lady_schrapnell | Sunday at Worldcon... (Reply)

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.