World Fantasy Con, Day 2

Friday, Oct 28, 2011

Yesterday's lesson was that I should get enough rest; I hated being so tired at the two after-dinner panels. Friday morning I resolutely slept in, ignoring the siren call on the Con, and Kater's message that she was headed for the Con Suite. After lunch, I had a choice of a panel on Retelling Fairy Tales with Pat Murphy moderating, or Connie Willis discussing her role as WFC's toastmaster. Not to mention a great list of readings. It was a tough choice. 

You know you're at a good con when you need three four selves: one to get enough sleep, and the others to attend all the great events on two tracks of programming and one track of awesome readings.

I went to Retelling Old Stories: The New Fairy Tales. Some of the points made:

• Fairy tales offer psychologically acute metaphors for everyday issues. Red Riding Hood is about adolescence and the wolf in men; Hansel & Gretel about abandonment; Beauty and the Beast represents the fear of marriage to a stranger in a strange place. Sleeping Beauty can be a metaphor for adolescence - or of the rivalry between a mother and daughter as the child grows up
• Many themes are universal. Cinderella stories, where the weakest wins, for instance, or Changeling stories. Graham Joyce told the story of the Bridget Cleary murder from Ireland around 1900. Bridget was a young wife who had been ill. Her husband became convinced that his wife had been abducted by the fairies, and Bridget was actually a changeling. Together with some neighbors, they decided they must burn her so she would vanish and the real woman would be returned. Bridget died, and Michael was convicted of manslaughter. 
• "Disneyfication" removes dark and dangerous (and sometimes, feminist) elements, and because of its ubiquity, can completely change the story. Pat talked about the need to "get the Disney out of people's heads."
• Modern retellings are often about reframing or refiltering the story from a different perspective. It might use, for instance, a feminist perspective; or one from a different character than the usual main character in the story. 
• Fairy tales end where novels keep going. They're a compressed art-form. Or -- are they just truncated at a convenient point? Some version keep going, usually becoming increasingly dark. There is a version of Beauty and the Beast (or is it Cinderella) in which she returns home for a visit when told her father is dying, and is murdered and her stepsister sent in her place.
• Are aliens the new fairies? Do they provide the sense of otherness and danger that fairies used to do?

At 1 p.m., again there were too many choices; but I think any of them would have been good. I ended up at  The Crystal Ceiling panel, about whether there's still discrimination between men and women as writers of fantasy and spec fic generally. Moderated by Nancy Kilpatrick, the panel included Charlaine Harris (of the Sookie Stackhouse books), Kate Elliot, Jane Kindred and Malinda Lo. 

I have to say I was surprised to learn that yes, there's still a problem. It isn't nearly as bad as it was 20 or 30 years ago, but it exists. Most readers are women. (Middle-aged women are apparently the major buyers of books in most genres, including Horror, which most people had assumed sold to teenage boys.)  Most editors and agents are women. Most writers are women. But books by men get noticed more, reviewed more often, and are thus more visible. There was discussion of the "male gaze" vs the "female gaze." Things of interest to men are considered important, those of interest to women are not. Genres popular with women are denigrated ("chick-lit", romance); and blogger-reviewers denigrated as "mommy-bloggers." A librarian in the audience underlined the important of reviews in major venues. Unless books were reviewed by, say, the Publishers Weekly or the New York Times, they didn't appear on her radar and get into the acquisition process.

Kate Elliott had a story: An Amazon reviewer had said he liked her book, but gave it only one star because of its support of the "Homosexual Agenda."  She was startled, though she was quite happy to support the "Homosexual agenda" (whatever that might be) but because that particular book didn't have any major gay characters. She actually emailed the reviewer to determine what might have caused the comment. Finally she realized it was because he was interpreting her  sexualized descriptions of men (i.e., men viewed sexually through a female gaze) as being through a male, gay, gaze.

One more panel: A Sea of Stars. This discussed whether the sea was to fantasy what space was to science fiction. Though there were a lot of parallels, people felt that fantasy was for the most part land-based, whereas space-based science fiction was a whole sub-genre. In fact, it might be the other way around -- that space-lit took its metaphors from the great sea-faring novels of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Then I went on to the standing-room-only Neil Gaiman and Connie Willis in conversation. It was a delight; they're both witty and charming in a self-deprecating way.

The Hospitality Suite for dinner -- they had arranged a great buffet. In fact, I'd like to pause for a minute to give a shout-out to all those responsible for the Con Suite. They did an amazing job. Snacks, food, and a great atmosphere. And the whole thing generally looked very organized and under control.

After dinner, there was the autograph session -- all the authors sat at long lines of tables in the largest room so fans could get their autographs. For me, it was strange and wonderful and jaw-dropping. All these authors, including some I'd read as a kid, were sitting in this room. The sheer fantasy fire-power was amazing. After a bit, I found people I knew, and dropped in to chat with them. 



The line for Neil Gaiman's signature was ... amazingly long. Though he was seated in the same room, the line went out the door to the adjacent ballroom, and out the door in that ballroom into the foyer.  He stayed the full three hours, 8 p.m.-11 p.m. -- and then had another couple of hours the next morning. Though I'm a great fan (Neverwhere is my favorite of his books, followed by Good Omens) I was intimidated enough not to even try.

(PS Was too tired to post this or Saturday's journals on time. I'm playing catch-up now.)

World Fantasy Con, Day 3

Saturday, 29 Oct 2011

The morning started with a great breakfast meeting. (Yes, there are great breakfast meetings, even for me.) About 25-30 members of the online writing group Codex members assembled at the Trellises restaurant  for a low-key and laid-back breakfast.  

Later, I went to a panel moderated by Guy Gavriel Kay, called If wishes were horses: Faustian bargains, Genies, and Monkey Paws, a discussion about warning stories for people who make wishes and modern retellings of these. The basic theme of such stories is "Careful what you wish for, for you may get it." Liz Gorinsky said you didn't see these kinds of stories that much because modern stories tend to be more oriented to a hero who does things, rather than cautionary tales. Kay suggested a parallel with the author's journey: First you wish to finish a book, then when you do that, you hope to get an agent (and that's another struggle); then you wish that a publisher buys the book; then you wish that it succeeds... the moving goalpost is an example of the frustration that accompanies succeeding at that first wish. Other ideas discussed:

• "Wish" stories are about getting something for nothing.
• "Wish" stories were from an era in which socio-economic strata were more rigid, and "wishes" might represent the only hope of breaking out. So were such stories cautionary tales to support the status quo?
• Some stories reward those who don't actually seek fortune. So is the difference that the protag in the story actually makes a wish?
• Hollywood's "dream merchant" machine actually promotes the opposite story -- someone who just lucks into a good life.
• Is character a success factor in "wish" stories? (The humble kind character wins, the proud and nasty one loses.)

At 1 p.m., I went to Delia Sherman's launch party for her new book, Freedom Maze. She autographed it with a lovely inscription. Shweta and Nathaniel were there and I got a chance to talk with them for a while before some smoke drifted in from outside and she had to flee.

Later on, I went to The Lands of Islam panel, a discussion of the Middle East in fiction. Na'amen Tilamun talked about "othering" - exoticization and demonization --  these locales and people are often used as a strange place with stereotypical traits. Disney's Alladdin came up, with a discussion of how it's established certain tropes.  Someone also mentioned a much earlier film, Kismet. Deborah talked Muslim tolerance: Moorish Iberia from the 8th to 12th centuries was a place where Jews were respected as People of the Book; though they paid extra taxes, they lived otherwise peaceful lives. But in 1492, Christian Spain expelled their Jewish populations; in 1497, Portugal did the same. Back then, Christians were the barbarians. Na'amen talked of queer poetry from the same era, where the "white gazelle" was code for a gay lover. Some suggested readings: A Mosque among the Stars; Muslims in My Monitor (in fact, anything by Saladin Ahmed).

Some time during the day, I encountered Don Clary of the balloon sculptures. He said a ConCom member had asked him not to wear his balloon crowns at the Con because it's not a costume type of Con, more business-like. But he did have the sculpture he'd made, something that looked like a series of buckyballs and willingly posed in the courtyard.

I attended two more panels, back to back. Out of the Broom Closet: Integrating Magicians and Fantastic Creatures into society (at 8 p.m.) followed by The Not-so-Fair Folk at 9 p.m.  (As I write this, I realize I seem to have a strong fairy tale bias!)

Then I went off to the parties - there were three happening simultaneously, and the corridor was like one long party where you could duck in and out of various party rooms. I chatted with a lot of people, and then lucked into a long, very interesting conversation with Eileen Gunn, who of course I've heard of but hadn't met before. Kater joined us after a while, and I don't quite know where the time went. It was past 2 a.m. when I got back to my room.

World Fantasy Con, Day 4

Sunday, Oct 30, 2011.

Kater texted me that she was getting in line to get Neil Gaiman's autograph; and soon after that, that she was leaving since she had a long drive ahead of her. We hugged goodbye before she hit the road.

I attended yet another panel, Time Goggles: Modern Perspectives and Period Literature with Emma Bull moderating. By this time, I was rather burned out on note-taking, so I don't have much accurate detail. What I remember most clearly from this discussion was the challenge of representing the mindset of people of bygone eras and societies in ways that were both authentic and sympathetic... and the conclusion was that it was difficult, if not impossible, because values had changed so much.

I ran into Don Clary, who had another balloon sculpture hat. He said Neil Gaiman wanted photographs with it after the banquet. (I saw them later, posted on Tor.com's facebook page.) Don modeled it for me to take some snaps, too.



After that, it was relaxing, hanging out with people, and chatting. Shweta and Nathaniel. Vy and Shannon. I got a photograph of Shweta's familiar, Buddhistmippo dressed as Appa considering himself a warrior. Ken Kao did some amazing flips from a standing position.

Toward evening, I found myself back with Grace Ogawa and Marian, and Sarah Parker, who were at a table with Celina Summers (Musa Publishing) and author Gini Koch. Gradually, a group of nine of us assembled, and we headed off to Pam Pam for dinner. It was awesome. Lots of funny stories, and we spent the whole evening laughing. The funniest was Grace's story of how, sword in hand, she'd confronted a potential intruder. (Yes, she keeps a sword under her bed. Doesn't everyone?) This sparked discussions of an anthology based on that anecdote... of which more another time.

I drifted around the Con Suite for a bit, got some coffee, but was running low on energy. I decided to call it over, and went up to my room to catch up with my LJ.

Corporate policies and the Journey home

I'd booked myself on a Monday evening flight (instead of Sunday) to allow for maximum serendipity and World Fantasy Con goodness. Sunday evening, I was very glad I'd stayed on, it was such an awesome dinner. But by Monday morning, the Con was played out.

No problem, I thought: I'd get a late checkout to 3 p.m. and get some work done. Nope. The hotel, even though it wasn't sold out, has a policy of only allowing one hour after its 11 a.m. checkout. I asked for the manager, who said the same thing. So by noon, I was on my way to the airport.

No problem, I thought: I'd just get an earlier flight. But the woman at the United counter looked dubious; it was going to cost me $75. Really? The flight only cost $112 in the first place. Yes, it was their policy. So I gave up. I couldn't check in my bag, either; I was too early.

I had some lunch, then returned to the United counter. A pleasant gentleman looked at my ticket and said,"Would you like to leave earlier?"

So he rebooked me, and I got home 3 hours early. As we drove in, even before we opened the garage door, we saw three costumed kids at our front door.  I felt ridiculously happy about not missing Halloween after all as I handed out candy to neighborhood kids. We had more than usual this year.