Speculative Fiction in San Francisco
Miraculously yesterday my calendar cleared, just in time for something I really wanted to attend.
Rina Weisman organizes these monthly (or so) gatherings, called SF in SF (Spec-fic in San Francisco). They usually feature authors reading from their books (with a very convenient counter from Borderlands bookstore), great snacks, and a cash bar. Any profit they make from the bar benefits the Variety Children's Charity. Yesterday, it was Mary Robinette Kowal and Cecilia Holland reading. Mary's debut novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, came out recently. It's a Jane-Austen inspired book, with magic as another feminine art (like embroidery or water-colors).
I got there before they even put the lights on. Rina was mixing a signature drink, Shade of Milk and Honey. It looked like a pale lemony honey, with a cherry on top and added plastic mermaid. It was deceptively pleasant, the kind of drink you could easily have too many of. It'll be neat if Rina manages to invent a new drink for every debut novel that's read at SF in SF. (That's a hint...)
The reading was awesome. Mary used an English accent that she'd practiced for the audio-book version. It pulled me right in, and of course I bought a copy (even though I try never to buy hardcover books because they terrorize my paperback-adapted bookshelves). Then she performed a little puppet-show with shadow-puppets she'd made herself with Trader Joe's cartons...
Cecilia Holland, a well-established historical novelist, has two new books out. The better-publicized is The Secret Eleanor, about Eleanor of Aquitaine; but what she read from was Kings of the North - a historical with fantasy elements, about Vikings. Her protagonist, Canute, is stuck inside a large barrel, upside-down and tied up with rope and bowstring. A compelling story.
Terry Bisson as the moderator did a superb job of balancing the two very different works and authors, drawing out themes, soliciting questions, and keeping the discussion moving along at an interesting pace. We discussed the creation of worlds, historical and fantastical, how they did their research, and the creation of magic systems (on and off the page). "You have to know how it works," Mary said. Technology can be taken for granted; magic has to be explained (or at least understood).
The bonus for me was that the bookstore table had copies of Asimov's there, with a story by Mary, as well as an essay by by writer-friend Aliette de Bodard. I picked it up, and found Aliette had kindly given me a shout-out... The essay (which you can read here) is a counterpoint to an earlier one by Norman Spinrad insisting that science fiction was a wholly western art-form.
I met Amelia Beamer, who was in my writing group, Second Draft. She'll be next up at SF in SF, with The Loving Dead, a literary action-filled zombie novel I had the privilege to beta-read. I will try very hard to be there at the Hobart Building, Saturday, September 11th at 7:00 pm.
Rina Weisman organizes these monthly (or so) gatherings, called SF in SF (Spec-fic in San Francisco). They usually feature authors reading from their books (with a very convenient counter from Borderlands bookstore), great snacks, and a cash bar. Any profit they make from the bar benefits the Variety Children's Charity. Yesterday, it was Mary Robinette Kowal and Cecilia Holland reading. Mary's debut novel, Shades of Milk and Honey, came out recently. It's a Jane-Austen inspired book, with magic as another feminine art (like embroidery or water-colors).
I got there before they even put the lights on. Rina was mixing a signature drink, Shade of Milk and Honey. It looked like a pale lemony honey, with a cherry on top and added plastic mermaid. It was deceptively pleasant, the kind of drink you could easily have too many of. It'll be neat if Rina manages to invent a new drink for every debut novel that's read at SF in SF. (That's a hint...)
The reading was awesome. Mary used an English accent that she'd practiced for the audio-book version. It pulled me right in, and of course I bought a copy (even though I try never to buy hardcover books because they terrorize my paperback-adapted bookshelves). Then she performed a little puppet-show with shadow-puppets she'd made herself with Trader Joe's cartons...
Cecilia Holland, a well-established historical novelist, has two new books out. The better-publicized is The Secret Eleanor, about Eleanor of Aquitaine; but what she read from was Kings of the North - a historical with fantasy elements, about Vikings. Her protagonist, Canute, is stuck inside a large barrel, upside-down and tied up with rope and bowstring. A compelling story.
Terry Bisson as the moderator did a superb job of balancing the two very different works and authors, drawing out themes, soliciting questions, and keeping the discussion moving along at an interesting pace. We discussed the creation of worlds, historical and fantastical, how they did their research, and the creation of magic systems (on and off the page). "You have to know how it works," Mary said. Technology can be taken for granted; magic has to be explained (or at least understood).
The bonus for me was that the bookstore table had copies of Asimov's there, with a story by Mary, as well as an essay by by writer-friend Aliette de Bodard. I picked it up, and found Aliette had kindly given me a shout-out... The essay (which you can read here) is a counterpoint to an earlier one by Norman Spinrad insisting that science fiction was a wholly western art-form.
I met Amelia Beamer, who was in my writing group, Second Draft. She'll be next up at SF in SF, with The Loving Dead, a literary action-filled zombie novel I had the privilege to beta-read. I will try very hard to be there at the Hobart Building, Saturday, September 11th at 7:00 pm.