Wiscon 32 Saturday
Okay, the boy is still sleeping, poor thing, and the girl is up and active. She doesn’t seen sick to me anymore, but better to be safe then sorry. So, now before I head off to eat something while I have the chance, here’s Saturday’s update.
Saturday
After a night of restless sleep (for many reasons, most of all sleeping in a strange place)I down a couple breakfast bars and dashed to my first panel of the morning, “Environmentalism and Spirituality”. Wow, was that a lot of fun. I was joined in the panel by
xakaraand
iclysdale (our mod Judith Moffett couldn’t make it, but I think between myself, and especially
xakara, we managed okay), and we had some great discussions.
One thing that really sticks in my memory (proof I need to do daily reports and take better notes) is talking about the idea of needing fiction to move away from the world has gone to hell, and oh alien masters save us, to more that speaks of our own responsibility in making things better and practical solutions. For myself personally concerns about the planet and my own spirituality goes hand in hand, and we found that same seems to be true for many of the people we spoke with at the panel as well.
Next came the “Carl Brandon Society Update” which was much more exciting than you might think. After an introduction of both the board member and the audience, we broke up into groups to talk about things we’d like to see the CBS do in the future and how we’d like to be involved in those things. We talked about many things, though I’ll let all the thrilling new things you can look for from CBS in the coming years be a surprise.
Here are some programs they already do I feel are vital to the fan community. Octavia E. Butler Memorial Scholarship, regular recommended book lists of various cultural groups and by members of those cultures, The Carl Brandon Parallax Award (given to works of speculative fiction created by a (self-identified) person of color) and The Carl Brandon Kindred Award (given to any work of speculative fiction dealing with issues of race and ethnicity).
If you are not a member yet, and you support not only writers of color in SpecFic and fiction written respectfully about POC, then you need to be part of this group. The board members (Candra K. Gill, Claire Light, Victor Raymond (
badger2305), and Nisi Shawl (I thought Bryan Thao Worra was supposed to be there too, but I’m not remembering him….did I forget anyone?) ) are very approachable and hard working.
After the CBS meeting I rushed to the secret meeting where the Wiscon POC discuss taking over the world….ummmm…I mean the innocent social gathering that was meaningful to me in ways I don’t have words to express as well as FUN! (if you weren't there I can’t tell you what we talked about or I’d have to kill you (wink))
Oh, and not to forget the Tiptree Bake Sale. Yummy!!! The congers descended on those poor volunteers and at a dollar a plate I imagine the goodies didn’t last for long. I got a mouth watering fudge that was to live for, and missed out on the giant pick lesbian cookies that someone snatched the last one up before I could grab it. Locusts I tell you! After sharing my goodies with the kids my two plates didn’t last long.
And then came to horror or horrors, my go at the Broad Universe Rapid-Fire Reading. This is only my second time reading my own work in front of folks and I was terrified. I’m glad this time I didn’t have to go first. There were some wonderful readings from women like Katherine Mankiller (I sooo love her surname), Theresa Crater, Lori Devoti, Gwynne Garfinkle, Morven Westfield, Sandra Ulbrich, Lyda Morehouse (
lyda222), Susan Hastings,
xakara, and Sue Burke. If the audience enjoyed the pieces readings half as much as I did, it was certainly a success.
(I didn’t find all the lj links and websites, so if I missed yours please poke me)
After surviving another reading, and fulfilling my needs socially and food-wize in our wondrous consuite I was able to make it to the next panel I wanted to see, “The "Real City" of Urban Fantasy” with
davidlevine, Ellen Kushner, Richard Bowes, Karen Healey, and Julia Starkey.
Even though much of what I have coming out is rural contemporary paranormal in tone, my novel Worlds Collide that is coming out Fall 2009 is set in Madison. I was a bit surprised at how limited the choices seemed to be in cities people expected to see in urban fantasy. I really enjoy setting my stories in places like Milwaukee and Madison, those cities have such unique characters to them, most certainly personalities of their own. It certain makes me consider more carefully the settings of the other series tumbling around in my head (quit it already!)
Then, after dinner and kid wrangling I made it to my late night panel, “LGBTQ Fiction: Are we ready for the Mainstream? Are they ready for us?”. They are trying to kill us (Xakara and I) with late night panels followed by early morning panels the next day. We had some great folks joining us like
catrambo, and Connie Wilkins, none I have ever had the opportunity to meet in person, and as tired as I was, few I could place a face to a name after, but I can tell you I loved doing the panel with them. The audience was very responsive too, which made things go so much more smoothly.
In the end it came down to this, for me anyways, that it will take time for lgbtq fiction to be accepted outside of our community, but it does seem to be slowly tasted beyond the getto it used to exists in, and as long as we have fan support for the authors and don’t get lost in the process, I have hope.
And best thing, I got an email from my editor that will be working with me on Ancestral Magic. I am sooooo excited. She says soon as she is done with her current project she’ll start going over my novel. I can’t wait.
So we have come to the end of my Saturday lineup. More is coming soon as I get fed and spend time with the kidlets. It’s been a draining two days, so well see if I can manage one more today or if it’ll have to wait for tomorrow.