Con Stuff

The con was absolutely wonderful - both for seeing people like ellen_kushner and Delia, yuki_onna and her posse, matociquala, who dropped by for Saturday with ashacat and hung out at the bar introducing people to each other and discussing Marlowe literary porn, both good and bad - and for the knowledge and experience that people could share and offer.

Overall, the panels were hit or miss (though the beginnings and endings one was brilliant, not in the least because it had an incredibly persuasive China Mieville, and an insightful Delia Sherman), I wound up taking notes, but lethargy is still preventing me from typing them up. The readings and kaffeclatches were wonderful, though, and the smaller presentations were very insightful.

This being my first full Readercon, I was completely unintiated into such mysteries as the Meet the Pros party and the Kirk Poland Bad Prose Competition. I was a bit wary of the former, for it had all the opportunity to turn into one of those events I go to when I go to a bio conference where you get your two glasses of complementary wine and get out while the getting's good or you'll be dragged into conversation that is all small-talk and nothing useful. Thankfully, this was not the case - we collected first lines, some of them readily identifiable (yuki_onna's was really impossible to mistake :), and then hung around talking about Shakespeare with Delia and trying to fix Ellen's laptop (which continued to vex her for most of the con).

The latter was extremely funny, and led into ellen_kushner taking out her guitar in the Green Room and enchanting everyone with the sound of her voice. Which proceeded to lure other people in, and pretty soon people were passing the guitar around and doing a cappella and it was wonderful. A whole lot of Richard Thompson, some sea chanties, and as has been remarked elsewhere, a beautiful rendition of "Wild Mountain Thyme." Then lareinenoire and fuyu_no_fuhei managed to recall "Queen of Argyle" and it's still stuck in my head! Ended the night on the Beatles, which is really the best way to end.

Sunday was a bit frantic because I was running A/V for three sessions, one of which was the first thing in the morning, and had to check out of the hotel, pack up stuff, buy books that were being held for me (the hotel's ATM was on the fritz and most dealers only took cash), and all that jazz. Plus, you might remember there was a World Cup final on?

Still, it all turned out alright in the end, and after we came home and chilled for a bit, we caught a late showing of PotC:DMC. I found it quite nicely paralleling Empire Strikes Back in story structure, which makes a whole lot of sense.

Oh, and ( Hah! I found them! 'Beeswing' lyrics below. )