Eastercon, The Rest of It
And then the other three days of Eastercon happened, and we all went home again.
Let me back up a little. On Sunday, I gave the BSFA's inaugural academic lecture at Eastercon, on practical, sensible, strange, and weird things having to do with time and its depictions in the Middle Ages. I'm happy to say that it went very well, even if, as an ignorant colonial, I'm unable to pronounce Michaelmas correctly. Also, I had incentive to mention the Hedgehog of the Destruction of Ninevah, which is always a good thing.
On Monday, I was part of the Hugo discussion panel, which worked satisfyingly enough because our reading tastes were largely complementary. The panel happened in between two Punch & Judy shows happening in the same room, so we had a theatre and puppets hanging out while we discusseed the provisional Graphic Story category and other Hugo-related things.
The George Hay Memorial Lecture was on the really nifty RepRap project.
Music of the Spheres
Not the Clarke Awards
Never trust a book with a dragon on the cover
The BSFA Awards
Tim Power's GOH talk
Rock Band: Battle of the Bands competition (only as a spectator)
Figures from History
I didn't go to anywhere near as many panels as I would normally in a convention, spending half of the rest of the time tweaking my lecture slides, getting sleep, or trying to get to the convention hotel. In between everything else, I caught up with friends and met lots of new and intriguing people. It was an excellent convention; its only real challenge in my experience of it was that many of us were staying in the city center, a maze of one way streets which I never traversed the same way twice. There was a shuttle bus service, but not always often enough, and taxis were often complicated by losing them to other aspiring passengers. Other than that though, it was impressive: friendly staff, cheap and decent food, a good variety of well-used spaces, lots of bars, and an excellent program.
Let me back up a little. On Sunday, I gave the BSFA's inaugural academic lecture at Eastercon, on practical, sensible, strange, and weird things having to do with time and its depictions in the Middle Ages. I'm happy to say that it went very well, even if, as an ignorant colonial, I'm unable to pronounce Michaelmas correctly. Also, I had incentive to mention the Hedgehog of the Destruction of Ninevah, which is always a good thing.
On Monday, I was part of the Hugo discussion panel, which worked satisfyingly enough because our reading tastes were largely complementary. The panel happened in between two Punch & Judy shows happening in the same room, so we had a theatre and puppets hanging out while we discusseed the provisional Graphic Story category and other Hugo-related things.
The George Hay Memorial Lecture was on the really nifty RepRap project.
Music of the Spheres
Not the Clarke Awards
Never trust a book with a dragon on the cover
The BSFA Awards
Tim Power's GOH talk
Rock Band: Battle of the Bands competition (only as a spectator)
Figures from History
I didn't go to anywhere near as many panels as I would normally in a convention, spending half of the rest of the time tweaking my lecture slides, getting sleep, or trying to get to the convention hotel. In between everything else, I caught up with friends and met lots of new and intriguing people. It was an excellent convention; its only real challenge in my experience of it was that many of us were staying in the city center, a maze of one way streets which I never traversed the same way twice. There was a shuttle bus service, but not always often enough, and taxis were often complicated by losing them to other aspiring passengers. Other than that though, it was impressive: friendly staff, cheap and decent food, a good variety of well-used spaces, lots of bars, and an excellent program.