Worldcon remnants and Midnighters

[lady_schrapnell]

I was going to write in some kind of detail on the last two panels we attended ('What Built the Writers?' and 'Fantasy and Folklore'), but seem to have run out of energy for that kind of description. The first one was very enjoyable, as it was the remaining guests of honour (Jane Yolen had left already) and Francis Spufford talking about what and how they read as children. (Younger daughter has just reminded me that two of them said they'd loved Enid Blyton, though their opinions on her now were very different.) I was sitting behind fjm, and she had some interesting points to make about other literary phenomena in the past, when the talk turned to HP. We talked about it a bit as we were walking out and I'd love to get a chance to discuss it at length with her sometime. Might even happen! The last, which should have been a dream discussion, was less enjoyable, partly because of a really annoying couple sitting directly in front of us - and so in the very front row - and paying no attention whatsoever. The amazingly efficient '5-minutes' and 'STOP' sign people had clearly packed it in as Con-Is-Over-Now, so we had to leave during questions, when it should have been over anyway. But found amazingly efficient people guarding the dealer's room so nobody could enter, now that I had money again! Not that any of us really needed anything more at that stage, though there were awfully nice Green Man tee-shirts the girls both liked. (And Graham Joyce books for me!)

Other random memories - which may crop up for some time - are hearing that Terry Pratchett was spotted dutifully queuing up - for his own reading. Also Sharyn N. on the 'It's Lurve' panel, talking about how the one thing (other than not gratuitous) she demanded was that sex be depicted realistically - and one of the guys (possibly Oisin McGann) mentioning Melvin Burgess having his male teens talk about how they'd do it with Maggie Thatcher in - eh - Doing It. That was just clearly dirty old man talking, rather than a teen! Interesting point, because my older one and a friend (both 18 at the time - and neither at all squeamish about reading!) had seen Burgess reading an extract from Doing It on the t.v., and both found him unutterably creepy. I think Sharyn N. mentioned the fact that he got canine sexuality all wrong in Lady too.

Back to the mundane here-and-now, I finished Midnighters, by Scott Westerfeld, which I picked up free at Worldcon. I think vierran45 got it as well, but generalblossom didn't, though I might have that wrong. It was enjoyable, though I didn't think the prose was that great at all - sort of teen-ese, though I'm not sure even I know what I mean by that! There were also a few mistakes that were just the equivalent of typos, but seemed pretty careless. On the other hand, it was very gripping, and some great descriptions, and I liked the fact that everything that happened seemed well thought-out and explained, as opposed to just seeming a thin veneer of scariness over what ought to be ordinary life (or a 'this just happens to be the Hellmouth for no apparent reason' kind of deal) . Farah Mendlesohn wrote an interesting review of it, and I think that might be what she meant by its being SF rather than horror. I was much more taken by worry about two of the less central characters and their (separate) dilemmas than about the creatures, though the twist she mentioned is an interesting one. I could well see reading the whole series, grumbling mildly about the writing style the whole way through. I do hope he'll stop regularly referring to the main character as Jessica Day though. It is definitely up for grabs if anyone would like to try it - just let me know.

Comments

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

Oh, that Pratchett queing sounds fun - but it did not happen here? At the celebrity cult ( or was it at the lurve pannel with you?) he was saying about some signing when he was less famous and some security guard telling him to go to the end of the queue and not jump the queue. He got there, and he said to the last person "this is your lucky day" and started signing from the end , signed books for about 5 persons till they caught on to it.

[lady-schrapnell.livejournal.com]

Yes and no. C. told me he saw TP queuing at his own reading in Glasgow (if they hadn't let him in, there might have been room for you), and that story must have been told at the celebrity panel - definitely not at the lurve panel. Great story! ;)

[generalblossom.livejournal.com]

(if they hadn't let him in, there might have been room for you),

Yeah, but not sure it would have been worth it then ;)