WorldCon

[Yagathai]

durring the bwb party George was taking about the look of the minor charaters and he mentioned that Yag's has the look of a bloodrider. - Make of that what you will.

My agent is waiting for a call.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Yagathai,

My agent is waiting for a call.

There was discussion, in the X's room on Sunday night, of you being cast as Khal Drogo.

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Yagathai,

There was discussion, in the X's room on Sunday night, of you being cast as Khal Drogo.

That would so totally rock. Yags is very hawt and I'd loved to see him dressed as a bloodrider. :D

[Mr. X]

And here goes my stab at a Con Report:

We drove up on Thursday, which turned out to take a couple extra hours due to our difficulties finding a place for dinner in Plattsburgh (WTF does almost everywhere close at 6 in that town?) and an hour wait to get over the border. At least we had an entertaining border guard. When we told him we were on our way to a science fiction convention, he asked if we had anything with us besides our clothes in the car, such as "ray guns or phasers," adding that if we did, "I have to ask you to set them on stun -- we don't want lethal phasers in Canada."

After checking into the hotel, we headed to the party floor, where we met up with a bunch of BwB folks on leaving the elevator. I also stumbled through someone else's photo of Neil Gaiman while going to check out our party room.

Friday began with a maple doughnut feast at Tim Horton's, followed by registration and a quick tour of the dealer's room. The very first thing that caught my eye as we entered was the Night Shade Books table sporting copies of Paolo Bacigalupi's new novel, The Windup Girl. While paying for it, I noticed Paolo himself was sitting at the table to sign books. We went and fanned him a bit while he inscribed our copy. After this we took a stroll through the art show, where only a single Hugo nominated artist had work on display. That was a little disappointing.

The sum total of our con activities consisted of Paedar's reading and the "Knights Who Say F***" panel, both of which were highly entertaining. It is a delight to attend a panel made up of intelligent and articulate authors. The rest of our time in the convention center was spent sitting around and chatting with BwB folks.

Friday evening, Xray, daj, Tycho and I took a trip up to the Dieu de Ciel brewpub, spotting a flaming wedding cake on the way. Friday night, a crew of us took over the upstairs at the Canadian Science Fiction Association party (I think that's who was throwing the party, anyway), as they had the suite where our party was the following evening. Ended up in the UK party towards the end of the night, where I remember talking with Ser Scot about barbecue for a while.

Much of Saturday was spent prepping for the party. After the "Knights Who Say F***" panel, a beer run was made with Limecat, daj, Tycho, fenryng, Blue Rose, Xray and I. We sat in our room chatting and eating meat crack afterwards. Eventually the hotel decided to let us check into the party suite. Thanks to the BwB being awesome and showing up to set things up at 4, we got the room ready in record time. The party followed, with knightings and lordings and other delights.

Most of what I remember of Sunday is rescuing our party supplies from the housekeeping staff, going to the group lunch with George and Parris, and sitting around either the con center or our room talking shit with BwB peeps, which made for a grand time.

Rather than risk omitting names, I want to give a general thanks and shout out to everyone who helped set up, clean up, greet folks, dash out into Montreal in search of beer, ice, and fans, bartend, make buttons, and be all-around awesome. You all made the party that much more fun and much less stressful.

Monday we visited the Marche Atwater, bought more wonderful meat products (including chunks of fried bacon!), and drove home. The U.S. border agent was less entertaining than his Canadian counterpart, but then the lines were also much shorter.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

"Chunks of fried bacon"?

Oh my, does that sound good.

[mormont]

By the way, what happened to all the poutine (we got twelve small orders one for each quester)? I don't believe I had any at the party.

As is traditional, the fruits of your labour were offered up to the lords and ladies. (Although actually I went around and offered some to all the knights as well, and random people who happened to be left.)

Friday began with a maple doughnut feast at Tim Horton's

This reminded me of the maple latte I had on Friday morning. Half syrup, half caffeine: it sustained me completely and gave me a 12 hour buzz. :D

While paying for it, I noticed Paolo himself was sitting at the table to sign books.

And very glad I am, since I would not have recognised him, but now I have a signed copy of his novel! :)

Friday night, a crew of us took over the upstairs at the Canadian Science Fiction Association party (I think that's who was throwing the party, anyway), as they had the suite where our party was the following evening.

Yeah, that's right. I seem to remember setting off for that party a couple of times and getting distracted. But I am notoriously easily distracted. :P

Much of Saturday was spent prepping for the party. After the "Knights Who Say F***" panel, a beer run was made with Limecat, daj, Tycho, fenryng, Blue Rose, Xray and I.

I seem to recall I was there too, which is great, because until you mentioned this I had forgotten what the hell I did on Saturday afternoon. I totally rely on other people's con reports to piece together the last few days...

[Ran]

Any anecdotes from the "Knights Who Say F***" panel? I know Guy Gavriel Kay and Pat Rothfuss were on it, but haven't seen any reports on that particular panel.

[Xray the Enforcer]

Panel mod was GGK

Also on the panel was Pat Rothfuss, David Anthony Durham, Mark Gasgoigne and Ellen Kushner.

They talked at length about diction and the use of language in novels. Should it be accessible, or should it challenge? GGK kicked off the panel with a selection from LeGuin's famed Elfland/Poughkeepsie essay and spun off from there. Joe Abercrombie was proclaimed the Ben Johnson of the modern era -- which means that Ben Johnson was the Big Mac of Shakespeare's time, I suppose.

Rothfuss had an interesting digression on how he spent a lot of time coming up with his in-world idiomatic expressions (SHIT IN GOD'S BEARD!) and how using modern idiomatic expressions in a genre novel sucks. (and I think everyone agreed on that point as well). Durham spoke at length about historical novels and Gascoigne (who is a YA editor, I believe) defended The Kids These Days, even though he admits that their reading comprehension skills suck because they cannot grasp novels that aren't written in their everyday diction. :lol:

[Regina]

I actually think it is Regina, and not Pebble.

*takes bow* Yep, that's me.

BTW, it's not me standing next to Fenryng in the Gaiman picture discussed up thread. There are too many of us short brunette chicks with glasses at cons, lol.

[Myrddin]

Any chance you could share a few tidbits from that one, in case you made notes?

Ditto on this request for more detail from the Preparing to Write a Series panel.

Anyone? Bueller?

[Balefont]

We drove up on Thursday, which turned out to take a couple extra hours due to our difficulties finding a place for dinner in Plattsburgh (WTF does almost everywhere close at 6 in that town?) and an hour wait to get over the border. At least we had an entertaining border guard. When we told him we were on our way to a science fiction convention, he asked if we had anything with us besides our clothes in the car, such as "ray guns or phasers," adding that if we did, "I have to ask you to set them on stun -- we don't want lethal phasers in Canada."

I lawled with tears at work. Priceless.

Thanks everyone for the reports. Very happy for all of you and very sad we couldn't make it this year. (We weren't expecting to have to shell out $2,200 bucks for black belt fees by 9/1.)

[Yagathai]

I lawled with tears at work. Priceless.

Thanks everyone for the reports. Very happy for all of you and very sad we couldn't make it this year. (We weren't expecting to have to shell out $2,200 bucks for black belt fees by 9/1.)

Oh jesus, you go to one of those schools? I'm so sorry. =/

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Pre-Con Report:

My con vacation started on Tuesday. I got to NYC and Quoth met me at the train station. We headed out to find “the boys†(LP, Beniowa, MountainGoat and Drac). We met them in the middle of the street where hugs and kisses were exchanged while cars eagerly waited for the light to change so they could run us over.

We dropped my bags off in my closet of a room and headed out for some lunch at a Mexican place LP had found on-line. Turns out the Mexican place was on vacation too, so we ended up in an Italian restaurant. While the food was tasty, the portions were a bit lacking.

After that we headed to a costume shop while Ben went to the Museum of Natural History. Hat and tights purchased, we decided it was time to start drinking and found a pub. Just two drinks and I was feeling tipsy. I’m such a lightweight :P

We finally headed to the Gingerman where we met up with Stego and Lady Stego (and Ben returning from the museum). As the night went on, more and more people joined us and it was a great time. I loved seeing everyone and meeting new people. Sorry I left at 11:30, but I had been up since 5 and too excited the night before to sleep much.

I didn’t sleep all that well in my closet, mostly because of the sounds of the city. I am just too used to the piece and quiet of the country.

Still 6am came way too soon. We all met up at PennStation (including Pod and Lugajetboygirl). We had our tickets and passports validated and just waited around for our departure time.

Pod and Katie had arrived a while after us and we did not end up sitting with them on the train.

We had 4 seats across and talked and laughed loudly and since only LP’s laptop could access internet on the train, we frequently played musical chairs with Katie and Pod joining in. The people in front of us were also going to the con and at first the guy (who really comes across as a Creepy Con Person* or CCP) kept interjecting into our conversations. We weren’t rude to him or anything, but really didn’t talk to him much at all and eventually he quit interjecting.

In Albany we picked up Tycho. Now we have 7 people and 4 seats and even more loud talking and laughing and fun. I am not going to deny that we were loud and a bit obnoxious, cause we were. The CCP in front of us had enough of our nonsense and yelled at us all. A comment or two on the rude side might have been said back. (yay wine and it’s ability to make people speak up). Anyway, we are not bad people so everyone found their proper seats and we quieted down for the rest of the trip. Even still, CCP now held a bit of a grudge. While discussing my previous plans to move and how I was looking at jobs in NYC, CCP interjected “And you were rejected by them all†What a rude ass. While comments were made back to him (and not by me) none of us made any personal attacks on him. (It was more along the lines of chill out and get over it or some such, and we did comply).

Anyway, we passed the rest of the train ride in good order and without any more drama. I really do hate dram, but I seem to attract it for some reason.

We were about an hour late getting into Montreal, checked into our hotels and headed to the bar for some food and drinks.

A ton of people came in and I really don’t remember who other than Mormont and Peadar. I guess that is where the con report will actually start.

*what a surprise at the Hugo’s when the winner of the “Big Heart Award†turned out to be our very own traveling companion, the CCP who insulted me.

[Yagathai]

Big Heart award?

[Lany Freelove Cassandra]

Big Heart award?

I have no friggen clue. I was lost at the whole first half of the Hugos.

[Lucky Pierre]

I just pre-ordered the Steven Boyett books as well as Sandman vol 1.

:)

And thanks to everyone for sharing their photos. I also just ordered a new charger and battery for my camera.

[Ran]

It's an award for selfless service to fandom. IIRC, Porter's a SMOF and Hugo-winning semiprozine editor. A shame you all got off on the wrong foot.

[Peadar]

You're probably sick of con reports by now, but I'm too much of a sheep to keep mine to myself. I'l try at least to make it short, as I am still jet-lagged up to the gills and drunk on an overindulgence of potato since my return.

The Hotel

This would have been fine if Mormont hadn't made a sustained assault on my virtue every night. Oh sure, he always apologised in the morning and bought me flowers. And now, no doubt, we'll hear how he doesn't remember a thing about it... Yeah, right.

Never mind, never mind. Onwards.

The Panel with George

I had strong personalities to either side of me on this one. Kari Sperring, who could make an entire quilt from her medieval history degrees got the talking started with a bang. She railed against the portrayal of the Celts as Lesbian-Poetess-Goddess-whorishipping-Monk-haters. Colleagues of hers, who had tried to counter this false view of history had been threatened with death by distraught hippies.

George countered with a description of growing up in the American "melting pot", which later became the American "salad bowl". He spoke about the myths that arose in such situations, e.g., the idea that John Dillinger had been betrayed by "the woman in the red dress", when in fact she had really worn a different colour entirely. The myth, however, was more interesting than the truth and it was a perfectly legitimate choice for a writer to use it.

As moderator, I kept them from killing each other and managed to get in numerous plugs for my very bloody Irish Fairy Story. Easy as taking candy from a baby. George affected not to notice my shameless commercialism and was a real gentleman with good advice for running the panel successfully. I think it went well and most of the punters seemed to enjoy themselves.

The BWB

What can I say that hasn't already been commented on numerous times above? Every one of them a sweetheart*. Sure they drink a bit and some of them, such as Ser Scott, swear like sailors, but there was a fabulous group dynamic going on there and personally, I always felt happy and comfortable with any part of the group I fell in with*. I really hope they can all* make it to see George at Octocon in Ireland next year.

A few of the braver Eurocommies came to my French panel where they carefully avoided laughing at my pronunciation. A larger, rowdier group stumbled into my reading and threw rotten fruit at the other writers, shouting "loser" when they sat down. I found that very endearing. Then, they came to my signing where one of them (disguised as a small stone) took a photo of my crotch.

I could name them all, and list the qualities that make each of them special. However, I will limit myself to one comment: The BWB made last week one of the most enjoyable of my life*.

The Slaves

I have long eyed this board for potential slaves. Thank you for making my wish come true. They proved hard-working, loyal and shameless. I'm sorry airline weight restrictions meant I had to leave them behind :(

The Party

Amazing organization on the part of the Xs joined to the hard work of everybody else, made this easily the best party of the con. We had several prize-winners and guests of honour in attendence and Ser MG got a great raffle going for a children's reading charity. There were J-beads, cocktails, shiny pendants, snacks... My task was to sell tickets in competition with some seriously pretty girls. But some excellent pick-pocketing skills made up for my lack of charm and I "sold" quite a few tickets. Some of these even won prizes. Oops!

Anyway, it was a blast, even if I was too drunk and high to last until the knightings.

The Reading

This was a great chapter. I won't bother with a description, since others were taking actual notes at the time. But where I was sitting, the BWB took up almost two full rows near the front. Some poor girl, an island of normality, got trapped right in the middle of us. She turned her frightened eyes on me. "Are you... are you all together?" "Yes," I smiled my creepiest, geekiest smile. "Join ussssssss...."

Later, she tried to have me arrested.

Anyway, those are the main bits I can remember for now. I may think of more stuff later.

My favourite story of the Con belongs to Mormont and involves an accommodation request notice. Perhaps he will recount it?

*Except Mormont, see section 1, The Hotel.

[mormont]

The Forrest J Ackerman Big Heart Award

That was an awesome moment. The guy comes up on stage and Lany goes 'oh my God, that's the guy from the train!' :lol:

Anyway, I have put the photos on flickr now. If you think you know my account, you don't, because I couldn't get back into it, so please do friend the new one.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41384318@N03/...57622021565512/

ETA - oh yes, the accommodation notice... 'Room required. I have only two bags and will really only be around to sleep and shower. Non-smoker, over 35. I have three ST Next Generation Starfleet tunics.'

[Sis Who Swears]

:lol: Great report Peadar! :cheers:

Thanks for the pics mormont!

:lmao: @ Lany!!