readercon
This year's haul.
I got two copies of We (which I've never read) because the translations are really different and I thought it might be fun to read them side-by-side. I have a copy of The Separation already, but this one is signed! And I binge-read the Jo Walton book the second we got home on Saturday night. It's so good.
(Bookseller who sold me The Separation said, "I've been trying to convince Readercon to bring Christopher Priest here for years and they don't seem interested." YES, READERCON. DO THAT.)
Also enjoying nick_kaufmann's and pgtremblay's books and picking and choosing stories at random from various anthologies and collections. (Especially V.H. Leslie's "The Quiet Room," in Shadows & Tall Trees 2014, both nominated for Shirley Jackson awards. Never heard of V.H. Leslie, but I'll be tracking down more of her stuff.)
I met Ellen Datlow (who signed my copy of After) and had nice conversations with various booksellers, one of whom recommended Tom Disch's poetry from Johns Hopkins University Press, so I have to track that down.
And it'll be interesting to see if Nic Pizzolatto reads like...um...anyone else. (Spoiler alert: I've already started it, and it kind of does.)
The panels were panels. Two were great. The "in praise of older women writers" panel was fantastic, except for the part where I had to go into the hall and ask people to pipe down because I couldn't hear. (Only five people, but it sounded like thirty. They looked mortified and left immediately.) Best line, about Ursula LeGuin: "She looks like a cute little old lady, but she's an intellectual terror." Also liked the "shout out the names of your favorite writers" portion (for the record: LeGuin, L'Engle, Carol Emshwiller, Karen Joy Fowler, Kit Reed, Octavia Butler, Judith Merril, Kate Wilhelm, Tanith Lee, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood). I didn't think to shout out NANCY FARMER till the end, though. Or JEANNE DUPRAU. There, they're shouted.
I'm gonna shout Nancy Farmer again because I wish she would get mentioned more at cons. NANCY FARMER. NANCY FARMER. NANCY FARMER. PLEASE CAN WE HAVE A NANCY FARMER PANEL ONE OF THESE DAYS, READERCON.
I was also kind of gobsmacked by Readercon's Code of Conduct, positioned prominently in two separate places near the entrance.
A closeup:
I'm just...amazed that anyone needs to have this explained this thoroughly. With examples, for crying out loud. (Don't get me wrong. I'm glad it's there; I know it's needed. Just makes me sad, that's all.)
The one picture I did not get (and am still kicking myself for not getting): Larry Correia's bio from a jacket flap, which went into great detail about how he owns guns, shoots guns, teaches guns, guns guns guns. GUNS, Y'ALL.
I think that's it. Side note: I'm glad Readcon's moving next year-I like the Burlington Marriott, but I find it kind of hard to navigate (I kept having the nearly-crashing-into-people-and-stepping-on-toes issue because everything is fairly jam-packed together), and noise is perpetually a problem.
And I hope the new hotel bar has Allagash Black, because that shit is delicious.
I got two copies of We (which I've never read) because the translations are really different and I thought it might be fun to read them side-by-side. I have a copy of The Separation already, but this one is signed! And I binge-read the Jo Walton book the second we got home on Saturday night. It's so good.
(Bookseller who sold me The Separation said, "I've been trying to convince Readercon to bring Christopher Priest here for years and they don't seem interested." YES, READERCON. DO THAT.)
Also enjoying nick_kaufmann's and pgtremblay's books and picking and choosing stories at random from various anthologies and collections. (Especially V.H. Leslie's "The Quiet Room," in Shadows & Tall Trees 2014, both nominated for Shirley Jackson awards. Never heard of V.H. Leslie, but I'll be tracking down more of her stuff.)
I met Ellen Datlow (who signed my copy of After) and had nice conversations with various booksellers, one of whom recommended Tom Disch's poetry from Johns Hopkins University Press, so I have to track that down.
And it'll be interesting to see if Nic Pizzolatto reads like...um...anyone else. (Spoiler alert: I've already started it, and it kind of does.)
The panels were panels. Two were great. The "in praise of older women writers" panel was fantastic, except for the part where I had to go into the hall and ask people to pipe down because I couldn't hear. (Only five people, but it sounded like thirty. They looked mortified and left immediately.) Best line, about Ursula LeGuin: "She looks like a cute little old lady, but she's an intellectual terror." Also liked the "shout out the names of your favorite writers" portion (for the record: LeGuin, L'Engle, Carol Emshwiller, Karen Joy Fowler, Kit Reed, Octavia Butler, Judith Merril, Kate Wilhelm, Tanith Lee, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood). I didn't think to shout out NANCY FARMER till the end, though. Or JEANNE DUPRAU. There, they're shouted.
I'm gonna shout Nancy Farmer again because I wish she would get mentioned more at cons. NANCY FARMER. NANCY FARMER. NANCY FARMER. PLEASE CAN WE HAVE A NANCY FARMER PANEL ONE OF THESE DAYS, READERCON.
I was also kind of gobsmacked by Readercon's Code of Conduct, positioned prominently in two separate places near the entrance.
A closeup:
I'm just...amazed that anyone needs to have this explained this thoroughly. With examples, for crying out loud. (Don't get me wrong. I'm glad it's there; I know it's needed. Just makes me sad, that's all.)
The one picture I did not get (and am still kicking myself for not getting): Larry Correia's bio from a jacket flap, which went into great detail about how he owns guns, shoots guns, teaches guns, guns guns guns. GUNS, Y'ALL.
I think that's it. Side note: I'm glad Readcon's moving next year-I like the Burlington Marriott, but I find it kind of hard to navigate (I kept having the nearly-crashing-into-people-and-stepping-on-toes issue because everything is fairly jam-packed together), and noise is perpetually a problem.
And I hope the new hotel bar has Allagash Black, because that shit is delicious.