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jack* Eastercn was great fun
* I have some good books, including some old classics and sequels I'm curious about but didn't want to buy, and some duplicates of my most accessible favourites to give away
* The travel was all pretty successful.
* Many nice people I knew went, and I got to know better, which is very nice.
* There were lots of interesting things, I've a whole bunch of percolating questions that'll crop up on
* I went to coffee with China Miéville. I'd tried Iron Council but couldn't get into it, and had the impression of someone like Anne MacCaffrey, but he looks more like Vinnie Jones, and talks like he looks. His guest of honour slot wasn't devoted to anything about him, just here's an essay which recently occurred to me, now I'll talk about it, which was really interesting.
* I described him and Neil Gaiman as stubbornly not convinced that they're not a rockstar (with the charisma to pull it off). Neil failed to be kissed by anyone though, sorry foreeverdirt. (I would have asked him for a kiss to send you if I'd met him, but never did :))
* I wore my cloak increasingly more over the weekend. In my opinion, it went surprisingly well with the blue Hawaiian shirt. Worn inside out it's a lot more science-fictiony, as it's incredibly silver, but blue with flashed of silver lining is definitely the look I like.
* The hotel was very nice. They had mazes of twisty passages, but I liked the decoration, just the right mix of posh, tasteful, nice decoration, but sufficiently interesting not to be boring. And of course, slowly helpful notices appeared, "You are in a maze of twisty passages all alike" in the maze of twisty passages and "Beware of the Leopard" on the leopard statue.
* However, they slightly failed in some ways. I got the impression the staff doing what they regularly did were pleasant and helpful and knew what they were doing, but that they'd drafted in extra staff to deal with the vastly increased number of people for meals, for the extra bars, etc, who were nice, but didn't really know what they were doing.
Eg. when approximately a thousand people all want a glass of beer at once, it may be more helpful to place more emphasis on "serve pint, get exact money, next customer" than mainting the illusion that people will amble past the bar, strike up conversation, and casually mention that perhaps they're a little thirsty and did the bar have anything appropriate, and they'd be sure an appropriate little amount would find it onto the hotel bill later, and can I wait two minutes while you try to get the till to give a receipt? I don't blame the staff (who were obviously helpful, just didn't know enough) or the con committee (who did a great job), it's just a shame the hotel hadn't given some more directed training beforehand.
* I run out of socialising. I'm in a situation where I can just speak to someone standing there and we have lots in common and can speak easily. However only some of the time can I *do* that, after three days, I just stall and listen, without meeting new people.
* And there were a lot of friends there, but none I'm quite close enough to I can just flop with not worrying about whether I'm saying anything or not.
* And several panels had interesting ideas, but were frustrating, as there seemed to be someone waffling and I wanted to shake them, but I had too many different things to say at once and they jammed, me unable to work out what would be really most useful and what wouldn't.
* The "Crossing the steams: What's the difference between scifi or fantasy?" especially. Weston was very funny, and had a good point ("one of the things,and imho the only important one, that defines science-fiction is being rationalistic about physics"), but insisted on making it vociferously rather than consistently, when listening to other people would have been really interesting. And so everyone present only wanted to shoot that down rather than talking about anything else, but it was hopeless.
* I spent four days almost continuously in one building, only going outside just to experience fresh and snow for a couple of minutes each day. I think that's the longest I've spend inside, but can see why Americans and science fiction authors can imagine living entirely inside.
* Thanks to Sebby, who got me half his room in the main hotel, and was a interesting, polite and inoffensive room-mate. I hope you were glad of someone to share with too.
* I have some good books, including some old classics and sequels I'm curious about but didn't want to buy, and some duplicates of my most accessible favourites to give away
* The travel was all pretty successful.
* Many nice people I knew went, and I got to know better, which is very nice.
* There were lots of interesting things, I've a whole bunch of percolating questions that'll crop up on
* I went to coffee with China Miéville. I'd tried Iron Council but couldn't get into it, and had the impression of someone like Anne MacCaffrey, but he looks more like Vinnie Jones, and talks like he looks. His guest of honour slot wasn't devoted to anything about him, just here's an essay which recently occurred to me, now I'll talk about it, which was really interesting.
* I described him and Neil Gaiman as stubbornly not convinced that they're not a rockstar (with the charisma to pull it off). Neil failed to be kissed by anyone though, sorry foreeverdirt. (I would have asked him for a kiss to send you if I'd met him, but never did :))
* I wore my cloak increasingly more over the weekend. In my opinion, it went surprisingly well with the blue Hawaiian shirt. Worn inside out it's a lot more science-fictiony, as it's incredibly silver, but blue with flashed of silver lining is definitely the look I like.
* The hotel was very nice. They had mazes of twisty passages, but I liked the decoration, just the right mix of posh, tasteful, nice decoration, but sufficiently interesting not to be boring. And of course, slowly helpful notices appeared, "You are in a maze of twisty passages all alike" in the maze of twisty passages and "Beware of the Leopard" on the leopard statue.
* However, they slightly failed in some ways. I got the impression the staff doing what they regularly did were pleasant and helpful and knew what they were doing, but that they'd drafted in extra staff to deal with the vastly increased number of people for meals, for the extra bars, etc, who were nice, but didn't really know what they were doing.
Eg. when approximately a thousand people all want a glass of beer at once, it may be more helpful to place more emphasis on "serve pint, get exact money, next customer" than mainting the illusion that people will amble past the bar, strike up conversation, and casually mention that perhaps they're a little thirsty and did the bar have anything appropriate, and they'd be sure an appropriate little amount would find it onto the hotel bill later, and can I wait two minutes while you try to get the till to give a receipt? I don't blame the staff (who were obviously helpful, just didn't know enough) or the con committee (who did a great job), it's just a shame the hotel hadn't given some more directed training beforehand.
* I run out of socialising. I'm in a situation where I can just speak to someone standing there and we have lots in common and can speak easily. However only some of the time can I *do* that, after three days, I just stall and listen, without meeting new people.
* And there were a lot of friends there, but none I'm quite close enough to I can just flop with not worrying about whether I'm saying anything or not.
* And several panels had interesting ideas, but were frustrating, as there seemed to be someone waffling and I wanted to shake them, but I had too many different things to say at once and they jammed, me unable to work out what would be really most useful and what wouldn't.
* The "Crossing the steams: What's the difference between scifi or fantasy?" especially. Weston was very funny, and had a good point ("one of the things,and imho the only important one, that defines science-fiction is being rationalistic about physics"), but insisted on making it vociferously rather than consistently, when listening to other people would have been really interesting. And so everyone present only wanted to shoot that down rather than talking about anything else, but it was hopeless.
* I spent four days almost continuously in one building, only going outside just to experience fresh and snow for a couple of minutes each day. I think that's the longest I've spend inside, but can see why Americans and science fiction authors can imagine living entirely inside.
* Thanks to Sebby, who got me half his room in the main hotel, and was a interesting, polite and inoffensive room-mate. I hope you were glad of someone to share with too.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-25 04:18 pm (UTC)Classics: First river-world saga, some books by authors I knew but not the book (can't remember which, zelazny? Asimov?)
Sequel: Dave Duncan present tense
Duplicates: Lord of Light and several Bujold.
I have ambitions to at some point write something that's in dialogue with it,
I can imagine :) Although I've no idea what his books *are* like in that way.
I have met Neil, and he is extremely cool;
Ah, cool! You can never tell if someone will be nice in person. It's good to run into someone, I can see he's popular enough it's difficult. One of the lovely things about scifi cons is how much of the time an author *can* come and participate without being mobbed.
But I think the rock-star thing is just a vibe in the way people like him, and the way he is, I imagine it being much the same in person :)
I have strong feelings about Eastercon venues;
I'm not sure what would be best. This worked pretty well -- eg. the hotel obviously helped with things that in other circumstances other people would have had to have done. But I'm sure there must be somewhere more appropriate, but there obviously isn't or cons would run there all the time. A university sounds good -- somewhere with enough auditoria, but also a lot of basic single rooms. But I don't know if any have enough space and competence and fancy bits that are necessary.
I can run out of People Stuff energy very fast, but congoing fandom seems to work very differently for me
Indeed, most of the time, it's great as you don't have to try to make talk, whatever you're thinking is almost certain to interest someone you might talk to.
This is, of course, what considered responses to them in your journal before the ideas fade are for.
Exactly. Expect at least some :)
A perennial subject, and a very arguable point;
Exactly. But it did raise several interesting points, more so than just "We don't know, do we, we'll go on talking about it next year." I think rationality is the core of science-fiction, but not the only science fiction.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-25 06:21 pm (UTC)That's the nail on the head, really. Eastercons require a reasonably-sized hotel which will do them a good room rate and not charge too much for function space, and there are various other requirements but it's quite hard to find somewhere at the right size and price. Often there are compromises, but I think the Radisson is a pretty good one. I prefer last year's hotel but it's too small for most Eastercons.
A university sounds good -- somewhere with enough auditoria, but also a lot of basic single rooms. But I don't know if any have enough space and competence and fancy bits that are necessary.
Well, one problem is that they have basic single rooms, but they are not good for doubles or families. A lot of them don't have enough rooms for a big convention under one roof.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-25 06:27 pm (UTC)Wonderfully inventive, in frequently mildly icky ways; politically very left wing, sometimes with less than entirely successful lack of subtle; consciously rejecting some notions of "consolatory", in ways that to my mind leave the ground littered with wet injured babies [ from being thrown out with the bathwater ]; consciously thuggish, for which I have no sympathy whatsoever - in the way that something like Swordspoint is Fantasy of Manners, I think Mieville may count as Fantasy of Bad Manners.
Ah, cool! You can never tell if someone will be nice in person.
Of the authors I've met, a pleasingly large majority have been extremely nice people; it also seems to be a feature of this subculture that on the rare occasions when someone is known to be a jerk, the information will be disseminated in no uncertain terms.
It's good to run into someone, I can see he's popular enough it's difficult. One of the lovely things about scifi cons is how much of the time an author *can* come and participate without being mobbed.
But I think the rock-star thing is just a vibe in the way people like him, and the way he is, I imagine it being much the same in person
I have the impression he does not go to many cons these days because of finding that aspect a bit tiresome.
I'm not sure what would be best. This worked pretty well -- eg. the hotel obviously helped with things that in other circumstances other people would have had to have done.
The Radisson Escher is a moderately good convention space, I think. Unless it has been remodelled since 1996, the poolside bar works really well as a central space people will pass through and you will see them which is to my mind vital in conventions between a hundred and a couple of thousand people; smaller than that and you don't really need it to find people, but Worldcon-size that just can't be done and you end up having to plan your time intensely to meet anyone at all, which is one reason why I am not so fond of Worldcons as of a comparable amount of time at a smaller con by a long shot.
A university sounds good -- somewhere with enough auditoria, but also a lot of basic single rooms. But I don't know if any have enough space and competence and fancy bits that are necessary.
You might want to keep an eye out for Unicon in summer, then. I've been to several and enjoyed them a lot.
Exactly. But it did raise several interesting points, more so than just "We don't know, do we, we'll go on talking about it next year." I think rationality is the core of science-fiction, but not the only science fiction.
I think the interesting argument to be made there is from the edge cases, because to my mind there are at least three different borders between SF and fantasy; fantasy with SF underwear, where it's rational underneath but has fantasy trappings that may or may not be visible to the characters but are to the reader [ have you read the Steerswoman books ? ]; the sort-of magical realist edge, books like Desolation Road and King's Dark Tower books and "realist magicism" where there is magic that follows clearly defined and manipulable rules.
no subject
Date: 2008-03-26 12:28 am (UTC)Indeed. I optimistically hope that's just because most people are nice people. But some people, however nice, are a lot more fun to have a half-hour conversation with, and you're always disappointed if someone isn't as entertaining as their books, unfortunately.
I have the impression he does not go to many cons these days because of finding that aspect a bit tiresome.
I can imagine.
Unless it has been remodelled since 1996, the poolside bar works really well as a central space
Alas, the pool is gone. That would have been really nice, but now there's a room where the pool used to be, used as an overflow breakfast and dinner room :(
You might want to keep an eye out for Unicon in summer, then.
Good point. I went to the last one because it was here and enjoyed it, although naturally feel drawn to eastercon if anything.
I think the interesting argument to be made there is from the edge cases, because to my mind there are at least three different borders between SF and fantasy;
Indeed, edge cases are a great place to look. (As evinced by, eg. the study of mathematical analysis.) I've a lot more to say about this I'm afraid I'm going to postpone for the moment. However, thank you very much -- I always do like this overlap a lot, and steerswoman looks fascinating!