Readercon: Of Tin Foil Hats

Among the events today was the Tin Foil Hat event, where strange theories were floated as possibilities. As you can see, one intrepid panelist actually produced a tin foil hat, too.

It was a "you had to be there" kind of event. Many theories both bizarre and  plausible were floated. My own consisted of the idea that in not too many years, what with blogs, social media and indie publishing making everyone a writer, there would only be five readers left in the world (two in China, one in Argentina, one in the UK, and the last in a very difficult to locate island in the Pacific). This handful of remaining readers would be lionised consequently, living like ancient kings with all manner of wealth while writers crawled before them, begging for their attention.

Well, it was better than my initial idea: all SF fans are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle and thin again at the other end...

The urban fantasy/paranormal panel went quite well.We had a wide ranging discussion that really engaged the audience, too. Everyone had a great time. I finally got to meet Delia Sherman, who's just as terrific as she seems in print. There were a couple of panels dealing with Joanna Russ' legacy and with memories of her from folks who knew her like Chip Delaney. I sold some books at the Broad Universe table -- and I got a great review for "Vironsusi" today, too.

And before I forget, Happy Birthday, big brother!