Keyan Bowes

Tired, happy and in dire need of a Time-Turner...

I'd vaguely hoped to get to a 10.30 a.m. panel, but that didn't happen. Instead, after lunch I ended up dividing my time between a reading by some of my favorite authors (Madeleine Robins, Nisi Shawl, Pat Murphy, Annalee Newitz, and Karen Joy Fowler) who called themselves "A Confederacy of Troublemakers" and a panel about the "Attack of the Fake Geek Girls."

The reading was - as you might expect - superb. The room was crowded, and though I was only minutes late, there were no chairs left. Madeleine Robins has a new book out, "Sold for Endless Rue", as does Karen Joy Fowler, "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves." Nisi Shawl has recently edited a collection of stories, "Bloodchildren", and Annalee Newitz has a non-fiction book called "Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive Mass Extinction."

The Fake Geek Girl panel discussed the question of being geek and female - or even more, being black and geek and female. The gaming community in particular has developed a reputation for misogyny and putdowns of women, as though they can't actually be real gamers. One woman said she'd been playing Dungeons and Dragons since it first came out, and she didn't want her credentials questioned. She didn't want to be the black gamer, or the female gamer, she just want to be - a gamer who might be black or female, but why was it relevant? I came in at the end of the discussion, but I'm glad I made it especially because of the comments from the audience.

Then I went to a panel on Class in SF and Fantasy (Ian Hagemann, Alisa Alering, Eileen Gunn, Madeleine Robins). This is something I haven't really heard discussed much, not nearly as much as race and gender. Eileen Gunn suggested that sci-fi has working class origins; someone else said that they probably was true of earlier science fiction, but in this generation it's more middle-class. I have to say most sci-fi comes across as "middle-class" to me. There was discussion of "middle-class" as the unmarked state - people who are middle class are unaware of class issues, while working class people are clear about the distinctions. The talk turned to class markers - accents, whether the kitchen trash is under the sink or elsewhere in the kitchen, clothing, Myspace vs Facebook, and then circled back to accents. Markers are socially defined, and if you're writing of a future society, the actual markers are not so important - what's important is how other characters react to them.

In the next slot, I again divided my time between two panels: "Steal Like an Artist" and one on self-publishing.

Steal Like an Artist discussed the ethical and artistic boundaries between "stealing" and creating something using and based on others' work. It also touched lightly on cultural appropriation.

I went late to the Self-publishing/ Traditional publishing panel, again just in time to catch some of the audience questions and the panelists' summation. They differed on the value of Kindle Direct, Twitter, Pinterest, and various other specific platforms; but they all agreed that authors should expect to do a lot of heavy lifting in promoting themselves (even if they have a traditional publisher). They should have websites; and possibly their books also should have websites. Everyone agreed social media are important, even if they didn't agree on which specific ones.

I joined a group of 10 Wisconians (Wisconites? Wisconners?) for dinner at the Fountain, opposite the hotel, with Tempest leading the charge. Some of them I'd met before, others I hadn't. They were all interesting and a pleasure to hang out with. I had to rush off, unfortunately, so as not to miss the Big Event.

The big event of the day was the Tiptree auction, with Ellen Klages as the auctioneer. It's always an amazing performance by Ellen channeling her interior comedian. She did sell the t-shirt off her back (BAD GIRLS READ).

This year, a kid in the audience kept piping up... maybe Ellen has an apprentice! The most interesting item to me was a hip flask with a Space Babe design. (The picture is up at the top, standing in for a Time-Turner.) The bidding quickly went far beyond my budget. There were also two cakes representing books by the Tiptree award winners, which were bought by the house as a whole (and enthusiastically consumed in the ConSuite later).

Afterward, I drifted through some parties, said Hi to a lot of people, sat and chatted with Kater for a while, and met Nisi Shawl's mother - a charming lady who's been to 3 Wiscons. I also met someone for whom this was her first Con ever. She's a writer, a mom, and very socially aware - she was loving Wiscon's openness and diversity. And everyone was so friendly...

I reluctantly gave up hanging out at the parties and ConSuite when I realized my energy levels were tending to zero. In my room now, writing this post.

I'm back at Wiscon! This is Wiscon 37, and kudos to the team that's delivered it all these years. It's only after my involvement with FOGcon that I'm beginning to comprehend the huge amount of work that a Con entails.

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The traditional kick-off is a reading by the Guests of Honor, hosted by "A Room of One's Own." Though I'd been there before (twice) I thought to check that I remembered the route. Just as well, because it's moved, a block down. The new premises are lovely, with a traditional frontage and interior arches.



I went in to find quite a few people already gathered. The reading space felt smaller than the backroom they used to have, and most of the chairs were taken. Still, I found a place to sit, then left my coat there while I mingled. I found Laurie Tobie Edison at the snack table, and she described her new "Discworld" sculpture: the turtle and elephants and the Discworld (which is a boulder opal). Also a silver Fantasy map she's working on. It all sounds quite magical. She may have some photographs. I'm also looking forward to seeing her other work; she listed them on her LiveJournal and they sound gorgeous (she didn't have pictures of those).

Also said Hi to quite a few other people. It had this lovely "First day of school after summer" feel to it.

GUEST OF HONOR READINGS

Piglet introduced Jo Walton with a humorous verse. Jo's reading, from her current novel, was hilarious. Apollo's confused because Daphne becomes a tree rather than mate with him, so he asks his sister Artemis to explain. She directs him to Athene, who says something about "volition" and gets him involved in her own project: Recreating Plato's Republic before it was even written. [Here's a link to her blog, Bluejo's Journal]



Jesse the K introduced Joan Slonczewski, and even though she had apparently rehearsed it, she stumbled over the name. Joan took it in her stride. "My students call me Dr Zeus," she said, and explained the background of her science as well as her fiction: Western diets have disrupted our bacterial ecosystems, which must be corrected with inputs from the uncorrupted intestinal flora of people in places like Africa. Someone near me mentioned fecal transplants, which are ingested. Then she read an excerpt in which the heroine, who has been attacked for hosting sentient bacteria, is moving to a new house - which is also sentient, and is decorating itself. [Joan's blog, Ultraphyte, is linked here.]

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After the readings, I made contact with Kater Cheek (and daughter) and J (who has a book out: The Flaming Geeks Book of Geeky Trivia) and picked up my Program Guide. I started marking off all the things I wanted to attend. As usual, there were between 2 and 4 "Can't miss" events in each time-slot. You may see me darting in and out of rooms a lot.

[Replicated from my new Wordpress site+blog.]

I went to one last panel, about incorporating people with disabilities into stories, and how to do it right even if you the author do not have that disability. Thanks both to writers and to people with with disabilities, this was one of the best panels I've been to at this Wiscon. Some of the points made: 

1. Some of the effects of the disability are not just the physical problem itself, but the accomodations required. People with epilepsy, for instance, may be unable to drive cars owing to the meds they need.  
2. Don't use disability to signify evil.
3. If the story ends with the disability being miraculously removed, figure why the story needs this.
4. Do not compensate for a disability (in sci-fi) with a fix that results in a person immediately being made whole or  *even more able* than before. That's not disability. (E.g. the hand of Luke Skywalker.)
5. However, you can use special abilities developed by people with disability as a plot point: e.g. deaf people  and phone phreaking. [Correction: Blind people, not deaf people]
6. Do the research - internet has stories directly from people with disabilities.
7. You can't please everyone.

I stopped briefly at the Checkout... but I had no more space for books in my luggage. I didn't stay long so I wouldn't be tempted to loop back to the Dealer's room. I had to pack, anyway. Kater and I grabbed some lunch, then joined Julie on the shuttle to the airport.

That was it for Wiscon 34 for us.

It's the end of the day, and I'm procrastinating. I *should* be preparing for my reading tomorrow - the one I talked about earlier with Kater, Catherine and Caroline. Instead, I'm posting this.

My morning began latish, with redcrowkater  messaging me to ask if wanted to join her and julieandrews at a noodle shop for lunch. I did, and it was delicious. Then we each wandered off in a different direction. I put up some flyers for the forthcoming anthology from Panverse Publishing, Eight Against Reality; it will have one of my stories. Catherine Schaff-Stump put up flyers for our reading.

At the hotel I met Karen Joy Fowler and Ted Chiang waiting for the Dealer's Room to open, and was introduced to a group of their friends. I also met Richard Bowes, who was amused to find someone else with the same surname. It derives, apparently, not from the weapon but from cattle, with the same root as bovine... this led to a discussion of cattle and oxen, and how cows got no respect. I suggested that in the Hindu mythos, the situation was a little bit different.

Then it was on to the Gathering, which had a delightful lock-picking table, and tarot cards (with a long waiting line), sinful macaroons drizzled with chocolate, and of course the books table where I determinedly limited myself to three books. (This year, I only brought one book with me, so I did not feel as guilty as last year. But they still weigh an awful lot!)

Over at the dealer's room, I acquired some pretty silver jewelry. I went by laurieopal's table a few times, just gawking at the gorgeousness, but restrained myself this time. (I bought an eagle from her at World Fantasy.) I am grateful she does not do internet sales... some of her work would be irresistible sold online where decision-making is overly easy.

Somehow, I got invited to the Carl Brandon Society dinner. (Thanks, Tempest.) It was a delightful evening, and I met some interesting new people. Talked to some of them about the wondrousness of Clarion...  The only thing was that somehow this elegant restaurant managed to forget the dinner order of the guest next to me, and served it only when everyone else had nearly finished. I kept her company, which was lovely because she was really fun to talk to.

The opening ceremony was fun, and then there were parties. I spent the most time at the Fog Con party. Some of my friends are starting this new Con, in March in San Francisco, and this was its launch party. They gave out the coolest little aliens made of radio valves or something, as well as cups with little red lights, and fog-emitting sangria.

Got into a brainstorming session with Karen Joy Fowler and Pat Murphy on the subject of Clarion. Came back to the parties, dropped in on the Carl Brandon party, back to Fog Con, and called it a day.

I'm pissed off with LJ. It's not letting me upload any more pictures, not sure why. Perhaps I've bumped against my storage limit, but then it should say so. Wordpress has this platform licked hollow, except for the friending thing. Grr.

ETA: Deleted an old pic, and it allowed this one. Still don't know if it was a glitch or a storage limit.

I'll be at Wiscon, reading with Kater Cheek (my Clarion buddy), Caroline Stevermer, and Catherine Schaff-Stump. We're all reading from our Middle-Grade novels, so it should be fast-paced and fun. Here's the flyer Catherine created for the reading. (Click on it for a clearer picture.)

Mine is from my current Novel-in-Revision, which has the working title of The Twelve Impossible Tasks. To rescue his little sister who's been kidnapped by supernaturals, Joel must perform the Twelve Labors of Hercules - in San Francisco.

The main event today at Wiscon was The Gathering, an indoor fair with a clothing swap, face-painting, tarot, palm-reading, some impressive-despite-the-noise shape-note singing, and a bookstore offering ARCs of books for a $1 donation (with a ten-book limit). I was trying to stay at the other end of the room from that one, but was pulled into its gravitational perimeter and ended up with three books. I had rather idiotically brought books from home to read... and I haven't even been to the dealer's room yet. My suitcase is going to look like the Library Thief's Last Moments.

I met more people I knew - some in person, some online. Among them were people from my Second Draft writing group, people from my online Codex writing group, and Clarion 08 people (with some overlap in these categories). My other Clarionmate redcrowkater  also came in, so she,  julieandrews , and I hung out. Kater knew a really great tapas restaurant. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I'd like to post  a Wiscon photograph, but will first want to clear it with everyone in it. It's a Wiscon policy, and I'm impressed.

ETA: Okay, I have clearance from everyone except Geoff Ryman. (Geoff, if you object, I'll delete this).