Ad Astra 2007
Here is my first attempt at a con report. As usual, I didn't take nearly as many photos as I wanted, even though my camera was with me pretty much all the time (except at the dance). Ah well.
Pre-Con
My con reports usually don't start here, but this one was worth mentioning. The months, weeks, and especially days spent leading up to the con were thoroughly entangled in The Architect's Dream. What is The Architect's Dream, you may ask? Good question. It was the original title of the Under Cover of Darkness launch game. The original plot was completely different, for the most part. There was still a conspiracy, in which Jana was thoroughly involved, but it had to do with the Idea Library (where writers get their ideas from), a cabal of Secret Librarians, and was discarded because a) it got too complicated, and b) it ended up turning into the Secret Librarian show and drifting away from the anthology. So we returned to our original original idea, which had previously been discarded as making too little sense.
Then came the real work -- preparing all the puzzles and evidence. We were working largely on our own here, communicating through e-mail and IM, with a few strategy sessions at Jana's house. I wrote many of the puzzles and clues furtively during breaks at work, and late at night after I'd gotten all the rest of my own work done.
There was one very memorable group IM chat on Wednesday night, which involved a lot of last-minute puzzle ideas, changes, frantic "no, no, seriously guys, a hole punch! It'll be great!". I also learned a lot about my image editing software -- all the handwriting on the puzzles, save half of the scrawls on the back of the Darwin evidence, were mine, and since I lack a scanner at home, getting a block of text onto a clue often meant writing it on the back of a draft of another clue, photographing it, editing out the blur and paper colour gradations, plonking it onto the clue, and e-mailing it back to Jana for printing.
Perhaps the biggest task was finishing off the Queen of Air and Darkness mask that would play an intergal part in the game. Eventually titled "The Answer Lies Beneath", it took about two and a half months to make. There will be better pictures when I get around to them, but this is what it looks like:
Yes, that's all wire and beads.
Still, I realized at about 2 in the morning on Tuesday or Wednesday, as I was frantically working on one of the pieces of evidence (I can't at this point remember whose it was -- maybe Amanda's), that as tired as I was, I was having so much fun. I totally understand now how the Pixar guys can work until 2 a.m. seven days a week and still love their jobs. I would love to be able to do this stuff for a living.
There was a final strategy/envelope stuffing session on Thursday night, during the blizzard (getting to Jana's was FUN!), during which several details were ironed out, including how to have Darwin present for the game, even though he was no longer able to attend the con. Then, it was home for packing and a quick rest before...
Friday
Alice and I waited at my house on Friday night for Karina, Jana, and Ruth to arrive, during which time I searched rather desperately for a) the case to Casualties of Retail, and b) the CD of Soapbox Heroes. I never did find either (Karina, could I get a copy of yours until mine turns up?), but I did manage to uncover my missing Loreena McKennitt CD, so there was at least some progress. Then the gang arrived, and we all shoehorned in for the short jog to the hotel-in-the-middle-of-nowhere.
We had another cool Myst room, with a wildlife warning on the window (Alice: "Are those lemurs?"), and there was hurried dumping off of stuff before heading out to the lobby. We observed that Leah had been busy -- there were Under Cover warning signs everywhere.
Registration, meeting with friends, sneaking the mask into the Art show (and the clue under the table), and a quick bite to eat in the Green Room later, and we were off to the Under Cover of Darkness info panel. Karina sat inside and delivered a nice friendly chat about the rules, to much friendly giggling and amusement, while Leah and I paced around outside, looking at a piece of paper and our watches and getting increasingly agitated. Jana sneaked by to peek inside, and then we were on. Leah and I burst in, proclaiming that our game had gone beyond what we planned -- our anonymous source failed to show, but we got an e-mail stating that someone was using the anthology to send some sort of message, and we needed to track them down and stop them. The players were given their info packages, and they were off!
15 minutes. Shortest panel ever.
We hooked up with friends to do the party circuit... oh hell, we went to the chocolate parties. Goat cheese and raspberry is my new favourite flavour ever. Chocolate consumed, we retired for bed. Saturday was going to be a long day.
Saturday
Saturday started very, very early, at 7:30 a.m., to replace the panel info posters with the "Stop investigating" warning posters. Throughout the con, Jana got a huge kick out of seeing people's faces as they realized the signs were changing. Then it was off to the green room for tea and breakfast (I was constantly amused by Rob Sawyer going "Look! It's Nebula Award Nominee Karina Sumner-Smith!" everytime Karina walked into a room -- I think Karina was somewhat less amused) before heading to Amanda's reading.
Then it was down to the Polaris launch. I think everyone can agree that the highlight of the launch (aside from the sno cones) was Sarah Niedoba, winner of the International Polar Year's International Student Writing Competition (and also Karina's Mum's student).
Also on the panel are Emily Mah, Anna Paradox (best name ever), and Jane Petrovich, my Fantastic Companions bookmate.
This was also the panel at which Peter Maloney made me laugh so hard I almost cried. Since Darwin was unable to attend the con, we needed a substitute. Fortunately, Darwin's story featured psychics with companion hamsters, so Peter was being mind controlled by an absent Darwin all weekend via the stuffed hamster in his pocket (along with a button labelled "pay to attention to the Nlyx upon my shoulder"). I'm very lucky to have friends who a) are really good sports, and b) are really good at improv. It was also fun to tell people all weekend "Yeah, Peter's acting really wierd... it's almost like he's two different people."
Then it was time for a quick lunch before Alice's first panel ever (this was also Alice's first con ever), "Ongoing Settings, Recurring Characters", moderated by my favourite surrogate con dad, Rick Wilber. Alice did really well, and talked a lot more than I did on my first ever panel. Though she did get the same "okay, now you say something" that I got. I think it's an initiation thing.
Next was the Urban Fantasy panel, and my first ever shot as moderator. I think it went pretty well -- we laughed a lot, got in a dig at the Dresden Files, and discussed exactly what the hell we mean by Urban Fantasy. Added bonus was that the panel was all my friends (Karina, Mark, and Amanda), and Stephanie, who I know and like perfectly well.
This is the point that, unfortunately, Karina got felled by Con Head (or possibly Tom's kickass Nebula brownies), and Alice and I spent the next little while running around and trying to find food for her. Then I took Alice for a proper dinner before retrieving Karina and dropping in on the newsgroup gathering, and then ducking out to sneakily snag the mask from Artist's Alley and get Alice ready for the Masquerade.
At 7, Karina and I headed to the gallery rooms for our panel on the Asimov Award (now Dell Magazine's award, and no, I'm not typing the whole thing out -- someone at some point commented that I had a LOT of panels, and I had to point out that the title of the Dell panel took up three lines on my badge schedule). Unfortunately, as it was an hour before the masquerade, the only people to show were Rick, his friends Matt and Nick (who is responsible for me being at Ad Astra in the first place, in a very roundabout way). So after learning a few Very Interesting Things about the innerworkings of the Award, we adjourned the panel to the bar.
Finally, it was time for the masquerade. There were some great costumes, some really painful moments, and Alice's moment of triumph as she burst out to deliver a warning and got dragged out by stage ninjas. The mask looked fabulous from the audience, and we all agreed that Alice delivered the best performance of the night. This also may have started something -- look for a joint Alice Cooley/Stellar Magpie costume at upcoming cons. We're also promised video and proper photos of the masquerade, so I'll post those as soon as we get them.
After the masquerade, we headed up for some socializing before putting Karina to bed and heading down to the dance. Julie and I were soon joined by Alice, Jihane, Ruth, Lara, Nicole, Rob, and several other familiar faces. I have to say, even if I didn't last until Doctorin' the Tardis, the Dance is still my favourite part of the con. Plus, Alice kicks ass at dancing to Bollywood songs. That is all.
Sunday
Sunday started waaaay too early. After about 5 hours of sleep, we got up to change the posters to the final warning: "You have been warned". Then Julie and Jana treated the Game Designers to breakfast for all our hard work, which was most welcome after a weekend of grazing. Alice got to sleep in, and Karina foiled a waffle poacher. Altogether a very productive breakfast.
I slipped the mask back in to Artist's Alley, and began fielding the first of the game-winning phone calls. Then it was off with Karina to do our joint reading, which seemed to go over well -- Amanda, what did you think of the first part of the story?
Back to the Artist's Alley to retrieve the mask one final time. Cue a moment of sheer and utter panic as the tendrils on the mask became firmly and inextricably tangled in the mesh on my con bag. Fortunately, the Bakka table came equipped with scissors.
Alas, poor con bag.
Finally, it was time for the Under Cover of Darkness book launch, which was everything we hoped it would be. It began with a congenial panel of happy authors and editors (and Jana had kickass hair, if I do say so myself, not to mention the coolest outfit ever). There was much laughter, and happy author dances, and Amanda even coerced Doug Smith into dancing. Which, oh look, I managed to capture on film. Sort of. That blur is Amanda.
Then came the fun part. Jana commented that she didn't understand what all these posters were about, because there was no conspiracy whatsoever. Cue Alice running out to deliver another fantastic performance about the lies, deceit, and ninjas behind the book. Karina and I leaped in to fling accusations, and finally got Amanda to admit to being a member of the Seelie court. Then Doug Smith confessed. Then Jihane, which led to the great battle between the British and the French (Roger Czerneda has a fantastic picture of it, as well as the rest of the con, here). Steve Kotowych protested that we didn't have time for all this, but got strangely silent when we demanded to know how he managed to be on three panels at the same time. Then we wondered how we got all this evidence pointing at Darwin when he wasn't even there, whereupon the Nlyx poked its head around the corner and cackled ominously.
Jana stood up and berated the authors for letting the secret out, and we revealed that she'd been planting all those warnings all over the convention. It was about at this point that we noticed Julie talking on a large black handset. "Ah yes, Marty," she said, "I know it was supposed to stay hidden, but it's out now."
"Julie," Jana cried. "You knew?"
"Of course I knew," said Julie. "I'm the senior editor, I know everything." She paused. "Okay, okay, Marty, you're senior editor."
Yes, it was Julie behind the evidence and Alice. So why did she let the stories into the anthology in the first place if she knew the authors were trying to send a message?
Because they were good stories.
End game, end launch (then signings), prizes to the game winners (Jane and Ben, Lorne and Heather, and the team that included fellow Toronto Undergrounder, wistling -- go Tony!) and by the end of the weekend, Bakka only had four copies of the anthology left. I'd say it was a job well done. Next up: The Architect's Dream designers for Fan Achievement: Other, Prix Aurora Awards 2008. Oh yes, there will be lobbying. :o)
There was one final panel for me and Amanda at 2, on Building a Better Alien. Unfortunately, two panelists were missing (though we did manage to rope Lorne Kates and Anna Paradox into staying), and our audience was rather small, but we did manage to come up with a fantastic sentient slime alien.
I staggered back to the Bakka table to find my very tired compatriots giggling over The 300, which lead to many cries of "Let me show you our lovely killing well," "Nice going, Stumblios," and "SPARTAAAAAA!!!!" as we packed up the room. It's Spartastic!
And that was the con. Busier than most, but one of the most fun at the same time. I can wait for the next game.
Pre-Con
My con reports usually don't start here, but this one was worth mentioning. The months, weeks, and especially days spent leading up to the con were thoroughly entangled in The Architect's Dream. What is The Architect's Dream, you may ask? Good question. It was the original title of the Under Cover of Darkness launch game. The original plot was completely different, for the most part. There was still a conspiracy, in which Jana was thoroughly involved, but it had to do with the Idea Library (where writers get their ideas from), a cabal of Secret Librarians, and was discarded because a) it got too complicated, and b) it ended up turning into the Secret Librarian show and drifting away from the anthology. So we returned to our original original idea, which had previously been discarded as making too little sense.
Then came the real work -- preparing all the puzzles and evidence. We were working largely on our own here, communicating through e-mail and IM, with a few strategy sessions at Jana's house. I wrote many of the puzzles and clues furtively during breaks at work, and late at night after I'd gotten all the rest of my own work done.
There was one very memorable group IM chat on Wednesday night, which involved a lot of last-minute puzzle ideas, changes, frantic "no, no, seriously guys, a hole punch! It'll be great!". I also learned a lot about my image editing software -- all the handwriting on the puzzles, save half of the scrawls on the back of the Darwin evidence, were mine, and since I lack a scanner at home, getting a block of text onto a clue often meant writing it on the back of a draft of another clue, photographing it, editing out the blur and paper colour gradations, plonking it onto the clue, and e-mailing it back to Jana for printing.
Perhaps the biggest task was finishing off the Queen of Air and Darkness mask that would play an intergal part in the game. Eventually titled "The Answer Lies Beneath", it took about two and a half months to make. There will be better pictures when I get around to them, but this is what it looks like:
Yes, that's all wire and beads.
Still, I realized at about 2 in the morning on Tuesday or Wednesday, as I was frantically working on one of the pieces of evidence (I can't at this point remember whose it was -- maybe Amanda's), that as tired as I was, I was having so much fun. I totally understand now how the Pixar guys can work until 2 a.m. seven days a week and still love their jobs. I would love to be able to do this stuff for a living.
There was a final strategy/envelope stuffing session on Thursday night, during the blizzard (getting to Jana's was FUN!), during which several details were ironed out, including how to have Darwin present for the game, even though he was no longer able to attend the con. Then, it was home for packing and a quick rest before...
Friday
Alice and I waited at my house on Friday night for Karina, Jana, and Ruth to arrive, during which time I searched rather desperately for a) the case to Casualties of Retail, and b) the CD of Soapbox Heroes. I never did find either (Karina, could I get a copy of yours until mine turns up?), but I did manage to uncover my missing Loreena McKennitt CD, so there was at least some progress. Then the gang arrived, and we all shoehorned in for the short jog to the hotel-in-the-middle-of-nowhere.
We had another cool Myst room, with a wildlife warning on the window (Alice: "Are those lemurs?"), and there was hurried dumping off of stuff before heading out to the lobby. We observed that Leah had been busy -- there were Under Cover warning signs everywhere.
Registration, meeting with friends, sneaking the mask into the Art show (and the clue under the table), and a quick bite to eat in the Green Room later, and we were off to the Under Cover of Darkness info panel. Karina sat inside and delivered a nice friendly chat about the rules, to much friendly giggling and amusement, while Leah and I paced around outside, looking at a piece of paper and our watches and getting increasingly agitated. Jana sneaked by to peek inside, and then we were on. Leah and I burst in, proclaiming that our game had gone beyond what we planned -- our anonymous source failed to show, but we got an e-mail stating that someone was using the anthology to send some sort of message, and we needed to track them down and stop them. The players were given their info packages, and they were off!
15 minutes. Shortest panel ever.
We hooked up with friends to do the party circuit... oh hell, we went to the chocolate parties. Goat cheese and raspberry is my new favourite flavour ever. Chocolate consumed, we retired for bed. Saturday was going to be a long day.
Saturday
Saturday started very, very early, at 7:30 a.m., to replace the panel info posters with the "Stop investigating" warning posters. Throughout the con, Jana got a huge kick out of seeing people's faces as they realized the signs were changing. Then it was off to the green room for tea and breakfast (I was constantly amused by Rob Sawyer going "Look! It's Nebula Award Nominee Karina Sumner-Smith!" everytime Karina walked into a room -- I think Karina was somewhat less amused) before heading to Amanda's reading.
Then it was down to the Polaris launch. I think everyone can agree that the highlight of the launch (aside from the sno cones) was Sarah Niedoba, winner of the International Polar Year's International Student Writing Competition (and also Karina's Mum's student).
Also on the panel are Emily Mah, Anna Paradox (best name ever), and Jane Petrovich, my Fantastic Companions bookmate.
This was also the panel at which Peter Maloney made me laugh so hard I almost cried. Since Darwin was unable to attend the con, we needed a substitute. Fortunately, Darwin's story featured psychics with companion hamsters, so Peter was being mind controlled by an absent Darwin all weekend via the stuffed hamster in his pocket (along with a button labelled "pay to attention to the Nlyx upon my shoulder"). I'm very lucky to have friends who a) are really good sports, and b) are really good at improv. It was also fun to tell people all weekend "Yeah, Peter's acting really wierd... it's almost like he's two different people."
Then it was time for a quick lunch before Alice's first panel ever (this was also Alice's first con ever), "Ongoing Settings, Recurring Characters", moderated by my favourite surrogate con dad, Rick Wilber. Alice did really well, and talked a lot more than I did on my first ever panel. Though she did get the same "okay, now you say something" that I got. I think it's an initiation thing.
Next was the Urban Fantasy panel, and my first ever shot as moderator. I think it went pretty well -- we laughed a lot, got in a dig at the Dresden Files, and discussed exactly what the hell we mean by Urban Fantasy. Added bonus was that the panel was all my friends (Karina, Mark, and Amanda), and Stephanie, who I know and like perfectly well.
This is the point that, unfortunately, Karina got felled by Con Head (or possibly Tom's kickass Nebula brownies), and Alice and I spent the next little while running around and trying to find food for her. Then I took Alice for a proper dinner before retrieving Karina and dropping in on the newsgroup gathering, and then ducking out to sneakily snag the mask from Artist's Alley and get Alice ready for the Masquerade.
At 7, Karina and I headed to the gallery rooms for our panel on the Asimov Award (now Dell Magazine's award, and no, I'm not typing the whole thing out -- someone at some point commented that I had a LOT of panels, and I had to point out that the title of the Dell panel took up three lines on my badge schedule). Unfortunately, as it was an hour before the masquerade, the only people to show were Rick, his friends Matt and Nick (who is responsible for me being at Ad Astra in the first place, in a very roundabout way). So after learning a few Very Interesting Things about the innerworkings of the Award, we adjourned the panel to the bar.
Finally, it was time for the masquerade. There were some great costumes, some really painful moments, and Alice's moment of triumph as she burst out to deliver a warning and got dragged out by stage ninjas. The mask looked fabulous from the audience, and we all agreed that Alice delivered the best performance of the night. This also may have started something -- look for a joint Alice Cooley/Stellar Magpie costume at upcoming cons. We're also promised video and proper photos of the masquerade, so I'll post those as soon as we get them.
After the masquerade, we headed up for some socializing before putting Karina to bed and heading down to the dance. Julie and I were soon joined by Alice, Jihane, Ruth, Lara, Nicole, Rob, and several other familiar faces. I have to say, even if I didn't last until Doctorin' the Tardis, the Dance is still my favourite part of the con. Plus, Alice kicks ass at dancing to Bollywood songs. That is all.
Sunday
Sunday started waaaay too early. After about 5 hours of sleep, we got up to change the posters to the final warning: "You have been warned". Then Julie and Jana treated the Game Designers to breakfast for all our hard work, which was most welcome after a weekend of grazing. Alice got to sleep in, and Karina foiled a waffle poacher. Altogether a very productive breakfast.
I slipped the mask back in to Artist's Alley, and began fielding the first of the game-winning phone calls. Then it was off with Karina to do our joint reading, which seemed to go over well -- Amanda, what did you think of the first part of the story?
Back to the Artist's Alley to retrieve the mask one final time. Cue a moment of sheer and utter panic as the tendrils on the mask became firmly and inextricably tangled in the mesh on my con bag. Fortunately, the Bakka table came equipped with scissors.
Alas, poor con bag.
Finally, it was time for the Under Cover of Darkness book launch, which was everything we hoped it would be. It began with a congenial panel of happy authors and editors (and Jana had kickass hair, if I do say so myself, not to mention the coolest outfit ever). There was much laughter, and happy author dances, and Amanda even coerced Doug Smith into dancing. Which, oh look, I managed to capture on film. Sort of. That blur is Amanda.
Then came the fun part. Jana commented that she didn't understand what all these posters were about, because there was no conspiracy whatsoever. Cue Alice running out to deliver another fantastic performance about the lies, deceit, and ninjas behind the book. Karina and I leaped in to fling accusations, and finally got Amanda to admit to being a member of the Seelie court. Then Doug Smith confessed. Then Jihane, which led to the great battle between the British and the French (Roger Czerneda has a fantastic picture of it, as well as the rest of the con, here). Steve Kotowych protested that we didn't have time for all this, but got strangely silent when we demanded to know how he managed to be on three panels at the same time. Then we wondered how we got all this evidence pointing at Darwin when he wasn't even there, whereupon the Nlyx poked its head around the corner and cackled ominously.
Jana stood up and berated the authors for letting the secret out, and we revealed that she'd been planting all those warnings all over the convention. It was about at this point that we noticed Julie talking on a large black handset. "Ah yes, Marty," she said, "I know it was supposed to stay hidden, but it's out now."
"Julie," Jana cried. "You knew?"
"Of course I knew," said Julie. "I'm the senior editor, I know everything." She paused. "Okay, okay, Marty, you're senior editor."
Yes, it was Julie behind the evidence and Alice. So why did she let the stories into the anthology in the first place if she knew the authors were trying to send a message?
Because they were good stories.
End game, end launch (then signings), prizes to the game winners (Jane and Ben, Lorne and Heather, and the team that included fellow Toronto Undergrounder, wistling -- go Tony!) and by the end of the weekend, Bakka only had four copies of the anthology left. I'd say it was a job well done. Next up: The Architect's Dream designers for Fan Achievement: Other, Prix Aurora Awards 2008. Oh yes, there will be lobbying. :o)
There was one final panel for me and Amanda at 2, on Building a Better Alien. Unfortunately, two panelists were missing (though we did manage to rope Lorne Kates and Anna Paradox into staying), and our audience was rather small, but we did manage to come up with a fantastic sentient slime alien.
I staggered back to the Bakka table to find my very tired compatriots giggling over The 300, which lead to many cries of "Let me show you our lovely killing well," "Nice going, Stumblios," and "SPARTAAAAAA!!!!" as we packed up the room. It's Spartastic!
And that was the con. Busier than most, but one of the most fun at the same time. I can wait for the next game.