Eagles Over the Kennebec

It’s raining here at the Confusion Factory, which it has been doing the last day or so. Very different from Reno, where I waked every morning in a room outfitted with Serious Sun-blocking curtains, to my first thought, “My, it’s dim! I wonder if it’s raining.”

Which brings me to the realization that, though I’ve written somewhat of the travails which afflicted our most recent journies, I haven’t written of WorldCon itself.

…which was lovely. Verily, the most relaxed and delightful WorldCon I’ve attended as a pro in years. We were lightly but respectfully scheduled, and had more time to catch up with people and Just Chat than I’ve had since I was SFWA ExecDir and it was part of my job to talk, at least, to SFWA members.

So, our con started — well, on the train, actually, when we met up with Jo Walton. The Lake Shore Limited, as reported elsewhere in this journal, was five hours late to Chicago; a theme that continued with the California Zephyr.

To digress for a moment, while it was unfortunate that the train was, at the end, six+ hours late (though on the return trip, I was to learn that this was a mere bagatelle), it was fortunate in that, for the very first time in numerous train crossings of Our Great Country(tm), I saw the Salt Lake Desert, which the Zephyr typically crosses at night, and I’m very grateful for that.

So, anyhow, being no stranger to trains running rather less-epically late, we usually plan on getting into far-flung places the day before the event starts. (We didn’t do this for last Chicago WorldCon, which was, after all, only an overnight trip. Our first event was at noon, the train was scheduled in at 8:45 — plenty of time to get to the hotel, shower, put on con clothes and get the heck down to the panel. See the train be three hours late. See Sharon and Steve throw the baggage into the hotel room and run over to the second tower to make the start of the panel.)

For the Reno trip, we made sure we arrived on Tuesday. But! The train gets into Reno at 8:30 in the morning. Even if it was late, we reasoned, we’d be in time for lunch. And so we arranged to meet Di Francis (Diana Pharaoh Francis) and her family for dinner at 6 p.m.

A date for which we were almost late.

When the train did eventually find Reno, we found Myles and Nancy O’Reilly waiting to whisk us to the Atlantis, while Jo entered into the capable care of Mem Morman for transport to the Peppermill.

Check-in was a little bit of a zoo — I don’t remember why at this point — and Shaii, on the desk, upgraded our room, to which we repaired, to unpack and shower and change.

We took a taxi to the Peppermill, located Di and her family patiently waiting, had a good visit and an…eclectic dinner at the Island Buffet. We wandered back to the Atlantis eventually, and, restless with too much ice tea (Man, I drank more ice tea on this trip than I have since I was a kid in Baltimore), walked around the place, as is our habit, locating Points of Interest.

I know some folks were disturbed by the fact that WorldCon was attached to a casino — that, in fact, the con hotels were casinos. I thought it was…interesting, and not as completely disorienting as it apparently was for others. Note that I speak here of the Atlantis; the Peppermill was a Whole Nother Story.

Anyhow, Steve and I pretty quickly found our path to the convention center, and patterned the casino floor so we had the various restaurants located.

Wednesday, after locating the Friends of Liad Fan Table, with Shawna and Angie already in attendance, I abandoned Steve and took a taxi to the Nevada Museum of Art, which is a wonderful little museum that you should all visit, if you’re ever in Reno. I went specifically for the mummy display, but the facility was small enough that I was able to tour the whole thing, eat lunch and get back to the Atlantis in time to join Steve for our presentation at the Sierra View Library, across the street from the convention center.

We arrived in time to see Steve Gould finish up his presentation, which was fun; then we read from Ghost Ship, answered questions, and said Hi to Carol Berg, who was up next.

May I just say? The library event was lovely, and I thank WorldCon, in the person of Patricia Parsons, for working with the Sierra View staff to make it happen. We were very glad to be a part of this outreach effort, and hope that future WorldCons can find a way to continue the tradition.

We finished out Wednesday by having dinner with Mem and Terry, then returned to the hotel to crash early.

Thursday started with a journey to the Peppermill (WorldCon hired real buses to shuttle between the hotels! Buses that knelt down to let passengers aboard. Camel buses in the desert. Was anything ever cooler? Ahem.). So, anyhow, to the Peppermill, where we speedily got lost on our way to the writing workshop, and enlisted the aid of a gentleman with a broom to set us on the proper path.

The workshop, despite being down one participant, went well, I thought; both of those remaining being serious about their reading and their writing. After, Steve and I had lunch in Biscotti’s, bused back over to the Convention Center to do our stint at the SFWA table, hosted a sold-out kaffeeklatsch, checked in at the FoL Fan Table, did a drawing for free! books!, signed books in the Dealer’s Room; met Judy Bemis for dinner; did Art Night (which was rather less…extravagant than other Art Nights I’ve attended), and hit the SFWA Suite, where I left Steve chatting with Dave Smeds when I went back to the room to nurse a altitude headache. (Note to self: In high, dry climates, drink water constantly! Really.)

Friday we were scheduled but lightly. I met up with Phyllis Irene Radford, whom I hadn’t seen in years — was it the Kansas City Nebulas? — and we did some Fast Catch Up(tm). Our reading was standing room only, followed by a signing, then the Baen Authors Dinner, and the FoL-only party, which I left early, being a poor thing and easily exhausted.

Saturday our dance card was full to overflowing. We started out with an 8 a.m. breakfast at Toucan Charlie’s with sixty! stalwart Friends of Liad. That? Was amazing. And gratifying. We had a good time and hope everyone who attended, did, as well. I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to talk to everyone — but, sixty? Who could have predicted?

So, after breakfast, we hit the first panel of the day — Collaboration, moderated by Steve. I do have a complaint here. I had checked in with Con Ops regarding the taping policy and had been told, definitively, that no taping of panels would be allowed. We arrived to find our co-panelists (the gentleman of the set is very avid podcaster; the lady apparently also, but he was doing the rigging) rigging up an Entire Podcasting System in order to tape the panel prior to being broadcast on his/their site. We explained about Ops, the gentleman allowed as how it was easier to get forgiveness than permission, and continued his set-up.

Now, this annoyed — and still annoys — me for a couple reasons. One, Ops. Two, he never asked us if we would mind providing free content for his site. Now, had he asked us, I might’ve said OK, sure, whatever, since I’m generally well-disposed toward himself. But he didn’t ask, he just assumed, and now we all have to put up with me being cranky with him about this, which is too bad.

So.

After Collaboration, Continuity, and a star-studded cast: Lois Bujold, Eric Flint, Dean Wesley Smith, Steve Miller; Sharon Lee moderating. This was played to a large room, full, as you might imagine from the list of panelists. We had a lively, and as people stopped to tell me later in the con, informative discussion about series/character/worldbuilding continuity. It was a pleasure to moderate; I had fun and I hope my co-panelists did, as well.

After that, we raced off to the SFWA meeting, then I went on to the Urban Fantasy panel with Tim Pratt, Larry Correia, Lisa Goldstein; ably moderated by Madeleine Robins. Another fun, well-attended panel.

Dinner with Myles and Nancy followed, then on to the Baen Paty, and thence to the Friends of Liad Party.

Sunday was about touring the Dealer’s Room, where we signed more books, talking to bunches of people, I bought the aforementioned corset, talked to more people, had dinner with Eve Ackerman, her lovely husband, Steve-whose-last-name-I-didn’t-get, Toni Weisskopf, eventually found our room again and crashed.

Monday, we had a good-bye breakfast with Shawna and Angie, and leisurely began our fraught journey back to Chicago.

The Friends of Liad came to this convention in droves; we were stunned — and gratified. Angie, Debbie, Shawna, and Thuy, who womaned the fan table, did all the party prep and acted as Message Center for Steve and me, were Beyond Awesome; it was in every sense a working con for them, and we’re very grateful for their efforts.

…and here ends the con report.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Still sick, but I got ‘em on the run. *eyes saltwater gargle wearily*

Because I slept all day yesterday, I did not fulfill my goal of completing the last of the workshop papers, nor did I dig a hole in the Cat Garden. Today, it’s raining, and Steve has respectfully — not to say, reasonably — suggested that we conduct a Proper Burial after our world travels are through. Below, therefore, a Revised To-Do List.

In case one has missed the announcement elsewhere, there is a teaser up at Splinter Universe for “Kin Ties,” which goes live — anyone?

Yes, excellent! “Kin Ties” goes live on Friday.

And, now, to work.

To-Do Before Leaving for Reno
1. Finish critiquing the submissions for our section of the WorldCon Writing Workshop: 1, 2, 3
2. Do prep for the panel I’m moderating
3. Make sure The Leewit has the latest edition of George on her SDcard, and the notes for “Guaranteed Delivery”
4. Write an essay with Steve. Must isolate a topic.
5. Have and recover from pre-departure panic attack
6. Pack, which includes “do laundry”
6a. Find all pertinent wires
7. Upload “Kin Ties” to Splinter Universe
8. Turn over keys, house, and felines to cat sitter

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Wow, is that a classy headline, or what?

Anyhow — remember ‘way back the beginning of the summer when NPR asked everybody within the sound of their pixels to nominate books-and-series for their Top 100 Science Fiction and Fantasy Book List? Well! They’ve whittled the first list of 5,000+/- titles down to the top 250 and now they need your help again. Go here and choose your personal top 10 from the list provided. Full disclosure: Yes, “The Liaden Universe by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller” is on the list.

OK, that. What’s next? Droid apps! Actually, Droid app. Those of you who use your Droid to make notes-to-self — which app do you use? I had just about settled on one that looked to be everything I wanted and more! (having narrowly talked myself out of the one that takes notes in 18th century copperplate), but upon reading the fine print, it would appear that this particular app prevents the phone from going to sleep, which means, as I understand the matter, the phone will chew through its battery faster. Yes, the Droid does have the increased capacity battery (the first thing I do for my gadgets, after they’ve taken the Oath of Fealty, is fix ‘em up with the high-capacity battery and more memory, if applicable), but I’m going to be traveling by train, and power outlets are not always as plentiful as one would wish.

How’m I doing here? One more topic to cover.

Who can help me with LJ-Book? I…can’t seem to get a book out of it. It’s probably something very, very simple that I’m doing wrong, but at this point it seems pretty clear that I’m not going to find it on my own.

In other news from around the Cat Farm, yesterday was the Official! Ghost Ship Release Day. The sales numbers on Barnes and Noble have been dancing around in the 400 and 500s, which is pretty dern awesome; and in the 700 to 900 range at Amazon.com, which also Isn’t Too Bad.

It’s been difficult to work without Hexapuma keeping a watch over my keyboard, but I have been paying attention to the submissions for the writing workshop Steve and I are leading on WorldCon Thursday, and also to George. That last is going a little less quickly than I want, but I’m at one of the anchor scenes, and it has to be right — set deep and straight.

The WorldCon dance card is filling right up. Looks like I’m going to sprint out to the museum for mummies on Wednesday morning before the con starts — which, for us, will be Wednesday at 3:45, at the Sierra View Library. Still have to locate a laundromat for…Sunday sometime, that looks like. Except for those two outside excursions, it’ll be All Con, All the Time.

Today…can’t figure out if it’s going to rain or just be cloudy, cool and damp. I can go with either of those, frankly, because? I’ll be at the dining room table, staring at a blank page until the drops of blood break out on my forehead.

Wish me luck.

Progress on the Book Presently known as George
45,844 words/100,000 OR 45% complete

“You see them don’t you?” she whispered, her breath hot against his cheek and smelling faintly of mint. “You see them, inside the darkness. They’re waiting for us, eh? Aren’t they? Waiting to eat us, and spit out our souls.”

 

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

WorldCon is a pocket universe, the memories of which quickly blur, while the repercussions dog one for months.

Let's see...Steve and I had a reading with Daniel Dern on Friday morning at 9 a.m. We expected to spend that early hour catching up with Daniel and drinking coffee. Instead, we read to a gratifyingly full room -- Daniel treated us to several fairy tales and some limericks; I read the first chapter of Carousel Tides and Steve confounded everyone with the scavage chapter from Fledgling. After, we had time for a brief Q&A and, as far as I could tell, everybody left happy.

Before that, on Thursday, Steve and I were empanelled with the Kollin brothers -- Dani and Eytan -- to discuss Collaboration, How We Do It. It was a lively panel, though I'm not sure how informative for the audience, and was again very well attended.

What else? Ah. Aunts in Space. There's apparently a great deal of interest in this issue, and I hope that some other convention will pick it up and allow it to be given the scrutiny it apparently needs. Alas, I walked into one of the larger meeting rooms, which was standing room only, to find only two of the four panelists on-board, myself (the moderator) and the excellent malkingrey. Kathy Sullivan is a hero of the revolution, allowing me to draft her out of the audience at a heartbeat's notice to get us up to three discussants. Even so, the question was thrown out to the audience, which contained many knowledgeable people with opinions, and we spent a fraught (for the moderator; I hope not for others) hour trading favorite aunts and the books in which they live, and trying to get our teeth into what kinds of Aunt stories particular readers feel are missing from the fabric of SF.

Because of Conditions, I did, in my capacity as moderator, cut the official discussion off at one hour, though it had been scheduled for an hour and a half. It is, I think, a testimony to the interest people have in this topic that many stayed afterward to continue the discussion among themselves.

Sometime later in the con -- and I don't actually remember when -- I was moderator of a panel discussing Kick-Butt Heroines. Again, a lot of audience participation in a room set up in a hollow-square, rather than the usual table at the front facing auditorium lines of chairs. I think it worked well, though I am. . .somewhat nonplussed to be scolded (gently) for having opinions formed by my life experience. I expect that I'm on the edge of becoming non-useful in discussions of kick-buttness, as women now proceed to the next level of consciousness.

On Sunday, cleverly scheduled right before lunch, was Food for Writers. jonsinger moderated, with myself, malkingrey and Allison Sinclair trying to keep up. Happily, Steve and I met arcaedia immediately after, and dined well at Boris Bistro.

At some point late Sunday, I was on an Avatar panel with Cynthia Huckle, Madeline Ashby and Nora Jemison. The panel was in the Children's Area, where no adult dared to go, so we had a wide-ranging discussion with one of the panelist's husband, Liam and his brother, whose name I don't believe I got, and, later, Corwin. The moderator called the panel early, and I went down the hall to the in-progress Baen Traveling Slideshow, to sit with Steve. Alas, Jim Minz saw me come in and proceeded to embarrass me by calling for an extemporaneous talk about Fledgling and Saltation. I believe I made sense, but it's often hard to tell from behind the mike.

Saturday at 9 a.m., I joined Mindy Klasky, Patrick Lundrigen and two new writers to critique their works in progress. That was a dynamic session and I think everybody in the room learned Valuable Writer Foo Stuff, which counts as a success. Kudos to birdhousefrog for organizing the Workshop Track, a huge task that she acquitted with both honor and humor.

Beside the lovely lunch with aracaedia, we had a relaxing dinner with Myles and Nancy at an Italian restaurant with a bilingual menu (Italian and French); an a leisurely dinner with the Baen Crowd. The Friends of Liad Breakfast was very well attended this year -- we got a head count of 23; far surpassing my guess-for-reservation-purposes of twelve. Our waitress, Thuy, managed us all handily.

As with any WorldCon, there were people we wanted to meet that we missed, and people we hadn't seen in Forever who we finally got a chance to chat with. Because we were so lightly scheduled (in terms of other cons and WorldCons), I came home relaxed rather then exhausted, which I could very much get used to.

It was a slightly expensive trip with regard to Personal Belongings -- my moonstone-and-triple-moon pendant lost its clasp, the back fell off of my tree-and-dragon pin, and! my lovely lightweight black slacks acquired a hole. Repairs on order.

In sum, a good and relaxing time was had by the Lee Contingent, and I'm glad I went to WorldCon this year.

And, now, if you'll excuse me, I have a ton of work to do.