wig from TartBlossom, who I'm blogging about because I like their motto: "Cartoon hair for real people."
Of course, the booth that was most dangerous to me (and my wallet) is Poison Pen Press. They've carved out a quite clever niche for themselves: books on domestic arts of the Renaissance and earlier. I don't entirely know why I have such an affinity for early cookbooks. I'm not much of a cook (I have Ian around for that) nor am a SCAdian or other historical reenactor. The closest explanation I could come up with is that cooking is such a basic part of everyday life that I get a much better feel for the period through reading the cookbooks.
I started out by doing something dangerous -- asking whether she had two particular books I've been wanting for a while: Eating right in the Renaissance and The Accomplisht Cook (the basis of Shakespeare's Kitchen and the source of a very entertaining talk). I was in luck(?), while both are in her catalog, she did not have any with her in the con. This saved me some money and meant I have a source for when I do finally buy them. [She's an Arisia regular; I could ask her to bring them with and save on shipping...] I did however, buy two slim volumes: Food & cooking in 16th century Britain and Food & cooking in 17th century Britain. Both are surveys of available ingredients and equipment and fads & fashions, along with a selection of recipes. I also bought a copy of Serve it forth, a periodical newsletter on early cookery. I bought it largely for its review of Shakespeare's Kitchen (pretty, but not well-documented enough for historians -- but here are other books we recommend on the topic!) and found it rather interesting. They've got an essay on the documented history of eating bread with butter, for example.
But somehow those weren't enough. When I had time to kill, I often found myself in her booth browsing the reprints of historical cookbooks, both facsimiles and editions retyped with modern spelling. Finally, with only 15 minutes left before the dealers room closed for the con, I gave in and bought two of them: The English housewife and The Good housewife's jewel. Fascinating, but upon reading them I realized that neither had the recipes I'd been looking at: I remember seeing a period ice cream recipe and an entire page of hipocras variants. I guess I'll just have to keep browsing her stock at future conventions. Oh, poor me.
Finally, we bought two gifts for other people at the con. Not saying what they are (they'll find out when they get them -- well okay, one person already got hers), but since I'm one of my audiences, I want to remember that fact in the future.
Oh, and one suggestion for future cons. I wish there was a wantlist board for people to post items they're looking for where dealers can (if they wish) reply via the voodoo board. Because I was looking for a couple rare books (not really rare, which would be memorable and thus possibly findable, but just decades-old out-of-print stuff) and those are difficult to find, particularly among dealers who don't keep the old books alphabetized. I didn't feel like going up and asking every single book dealer, but it would've been nice to have someplace I could post "looking for X" and split the work that way.
As I mentioned before the con, I brought three books with me on the first day to try to get signed. As it happened, I ran into John M. Ford and Terry Pratchett in the Dealers' Room fairly quickly after arriving and thus got two-thirds of my planned autographs by 12:34 pm. Connie Willis was a bit more difficult to track down. I followed her out of her first panel hoping to get her signature, but overheard her say she needed to rush somewhere (hotel checkin?), so I didn't want to pester her. But I did stakeout her reading later that evening and got my chance.
While I was looking thru the program on Thursday seeking other items worth attending, I noticed that Tanya Huff was in attendence. Since The Fire's stone is one of my all time favorite novels, I decided to try to get her signature, too. If necessary, I planned to attend her official autographing session, but instead managed to find her at the Nine Above party. I told her how the ending scene always brings tears to my eyes, and how I'd love to see
I love it when authors get creative in their signatures and post something more than just their name. For the record, here are the autographs I got:
- Terry Pratchett, Good omens
- We made the Devil do it! 333
[Neil's 1991 signature reads "Have a really nice doomsday"]- John M. Ford, The Scholars of night
- For Elisabeth
Everything else is a fib. Middleton and I ganged up on Kit- Connie Willis, "Winter's Tale" (IASFM December 1987)
- To Elisabeth, a fellow Shakespeare fan
- Tanya Huff, The Fire's stone
- For Elizabeth -- I'm glad the ending chokes you up. ... Well, not glad I made you cry but, you know ...
Just a note to myself, I borrowed The School of night from Elise (a modern Marlowe fic I hadn't yet read), and loaned Elizabeth Bear my copy of The Scholars of night and the Freestyle Shakespeare DVD.
Given its release-date is only one week away, I expected (well, hoped) that we might get some extended previews for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. No such luck, but they did provide a lot of promo materials for the freebie tables: posters, flyers, trading cards, etcetera.
A few other items on the freebie tables caught my attention, and I'm just listing some of them as a personal memory aide so I won't need to refer to the cards & flyers myself:
Other random detritus picked up at the con:
Well, that's about all I've got time and energy and memory to write. I'm sure I could go on further if pressed, but hopefully that's sufficient.
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Copyright © 2004 Elisabeth Riba, |