Finishing up WFC

[sartorias]

Before I leap madly into catching up with chores around here, a few explanations and so forth

Comments

[kalimac]

Many years ago, when I first met the great and delightful Frank M. Robinson, who has been both a writer and an editor, he delivered a witty disquisition from the editor's viewpoint about what's wrong with writers, and immediately followed it with an equally witty one from the writer's viewpoint about what's wrong with editors.

[sartorias]

Heh!

Can you remember what he said?

thoughts on LDS and science fiction

[seraphimsigrist]

I would expect an LDS interest in space

Re: thoughts on LDS and science fiction

[sartorias]

My outsider's view is that LDS is a deeply American offshoot of Christianity, and yes, the way they look at myth, mythos, history, the sacred, is all interconnected into a Celtic knotwork. I think that this would lend itself to the story teller's art.

[seraphimsigrist]

I have seen a listing of great numbers of lds
science fiction writers...never heard of any of
em.are any of them any good?
still even if it is painting by numbers painting
is painting and it may be Mormons who are among
those who keep the dream of the way to the stars
alive when the most of society is self absorbed etc
Im sure Niven and Pournelle and others value their
presence...

[sartorias]

You know how difficult it is to define "any good"--one person's delicious persimmon pie is another person's poison pastry. (Say that with a mouthful of peanuts.)

I think the best answer is, "Try them yourself."

[elmwood]

Thank you for the reports which allowed me to attend vicariously. Despite having been a science fiction and fantasy reader all my reading life (I picked up my much older brother's John Wyndham when I was seven - it scared the bejasus out of me), I have never been to a convention. It is something I must rememdy. The ideal one would have been this year's Worldcon in Montreal but the fates did not align to allow for that. If you were to recommend an upcoming convention in the next year or so, which one would it be?

[sartorias]

If you are in that neck of the woods (I never can remember where LJers live, sorry!) I strongly recommend Readercon, in July, in Boston. I think that would be a very good fit for you.

Hey, another is Boscone, which comes up either February or March, in another Boston location. I have never actually been there (way too costly from here) but I love what I hear about it.

[beth_bernobich]

Boskone is in February, usually on President's Day weekend. That and Readercon are the two cons I regularly attend. And not just because they are within driving distance!

[elmwood]

I'm in Ontario, but Boston is a place I have always wanted to visit. I like the look of Readercon a lot, but may not be able to make it next year as we are planning a trip back to England, but in subsequent years . . .
Thank you for the recommendation.

[beth_bernobich]

Wonderful, delicious con report--thank you!

I do wish I could have attended. (Next year, but then you won't be there. ::cries::)

[sartorias]

If you come out to San Diego in 2011 we shall party the house down.

More YA Thoughts

[artemisgreyvale]

If you have any interest (and the time required) to expound upon and post in depth about YA facts and theories and such at a later date you'll have at least one rapt reader on the matter. I wish I'd been at the Con to suck up as much of what was discussed as possible. This whole YA thing has become a sort of obsession for me, trying to get inside the innards of it all and see what makes it go. For example, the person with whom you dined who said she knew that Harry P and Twilight would cross social phenoms. I want to be able to see that. I can look at a foal and tell you what activities it'll be adept at when it grows into a horse. Now I want to be able to do that with my writing.

I'm aware that quite a bit of skill will come from experience, simply studying other books that have done well and such. But I'm fascinated by the psyche of what makes a book cross social phenoms and age barriers, what gives it that draw.

Re: More YA Thoughts

[sartorias]

I suspect it takes not only a whole lot of reading, but the ability to think strategically inside and outside the story--which is far tougher.

Re: More YA Thoughts

[artemisgreyvale]

Agreed. Which is why I love standing next to wise people so that their wisdom seeps into me through osmosis and sharp hearing. It's almost like reciting oral histories that way. You learn on your own as well, and some things can't be learned at all, you just feel them or have a sense for them or not. But talking with the folks that have 'been there' is a great opportunity for learning.

Re: More YA Thoughts

[sartorias]

yep...but also a great opportunity to experience the holes in one's own head. I can hear someone explain some simple concepts in, say, the phenomenology of physics, but ten minutes later my knuckles drag the ground again and as I wipe away my drool I'm thinking "What was that again?"