Six Sentence Sunday: Con-Eire

Thanks, Linda Parsons.

The blog has moved: this is the last post that will be here apart from a housekeeping kind of post tomorrow. Everything's been moved over to the website for your ease and comfort. We'll play over there from now on.

It's Six Sentence Sunday again: they're going to be wrapping things up come January. It's a lot of work to coordinate something that keeps growing in leaps and bounds. I'm grateful for the new readers it brought me.

This week I offer a few sentences from my play Con-Eire which gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the workings of a spec fic convention. Having helped with quite a few of them, I have seen the enormous effort that goes into running them and the often capricious behaviour of 'big names' who have forgotten the fact that the people who run these are not paid and work only for the love of the stories, art, programmes and films that they love.

We catch up with the various members of the Con Com after news that their guest of honour, Very Famous Writer, has threatened to pull out because he discovered that the artist GoH is Very Famous Artist, with whom he has "history" as they say. But the complications multiply: we had a staged reading of this at Trinoc*coN which was a hoot, if I do say so myself. It was helped mightily by a very game cast and a whole lot of giggles.

 

MAEVE

Well, everything’s very hush hush—which is to say, nobody is too sure—but Minor Writer claimed that Very Famous Artist may be delving into her past for the next romance.

CONNOR

I feel like we need a scorecard.

DECLAN

Artists have to be free!

CONNOR

They always say that, but none of them gets anything done unless somebody else is taking care of the bills.

DEIRDRE

ANYway—

MAEVE

Well, that’s all I know: Someone from the past...

If you think you might like it, you can pick it up as an ebook at Amazon:

Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: Algol

Pressed for time, so I'm pointing you to a sublime blog called Strange Flowers, who has a write up of an absolutely amazing film, Algol: Tragödie der Macht (or is it Nacht? That's what the title cards say) which is Algol: Tragedy of Power (or Night). UPDATE: James confirms that other references to the film use Macht, so the title card is likely wrong. More fitting for the theme anyway.

Wow, just wow: an SF German silent that pre-dates Metropolis by seven years and features the amazing decadent Sebastian Droste. Do yourself a favour and read the whole write-up, then watch the film. I'm still making my way through; I cheated and watched the last reel so I could see Droste dance. I think you can make your way through it fairly well even if your German isn't that good; that's the beauty of silent films. Watch out for the eye of the devil!

As always, check the round-up of overlooked gems over at Sweet Freedom. And if you want a preview of what I was up to yesterday, take a gander here (you may need to be logged into Facebook but it's a public album).

Review: Hunger Games

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Women's Day, Con-Eire & BitchBuzz

Happy International Women's Day! A day to celebrate and a day to chastise because there's a long way to go yet and I'm getting more than a little impatient at fighting the same battles I have fought since childhood. There has been progress, I remind myself, but there's a long way to go until NO ONE gets dismissed or disrespected on account of gender. This is for all of us.

Of course, I celebrate the day in my usual way: a new publication. Well, not exactly new -- Con-Eire has been available in an expensive print edition which kind of missed the point of it being a fun and light-hearted thing. Now it's available for your Kindle or ebook reader for just $1.99.

Having just come back from a terrific con experience (which may have seemed anything but until it began), I had a lot of fun and chuckles while editing and updating this, including removing a couple of references to MySpace (!?) and some other tech innovations. Wow, so much has changed in just a few short years. But the over all issues remain the same for any event of this kind. I'm really proud that Lee Martindale (who also took a role in the premiere performance) gave me such a lovely blurb.

"From the bowels of back-of-house, from the deepest, darkest, most secret chambers of arcane ConComm knowledge, comes a screamingly funny glimpse into what’s behind the curtain at a science fiction convention. Fairy-dusted hilarity served with a side order of giggles."

It reminds me of the good old days of Trinoc*coN and there's a new dedication to Susan and Mildred (and Birdie and Ron) in it, with the hope that the next Three Mothers reunion won't be too far away. In the meantime, it's back to work including cleaning for the arrival of the Queen of Everything and Marko this weekend. Hurrah!

  

One of the things that simplified the process of making an ebook of Con-Eire was the wonderful new open source platform called Booktype. I was so delighted with it, I wrote about it in my column today for BitchBuzz.  I was really glad to find that:

 

"Booktype has been developed by the folks at Sourcefabric who have an ambition to foster independent journalism around the world by creating software to facilitate its development for print, digital and on air delivery."

Read the whole piece over at BBHQ.

P-Con Bound

Heading back to Dublin today for P-Con; looking forward to seeing friends and meeting new folks. Mary and Bryan Talbot will be signing Dotter of her Father's Eyes at Forbidden Planet and I believe Pádraig said there'd be drinks after. Looking forward to more plotting with Maura and I'm on some panels that ought to be interesting.

The schedule here; my bits include:

SAT

12.00 -12.50: Myth and Folklore in a Modern World
KA Laity, Ruth F Long, Peadar Ó Guilín, Brian J Showers

17.00 -17.50: Who Really Needs an Editor? Quality Control in an Internet Age
KA Laity, Ian McDonald, and Peadar Ó Guilín ponder on what an editor brings to a book, and how to find something good to read in a jungle of misspellings and bad punctuation. 

SUN

11.00 – 11.50: Crowdsourcing and Other Alternative Funding Models
If you want to make money out of your writing, what other alternatives are open to you besides getting a publisher to take your book? With KA Laity, CE Murphy, and Brian J Showers.

16.00 - 16.50: Managing Social Media: Pros & Pitfalls
KA Laity, Alan Nolan, Sarah Pinborough, Brian J Showers

Hope it will go well. Doubtless I will write it up. In the meantime, here's some photos from last weekend's trip to Dublin with Robert.

Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: Thirst & Linear Obsessional Recordings

A bit of news first: my story that asks the question "what if Christopher Marlowe wrote like an Elizabethan Hunter S. Thompson?"AKA "Fear and Loathing in Deptford," is featured at the World SF Blog. World SF is dedicated to posting links, news and original content related to science fiction, fantasy, horror and comics from around the world, so check them out for a wide variety of tales you won't see elsewhere.

THIRST: I'm slowly catching up on my Korean horror films. I am fond of Park's films and glad to have finally seen this one. It was part of the vampire run on Film 4 this past week. I'd seen just about everything else, so this was a nice surprise. In Thirst Kang-ho Song plays a priest who inadvertently becomes a vampire in his attempt to try to heal. He's driven to try to rescue the beaten-down Tae-ju, but saving the damsel in distress turns out to be a lot more complicated than he anticipates. Ok-bin Kim gives the orphaned outsider bride a mercurial character that reflects the deprivations of her marginalised life and her greed for excess that cannot be quenched. A very entertaining take on the vampire mythos.




LINEAR OBSESSIONAL RECORDINGS: Social networking brings you into contact with unexpected delights. Facebook connections brought me to Linear Obsessional Recordings and their coalition of experimental musicians. You'll find everything from a deconstruction of J. G Ballard's "The Atrocity Exhibit" to music for barges to found sounds as well as collages of loops and various improvisations. If you enjoy experimental work and ambient sounds, you'll find plenty to interest you there. You can stream all the music and download many for free (donations also accepted) -- some you can even remix as they're under a Creative Commons license. I spent all day yesterday listening to their recordings while writing. Good stuff. A lot to enjoy here.

Support indie music!

Know-vember: Chloë

What is more awesome than awesome? It has to be the lovely Chloë! She sent me absinthe chocolates. That would already make her more awesome than awesome, but she's also hilarious and has adorable Maudie to help with the awesomeness, too. We finally got to meet in Derby this year at Alt.Fiction after having lots of laughs on line. Not surprisingly, we had lots of laughs in person too. How awesome is that? Very awesome! Like Chloë. Here she is with a ladybird hat & Mr Y.

1. What's the first thing you do upon waking in the morning?

Think "oh fuck, not this again" and then get a kick in the head from Maud the dog who objects to me being compos mentis as it generally involves me moving and disturbing her.

2. What's a song you might be persuaded to dance to?

I could probably be persuaded to dance to anything because I’m easily led, let's get that clear early on – and I’m especially easy once I've had a few, ahem, blackcurrant cordials. I have a fond memory of dancing in a student night club to "I Touch Myself" by the Divinyls and putting the fear of god into the tiny student girls and boys (I was a “mature” student) with my earthy hip movements … Nowt better than scaring the children.

3. Where in the world do you live?

Fribourg, Switzerland. It’s the city that all the other Swiss cities look down on. And they shouldn’t because Fribourg is shiny. As long as you don’t mind life at a molasses slow pace and occasionally being bored titless.

4. What's a great night out for you?

Unexpected nights out - ones that are organised last minute or when you think to yourself, "This is going to be average, so I'll just have a couple and then get an early night" only to wind up crawling home, full of Jägermeister or some other deadly concoction at three in the morning. Which makes me sound like a lush ... okay, I confess. In truth, the best nights are the ones where you can relax and talk to the people around you and not feel awkward. That’s all I really ask.  

5. What's a great night in?

Me, Mr Y and a paddle. Not that kind of paddle either. Ain’t no creeks round here.

6. If you were offered an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

India. It has been a constant desire since I was about 6 years old. I want to see as many Ganeshas as I possibly can, see the full moon light up the Taj Mahal, breathe in the air of the Himalayas, sink my toes into a beach in Kerala, launch a lamp onto the Ganges at dusk for my Grandfather, and to witness New Delhi – amongst a catalogue of other things. I also have a hankering to see Canada (and to meet Isa and catch up with my pal Shelley) and to see the Aurora Borealis in Iceland (especially now as they should be at a peak for the next year or two). Can I have one of those round-the-world-many-stop-ticket thingies please? [Ed: yes, and me too so I can go as well.]

7. What book do you wish everyone would read so you could talk about it?

Vegan Freak: Being Vegan in a Non-Vegan World by Bob and Jenna Torres.  

8. What movie makes you cry?

Oh lordy, I am a sap when it comes to movies. In real life, I’m not much of a crier, but the movies can manipulate the crapola outta me and I’ll fall for it every time. I’ve never seen all of ET, just can’t do it, can’t even watch clips of it. Out of Africa nearly killed three generations of the women in my family when I watched it with my mum and grandmother. And then there was Reservoir Dogs. I had an immense crush on Harvey Keitel for a very long time and I thought he was beautiful when he was trying to keep Mr Orange alive. I bawled like a baby and everyone looked at me like I was crazy. They may have had a point.

9. What makes you laugh?

Odd things. Mr Y can make me laugh like a donkey – he’s got a mainline to my funny bone and I couldn’t even explain why most of the time. I love Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd, and a cornucopia of other tv stuff, but I have to confess to a penchant for Jackass. I know it’s wrong on so many levels but watching a man snort wasabi and then retching inexplicably tickles my funny bone. I can’t lie to you; I’m clearly a base and desolate creature.

10. Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden?

I used to talk to the ones at the bottom of the garden of the house where I grew up. I had my own little plot at the back of the shed where all I grew was a climbing white rose because that was all they wanted. I spent many happy hours there.

Thank you, ma'am. You are a delight.

Know-vember: Mildred

The stuff of legends! It's Mildred, the Demon Den Mom, wrangler of the Horror in Film and Literature List and Mater Lachrimarum of the Three Mothers. Look -- she's drinking a beer that's not the usual sex-in-a-canoe variety! Hee hee.

1. What's the first thing you do upon waking in the morning?

I have no choice in the matter. First thing is the let the cats out. If I do anything else first, I pay for it later.

2. What's a song you might be persuaded to dance to?


That song doesn't exist.

3. Where in the world do you live?

The middle of nowhere, south central Indiana. We have no close neighbors and we love it that way.

4. What's a great night out for you?

Last night we saw Madeline Albright speak. Tonight is women's basketball. Tomorrow night is The Three Musketeers at the Ruth Halls theater. Saturday we're going to French Lick to spend money at the casino. So, I guess just being out doing something is a great night, though I love just being at home snuggled on the couch watching a DVD with my sweetie.

5. What's a great night in?

Right now the DVDs are Farscape. We've been working our way through the seasons and are almost done.

6. If you were offered an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, > where would you go?


Probably a small town in Ireland. [Yes, please!]


7. What book do you wish everyone would read so you could talk about it?

The Stand, so we could talk about its myriad problems.

8. What movie makes you cry?

Knightrider. Every time. I know George Romero has really lost it, but in his day, he made fantastic movies.

9. What makes you laugh?

The amazing funny pictures that make the rounds on-line.

10. Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden?


I suspect there are and that's the reason the cats love it so much out there. 

Thanks, Mildred: I sorely miss having the usual Three Mothers [+ Birdie and Ron] Reunion this year. I hope you two can come visit me.

Know-vember: Adele

Thanks to the lovely Adele (@hagerat) for being the first volunteer! Adele runs UnBound (your home for reviews and news on spec fic works) and has awesome skills at kickboxing and baking (a religion has been founded around her baked goods -- that's how tasty they are). And look: she's just as cute as can be swathed in a sloth!

1. What's the first thing you do upon waking in the morning?

Hit snooze. Then turn off my alarm, pet ginger cat who is usually sleeping on the bed and looking huffy about the noise, check email and twitter on my iphone (addict) then crawl out of bed. 

2. What's a song you might be persuaded to dance to?

Country music makes me want to dance. Shanghia Cigarettes by Caitlin Rose is a good one. But I only dance in the house with all the curtains closed. 

3. Where in the world do you live?

East Midlands, UK, in a little village. 

4. What's a great night out for you?

My nights out tend to consist of kickboxing training, which is how I like it. I can have my arm twisted for food and a film. 

5. What's a great night in?

Book, cat, movie, laptop. Life is good.

6. If you were offered an all expenses paid trip anywhere in the world, where would you go?

New Zealand I think, it appeals. Although a long lazy tour of Europe would be fun too. 

7. What book do you wish everyone would read so you could talk about it?

The Office of Lost and Found by Vincent Holland-Keen coz it's mad as Badgers. 

8. What movie makes you cry?

Nothing recently although i used to sob every time at the Muppets Christmas Carol. I've toughened up since then. 

9. What makes you laugh?

Most things, I'm easily amused. 

10. Are there fairies at the bottom of your garden?

No. They moved out because of the Cats, there is a Dragon though. 

Thank you, Adele! You're the tops!

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.

Alt.Fiction

A great time had by all, although Adele and the Unbound crew spent most of the day recording the podcasts. Clearly the QUAD was not accustomed to hosting writers as they ran out of both pint glasses and every kind of beer except Stella by Saturday night. Here's Adele  modeling her new tattoo, a line from her friend Vince's forthcoming novel. I had a wonderful time getting to know Vince, Kat, Vick and everyone else. Interesting adventures all weekend, including hotel strangeness (maybe I should have tried the black pudding).

I had a reading first thing, which is a bit awkward, but we had a good audience. I also had a chance to hear Graham Joyce read from his new novel (wonderful!) and chatted with him after, talking about Galway after I mentioned I'll be heading off there. I was delighted to hear from him about the pirate queen Grace O'Malley who was based there.

Before the madness commenced: the podcasts went on all through the day. I was part of a couple of them. I'll link to them when they go up at Ubound.

Here is the lovely Miss Chloe! I was so delighted that she came all the way from Switzerland to the conference. We had a wonderful time chatting and hanging around. Lovely!

Back at the fabulous Adele's now: it's blistering hot in the East Midlands! What's up with that? A good excuse for a party, right?

Albacon 2010, Oct 8-10

Hey kids! Especially you locals -- we're only weeks away from Albacon, the capitol region's only spec fic con which runs from Friday October 8th until Sunday the 10th, with oodles of fun stuff for you to do and see.

Writer GoH: Allen Steele
Artist GoH: Ron Miller
Fan GoH: Lisa Ashton

Plus we just got news that fan fave Jackie Kessler will be able to attend (which means Jackie Morse Kessler will be there, too!). Check out my interview with Jackie where she reads from Hunger.

Check out our program! Highlights include the ALL DAY writers conference on Friday. Call in sick to attend if you need to do so, but we have pros from many different genres offering practical advice on how to get your writing into its best form and out there and published.

There's a fantasy ball Friday night and a masquerade on Saturday. All day long there are panels on books, comics (including manga),  films (including anime), television shows, science and fandom. Writers include a lot of pals of mine like Stella Price, C. Margery Kempe, Susan Hanniford Crowley, Inanna Arthen and Morven Westfield. Yeah, I will be there, too, and so will Kit Marlowe.

Three days of non-stop fun! Best of all, the discount rate of $50 for the whole shebang has been extended a little bit longer, so get your registration in as soon as possible by Oct 1st.

Ada Lovelace Day: Sarah Goode

It's Ada Lovelace Day again: time to celebrate women in science and technology. Perhaps influenced by all the historical research going on around me, I wanted to find a woman at least as far back as the 19th century, so I decided to focus on Sarah E. Goode, who was not only an early inventor but one of the first African-American women to secure a patent. Although born a slave in 1850, after the war she went north and became an entrepreneur. While living in Chicago and running her own furniture store, she came up with an idea for the Cabinet Bed, a folding bed that doubled as a writing desk when not in use. Ingenious!





Goode submitted her idea and was granted a patent on July 14, 1885 (Patent #322,177, for a cabinet bed). There are some discrepancies in the records of the times -- was there more than one Sarah Goode? Did the details get mixed up between two different ones? It's difficult to be sure: but one of those Sarahs was the inventor of this inspiring mechanical piece that doubtless sold well in her store to all those city dwellers pressed for space.

Have you got a story about a woman in science and technology to share?

Albacon Wrap-up

It was a crazy and fun-filled Albacon this year. Of course one of the most fun parts was having a chance to catch up with the wonderful Liz Hand. Fortunately, I'll see her the end of the month, too, at the Poe conference at UMass Amherst (no, I don't have many details to give -- one of the things we both hoped the other knew more about. Well, surprises can be nice, too). She read from her forthcoming story "The Maiden Voyage of Macauley's Bellerephon" which held the audience enraptured. I can't wait to read the whole thing.

Things kicked off Thursday night with a new event. Jackie Kessler (whom I'll be featuring on Prose at the Rose next week) hosted an editors and agent panel. It was informative and well-attended despite not being part of the "traditional" con. New and experienced writers found a lot of information and had questions a-plenty. Afterward, Debi Chowdhury and I hosted a tarot card reader party (thanks so much, Donna, for coming to read!). It was a lot of fun and we met lots of people.

Friday was also a new event: the writers conference. Brainstormed by Debi and coordinated and scheduled by the indefatigable Susan Hanniford Crowley, it featured all kinds of panels and workshops like Toni Andrews' "Five Fixes" for your manuscript, the fabulous Stella Price's "Promotion for the Author on a Budget" and Jackie Kessler's "How to Write a Query Letter" -- all of which went over very well with the eager writers and writers-to-be. I was on panels about Urban Fantasy and Using Mythology. There was a big signing at 3 o'clock, but that's when I had to run off to give my paper across town on Beowulf: Prince of Geats at the 24th International Conference on Medievalism over at Siena College.

I got back in time for dinner and then the ice cream social. Stayed up way too late yakking and having fun, meeting for the first time fellow writer Debra Hyde, whom I'd only known on-line. Saturday was a jam-packed day of panels and readings. Fortunately I was only on one panel, so I didn't have to be too bubbly after the craziness of the day before. It was perhaps not the thing to do for con com members to do, but some of us skipped the banquet and went to Plum Blossom for dinner and it was worth it. Debra and Debi and Susan and I hosted a reading in Debi's room that night which went on 'til quite late and everyone seemed to have a terrific time.

Sunday everyone was dragging a little bit, but there was a good showing for the panel appreciating Charles Brown. Liz, David Hartwell, Brett Cox and Ron Drummond reminisced about their own memories of Brown while explaining his importance to the field of speculative fiction as a whole, not just as editor of Locus, but as a cheerleader for the genres. Even after all the panels were done, we couldn't all drag ourselves away, so Ruth and Debi and I went out for sushi at Sushi Tei. Yum!

Albacon!

You'll be hard pressed to catch up with me the next few days, because I will be marinating in Albacon, the local SF/F/H -- and this year, romance -- con. I somehow ended up on the planning committee which included (to my surprise) setting up the program book (eek!) as well as helping to publicise the con here and there.

Guest of honor is the every fabulous Liz Hand and artist guest of honor is Alan F. Beck. The band Igor's Egg is playing Friday night, and all day Friday there are writing workshops (yes, I'll be on a couple of panels). See the full list of participants and panels; you'll definitely want to be there!

Things kick off with an editors, agents and publishers gathering Thursday night about 6:30, hosted by the faboo Jackie Kessler, who I am featuring on the next episode of Prose at the Rose.

Of course, somehow I have to juggle this with the Medievalism conference that's taking place across town, where I'll be giving a paper on masculinity and Beowulf (and Beowulf: Prince of Geats!).

Madness -- but that's typical for me, eh?

Pi-Con Bound

I'm off to Pi-Con today. All kinds of interesting things going on there, and interesting people including the guest of honor, Mary Doria Russell. I'm on a few panels, I will be signing books, too. Maybe I should bring a kantele to play just in case no one shows for the signing.

I'm also having lunch with my pal Dennis from grad school, which ought to be fun. We haven't seen each other except on Facebook for some time. After Pi-Con, I'll head down to Hartford for a slumber party at Elena's with the Queen and Miss Wendy. Whoo hoo!

Let's hope the weather stays reasonably clear -- look out, Hurricane Bill!

Which SF Writer are You?

Fair enough!

I am: Samuel R. "Chip" Delany Few have had such broad commercial success with aggressively experimental prose techniques.

Which science fiction writer are you?

Albacon & Fall Colors

Ran out to get a hair cut yesterday and decided I needed a little color too, so voilà: Purple highlights! Thanks, Joy. She's so good that she matched the color to the jacket I was wearing.

We had a short night at Albacon -- one panel for me on writing flash fiction. True to form, we cut the panel short (hee hee!). But I sold two copies of Jane Quiet at the end of it (slight upward blip in whuffie), so whoo hoo! We had some tasty ice cream at the ice cream social, but having both slept badly the night before, we went home early and watched the news before collapsing. More today at Albacon -- should be fun. There's free wireless in the hotel, so updates to Facebook likely.

The corset did its job: despite being on my feet all day and driving (a stick) for the first time in a month, there was very little swelling around the ankle. Yay! I even managed to find something to Sanrio-fy it, so that's good.

Albacon & Reading

There have been changes in the Albacon schedule, most notably the loss of a GOH, but the show must go on. Here's my revised schedule:

In A Flash: The challenges and rewards of telling a story in under 1,000 words. Mead, Schwabach, Laity, Strock(M)
Fri 6:00 PM Beverwyck

Why write? It pays badly, you have to deal with constant rejection, and you spend your life typing. Why do you do it?
Laity(M), SGrotta, Spoor, Frederick, Flint, Hunt
Sat 5:00 PM Beverwyck

Implying other languages:
How do you make it seem like aliens are speaking other languages. Other than sprinkling in apostrophes, how do you make it seem like characters are speaking other languages? What tricks of syntax and grammar can be used to make aliens sound alien?
Rothman, Schoen(M), Laity, Mead, Sklar
Sun 11:00 AM Ballroom C/D

Saving science fiction from academia:
Nowadays science fiction Is being taught as literature and prediction, surely destroying joy and misinformaing readers. What can we to save SF from being studied to boredom?
finder, Halasz, Kannenberg, Miller, Laity(M)
Sun 1:00 PM Beverwyck

British SF Television – Why Are They So Good? What is it about British science fiction television shows that make them so appealing?
Fludd, Price(M), Laity, Lay
Sun 3:00 PM Schuyler

Reading: Don't forget to mark October 18th on your calendar. I will be reading from my new collection Unikirja at East Line Books. Maybe I'll bring one of the kanteles, too (or all of them!). Now that the heat's come on, I'll probably have a good bit of re-tuning to do, however.

No More Pi for Me

As expected the reading this morning was poorly attended, which is to say no one at all showed up for what's traditionally known as the "hangover" time slot. Not too surprising, given that even GoH Cory Doctorow's reading was not that well attended. I don't get it -- I love readings. You can bet I won't be volunteering for another anytime soon (only takes three or four or a dozen times for me to learn a lesson). Doctorow's story was a hoot, "To Go Boldly" which was written for an anthology of space operas, which is not a genre he usually writes. It seemed to take the audience a while to catch on to the humor, but once they did, they kept laughing all the way through. Later in the GoH interview he mentioned being proud of being "an inch deep and ten miles wide," saying the one time he agreed with Heinlein was when he said, "Specialization is for insects" (tell that to our education system).

He said he often puts up works in progress as podcasts and that reminded me that I need to finally get around to the promised podcasts of my stories. I figure I will start small with flash fiction rather than the grandiose plans I had before. This way things that are out making the rounds of rejections can be "available" -- but not technically in print -- to those all important five fans of mine who want to hear me read my stories (but are in far flung, disparate locations).

<-- That's me and Ianto

The rest of the day was fine -- I offered my two cents on the new and old Doctor Who and chaired the panel on Torchwood with all the arrogance and fetching bonhomie of Captain Jack, then watched the mysterious Ironman/Batman debate (which Gene can tell you about as he was head of the Batman team). We swung home by way of Northampton to have Thai for a late lunch and (of course) stop by Raven Books. I bought one little book, aren't you proud?

Classes start tomorrow bright and early at 9am. I will have to stop playing with my Oblique Strategies widget and get some things done tonight. Last day of freedom, sigh.