Monday at Worldcon
Aug. 15th, 2005 11:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lady_schrapnellIt's sad just writing about the last day now!
Checked out of the hotels, leaving bags (like an idiot, I didn't think of the cloakroom at the SECC until too late, though it may not have been such a terrible thing after all, in the chaos that later ensued), had a bit of a breakfastless hike, which I don't do well at all, but had breakfast and a bit of a rummage through the dealer's room for Graham Joyce books. I looked at several, all of which seemed good, found The Limits of Enchantment eventually, and had happily handed it over to be told that they didn't take plastic. I asked the seller to keep it for me, went to the cash machine, and found it was down. Back to the seller to let him know, and to all the other sellers who had any GJ books, to find none of them took cards unless for a more substantial amount of money than the books I wanted to buy (none of those which had any GJ books, at least). I figured it would be back up soon, and hoped I didn't see GJ (whom I'd hoped to have sign the book for me) in the meantime.
The first panel was 'What makes a good hero?', with Carol Berg, John Douglas, Amy Thomson and Martha Wells. P.C. Hodgell was scheduled to be on it, but didn't see her, and I'd gone to see MW anyway. Though the title was interesting, I'd also have liked to hear 'Subverting the traditions of fantasy' ('We all know the orphan boy is going to be king - but what if he isn't?' Very Tough Guide-ish!) Anyway, this one was interesting, though I didn't come out with any new authors I was determined to read (from the panel, at least). It was lovely hearing MW talk about heroes - her own, other fictional ones, and real-life. I even jotted down two notes: one of her fictional heroes is Miles Vorkosigan (yay!), and another is - don't know the name of the character, actually, but it's a book called Malevil (as I've discovered after a little googling, having written down 'Malable?') by Robert Merle, a French writer. Sounded very interesting, so that goes on the Keep an Eye Out for List.
I found it fascinating to hear MW talk about Nicholas, who was described as a lot of readers' favourite, rather than her own (which I was glad to hear). She said he was an anti-hero, but readers often said things about his having a heart of gold, which she didn't think he does at all! I loved the fact that the POV of the trilogy switched to Tremaine, Nicholas' daughter, and the added depth that fed back into Death of a Necromancer with the portrayal of what N. was like as a father.
The worst thing heard that day was that a reader (I gather some kind of 'official' reader, rather than just a random reader, but could have been wrong) had complained about Tremaine being powerless, and being told what to do all the time by the men around her. Made me feel a strong urge to go breathe into a paper-bag! Or ask the person if s/he had read an alternative Wizard Hunters from a very much flakier dimension... Perhaps the panel would have been of use, though, as all of the authors agreed that they weren't interested in heroes who were unflawed, or those who were entirely powerless, though the 'power' often consisted in just trying to make the right decision rather than the easy one. I'd have loved to comment that MW's characters usually have a very appealing loyalty even when things get terrible, but chickened out (and anyway, it wasn't really a question!). I did manage to intersect with MW on the way out, and mention Arisilde, whom I love dearly and worried about enormously, and also say that I very much liked the way she managed to use a convention (which shall remain nameless for those who haven't yet read Ships of Air) of another genre in a wonderfully fun way which really worked!
After this there was a very interesting panel on 'The Evil Stepmother', which I'd have loved to hear, but as the cash machine still wasn't working (and I'd £3 to my name at this point), there was no possibility of getting to it. Operations sent me over to the Armadillo, in huge relief - except that was locked and couldn't be opened. So next I was sent into the city centre, by train. I really wanted to be back in time for a discussion moderated by Francis Spufford on 'What Built the Writers', which made the dash across the Caterpillar (which was stiflingly hot) and around Central Station less than pleasant. But, there was a bonus to all this annoyance! Rushing across the train station I saw China Miéville approaching, and (in Con-magic-derived mode of lack of shyness) told him that my daughter had been really hoping to bump into him and get him to sign something, and had been very sorry he hadn't won the Hugo. OK, I'm far too old to be doing this kind of gushing, but this is completely unrelated to the daughter's opinion that he is hot- honest - he was so incredibly kind, and gracious, and just nice - I was utterly undone! He signed the last Con progress report for her, which was all I had on me, and she was thrilled when I gave it to her.
Even made it back - with food for all of us - in time for the panel! That'll have to be tomorrow's installment though.
Still reading Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, but somehow also semi-started the free book given out ('the first hit is free!', as was said when a panel got on to addicting readers young) Midnighters, by Scott Westerfeld, and just finished course-reading, Paradise (short-listed for a Booker), and am still doing work on Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman and trying to start to think again about Pat Barker's The Ghost Road. It's not so much that it's too many books going at the one time, but decidedly that I'd be better off getting my head into study-mode only! I can give it up any time I want....
Checked out of the hotels, leaving bags (like an idiot, I didn't think of the cloakroom at the SECC until too late, though it may not have been such a terrible thing after all, in the chaos that later ensued), had a bit of a breakfastless hike, which I don't do well at all, but had breakfast and a bit of a rummage through the dealer's room for Graham Joyce books. I looked at several, all of which seemed good, found The Limits of Enchantment eventually, and had happily handed it over to be told that they didn't take plastic. I asked the seller to keep it for me, went to the cash machine, and found it was down. Back to the seller to let him know, and to all the other sellers who had any GJ books, to find none of them took cards unless for a more substantial amount of money than the books I wanted to buy (none of those which had any GJ books, at least). I figured it would be back up soon, and hoped I didn't see GJ (whom I'd hoped to have sign the book for me) in the meantime.
The first panel was 'What makes a good hero?', with Carol Berg, John Douglas, Amy Thomson and Martha Wells. P.C. Hodgell was scheduled to be on it, but didn't see her, and I'd gone to see MW anyway. Though the title was interesting, I'd also have liked to hear 'Subverting the traditions of fantasy' ('We all know the orphan boy is going to be king - but what if he isn't?' Very Tough Guide-ish!) Anyway, this one was interesting, though I didn't come out with any new authors I was determined to read (from the panel, at least). It was lovely hearing MW talk about heroes - her own, other fictional ones, and real-life. I even jotted down two notes: one of her fictional heroes is Miles Vorkosigan (yay!), and another is - don't know the name of the character, actually, but it's a book called Malevil (as I've discovered after a little googling, having written down 'Malable?') by Robert Merle, a French writer. Sounded very interesting, so that goes on the Keep an Eye Out for List.
I found it fascinating to hear MW talk about Nicholas, who was described as a lot of readers' favourite, rather than her own (which I was glad to hear). She said he was an anti-hero, but readers often said things about his having a heart of gold, which she didn't think he does at all! I loved the fact that the POV of the trilogy switched to Tremaine, Nicholas' daughter, and the added depth that fed back into Death of a Necromancer with the portrayal of what N. was like as a father.
The worst thing heard that day was that a reader (I gather some kind of 'official' reader, rather than just a random reader, but could have been wrong) had complained about Tremaine being powerless, and being told what to do all the time by the men around her. Made me feel a strong urge to go breathe into a paper-bag! Or ask the person if s/he had read an alternative Wizard Hunters from a very much flakier dimension... Perhaps the panel would have been of use, though, as all of the authors agreed that they weren't interested in heroes who were unflawed, or those who were entirely powerless, though the 'power' often consisted in just trying to make the right decision rather than the easy one. I'd have loved to comment that MW's characters usually have a very appealing loyalty even when things get terrible, but chickened out (and anyway, it wasn't really a question!). I did manage to intersect with MW on the way out, and mention Arisilde, whom I love dearly and worried about enormously, and also say that I very much liked the way she managed to use a convention (which shall remain nameless for those who haven't yet read Ships of Air) of another genre in a wonderfully fun way which really worked!
After this there was a very interesting panel on 'The Evil Stepmother', which I'd have loved to hear, but as the cash machine still wasn't working (and I'd £3 to my name at this point), there was no possibility of getting to it. Operations sent me over to the Armadillo, in huge relief - except that was locked and couldn't be opened. So next I was sent into the city centre, by train. I really wanted to be back in time for a discussion moderated by Francis Spufford on 'What Built the Writers', which made the dash across the Caterpillar (which was stiflingly hot) and around Central Station less than pleasant. But, there was a bonus to all this annoyance! Rushing across the train station I saw China Miéville approaching, and (in Con-magic-derived mode of lack of shyness) told him that my daughter had been really hoping to bump into him and get him to sign something, and had been very sorry he hadn't won the Hugo. OK, I'm far too old to be doing this kind of gushing, but this is completely unrelated to the daughter's opinion that he is hot- honest - he was so incredibly kind, and gracious, and just nice - I was utterly undone! He signed the last Con progress report for her, which was all I had on me, and she was thrilled when I gave it to her.
Even made it back - with food for all of us - in time for the panel! That'll have to be tomorrow's installment though.
Still reading Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, but somehow also semi-started the free book given out ('the first hit is free!', as was said when a panel got on to addicting readers young) Midnighters, by Scott Westerfeld, and just finished course-reading, Paradise (short-listed for a Booker), and am still doing work on Puig's Kiss of the Spider Woman and trying to start to think again about Pat Barker's The Ghost Road. It's not so much that it's too many books going at the one time, but decidedly that I'd be better off getting my head into study-mode only! I can give it up any time I want....
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no subject
Date: 2005-08-15 03:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 11:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-08-16 10:25 am (UTC)I have read Malevil ages ago, when I was a teen, it´s a french post-apocalyptic novel - some kind of nuclear war which leaves all buildings standing but only survivors are people deep into the ground in caves or wine cellars or something. I am not sure I remember much of the novel except they had some interesting non Heinlein-ian take on group marriages.