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!

Readercon Day One

I suppose this counts as day two now, since we arrived last night, but Thursday night serves as a bit of a warm-up. Nonetheless, I had a panel straight away at 8pm, so we needed to be there relatively early. Normally it's a fairly easy drive but there was a lot of construction along the pike (and one bad shredded tire from a semi that couldn't quite be avoided—eek) and up 91 as we swung north to get Bilokur in Northampton. Mr B joins us fresh from the halls of the Cartoon Art Institute Center for Cartoon Studies. Long time no see, so it was good catching up.

We had Greek in Cambridge after picking up CD from the T and then headed back to the hotel so I could get ready for "We All Create, We All Consume" which focused on the blurring of the lines between readers and writers and all the issues that have developed from that in the digital age. It seemed to go well enough and we had a good crowd for a first night.

Later in the bar we suffered the entertainment; poor guy, we were not an appreciative audience because we were all there to talk—that's what writers do when they leave their solitude for a con. It was great to have a chance to catch up with Inanna and Morven whom I hadn't seen since last year's Readercon.

Today there are panels and I will probably be checking in at the Broad Universe table; later tonight is the Meet the Pros(e) event where everyone will be. At present chatting with Faye in the lobby. Oh, and here's Bilokur reprising his role as Rasputin in Hellboy.

BitchBuzz: Rebekah Brooks: The Charm Offensive

I'm off to Readercon today, picking up folks along the way, including a certain mad Ukrainian in Northampton if all goes according to plan. I will doubtless post more this weekend as there are sure to be entertaining things to write about, like torturing Todd and dishing with Liz. I can't believe I'm scheduled at the same time as her twice, so I'll be missing the Norwegian metal music talk. Sigh.

My column today takes up an aspect of the Murdoch meltdown; I can't believe Americans aren't getting upset about this. Too complacent? I am mystified -- and outraged. You might want to look into that. But I suppose Fox News triumphed long ago: that's why we find ourselves in the state we're in.

Rebekah Brooks: The Charm Offensive

By K. A. Laity

If you've been living under a rock, you may have missed the complete shut down of The News of the World and Murdoch's New International's withdrawing their bid for control of BSkyB—and of course the schadenfreudegasm it generated (thanks,John Oliver, for that new term).
The gleeful noise has threatened to drown out everything, especially on Twitter, even pressing issues of a similarly nefarious nature. Even people in the States seem to have glanced up from their obsessive attention tobaseless conspiracy theories and barking madness to recognize that Murdoch and his Fox"News" have had a similarly devastating effect on their lives including the hacking of phones belonging to 9/11 victims...

Read the rest at BBHQ.

My editor removed my lovely Shakespeare quote: "Who is Sylvia? What is she / That all our swains commend her?" Too much?

My Readercon Schedule

Just to whet your appetite, here's my list of events at Readercon, July 14-17 in Burlington MA; looks like there will be some entertaining fun (as usual):

 Thursday July 14

8:00 PM    G    We All Produce, We All Consume. Paul Di Filippo, Gemma Files, Robert Killheffer, K.A. Laity (leader), Jamie Todd Rubin. In a 2008 blog post, Leah Bobet connected the dots of increasing media interactivity and increasing independent authorship. Both trends have only escalated in the years since. When every blogger is an author, every commenter is a reviewer, and every work is assumed to be the start of a conversation, how does that change the experience and culture of reading? Was it ever possible to be a passive reader, or are we simply bringing our marginalia and book-flinging out into the light? 

Friday July 15

9:00 PM    NH    BroadUniverse group reading. Suzy Charnas, Gwendolyn Clare, Helen Collins, M.C.A. Hogarth, Elaine Isaak, K.A. Laity, Jennifer Pelland. Members of BroadUniverse read selections from their work. 

Saturday July 16

11:00 AM    G    Are We Not Men?: Human Women and Beast-Men in Paranormal Romance. Stacy Hague-Hill, Victoria Janssen (leader), K.A. Laity, Delia Sherman, Ann Tonsor Zeddies. In a 2009 blog post, Victoria Janssen wrote: "Paranormal romance almost always features the hero as a paranormal being and the heroine as an ordinary human. How does this resonate with gender relations and power relationships in our society? And is it emblematic of women seeing men as Other?" In addition, many of these stories feature women who metaphorically or literally tame men who have non-human aspects, turning them from bestial creatures driven by base urges into civilized, socially acceptable mates. We examine the social context of this narrative and its appeal to paranormal romance readers of various genders.

2:00 PM    ME    Tin Foil Hat Open Mike. Rose Fox (moderator), K.A. Laity, Shira Lipkin, David Malki !, Charles Platt, Eric M. Van, Harold Torger Vedeler. Bring your wildest and wackiest ideas to this open mike session. Each speaker gets five minutes, ruthlessly enforced, to try to convince the audience of an unprovable (and ideally undisprovable) theory related to speculative fiction. The viewers are free to applaud or heckle as they see fit. No handouts, no visual aids, no multimedia, no Q&As, no spitballs, and please, no politics or religion.


I have no idea how that last one will go: some wag suggested it, I was amused enough to float my name for it. I figure it's my chance to channel EL Wisty or Arthur Grole. We shall see. Meanwhile I'm adjusting to being back, which mostly means moping, whinging and sighing at the huge piles of work I need to face. I was a bit perturbed to get to my office and find I had no computer. So much for good intentions, eh? But all it took was a phone call to get it delivered, so I had to try to work anyway. Sigh.

How I Went to Readercon and Became a Broad

No, cat milk has nothing to do with my time at Readercon. I stopped in the pet store to get some flea spray (sigh) and a new tag for Kipper. When I saw this, I kept picturing a very low stool ;-) and couldn't stop giggling.

Readercon was a busy time: right away Thursday night. I was an "extra discussant" for Barry Longyear's "Imagine or Die" panel. Unfortunately, I didn't get much of a chance to add anything, so it was a bit frustrating. That night I stayed with pal Michael Draine (thanks!) and we had time to chat that night and over breakfast at Bickford's.

Friday I ran into Liz Hand right away at "The Fiction of A. Merritt" panel, which did its best to resurrect the career of this now sadly neglected writer. I made sure to tell Liz I had a copy of my book for her (since she was so nice to write me that lovely intro to Pelzmantel), but I couldn't give it to her until after my reading.

Next I had to run off for the reading of A Midsummer Night's Dream; in the first hour, I played Peter Quince. It was quite delightful and fun, not least for Faye's fabulous fairy singing. I ran out for the next hour to catch the "New England: At Home to the Unheimlich?" discussion which ranged far beyond New England to explore Southern Gothic and even European influences. Then it was back to the Bard. I was pleased to play Puck; not so many lines in the last act, but I did get to end the play. The play within the play certainly led to a lot of laughter. Much fun.

Cecilia Tan led a great discussion on how ebooks and ebook readers are changing the shape of publishing but also the habits of readers. It was one of those panels that could have easily gone on much longer. Much fun to hear Liz read from her forthcoming Available Dark, the sequel or continuation of Generation Loss. This narrative heads off to Finland and Iceland, so you know I'm eager to read it!  The last event of the day was the "Meet the Pros(e) Party" where writers give out stickers with a line of their prose on it. Fun idea.

Saturday morning kicked off with the Broad Universe Group Reading. I had known a few Broads before, but after seeing the fun of the reading and chatting with Morven and Inanna, I decided I really needed to join. The difficulties of promotion are hard and it's no fun on your own. worrying whether anyone will come to your reading that afternoon at Readercon :-/ as some might do. If you're Liz Hand, you don't have to worry about those things. Her talk on "Crypto-Aviation" was standing room only. Many people looked in and decided not to join the throng. They missed out! It was great fun not only seeing the bizarre models, but also hearing about her adventures working for the Smithsonian.

The Fan Fiction panel was a lot of fun. I really can't understand writers who get upset at fanfic -- it seems like a wonderful compliment and likely to increase a book, series or film's reputation. Yes, it can act as a criticism, but no one's immune from that. A few of the writers, like Victoria Janssen, have gone on to write professionally. It can be a good training ground! After that, I had my reading in the afternoon: I played my kantele and read from the zombie western. Small audience, but at least I had one!

The Nalo Hopkinson interview was wonderful: interesting, entertaining and ultimately, very moving -- hard to hear again the tragedy of Octavia Butler's unexpected death, worse to hear that Hopkinson herself has been homeless and living hand to mouth for the last two years. Illness without insurance: the shame of this nation is that it does not offer simple health care to all.

Saturday night is the traditional Bad Prose Competition. Silliness and fun, and a whole lot of bad writing (on purpose). Hands down, the Readercon book I'm most looking forward to is by second place finisher in the contest, Mary Robinette Kowal. The most amazing thing -- in part -- is that this paranormal Regency is coming out from Tor:




Sunday was the town meeting for the Interstitial Arts Foundation, the Shirley Jackson Awards and then my final panel on Sex and Gender in F&SF. Despite being the last session of the day, we had a lively discussion and much (cordial!) disagreement and questions from the audience. I will propose a continuation for next year!

Thursday I'm off to Necon. Crazy.

Workshop & Readercon

I'll be running a two-hour workshop at East Line Books, the lovely Robyn Ringler's store, on Saturday July 24th up in Clifton Park. The cost will be $35. Here's the description:

Sticking with It: Writing with a Full Time Job

How to find the motivation and discipline to keep writing when you have a full time job -- and a family, relationship, or *life*! Everyone has a great idea for a story. Why do so few people ever write that story? Sure, part of the equation is discipline, but there's also juggling different kinds of tasks, finding your writing space and luring the muse to your side when you finally find that time. This workshop will give you techniques to harness your time, wrangle your muse and still keep on speaking terms with your family and friends.

In other words, tips I've learned about being productive when you have a lot of things to do, while still managing to maintain a certain amount of laziness ;-)

This afternoon I'm off to Readercon; panels don't start until 8pm. Right at the start I wish I could be in two places at once. Sigh! It's always the way. There's either too many things going on or nothing. I'm hemming and hawing on whether to bring a kantele for the reading. If no one shows up for the reading, I can at least play some pretty music.