Marscon and beyond
Mar. 3rd, 2013 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catherineldfSince there's already been a beyond. Contrary to some rumors, even I am crispy after a vigorous convention weekend and speaking to a book group, so this will be a shortish con/book club write up. :-)
It was a grand time all around. Friday, I got to Marscon just in time to hear Bryan Thao Worra and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay's first panel on monsters and lore of Laos. This was great fun and I am looking forward to Saymoukda's play, Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals which will be performed by Theater Mu at the Southern Theater this coming October. It looks like all kinds of awesome. After dinner, we descended on the hotel restaurant with Bryan, Haddayr, Saymoukda, Michael and Sherry Merriam, and a bunch of other folks for a jolly dinner that actually ran through two shifts of people before we called it a night. Lively discussion about monsters, fandom, writerly promotion, art, and stuff. Rachel Gold and I went off to the Art Show, where I bought a fabulous pen from Giingerwood and one of Rhea Ewing's prints. Then I called it an early night and went home afterwards.
Saturday, despite the cats deciding to rumble and mangle me in the process and needing to stop by the Post Office to sent my Con or Bust winner her books (in New Zealand), I managed to get to the con in time for our panel on Social Networking for Creatives. Overall, I think this could have done with more structure - we had writers, comic artists and a costumer so I'm not sure we articulated some of the differences between what's more useful for selling your artwork versus promoting your books. I am looking forward to trying Hootsuite, however. People did mention getting some useful things out of it though and we're doing a second version at CONvergence if all works out so we've got time to iron some things out. After that, we went for a wander and a chat in miscellaneous groups. Eventually, I ended up in the bar, having tea with Eleanor Arnason, Ruth Berman and Rachel Gold, which was lovely and interesting. Then I caught part of Designing a Magical System panel before my reading. Shari, Haddayr, Dave, Naomi and P.M.F. Johnson said interesting things even though the room was boiling hot, devoid of water and had a noisy fan in it. Next up, Kim Long-Ewing, Kathryn Sullivan, Rachel Gold and I did a Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading to a small select crew who sweated it out with us. I enjoyed all the excerpts and look forward to hearing/reading more.
Dinner was back at the hotel restaurant, where things went sadly awry. Food did not arrive after an hour and repeated requests so Kim and Rachel went off to their panel dinnerless. We managed to get through our meals with some mishaps (and no water once we ran out, which seemed to be a theme). Bryan showed up in time to enjoy Rachel's soup, at least, though he's still speculating on the whereabouts of his iced tea. Matt, Bryan and I went up and found Shari, Steve and Sondra so we could go to their room to get changed for the parties. Steve read from a bizarre little book of Hodag stories from the 1920s while we sorted out tights and skirts and lacing or zipping each other into our corsets (alas, Matt, Bryan, Steve and their other male friend did not wear corsets or skirts). Rachel joined us and we went off to take the party floor by storm. This took the form of going to the Diversicon 21 party where I badgered people about registering for the con and doing programming (this went well). I chatted with Matt, Rachel, the redoubtable Anton, Scott Lohman and a bunch of other folks before Shari and I went back to the room, de-corseted and laid about in pjs and street clothes and chatted. Eventually, I headed home and slept the sleep of the exhausted, but happy.
Sunday, it was back to the con for an 11AM panel on Depictions of Aging in SF/F with Ruth Berman, Kathryn Sullivan and Rebecca Marjesdatter. We had a fine time and got and gave some interesting suggestions. And we all agreed that more interesting older characters doing more things would be a welcome addition to the genre. Rebecca, Ruth and I went to lunch (back at the the hotel restaurant, where all was skittles and beer. No idea what happens in that kitchen of a Saturday night). We had a fun chat about sundry things before Rebecca went to her next panel and I went to go hear Bryan talk more about Laotian monsters. Then it was back downstairs for a quick tour of the Dealer's Room and the Using History in SF/F panel. David Schwartz, Ruth Berman, Doug Hulick and I discussed a wide-ranging series of topics related to research, writing and reading fantasy with historical components. And we coined the phrase "Writerly Jazz Hands" for holding one's hands out in front of one and typing on an imaginary keyboard (or manipulating marionette strings). This was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing something like this again at a future con. From there I headed home to cook dinner and get in a little down time before talking to the Portland Lesbian Book Salon.
This was a fun chat about things I'd done, books I written, and music to any author's ears, "When will the next werewolf book be out?" The answer to that is that it is in progress and I hope to have a good draft of it out to my beta readers in the nearish future (read: months, not weeks, alas). I had a lot of fun talking about conventions, archeaology and bits of my writing process with them. I also recommended some other authors' books.It made a lovely end to an excellent weekend. Now I'm off to stretch and get some sleep so I can do lots of day jobbery tomorrow.
It was a grand time all around. Friday, I got to Marscon just in time to hear Bryan Thao Worra and Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay's first panel on monsters and lore of Laos. This was great fun and I am looking forward to Saymoukda's play, Kung Fu Zombies vs. Cannibals which will be performed by Theater Mu at the Southern Theater this coming October. It looks like all kinds of awesome. After dinner, we descended on the hotel restaurant with Bryan, Haddayr, Saymoukda, Michael and Sherry Merriam, and a bunch of other folks for a jolly dinner that actually ran through two shifts of people before we called it a night. Lively discussion about monsters, fandom, writerly promotion, art, and stuff. Rachel Gold and I went off to the Art Show, where I bought a fabulous pen from Giingerwood and one of Rhea Ewing's prints. Then I called it an early night and went home afterwards.
Saturday, despite the cats deciding to rumble and mangle me in the process and needing to stop by the Post Office to sent my Con or Bust winner her books (in New Zealand), I managed to get to the con in time for our panel on Social Networking for Creatives. Overall, I think this could have done with more structure - we had writers, comic artists and a costumer so I'm not sure we articulated some of the differences between what's more useful for selling your artwork versus promoting your books. I am looking forward to trying Hootsuite, however. People did mention getting some useful things out of it though and we're doing a second version at CONvergence if all works out so we've got time to iron some things out. After that, we went for a wander and a chat in miscellaneous groups. Eventually, I ended up in the bar, having tea with Eleanor Arnason, Ruth Berman and Rachel Gold, which was lovely and interesting. Then I caught part of Designing a Magical System panel before my reading. Shari, Haddayr, Dave, Naomi and P.M.F. Johnson said interesting things even though the room was boiling hot, devoid of water and had a noisy fan in it. Next up, Kim Long-Ewing, Kathryn Sullivan, Rachel Gold and I did a Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading to a small select crew who sweated it out with us. I enjoyed all the excerpts and look forward to hearing/reading more.
Dinner was back at the hotel restaurant, where things went sadly awry. Food did not arrive after an hour and repeated requests so Kim and Rachel went off to their panel dinnerless. We managed to get through our meals with some mishaps (and no water once we ran out, which seemed to be a theme). Bryan showed up in time to enjoy Rachel's soup, at least, though he's still speculating on the whereabouts of his iced tea. Matt, Bryan and I went up and found Shari, Steve and Sondra so we could go to their room to get changed for the parties. Steve read from a bizarre little book of Hodag stories from the 1920s while we sorted out tights and skirts and lacing or zipping each other into our corsets (alas, Matt, Bryan, Steve and their other male friend did not wear corsets or skirts). Rachel joined us and we went off to take the party floor by storm. This took the form of going to the Diversicon 21 party where I badgered people about registering for the con and doing programming (this went well). I chatted with Matt, Rachel, the redoubtable Anton, Scott Lohman and a bunch of other folks before Shari and I went back to the room, de-corseted and laid about in pjs and street clothes and chatted. Eventually, I headed home and slept the sleep of the exhausted, but happy.
Sunday, it was back to the con for an 11AM panel on Depictions of Aging in SF/F with Ruth Berman, Kathryn Sullivan and Rebecca Marjesdatter. We had a fine time and got and gave some interesting suggestions. And we all agreed that more interesting older characters doing more things would be a welcome addition to the genre. Rebecca, Ruth and I went to lunch (back at the the hotel restaurant, where all was skittles and beer. No idea what happens in that kitchen of a Saturday night). We had a fun chat about sundry things before Rebecca went to her next panel and I went to go hear Bryan talk more about Laotian monsters. Then it was back downstairs for a quick tour of the Dealer's Room and the Using History in SF/F panel. David Schwartz, Ruth Berman, Doug Hulick and I discussed a wide-ranging series of topics related to research, writing and reading fantasy with historical components. And we coined the phrase "Writerly Jazz Hands" for holding one's hands out in front of one and typing on an imaginary keyboard (or manipulating marionette strings). This was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing something like this again at a future con. From there I headed home to cook dinner and get in a little down time before talking to the Portland Lesbian Book Salon.
This was a fun chat about things I'd done, books I written, and music to any author's ears, "When will the next werewolf book be out?" The answer to that is that it is in progress and I hope to have a good draft of it out to my beta readers in the nearish future (read: months, not weeks, alas). I had a lot of fun talking about conventions, archeaology and bits of my writing process with them. I also recommended some other authors' books.It made a lovely end to an excellent weekend. Now I'm off to stretch and get some sleep so I can do lots of day jobbery tomorrow.