Wiscon 2009 - First evening
The kick-off event was a reading and reception at A Room of One's Own, the bookstore. It looked quite tiny from outside, but turned out to be spacious and full of books and people. I found my Clarion classmate Julie, who'd gotten there earlier. Then we found Karen Joy Fowler, and got caught up.
The reading was through winding secret corridors to a large space organized with rows of chairs.
Geoff Ryman read from his new book, The King's Last Song, set in ancient and modern Cambodia. He performed his piece rather than read it, and despite the indifferent acoustics (or maybe the mic?) was rivetting. (Checking his wikipedia entry later, I found he was listed as author, actor. Oh.) Some years ago I spent a couple of weeks in Cambodia, and the story intertwined with those memories.
Ellen Klages followed up with a piece in a completely different mood, though it also spoke of love and death - a story of a woman and a dryad. Very beautiful, very moving.
At the reading, we met Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner, both Clarion 2007 instructors. Afterward, a group of of us went out for dinner. Lively conversation. One of our topics was the postal service and whether it's obsolete.
I got teased unmercifully for my reluctance to *mail* submissions. (I very strongly prefer e-subs...) Ellen Kushner pointed out that in the days before computers, she actually had to type her stories. Ted Chiang told of a guy who obviously was a mind-mate of mine: "First I have to find an envelope. Then I have to stick on a stamp. Then I have to take it down to the mailbox. What am I, a triathelete?"
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Lest anyone think I'm a complete convert to the electronic world: When I found a newspaper outside my hotel door this morning, I was delighted. Coffee and the newspaper. One of those little perfect moments. I love reading the newspapers of towns I don't know.