Sunday at Worldcon...

[lady_schrapnell]

Or part thereof, as there were two extremely interesting but equally elusive panel discussions on Sunday, and I know it's going to be hard to talk about either in any sensible way. The first was 'The Aesthetics of Fantasy: Writing the Fantastic', chaired by Farah Mendlesohn, with China Miéville, Susannah Clarke and Greer Gilman. I'd never read either Greer Gilman or China M., and had only read about a quarter of Jonathan Strange before putting it aside - not tossing it away or anything, but not desperate to return to it either. It was a great discussion, though (as I've said on sartorias' page) S. Clarke didn't come across in a way which I found terribly impressive. It was fascinating seeing how differently people's minds worked in terms of describing things - SC seemed very concerned with the rhythm of her writing, while GG said herself she thought almost entirely in metaphor - a lot about the magical and fantastic and how it co-exists with the mundane. CM was just very cool indeed - edgier than GG's style, but also passionate about trying to write so the fantastic in the most ordinary things could be seen. Pretty lame as a description, I'm afraid...

Then a signing with Connie Willis - oh yay! I hadn't made it to her reading, but there weren't many people there at all, so with three of us, each with a couple of books to sign, we could take a good amount of time. I explained that I'd have brought Passage except that I'd the lovely big hardcover and we were on a cheap airline. I got Doomsday Book signed for a friend in Australia, and Bellwether for me - she wrote 'Trendy best wishes' in that one - and if anyone reading this hasn't read Bellwether, then rectify immediately! We'd a great chat with a nice Scottish guy (daughters told me he was also very cute) after, about how crappy it was that only Doomsday Book and Passage were published over here, and why everybody should be reading CW and we tossed a few other recs at each other, and a general good time was had by all. But I forgot to mention that she needed a web site of some sort so we could keep track of what would be coming out when.

Next was a signing by Martha Wells, with whom we also had plenty of time for a really nice chat (complete with much enthusiasm - not to say gushing!) - all three of us with out own books and others for friends. I chose not to< go to her reading, which was apparently wonderful, but it's hard enough to wait for November and The Gate of Gods as it is. I also avoid the chapters posted on the web site for the same reason. We found there's a Stargate: Atlantis book coming out in December in the UK, which is on the web site but doesn't seem to be up on Amazon.co.uk yet. I've never watched a single episode, but will be buying this nonetheless - apparently a non-watching friend pre-read to check comprehensibility for non-watchers!

Enough for tonight - now reading Cory Doctorow's Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, which I'm loving. It's new weird all right, but still accessible (exactly as promised by the nice woman at Borderlands Books!) - generalblossom, I might be out of my mind, but it feels like an easier to follow and often funny Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Set in Toronto.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

It sounds like that Aesthetics panel was so chewy it's hard for anyone to digest.

I'm quite eager for GG to get home and write it up more thoroughly than she has elsewhere.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Oh, good - what's her LJ name? I'd imagine her blog would be fascinating reading!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

nineweaving--though she never says her name, she is very shy and doesn't want googlers to find her there.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that - I'll watch for an update. Funny that the last pre-con entry is giving a ballad by a group called Malinky, from a CD I also bought recently. More coincidences... (It's Andrew in DWJ's Deep Secret who says the 'I am told there is no such thing as coincidence' line btw, most quoted by us, though I'm sure there are other similar refs!)

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

I forgot to thank you in my last comment for all of the Worldcon updates for those of us who couldn't go!

Did you find out anything about upcoming Connie Willis work, such as when a new novel will be available?

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Well, thank you for the thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying reading about it. I forgot to check your write-ups about the Melbourne con, which I'll do as soon as I get back on the computer today - and it was Ros for whom I got the books signed by CW and MW, btw. She got Coraline signed for my daughter.

The new CW novel is called All Clear but is still in progress, apparently. My friend generalblossom went to the reading, and (hopefully - I haven't had enough tea yet this morning) here's the link: http://www.livejournal.com/users/generalblossom/73647.html#cutid1 Ugly but should work, and I might edit to keep it prettier later!

All Clear

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

I think the new novel is really late, the manuscript is not finished yet, and CW says she is feeling a lot of guilt about it, She also wants fan to go to her editor and say they really really do not mind the delay, and that all is fine with them ;) It sounds great, as does the little tidbits she mentioned later of other eventual projects. That is one book I will get as soon as it comes out!

Re: All Clear

[emmaco.livejournal.com]

At a Charles de Lint reading I went to he said that when finishing a book he sometimes became scared he'd die before getting to finish it! I sympathised because when I hear of a book from a great author like CW not being completed I morbidly fear that something will happen to her or me before I get to read it!

CW is firmly on my "buy as soon as possible" list as well!