stoutfellow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stoutfellow) wrote2011-08-27 03:01 pm
stoutfellow) wrote2011-08-27 03:01 pm
Entry tags:
Renovation, Day Two (8/18)
I seem to have come home with a mild but persistent case of Con Crud - a touch of a sore throat, not much more than that.
Rising early again, I wandered down to what the Peppermill laughably called its Internet Cafe - five terminals, side by side, in a hallway. (There was also what looked to be a more secure Business Center, but I didn't investigate that.) The terminals were slow and insecure (the only saving grace being the lack of any drive, so that any infections would have to come over the internet connection); there was a tendency for the connection to drop after a while. (Only a tendency, so I don't think it was planned that way....) After a less-than-satisfactory session, I returned to the same restaurant as before; I felt like having something different, so I ordered Southern-style biscuits in gravy. Adequate, no more.
Arriving at the convention center, I paid another visit to the Dealers' Room, hitting Larry Smith's and a used-book dealer. (Massolgia?) Since the Hugo people had provided me (and every voter) with electronic copies of the Hugo nominees, I felt an obligation to purchase them in dead-tree form; at Smith's, I found Feed, The Dervish House, and Girl Genius 10, in this category. I also picked up: Virginia DeMarce's 1635: The Tangled Web; Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten (which I already had, confound it!) and The Fourth Bear; China Mieville's The Kraken; Sleight of Hand, a short-story collection by Peter Beagle; the most recent Temeraire novel by Naomi Novik; and another Poul Anderson collection, Sir Dominic Flandry. From the other dealer, I bought three more Nortons (The Beast Master, Lord of Thunder, The Time Traders), three L'Engles (Wind in the Doorway, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters), and - the prize - a used hardcover edition of Thorne Smith's The Bishop's Jaegers, which completes my collection of Smith's major works.
I went to several interesting (and several... not) panels that day. The first was a discussion of the Fermi Paradox, which was, of course, inconclusive. Much time was spent on estimates of the constants in Drake's equation, and on discussion of the size of the error-bars on those estimates. A panel on far-future science fiction seemed rather undirected; they didn't much stick to the point, although there were the obligatory references to Stapledon and Clarke. (Larry Niven was supposed to be on the panel, but didn't show.) A discussion of writing realistic paleontology seemed likewise diffuse; Robert Sawyer took up much of the oxygen, discussing his "Farseer" trilogy. Joan Vinge gave a reading from her novelization of "Cowboys and Aliens", which didn't impress me.
Much more interesting was a panel discussion of pirates in fact and legend. Tim Powers, naturally, was one of the panelists, and was in fine form. Several references were mentioned, some of which I'll have to look into. Rediker's Villains of All Nations, which I've already read, was among them, but there was also the "General History" of pirates written in the early 18th century by one "Captain Johnson", who is widely suspected of having been Daniel Defoe. A volume by someone named Groom on Jean Lafitte and Andrew Jackson was also recommended. (The so-called "Journal of Jean Lafitte", which I also have, was mentioned and pooh-poohed.) On the fiction front, Sabatini's several novels on the subject (Captain Blood, among others) met with considerable approval. I really should look into those (and, more distantly, books like The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Prisoner of Zenda, which occupy related points in my mental map of L-Space).
Another interesting panel was titled "Alternate Alternate History" - i.e., events in history which are so unlikely and so influential that they must have been the work of time-travellers. Franz Ferdinand having his driver bring the car to a near standstill almost directly in front of the assassin Gavrilo Princip was taken to be the type case, but the run-up to the Battle of Antietam - the strange way in which Lee's general orders fell into Union hands - was also mentioned. This one was pretty much a matter of fun. (The panelists were Eric Flint, Harry Turtledove, and S. M. Stirling, and I was frankly expecting a fight, but all three seemed to be in good humor.)
I also went to a concert by Kathy Mar. She seemed off her game, to begin with, and I very nearly left early, but I'm glad I didn't; she got it together, and made me cry three times - once with a song based on "Flowers for Algernon", once with a song whose chorus began "For the Eagle has landed" (addendum: Leslie Fish's "Hope Eyrie"), and again with a song taken from "Edward Scissorhands" (which I haven't seen, but the story the song told was clear enough).
The last panel for me, that evening, was a discussion of George Stewart's classic Earth Abides. Particular attention was given to his treatment of the race question, which was (by contemporary standards) quite progressive, if antiquated by even the standards of the '60s, and to his respect for the engineers who (in the story) knew themselves doomed but put the systems - water, electricity, etc. - into a state which could be maintained without supervision for as long as possible. Whether, and to what extent, Ish succeeded in his struggles proved to be a debateable question.
Leaving the panels, I encountered James Bryant; we were soon joined by Stellan Lagerstrom. James was trying to organize a listie get-together, and drafted both of us as message-bearers to any listies we might run into. (Eventually, it was decided that we'd rendezvous outside one of Lois' panels and go to dinner at a nearby Irish pub - but that's a story for the next day!)
A Filk Jam was scheduled for later in the evening, and about a dozen fans showed up - but no filkers. I waited for about half an hour before giving up and going back to the Peppermill, where I finished my reread of Brittle Innings.
And that was my second day at the con.
Rising early again, I wandered down to what the Peppermill laughably called its Internet Cafe - five terminals, side by side, in a hallway. (There was also what looked to be a more secure Business Center, but I didn't investigate that.) The terminals were slow and insecure (the only saving grace being the lack of any drive, so that any infections would have to come over the internet connection); there was a tendency for the connection to drop after a while. (Only a tendency, so I don't think it was planned that way....) After a less-than-satisfactory session, I returned to the same restaurant as before; I felt like having something different, so I ordered Southern-style biscuits in gravy. Adequate, no more.
Arriving at the convention center, I paid another visit to the Dealers' Room, hitting Larry Smith's and a used-book dealer. (Massolgia?) Since the Hugo people had provided me (and every voter) with electronic copies of the Hugo nominees, I felt an obligation to purchase them in dead-tree form; at Smith's, I found Feed, The Dervish House, and Girl Genius 10, in this category. I also picked up: Virginia DeMarce's 1635: The Tangled Web; Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten (which I already had, confound it!) and The Fourth Bear; China Mieville's The Kraken; Sleight of Hand, a short-story collection by Peter Beagle; the most recent Temeraire novel by Naomi Novik; and another Poul Anderson collection, Sir Dominic Flandry. From the other dealer, I bought three more Nortons (The Beast Master, Lord of Thunder, The Time Traders), three L'Engles (Wind in the Doorway, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, and Many Waters), and - the prize - a used hardcover edition of Thorne Smith's The Bishop's Jaegers, which completes my collection of Smith's major works.
I went to several interesting (and several... not) panels that day. The first was a discussion of the Fermi Paradox, which was, of course, inconclusive. Much time was spent on estimates of the constants in Drake's equation, and on discussion of the size of the error-bars on those estimates. A panel on far-future science fiction seemed rather undirected; they didn't much stick to the point, although there were the obligatory references to Stapledon and Clarke. (Larry Niven was supposed to be on the panel, but didn't show.) A discussion of writing realistic paleontology seemed likewise diffuse; Robert Sawyer took up much of the oxygen, discussing his "Farseer" trilogy. Joan Vinge gave a reading from her novelization of "Cowboys and Aliens", which didn't impress me.
Much more interesting was a panel discussion of pirates in fact and legend. Tim Powers, naturally, was one of the panelists, and was in fine form. Several references were mentioned, some of which I'll have to look into. Rediker's Villains of All Nations, which I've already read, was among them, but there was also the "General History" of pirates written in the early 18th century by one "Captain Johnson", who is widely suspected of having been Daniel Defoe. A volume by someone named Groom on Jean Lafitte and Andrew Jackson was also recommended. (The so-called "Journal of Jean Lafitte", which I also have, was mentioned and pooh-poohed.) On the fiction front, Sabatini's several novels on the subject (Captain Blood, among others) met with considerable approval. I really should look into those (and, more distantly, books like The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Prisoner of Zenda, which occupy related points in my mental map of L-Space).
Another interesting panel was titled "Alternate Alternate History" - i.e., events in history which are so unlikely and so influential that they must have been the work of time-travellers. Franz Ferdinand having his driver bring the car to a near standstill almost directly in front of the assassin Gavrilo Princip was taken to be the type case, but the run-up to the Battle of Antietam - the strange way in which Lee's general orders fell into Union hands - was also mentioned. This one was pretty much a matter of fun. (The panelists were Eric Flint, Harry Turtledove, and S. M. Stirling, and I was frankly expecting a fight, but all three seemed to be in good humor.)
I also went to a concert by Kathy Mar. She seemed off her game, to begin with, and I very nearly left early, but I'm glad I didn't; she got it together, and made me cry three times - once with a song based on "Flowers for Algernon", once with a song whose chorus began "For the Eagle has landed" (addendum: Leslie Fish's "Hope Eyrie"), and again with a song taken from "Edward Scissorhands" (which I haven't seen, but the story the song told was clear enough).
The last panel for me, that evening, was a discussion of George Stewart's classic Earth Abides. Particular attention was given to his treatment of the race question, which was (by contemporary standards) quite progressive, if antiquated by even the standards of the '60s, and to his respect for the engineers who (in the story) knew themselves doomed but put the systems - water, electricity, etc. - into a state which could be maintained without supervision for as long as possible. Whether, and to what extent, Ish succeeded in his struggles proved to be a debateable question.
Leaving the panels, I encountered James Bryant; we were soon joined by Stellan Lagerstrom. James was trying to organize a listie get-together, and drafted both of us as message-bearers to any listies we might run into. (Eventually, it was decided that we'd rendezvous outside one of Lois' panels and go to dinner at a nearby Irish pub - but that's a story for the next day!)
A Filk Jam was scheduled for later in the evening, and about a dozen fans showed up - but no filkers. I waited for about half an hour before giving up and going back to the Peppermill, where I finished my reread of Brittle Innings.
And that was my second day at the con.