Wiscon 2013: Guest-of-Honor Readings at ''A Room of One's Own Bookstore"
I'm back at Wiscon! This is Wiscon 37, and kudos to the team that's delivered it all these years. It's only after my involvement with FOGcon that I'm beginning to comprehend the huge amount of work that a Con entails.
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The traditional kick-off is a reading by the Guests of Honor, hosted by "A Room of One's Own." Though I'd been there before (twice) I thought to check that I remembered the route. Just as well, because it's moved, a block down. The new premises are lovely, with a traditional frontage and interior arches.
I went in to find quite a few people already gathered. The reading space felt smaller than the backroom they used to have, and most of the chairs were taken. Still, I found a place to sit, then left my coat there while I mingled. I found Laurie Tobie Edison at the snack table, and she described her new "Discworld" sculpture: the turtle and elephants and the Discworld (which is a boulder opal). Also a silver Fantasy map she's working on. It all sounds quite magical. She may have some photographs. I'm also looking forward to seeing her other work; she listed them on her LiveJournal and they sound gorgeous (she didn't have pictures of those).
Also said Hi to quite a few other people. It had this lovely "First day of school after summer" feel to it.
GUEST OF HONOR READINGS
Piglet introduced Jo Walton with a humorous verse. Jo's reading, from her current novel, was hilarious. Apollo's confused because Daphne becomes a tree rather than mate with him, so he asks his sister Artemis to explain. She directs him to Athene, who says something about "volition" and gets him involved in her own project: Recreating Plato's Republic before it was even written. [Here's a link to her blog, Bluejo's Journal]
Jesse the K introduced Joan Slonczewski, and even though she had apparently rehearsed it, she stumbled over the name. Joan took it in her stride. "My students call me Dr Zeus," she said, and explained the background of her science as well as her fiction: Western diets have disrupted our bacterial ecosystems, which must be corrected with inputs from the uncorrupted intestinal flora of people in places like Africa. Someone near me mentioned fecal transplants, which are ingested. Then she read an excerpt in which the heroine, who has been attacked for hosting sentient bacteria, is moving to a new house - which is also sentient, and is decorating itself. [Joan's blog, Ultraphyte, is linked here.]
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After the readings, I made contact with Kater Cheek (and daughter) and J (who has a book out: The Flaming Geeks Book of Geeky Trivia) and picked up my Program Guide. I started marking off all the things I wanted to attend. As usual, there were between 2 and 4 "Can't miss" events in each time-slot. You may see me darting in and out of rooms a lot.
[Replicated from my new Wordpress site+blog.]
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The traditional kick-off is a reading by the Guests of Honor, hosted by "A Room of One's Own." Though I'd been there before (twice) I thought to check that I remembered the route. Just as well, because it's moved, a block down. The new premises are lovely, with a traditional frontage and interior arches.
I went in to find quite a few people already gathered. The reading space felt smaller than the backroom they used to have, and most of the chairs were taken. Still, I found a place to sit, then left my coat there while I mingled. I found Laurie Tobie Edison at the snack table, and she described her new "Discworld" sculpture: the turtle and elephants and the Discworld (which is a boulder opal). Also a silver Fantasy map she's working on. It all sounds quite magical. She may have some photographs. I'm also looking forward to seeing her other work; she listed them on her LiveJournal and they sound gorgeous (she didn't have pictures of those).
Also said Hi to quite a few other people. It had this lovely "First day of school after summer" feel to it.
GUEST OF HONOR READINGS
Piglet introduced Jo Walton with a humorous verse. Jo's reading, from her current novel, was hilarious. Apollo's confused because Daphne becomes a tree rather than mate with him, so he asks his sister Artemis to explain. She directs him to Athene, who says something about "volition" and gets him involved in her own project: Recreating Plato's Republic before it was even written. [Here's a link to her blog, Bluejo's Journal]
Jesse the K introduced Joan Slonczewski, and even though she had apparently rehearsed it, she stumbled over the name. Joan took it in her stride. "My students call me Dr Zeus," she said, and explained the background of her science as well as her fiction: Western diets have disrupted our bacterial ecosystems, which must be corrected with inputs from the uncorrupted intestinal flora of people in places like Africa. Someone near me mentioned fecal transplants, which are ingested. Then she read an excerpt in which the heroine, who has been attacked for hosting sentient bacteria, is moving to a new house - which is also sentient, and is decorating itself. [Joan's blog, Ultraphyte, is linked here.]
-------------------------
After the readings, I made contact with Kater Cheek (and daughter) and J (who has a book out: The Flaming Geeks Book of Geeky Trivia) and picked up my Program Guide. I started marking off all the things I wanted to attend. As usual, there were between 2 and 4 "Can't miss" events in each time-slot. You may see me darting in and out of rooms a lot.
[Replicated from my new Wordpress site+blog.]