worldcon ramblings
Aug. 10th, 2008 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sergebroomI'm back home, and I have come to the conclusion that long-distance driving is much easier to handle when you’ve had 6 hours of sleep than a meager four.
It’s not like I had much choice. Preparations for the trip to Denvention took longer than expected, but, no matter how late we went to bed, we still had to get up at the same time. Even the effects of a large Starbuck’s with 3 shots of espresso had started wearing off before we reached the half-way point of our 450-mile ride. I’m almost grateful for our arriving in Denver during rush hour while a torrential rain was making itself felt. The snail pace helped make sure I wouldn’t drive past the exit we had to take to reach the worldcon. It is no surprise that I easily went to sleep that evening. I had no dream that I could remember. Meanwhile my wife’s dreaming of that first night involved actor Bruce Greenwood cutting people to pieces.
Things got better after that.
It’s true that there are many fellow bloggers that I didn’t get to finally meet in the real world – even though that definition of ‘real’ involves a 5-day-long con. Kathryn of Sunnyvale did a wonderful job giving that Making Light party on Friday evening. She told me that, when the official start of the event arrived, 1000 people showed up at the same time instead of trickling in. I think she may be exaggerating because the room, while roomy, didn’t enough room for 1000 pairs of elbows. All this to say that, by the time the masquerade was over and we had tossed our presentation’s props inside my minivan, many of the party’s celebrants had left. Sniff. I did meet ML’s Lee, TomB, Madeline F, Carol Kimball, Randolph Fritz, Arwen, Skwid and others(1). Xopher and Tim Walters were singing harmonies in the bathroom. Hmm. That doesn’t sound quite right. But they definitely were singing. I never got to see Patrick Nielsen Hayden, due to his commitment to Tor Books’s own party. I’d say the same thing about Teresa, but luckily I had met her earlier that day. As for Bill Higgins, I’m glad I had gone to his panel on Heinlein’s possible involvement in work during WW2 that led to the suits used by Apollo astronauts. Oh, and I got to meet Abi again even though she wasn’t there, thanks to the wonders of intertube television.
By the way, if you hear rumors that the party involved dinosaurs and sodomy, it’s not true. But Kathryn did give some visitors a fragment of dinosaur bone.
For some reason, I didn’t attend many panels besides the ones that my wife was on. That may be because, especially on Saturday, those panels that I did want to see tended to be scheduled at the same time as other activities. So it goes. But I especially enjoyed the panel about bleeding-heart liberals who write military SF: it has John Hemry, Elizabeth Moon, Joe Haldeman, and John Scalzi, the panel’s only civilian. I was amused by Moon’s warning to the panelists and to the audience that they were not to bring up the current state of world affairs, and her going oops when she caught herself doing just that. I think I’ll read her Marque and Reprisal soon.
There was also Bill Higgins’s panel about spacesuits that I’ve already mentioned. And, surprisingly, the subject of one panel was the late Clifford Simak. I’ve always loved his stuff, but he’s not someone that people usually bring up in conversations. I met him once, in private, at the Denvention that was held in 1981. Wonderful man.
As for the masquerade… It was a blast. An exhausting blast(2), but that was nothing compared to what Susan de Guardiola went thru to put the whole Interplanet Janet presentation together. I hope her shoulder is doing better, after all that sewing. She deserves a big hip-hip-hurrah. And another one. And another one. I expect she’ll find a way to lay her hands on something she can post on YouTube. She probably can. Hint, hint. Until then, Harriet Culver has provided a link to Arwensouth’s flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arwensouth/sets/72157606623741526/?page=6 Our group’s photos are those with the big goofy sun in them.
All in all, this was a good worlcon. I was quite tired by the time of the last day though, due to yet another 4-hour night. It left me feeling like this:
I eventually got my second wind, just in time for my wife and I to go have dinner with friends Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and just in time for the Hugos a bit after that. Speaking of which, the winners I had picked for almost all categories turned out to be the people who actually won. Kind of scary, but I’ll try not to let that power get to my head. Besides, there were exceptions. One was in the best-editor-short-form category, where I had selected Asimov’s Sheila Williams, who lost to F&SF’s Gordon Van Gelder. That surprised me a bit because so many of the nominated stories were from Asimov’s. Well, congratulations to all the winners.
One of my favorite moments of the con was after our presentation's first rehearsals. Most our group's participants had to go elsewhere(3), but I needed help taking the sun banners back into storage, which is how Susan and I wound up having a long chat with the sun's two bearers, Tania and Lance, also known as the Apollonians. Among the things discussed were the Hugos, and also space battles that involve frustrated missiles.
Another fun moment was when I got into our hotel’s elevator. Halfway down, an older man came onboard. Further down, Jay Lake stepped in. The conversation kind of went like this:
That older man’s name?
Robert Silverberg.
----------
(1) No, not Dawno, nor Lisa Spangenberg or Macallister Stone, but I had run into them earlier. Well, I didn’t really run. Our paths crossed while I was walking briskly. Speaking of walking, Tania still hasn't found her Ursa boots.
(2) That sounds like rocketry talk, but that’s the best metaphor I can think of right now. I should go to bed and sleep, perchance to dream good dreams.
(3) That included Mary Aileen, frequent visitor to this blog.
It’s not like I had much choice. Preparations for the trip to Denvention took longer than expected, but, no matter how late we went to bed, we still had to get up at the same time. Even the effects of a large Starbuck’s with 3 shots of espresso had started wearing off before we reached the half-way point of our 450-mile ride. I’m almost grateful for our arriving in Denver during rush hour while a torrential rain was making itself felt. The snail pace helped make sure I wouldn’t drive past the exit we had to take to reach the worldcon. It is no surprise that I easily went to sleep that evening. I had no dream that I could remember. Meanwhile my wife’s dreaming of that first night involved actor Bruce Greenwood cutting people to pieces.
Things got better after that.
It’s true that there are many fellow bloggers that I didn’t get to finally meet in the real world – even though that definition of ‘real’ involves a 5-day-long con. Kathryn of Sunnyvale did a wonderful job giving that Making Light party on Friday evening. She told me that, when the official start of the event arrived, 1000 people showed up at the same time instead of trickling in. I think she may be exaggerating because the room, while roomy, didn’t enough room for 1000 pairs of elbows. All this to say that, by the time the masquerade was over and we had tossed our presentation’s props inside my minivan, many of the party’s celebrants had left. Sniff. I did meet ML’s Lee, TomB, Madeline F, Carol Kimball, Randolph Fritz, Arwen, Skwid and others(1). Xopher and Tim Walters were singing harmonies in the bathroom. Hmm. That doesn’t sound quite right. But they definitely were singing. I never got to see Patrick Nielsen Hayden, due to his commitment to Tor Books’s own party. I’d say the same thing about Teresa, but luckily I had met her earlier that day. As for Bill Higgins, I’m glad I had gone to his panel on Heinlein’s possible involvement in work during WW2 that led to the suits used by Apollo astronauts. Oh, and I got to meet Abi again even though she wasn’t there, thanks to the wonders of intertube television.
By the way, if you hear rumors that the party involved dinosaurs and sodomy, it’s not true. But Kathryn did give some visitors a fragment of dinosaur bone.
For some reason, I didn’t attend many panels besides the ones that my wife was on. That may be because, especially on Saturday, those panels that I did want to see tended to be scheduled at the same time as other activities. So it goes. But I especially enjoyed the panel about bleeding-heart liberals who write military SF: it has John Hemry, Elizabeth Moon, Joe Haldeman, and John Scalzi, the panel’s only civilian. I was amused by Moon’s warning to the panelists and to the audience that they were not to bring up the current state of world affairs, and her going oops when she caught herself doing just that. I think I’ll read her Marque and Reprisal soon.
There was also Bill Higgins’s panel about spacesuits that I’ve already mentioned. And, surprisingly, the subject of one panel was the late Clifford Simak. I’ve always loved his stuff, but he’s not someone that people usually bring up in conversations. I met him once, in private, at the Denvention that was held in 1981. Wonderful man.
As for the masquerade… It was a blast. An exhausting blast(2), but that was nothing compared to what Susan de Guardiola went thru to put the whole Interplanet Janet presentation together. I hope her shoulder is doing better, after all that sewing. She deserves a big hip-hip-hurrah. And another one. And another one. I expect she’ll find a way to lay her hands on something she can post on YouTube. She probably can. Hint, hint. Until then, Harriet Culver has provided a link to Arwensouth’s flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/arwensouth/sets/72157606623741526/?page=6 Our group’s photos are those with the big goofy sun in them.
All in all, this was a good worlcon. I was quite tired by the time of the last day though, due to yet another 4-hour night. It left me feeling like this:
I eventually got my second wind, just in time for my wife and I to go have dinner with friends Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and just in time for the Hugos a bit after that. Speaking of which, the winners I had picked for almost all categories turned out to be the people who actually won. Kind of scary, but I’ll try not to let that power get to my head. Besides, there were exceptions. One was in the best-editor-short-form category, where I had selected Asimov’s Sheila Williams, who lost to F&SF’s Gordon Van Gelder. That surprised me a bit because so many of the nominated stories were from Asimov’s. Well, congratulations to all the winners.
One of my favorite moments of the con was after our presentation's first rehearsals. Most our group's participants had to go elsewhere(3), but I needed help taking the sun banners back into storage, which is how Susan and I wound up having a long chat with the sun's two bearers, Tania and Lance, also known as the Apollonians. Among the things discussed were the Hugos, and also space battles that involve frustrated missiles.
Another fun moment was when I got into our hotel’s elevator. Halfway down, an older man came onboard. Further down, Jay Lake stepped in. The conversation kind of went like this:
”Hello,” I say to Lake.
“Do we know each other?” he asks, curious.
“Nah” I say. “I’m just a fan.”
“There is no such thing as just a fan,” he replies.
“Well,” I respond, “I am a fan who’s married to a writer.”
“That’s the way it is for me too,” interjects the man who’d come in earlier.
That older man’s name?
Robert Silverberg.
----------
(1) No, not Dawno, nor Lisa Spangenberg or Macallister Stone, but I had run into them earlier. Well, I didn’t really run. Our paths crossed while I was walking briskly. Speaking of walking, Tania still hasn't found her Ursa boots.
(2) That sounds like rocketry talk, but that’s the best metaphor I can think of right now. I should go to bed and sleep, perchance to dream good dreams.
(3) That included Mary Aileen, frequent visitor to this blog.
