Entry tags:
Readercon 19: Friday
I didn't go to the con on Thursday. The logistics of making an hour-long trip each way (~10m walk, ~20m subway, ~30m bus outbound, and all that in reverse on the way back) didn't make much sense for a couple hours of panels unless they were absolutely mustn't-miss topics, and they didn't seem like they were that compelling.
Friday, though, I took the day off work so I could get to all the interesting panels on Friday. A bit of transit screwage (a disabled train turned the ~20m subway into more like a ~50m subway) meant that I missed the 0920 #350 bus and had to wait for the 1020. That at least got me to the hotel slightly before 1100, letting me get my badge and make it to the panel (towing my rollaboard, since I hadn't had time to check it at the front desk).
The 1100 panel was "Science Fiction as a Mirror for Reality". While I have certainly not refrained from nitpicking Robert J. Sawyer's work, I still like a lot of it, and in person he's a very dynamic speaker. He's working with the CBC on a pilot for a web videocast (or similar) about the topic, and did a fairly good job getting the panel and audience to kick around some ideas. (At least until the discussion wandered into the swamp of "why isn't more SF referring to the 9/11 attacks?". Nobody else mentioned Joe Haldeman's "Giza", and I was hoping the discussion would get back on track, so I didn't want to feed it....)
A quick lunch run, then the 1300 "What’s it All About, Skiffy?". Like the 1100, this was a "main speaker/panel discussion" format; in this case, it was Graham Sleight talking about the history of recent SF/F/H (where "recent" = "in the last 20 years", which by way of making me feel old, all takes place after I started going to cons). This was amusing but hard to summarize. Key points included some very amusing names for subgenres, which I will not spoil here.[1]
I then took care of various bits of stuff that needed to be taken care of: hotel check-in, a run over to the Bur(b)lington Mall since I'd forgotten to pack a swimsuit, a first pass through the Book Shop (Dealer's Room), etc.
( If Free Electronic Texts Are Good Promotion, What's Piracy? )
1700: "A Tale of Two Disciplines"
Interesting, but I didn't take many notes. Some snippets: "Why stop at two?" (Vandana Singh); "I went into SF instead of science because the latter had too much specialization" (Robert J. Sawyer); "Science is really numbers. The ultimate synthesis is numbers, through words, into mental images." (Geoff Ryman).
A book shop run, then an attempt at 1900's "Economics as the S in SF"; the room was too warm, so I left after only a few minutes.
2000: Elizabeth Bear's kaffeeklatsch.
2200: The Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award goes to Stanley G. Weinbaum. There is much applause. Barry Malzberg gives an uplifting and cheerful speech. (OK, I made that last part up.) This is followed by the Meet the Pros(e) party, during which I managed to get photographed by SFRevu's Ernest Lilley, said photo later winding up heading Liz Gorinsky's Readercon report over on Tor.com.
[1] ETA: by kind permission of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
grahamsleight, his description of the subgenre names from his still-in-progress work:
Friday, though, I took the day off work so I could get to all the interesting panels on Friday. A bit of transit screwage (a disabled train turned the ~20m subway into more like a ~50m subway) meant that I missed the 0920 #350 bus and had to wait for the 1020. That at least got me to the hotel slightly before 1100, letting me get my badge and make it to the panel (towing my rollaboard, since I hadn't had time to check it at the front desk).
The 1100 panel was "Science Fiction as a Mirror for Reality". While I have certainly not refrained from nitpicking Robert J. Sawyer's work, I still like a lot of it, and in person he's a very dynamic speaker. He's working with the CBC on a pilot for a web videocast (or similar) about the topic, and did a fairly good job getting the panel and audience to kick around some ideas. (At least until the discussion wandered into the swamp of "why isn't more SF referring to the 9/11 attacks?". Nobody else mentioned Joe Haldeman's "Giza", and I was hoping the discussion would get back on track, so I didn't want to feed it....)
A quick lunch run, then the 1300 "What’s it All About, Skiffy?". Like the 1100, this was a "main speaker/panel discussion" format; in this case, it was Graham Sleight talking about the history of recent SF/F/H (where "recent" = "in the last 20 years", which by way of making me feel old, all takes place after I started going to cons). This was amusing but hard to summarize. Key points included some very amusing names for subgenres, which I will not spoil here.[1]
I then took care of various bits of stuff that needed to be taken care of: hotel check-in, a run over to the Bur(b)lington Mall since I'd forgotten to pack a swimsuit, a first pass through the Book Shop (Dealer's Room), etc.
( If Free Electronic Texts Are Good Promotion, What's Piracy? )
1700: "A Tale of Two Disciplines"
Interesting, but I didn't take many notes. Some snippets: "Why stop at two?" (Vandana Singh); "I went into SF instead of science because the latter had too much specialization" (Robert J. Sawyer); "Science is really numbers. The ultimate synthesis is numbers, through words, into mental images." (Geoff Ryman).
A book shop run, then an attempt at 1900's "Economics as the S in SF"; the room was too warm, so I left after only a few minutes.
2000: Elizabeth Bear's kaffeeklatsch.
2200: The Cordwainer Smith Rediscovery Award goes to Stanley G. Weinbaum. There is much applause. Barry Malzberg gives an uplifting and cheerful speech. (OK, I made that last part up.) This is followed by the Meet the Pros(e) party, during which I managed to get photographed by SFRevu's Ernest Lilley, said photo later winding up heading Liz Gorinsky's Readercon report over on Tor.com.
[1] ETA: by kind permission of
grahamsleight, his description of the subgenre names from his still-in-progress work:So my own approach to movements is to say that, for the moment, I’m going to brush aside all the specific labels I mentioned just now (slipstream, interstitial, et al) and replace them with two – and two only – of my own invention. The first set of genre-blending work I want to talk about is that which involves mixing tropes and approaches within the field of the fantastic. I want to name this cluster of work in a way that’s value-free and that has no connection with actual worth or content – something that’s just a name rather than a description – so, entirely flippantly, I’m going to [label these works with] the name Dave. [...] The second of my two labels is for works which exist in some sense on the border between the fantastic and the mimetic. Equally flippantly, I’m going to label these works with the name Roger.I encourage anyone who gets a chance to hear him talk about this to do so.