http://www.millennicon.org/

My panel schedule:

Geeks: Real vs. Poseur
11:00am Saturday, McKinley Room

Devil’s in the Details
3:00pm Saturday, McKinley Room

The Art and Science of Editing
1:00pm Sunday, MR1216

If you see me out and about, don’t hesitate to say hello.

Had some decent art this year, although we learned that apparently the art pieces have to pass ultra-conservative Hamilton County’s muster as to whether it is pornographic or not (!).  A few pieces were yanked because they must have shown a boob or ass crack.  Insane.  Last year’s Marcon had “adult” art behind a sheet, which turned out to be pretty bad art, not from a pornographic or erotic standpoint but because the art itself sucked.

Next year’s GoH is Robert J. Sawyer, whom I’ve been hoping to see at a local con for some time.  I’m somewhat disappointed that it will be the dreary Millennicon — sort of like when John Scalzi was there last year — but still, I’ll take it.  It would have very nice to see him at Context but he’s was a GoH there several years ago before kayleigh and I began to attend.

Today, a day of rest and domesticity.  Or not. Who knows.

I have very little to blog about this week. I mean, I spent the entire time prepping for the convention, and now I’m just…. well… I’m busy as hell, so I didn’t get anything ready for here.

Well, maybe I should just take this opportunity to let people know a little more about me.

When considering the future I try to keep in mind that many augmentations will be much more banal, and made for the convenience of the masses than exploring new worlds. Here is an example of what we might find:

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……….

….!

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!!

!!!

OK, I can’t the embedding to work. So here’s the link: Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop

I have always wanted to go here: Cincinnati Subway » No Promise Of Safety

A science fiction comic I read: Schlock Mercenary archives – Monday, June 12, 2000

The kind of music I rarely listen to when anyone else is around: eisenfunk pong

What I hope one day happens to a scene that I write: YouTube – Shameless Ripoff…bollywood style

I have a weakness for guns that look like laser pistols like the new line of : Polymer Revolvers, The Polymer Judge, a .410 shotgun revolver, The oddly shaped Chiappa Rhino, but my all time favorite – it came from Warhammer 40K real life gun foes to the AK Arm Gun from CBRPS.

I also have a weakness for certain toys, and legos, and sometimes they cross over: The BrickGun Instruction CD

And while I am still without a motorcycle, I hope to soon own one of these for my commute: Learn to Fly a Jetpack!

Talk to you next week, everyone.

We are foregoing Conglomeration in Louisville this year, disappointed at the lack of communication from organizers when ConGlom basically disappeared from the map.  Yes, we understand the hotel closed and their website was basically stolen by the webmaster, but there was still that lengthy lack of information and the slow return of refund money.  They seem to be trying to make amends, but for now, we’re not contributing to their cash flow.  If you’re interested in all that, just click on the Conglomeration tag on this entry.

As usual, Marcon and Context will be attended barring fiasco.  (Speaking of Context, kayleigh and I were sad to read about the passing of Dan Province, a long-time fixture at Context.  He was always nice to speak to.)

We’ll also being going to the World Fantasy Convention in Columbus in the fall.

If we see you at any of those places — you probably won’t know who we are

Or maybe you will.

At the same time, there was a disturbing moment.

I was up in front of all these writers who were aspiring to become authors and novelists, and I said something that amounted to:

All writers are equal.

And though I said it with utter conviction, said it like a preacher reading scripture to the masses, I’m pretty sure nobody believed a word of it. I tried to make myself understood, and I want to take another shot here, now.

Every writer, from the most successful to the most humble, tries to make art. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we don’t. Sometimes what we write sells, and sometimes it does not. No matter what someone is going to tell us that what we write is absolute crap. No matter what.

J.K. Rowling is no one of the richest women in the world. I personally know people who think everything she ever wrote was garbage. I don’t care for Hemingway. My daughter dislikes Shakespeare.

We are artists. We create art. Art may be bought and sold, but has an incalculable value. What I put on paper has as much or little VALUE as anything written by Stephen King (now if I can just get the publisher to pay us the same…) Regardless, every writer reads other author’s work before, during and after producing their own.

The moment you learn this, and I mean you imprint it upon your very soul, then you can write anything for anyone, anywhere.

In any case, I must sign off, but if you want more advice on writing, getting published, or the best recipe for a hot toddy, stop by Millenicon this weekend!

http://www.millennicon.org/

John Scalzi performed as a performing monkey should,  and did well doing it.  Charles Coleman Finlay looked dashing with glitter on his face (not really, but it’s fun to say so).   Local author S.L. Farrell will be next year’s GoH.

I won this year’s “spot the first Vile” contest (a family group that shows up periodically at some conventions we attend).  But kayleigh got double points for spotting family-member Fartman on Saturday.  We didn’t attend any panels he did.

I do wish the Holiday Inn, where the  convention is held, would do something about the front doors that open automatically whenever someone passes in front of them.  The opening doors let gusts of cold, if not sometimes freezing, air come whipping into the lobby where a good many people try to sit.  Half the lobby is unavailable because no one wants to freeze their ass off.  A simple wind screen or glass or plexiglass wall between the lobby and doors would be a nice addition.

Looks like John Scalzi (THREE times?! — for Zoe’s Tale, the Audible edition of Metatropolis, and best related book ,  Your Hate Mail Will be Graded), Tobias Buckell (as part of the Audible edition of  Metatropolis) and Charles Coleman Finlay, all three attending Millennicon this weekend, have been nominated.

Congratulations to all nominees.

Some more of the Ohio SF Writer’s Cabal will be showing up, like Tobias Buckell (Sly Mongoose,  the Halo novel The Cole Protocol, and contributing to Metatropolis), Paul Melko (The Walls of the Universe), and one of this year’s Nebula nominees for his novella  “The Political Prisoner,  Charles Coleman Finlay (the upcoming Traitor to the Crown trilogy).

I’m kind of wondering how the economy will be affecting the convention.  Attendance was down for several conventions kayleigh and I went to last year, and obviously so.  I can only imagine it being worse this year.

Whatever the case, we’re looking forward to it.  Come check it out.

[3/20/09: John Scalzi twice nominated for a Hugo, and once for Charlie Finlay!]

Writing wise: I have been writing, although this week has been hectic as today, Friday, is  “move day.”   There are about a half-dozen pieces out now with two more in the pipeline, begging completion.   I am struggling with connecting the dots on one of them, but the other needs one final read through and out it goes.   Two of my pieces should be out this month, one online and one hard copy.

Convention-wise: Conglomeration looks to be totally hosed.  Millennicon is coming up with GoH John Scalzi.  That will be cool.   And kayleigh and I are looking forward to Marcon at the end of May which will get us out of town for a few days.

We had a far better time sitting and watching people come and go than we did sitting through the off-subject panels. We saw and spoke to a few of the regulars we see, did a quick couple of runs through the small dealers room and art show, and that was about it. I felt sorry for the GoH David Barnes, who looked to be wearing the falsest happy face I’ve seen outside of my own mirror.

We tried to listen to a literary media panel but walked out on it. Then there was another panel on developing believable characters that never got on subject. The self-appointed moderator sent the panel off subject immediately, when he gave his opinion on the difference between porno and erotica. No one seemed quite sure why he started off like that, except that one of the other writers wrote erotica and apparently the moderator had a couple of short stories in that genre as well. Whatever the case, it never managed to get on subject and veered off into romance writing. Poor Tobias Buckell, whose Ragamuffin is a Nebula nominated book this year, sat quietly on the panel, obviously wondering what the hell was going on. There was another panel on making time to write, the same old con stuff, but it was good if only because of comedy by Paul Melko (and barbs directed to the self-appointed moderator of the previous panel), and the fact that it managed to at least stay on subject.

I don’t know where the panel subjects came from this year. Some verged on jokes – one about the lack of dogs in science fiction, and another about peppers. Yes, peppers, the fiery food, with the panel followed by peppery goodies in the ConSuite.

We saw members of the annoying and farting group from Conglomeration last year (resulting in much hilarity while we sat in the lobby), and Stalker Girl, whom kayleigh hid from in a bathroom stall. There was also the loudly obnoxious pseudo-submissive brat we see periodically. kayleigh was also handed a business card by a dominatrix, which also caused much laughter (by me anyway. kayleigh seemed less amused).

We’re looking forward to Conglomeration in Louisville next month. While I’m also certain the Fartman group mentioned above will be there, at least we’ll have a hotel room to escape to. Note to self: do not sit behind him!

Millennicon this weekend, and next month, Conglomeration in Louisville.  Then there is the Memorial Day weekend favorite, Marcon in Columbus.

Time to spend a few nights away with the girl.  Ah.  Sanctuary.   Naughtiness.  Fun.

Normalcy.

Bova’s “panels” were actually one man discussions. There was no panel at all, just Dr. Bova discussing the subject at hand, like space tourism, immortality and aging, or solving modern problems with technology, with audience participation. He did this with finese and good humor, and, as far as I’m concerned, a remarkable amount of patience with some annoying audience members. While letting the audience comment or ask questions, Bova didn’t let certain audience members hijack the discussion or distract from the subject at hand. The group around the previously mentioned Fartman, for example, did this last year at Conglomeration and at other regional cons I’ve seen them at. I cringe when a couple of them open their mouths and interrupt.

“I think that may have lost something in the translation,” Dr. Bova said in response to one’s rambling and seemingly unrelated comment. “I’m not finished speaking,” he reminded another who kept trying to interrupt him. I felt like standing up and applauding.  It must be very difficult to be a panelist or GoH sometimes.

In the hall between panels, kayleigh and Dr. Bova briefly discussed her suggestion that he consider attendance at Context soon, something he seemed open to. He admitted he’s usually in New Mexico during that time of year, and only attends one or two cons a year these days, but there’s always the possibility. He was also kind enough to autograph one of his books for me.

There was a hilarious “Whose Line is it Anyway?” show during the intermission of the Masquerade, and, as I said before, a very good “Artist’s Studio” interview with Dr. Bova at the start of the con (only soiled, in a very literal sense, by Fartman). And of course, kayleigh and I managed to pick up still more art for our walls.

Next year, Conglomeration moves to April due to scheduling conflicts. This should help them pick up some more attendees who go to other cons in the fall. Walter Koenig, of Star Trek and Babylon-5 fame, will be there, as will A.C. Crispin.

Don’t think of this as the old Judy Garland movie. It’s not. And what a refreshing hoot! While the movie was a great adaption, it left out and changed so many things from the original book. For example, we learn how the Scarecrow is created and how he came to be able to hear, see, and speak, the farmer who made him drew on his ears, eyes, and mouth.

We also learn how the Tin Woodman came about, not exactly the nicest thing: one of the Wicked Witches cursed a human woodcutter so that his ax periodically fell out of his hands while chopping wood, and cut off one of his limbs, later replaced with tin. Eventually the woodcutter found himself with arms and legs made of tin Finally, even his head was accidently cut off, and it too was replaced by a tin head!

This book is not only inventive, but witty. As everyone knows, the Scarecrow wants “brains,” something eventually granted by the Wizard of Oz.

So the Wizard unfastened (the Scarecrow’s) head and emptied out the straw. Then he entered the back room, and took up a measure of bran, which he mixed up with a great many pins and needles. Having shaken them together thoroughly, he filled the top of the Scarecrow’s head with the mixture and stuffed the rest of the space with straw, to hold it in place.

When he fastened the Scarecrow’s head on his body again he said to him, “Hereafter you will be a great man, for I have given you a lot of bran-new brains.”

The Scarecrow was both pleased and proud at the fulfillment of his greatest wish, and having thanked Oz warmly he went back to his friends.

Dorothy looked at him curiously. His head quite bulged out at the top with brains.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“I feel wise indeed,” he said earnestly. “When I get used to my brains I shall know everything.”

“Why are those pins and needles sticking out of your head?” asked the Tin Woodman.

“That is proof that he is sharp,” remarked the Lion.

There are 40 odd books in the “canon” of Oz, the first thirteen written by L. Frank Baum and then the majority of the remaining books by Ruth Plumly Thompson. If you’ve never read the Oz books, give a few of them a shot. They’re not just kids books — attested by my brother — although they started out that way. Baum himself received fan letters from all ages.

If you’re interested, an excellent website that was mentioned on the panels can be found at The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  It’s got copies of the original book covers, history, trivia, all kinds of neat stuff.

kayleigh was quite amused that someone found her a “quiet one.”

It’s always fun to make a nice discoveries at conventions, like authors you haven’t read or didn’t know anything about. In this case, it was the GoH at the first Millennicon we went to 3 years ago, but didn’t see then, David Drake. He’s a fascinating man with a seeming encyclopedic knowledge on several subjects, especially the old pulp magazines. We saw him in two featured panels (The Future We Didn’t Expect, Crossing Genres) and a third panel (Forgotten Favorites of Childhood) where he was an audience participant. Drake is well-known for his military SF but writes in other areas as well. He’s also contributed numerous outlines for other books then written by others. Though credited with co-authorship, Drake denies that idea since he only supplied the outline, and another author did the majority of the work — which is kind of cool really. Most people drop a story idea to someone and want half-credit for the resulting work.

This year’s Guest of Honor was Campbell Award winner and fantasy author Wen Spencer. I knew little about her and frankly she didn’t impress me, but then she also had the misfortune to be on a panel with David Drake and Mike Resnick, both overpowering and opinionated personalities.

Resnick had been up all night writing, he claimed, and left immediately after the final panel. Joe Martino, another writer we’ve see at other cons was also there, as were numerous other familiar faces. Diane Turnchek was there as a representative of SFWA, and substituted for Dave Creek on a panel (Books That Changed My Life) with Martino. Diane seems a very knowledgeable and nice woman, concerned with literacy for children and getting teens interested in writing and science fiction. The third member of that panel was the publisher of a D/s magazine, Consent, whom we ran into last year. She seems to have gotten even louder. We had to grit our teeth listening to her sometimes. Her self-admitted “bratitude,” a submissive lifestyle excuse for domineering misbehavior was certainly in evidence.

The art show was pleasant, and in the dealers room I picked up John Scalzi’s The Sagan Diary and kayleigh bought Shadow Over Shandahar, the first volume of a dualogy by T.R. Chowdhury and T.M. Crim. Chowdhury had participated in a panel with Wen Spencer and Craig Jackson, and she and Crim had a lonely table in the dealers room selling their book. They looked forlorn by the lack of interest, so kayleigh bought a copy and had them autograph it, which seemed to please them a great deal.

I wish I’d picked up a Drake book though and gotten an autograph. David Drake stole the show as far as I was concerned.

Brad Delp, the lead singer of the group Boston has died. I never much cared for Boston but they were that inevitable group one is almost forced to listen to while growing up. Still.

The FBI has used the Patriot Act illegally. Surprise.

My 17 year old water heater finally blew last week, soaking my living room and a small bedroom. To remove the water heater from the cramped closet, I had to remove part of the door frame, which now needs to be replaced. This spring I’ll probably need a new roof. Yeah.

My boss at work is happy to spend $300 of company money for RAM for his desktop, but won’t spend $40 for me a keyboard. Luckily, another department ordered it for me. It’s good to have friends.

Convention season has arrived with Cincinnati’s Millennicon, thank goodness. kayleigh and I will be roaming the halls for that one.

Once again, I wish we could roam our way far far away.

And Captain America is allegedly dead, assasinated by a sniper’s bullet on the federal courthouse steps. There’s been a civil war among super heroes, some for registering their secret identities with the feds — lead by billionaire industrialist Tony Stark, aka Ironman, who apparently manipulated all kinds of things to get registration to happen, with the losing side lead by Captain America, aka Steve Rogers, not wanting to give up their secret identities.
What the hell. What. the. hell.

From the SciFi Wire, super prolific and busy Mike Resnick has taken on the role of executive editor of Jim Baen’s Universe.

Stargate SG1, leaving the air after their 10th season, have two television movies lined up.

Disney has optioned Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter series, hoping it will be the “next big thing.”

Tobias Buckell is having a bad time of it, having lost his wallet for the second time in a few months and apparently will have to jump through a few hoops and sacrifice a goat or two to get some important stuff back, like a social security card, driver’s license, and green card. Bummer. Personally, I like my minimalist wallet, but then I may not be charged with a misdemeanor for not having it.

Charlie Finlay, who seems a good sort, has started out the year in nice fashion with a novelet acceptance to F&SF.

From Paul Melko: ‘The fine folks at Asimov’s have posted the text of “The Walls of the Universe” at their site. Go read, if you’d like.’

Please do. It’s a cool as hell story and is on the preliminary Nebula ballot

And finally, kayleigh has (thankfully) gotten and coordinated the various convention travels for us this year and written it all down in one place. Now we shouldn’t have to ask ourselves “Did we already get our memberships to Marcon? Do we have hotel reservations for Archon? Are we on the right side of the hotel for Context?”

Barring problems, we will hit the usual stops: Millenicon and the Relaxicon in Cincinnati, Marcon and Context in Columbus, Archon in St. Louis, and possibly Conglomeration in Louisville (though it has the bad timing to be the weekend after Archon/NASFiC).

We got there early, registered, then sat a bit watching people and going through the program. I wanted to attend a "Writing Short Stories vs. Novels" panel at 11, which we did after doing a quick run through the art show and the dealer’s room. This panel consists of GoH Elizabeth Moon, a very intelligent, nice, and admittedly talkative woman (former Marine who writes military science fiction); Dave Creek, a short story writer from Louisville who has sold a lot of stuff to Analog; and Joe Martino, who we’ve seen several times before at local conventions (always has a journalist’s vest on). Last year Martino had self-published his first novel after years of short stories dating back to 1961, but he was proud to announce he’d finally sold his first novel this year. Tobias Buckell was also on the panel but showed up late, wet-haired and hurriedly dresses and apologetic that the hotel had not given him his wake-up call correctly. Missing from the panel was Mike Resnick.

The panel was particularly interesting, with discussions on how each writer got into the business, what form they found easier, whether they outlined their novels and stories, and so on. Tobias told a story of his first submission of a short story which the editor returned, with a note of something like "you’ve got fights, archeology, history, mathematics [and he went on to list a litany of things he’d thrown into the 2000 word story]. Choose one!" That got a lot of laughter. He says he keeps the now-laminated rejection letter to remind him to focus.

Moon, Creek, and Buckell were in the next panel on favorite SF authors, as well.. There was a cartoonist named Levy who once had a cartoon rejected by Hustler’s Larry Flint as being in bad taste (!). Resnick showed up for this panel with a cup of coffee, complaining that the organizers shouldn’t schedule him in the morning. Considering it was noon, this complaint was a bit dubious. Resnick seemed more grouchy than his normally curmudgeonly self this panel, and when Buckell tried to get everyone to introduce themselves again since it was a new panel (though several audience members had stayed over), Resnick apparently didn’t hear him and went on to list several authors he liked. Buckell looked at kayleigh, shrugged, and mouthed "I tried."

I caught up with Buckell outside the dealer’s room later and opened the short conversation with a comment about how he’d missed Elizabeth Moon’s comment earlier in their panel that she hoped not to dominate the conversation as she tended to do. Buckell had been cut off several times in the first panel, and laughed. I introduced myself and noted that kayleigh and I had seen him at Context last year. He said he’d thought we’d looked familiar, and told me stop him any time in the hall if I wanted.

Later I bought his first book, Crystal Rain, and had him autograph it at the end of another panel about "Afficionados Only," which was about whether science fiction readers were elitist. That too was a very interesting panel, small, with audience participation practically demanded of the panelists, with all of us sitting in a circle. We discussed how we first came to SF, fandom, and the like. My idea was that by simply labelling yourself as a science fiction writer, or a fantasy reader, or a gamer, you became elitist by the labelling. I also pointed out that everyone considers themselves unique, so that we as readers got together with "other unique people to enjoy our uniqueness together," which got a clap of approval from Tobias Buckell. The panel also had Karen and Craig Jackson on it, the organizers of Context whom we run into all the time at the various conventions, and a woman from the dealer’s room whose name I embarrassed to say I can’t remember, but who was quite animated and vocal.

I picked up another of John E. Kaufmann’s prints, "Elfen Maiden," one I’ve admired at various conventions since I picked up one of his prints a couple of years ago at Context at the art auction for $20. I didn’t bid on this one and bought it outright as I wouldn’t be there at end of auction. It’s a picture of a woman – the elf maiden – whose pointed ear you can barely see, naked and bathing in a pool of water with a waterfall behind her. Her back is turned to you so you see her curves and part of her naked bottom. Nicely done, a bit erotic, with a fantasy overtone. I was also happy to buy kayleigh a companion piece of my "Reflections of the Shire," of roadsigns pointing the way to various Hobbit-related towns. She was very excited by it, and have picked up additional frames for my current prints and one other should I buy it at a later time at a convention. The good thing about his prints is that they’re all 16 x 20!

We took a break for lunch, going to Roly Poly, a wrapped sandwich place we’d not been to for several years, then returned for a bit for a “get to know the author” panel for Elizabeth Moon. We left the panel early, stopped by the Con suite for a pop and snacks, picked up our art and came home.

We were both tired by that evening but it was a damned fine day.

It makes me sad and it makes me angry. Not only is it in Arizona, but Harlan Ellison, whom I’ve admired for decades, will be the next Grand Master, and Connie Willis, who we met and adored at Context 17, is toastmaster (toastmistress?).

Then there is the fact that Jack McDevitt is nominated for the book I just read, Polaris. We met him and his wife in Chicago last year and liked them both immediately.

Still, we do have several other conventions to look forward to — Millenicon, Marcon, Context, and the barely unprogrammed “relaxicon,” MidwestCon. A melancholy note though: this may be the last Context.  We’ve heard it may be combining with Marcon next year.

Added note: the new issue of Locus confirmed that the Nebulas for 2007 are in New York, and 2008 in Austin. That may be an interesting one.