greetings from Lunacon
Yesterday I moderated two panels in fact and one by sort of weird default.
I was sort of lame at the first one, but I had just gotten out of the car and was slightly shellshocked by it being Ellen Kushner and Jacqueline Carey, eventhough I a) knew this going in and b) know Ellen. Ellen, thankfully, is an old hand at this, and bailed me out a few times. That panel was on alternative sexuality on SF/F and if we're leading the way to a new, more tolerant world.
Then I was on a panel about the impact of magic on fictional societies. Everyone on the panel thought it was about something else, and it drifted all over the place, but was weirdly hilarious, involved me offering to teach people how to start a cult and a lot of discussion on Elizabethan court magic and the difference (and lack there of) between Alchemy as historical science, alchemy as fictional subject, alchemy as literary allegory and alchemy as modern spiritual practice and allegory. All of which is leading me to try not to sign up to be added as a guest to tonight's Sex Magick as literary device panel. They need me, but I need me some party time.
Then it was a panel on how to write sex, which was hilarious but in some ways tamer and craftier than I would have thought. Doesn't matter, it went well, and I had a full room. Actually, I've had a pretty good crowd for all my stuff, but that's far less to do with me than the fact I got put on the panels with the big guns.
Soon it's off to teach "Using Improv to Improve Your Writing" -- the 1 hour, non-Harry Potter version (there's a Harry Potter fanfic version which is the funniest shit I've ever done in my life), which is at the conference death hour of 10am. Then it's off to see Ellen Read before I have to do "Using Blogging to Promote Yourself." Then it's an afternoon of being free which largely means working the dealer's room, swimming in the pool and going to a Torchwood panel before I do "When Fandom is Your Job" tonight at 9, with a woman I bleieve is a tie-in novel author.
The gender thing has actually been the most interesting -- both my sex and writing panels were all women, but with lots of men in the audience asking questions about craft. First, yay us women. Second, I'm really interested to see what we'll be reading in 5 to 10 years and by whom.
Meanwhile, I hope I am doing well in the dealer's room here.
Also Patty and I almost got together at last year's Lunacon, but we were both to shy, so it's very sweet and weird having a hotel room all to ourselves and a little bit of vacation before the huge chaos of the next two weeks continues (she goes home to Ohio for a week, then is back for three days, then goes to an archaeology conference in Vancouver. Meanwhile, I am writing my book, but the weekend she's in Vancouver I am judging a fencing tournament at SUNY Purchase before continuing on to New Haven for the Elegant Arts Society bustle ball).
Also for those of you who emailed saying "I heard rumour of a possibly secret Longest Night party at Lunacon" you heard the same rumour I did except it got twisted by the time you got it -- certainly that was not exactly what the rumour I heard was, but I might propagate this one just to mess with people. HOWEVER, if there is a secret Longest Night party at the con, someone needs to bloody tell me.
I was sort of lame at the first one, but I had just gotten out of the car and was slightly shellshocked by it being Ellen Kushner and Jacqueline Carey, eventhough I a) knew this going in and b) know Ellen. Ellen, thankfully, is an old hand at this, and bailed me out a few times. That panel was on alternative sexuality on SF/F and if we're leading the way to a new, more tolerant world.
Then I was on a panel about the impact of magic on fictional societies. Everyone on the panel thought it was about something else, and it drifted all over the place, but was weirdly hilarious, involved me offering to teach people how to start a cult and a lot of discussion on Elizabethan court magic and the difference (and lack there of) between Alchemy as historical science, alchemy as fictional subject, alchemy as literary allegory and alchemy as modern spiritual practice and allegory. All of which is leading me to try not to sign up to be added as a guest to tonight's Sex Magick as literary device panel. They need me, but I need me some party time.
Then it was a panel on how to write sex, which was hilarious but in some ways tamer and craftier than I would have thought. Doesn't matter, it went well, and I had a full room. Actually, I've had a pretty good crowd for all my stuff, but that's far less to do with me than the fact I got put on the panels with the big guns.
Soon it's off to teach "Using Improv to Improve Your Writing" -- the 1 hour, non-Harry Potter version (there's a Harry Potter fanfic version which is the funniest shit I've ever done in my life), which is at the conference death hour of 10am. Then it's off to see Ellen Read before I have to do "Using Blogging to Promote Yourself." Then it's an afternoon of being free which largely means working the dealer's room, swimming in the pool and going to a Torchwood panel before I do "When Fandom is Your Job" tonight at 9, with a woman I bleieve is a tie-in novel author.
The gender thing has actually been the most interesting -- both my sex and writing panels were all women, but with lots of men in the audience asking questions about craft. First, yay us women. Second, I'm really interested to see what we'll be reading in 5 to 10 years and by whom.
Meanwhile, I hope I am doing well in the dealer's room here.
Also Patty and I almost got together at last year's Lunacon, but we were both to shy, so it's very sweet and weird having a hotel room all to ourselves and a little bit of vacation before the huge chaos of the next two weeks continues (she goes home to Ohio for a week, then is back for three days, then goes to an archaeology conference in Vancouver. Meanwhile, I am writing my book, but the weekend she's in Vancouver I am judging a fencing tournament at SUNY Purchase before continuing on to New Haven for the Elegant Arts Society bustle ball).
Also for those of you who emailed saying "I heard rumour of a possibly secret Longest Night party at Lunacon" you heard the same rumour I did except it got twisted by the time you got it -- certainly that was not exactly what the rumour I heard was, but I might propagate this one just to mess with people. HOWEVER, if there is a secret Longest Night party at the con, someone needs to bloody tell me.