Swancon Sunday
Apr. 16th, 2009 11:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stephbgI'm not quite sure what happened to much of Sunday morning at Swancon, so I'll have to start with my plague panel. I'm also struggling to remember the in-between bits, so this report will be largely limited to the scheduled events.
(On a) Panel: Plagues: Culture versus Culture
Happened. Was fun. Contained more historical content than originally intended, and much less literary discussion but still proved interesting. Good compare-and-contrast between ancient Greek and 17th century European reponses to plague. Managed a few quality EEEEWWWW biology moments with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
drhoz, which hopefully penetrated the walls to spark curiosity elsewhere. Hardly got to mention Scott Sigler's work at all, but since he's the 2010 GoH I guess I'll have a chance to make up for that. Perhaps I can give the panel (or something like it) another go next year and catch up on all the stuff I missed this time around.
Bring out your dead
Failed utterly to adequately advertise the art show admin session held that morning/lunchtime in the Montana foyer (pick up your unclaimed cash/artwork), but used the time and space to do a chunk of records management. No biggie; got to everyone in the end, and everything balanced.
I didn't go to Trudi Canavan's GoH speech because (a) I've never read her work, (b) I'm not a fan of the fantasy genre, but mostly (c) I couldn't hear a word she said. She seemed lovely, but if I can't hear a speaker speak, there's not a lot of point in being there.
Event: Rebel Empire
Oh dear. These events are very important for the people involved. I've done it myself. Hours of blood, sweat and tears go into preparations and rehearsal; lives are suspended for the sake of The Show. Unfortunately this does not make for an entertaining spectacle under even the best of conditions.
It started very late indeed. Bad start. I had a seat only a few rows from the front, but couldn't see anything more than the heads of the performers. I couldn't understand anyone's dialogue except Kanada (who is well worth listening to BTW). What I could see was wobbly. What I could hear was awkward. Good for beginners no doubt, and probably lots of fun to do, but not as a 2 hour spectator sport. The costumes were good. I wonder how many people were there at the end?
Somewhere around here I had a nice chat withanyisa in the fan lounge.
Book signings
Finally got Richard Morgan to sign my much-battered copy of Altered Carbon and brand-spanking new unread The Steel Remains. Yay!
2010 Launch
Interesting concept, flatly executed, and in desperate need of stage direction. I think the con itself will be interesting for me personally. I have heard of the guest, which is a good start, and I'm very keen on the theme of Contagion. The committee should stop apologising for "recycling" the national guest (Ian Irvine?) so soon after his last badly managed appearance. Let's just quietly move on.
Somewhere around here I helpedbuoy_wonder to retrieve escaping tribbles. One threw itself out of the lift and down a corridor!
Awards Ceremony
Was pretty and heartwarming. I have a confession to make: I'd *really* like to win a Tin Duck one day. I know, it's Wrong.
Panel: Writing SF: Tips and Techniques
Scored another Richard Morgan fix :-) Also picked up more ideas for my communication risk management conference presentation. I've noted before that high tech marketing is an exercise in fiction writing, but software engineering specs writing bears much in common with SF: it's technical; it hasn't happed yet; and it affects a lot of people in different ways.
Failed once again to score free books. So much for committee graft; I got through the entire con without a single free book and only one honestly-earned (and yet sadly too small) phone pouch.
Somewhere around here I attended a girly room party wheremaharetr was draped in pretty silks like a doll.
Panel: Furry Movies and TV
Interesting, and hardly disturbing at all. I learned things, got in my Black Beauty question, and was glad I was restrained from leaving until I'd seen Cookie Monster say "Arrivederci Frog". Off to sleep.
(On a) Panel: Plagues: Culture versus Culture
Happened. Was fun. Contained more historical content than originally intended, and much less literary discussion but still proved interesting. Good compare-and-contrast between ancient Greek and 17th century European reponses to plague. Managed a few quality EEEEWWWW biology moments with
drhoz, which hopefully penetrated the walls to spark curiosity elsewhere. Hardly got to mention Scott Sigler's work at all, but since he's the 2010 GoH I guess I'll have a chance to make up for that. Perhaps I can give the panel (or something like it) another go next year and catch up on all the stuff I missed this time around.Bring out your dead
Failed utterly to adequately advertise the art show admin session held that morning/lunchtime in the Montana foyer (pick up your unclaimed cash/artwork), but used the time and space to do a chunk of records management. No biggie; got to everyone in the end, and everything balanced.
I didn't go to Trudi Canavan's GoH speech because (a) I've never read her work, (b) I'm not a fan of the fantasy genre, but mostly (c) I couldn't hear a word she said. She seemed lovely, but if I can't hear a speaker speak, there's not a lot of point in being there.
Event: Rebel Empire
Oh dear. These events are very important for the people involved. I've done it myself. Hours of blood, sweat and tears go into preparations and rehearsal; lives are suspended for the sake of The Show. Unfortunately this does not make for an entertaining spectacle under even the best of conditions.
It started very late indeed. Bad start. I had a seat only a few rows from the front, but couldn't see anything more than the heads of the performers. I couldn't understand anyone's dialogue except Kanada (who is well worth listening to BTW). What I could see was wobbly. What I could hear was awkward. Good for beginners no doubt, and probably lots of fun to do, but not as a 2 hour spectator sport. The costumes were good. I wonder how many people were there at the end?
Somewhere around here I had a nice chat with
anyisa in the fan lounge.Book signings
Finally got Richard Morgan to sign my much-battered copy of Altered Carbon and brand-spanking new unread The Steel Remains. Yay!
2010 Launch
Interesting concept, flatly executed, and in desperate need of stage direction. I think the con itself will be interesting for me personally. I have heard of the guest, which is a good start, and I'm very keen on the theme of Contagion. The committee should stop apologising for "recycling" the national guest (Ian Irvine?) so soon after his last badly managed appearance. Let's just quietly move on.
Somewhere around here I helped
buoy_wonder to retrieve escaping tribbles. One threw itself out of the lift and down a corridor!Awards Ceremony
Was pretty and heartwarming. I have a confession to make: I'd *really* like to win a Tin Duck one day. I know, it's Wrong.
Panel: Writing SF: Tips and Techniques
Scored another Richard Morgan fix :-) Also picked up more ideas for my communication risk management conference presentation. I've noted before that high tech marketing is an exercise in fiction writing, but software engineering specs writing bears much in common with SF: it's technical; it hasn't happed yet; and it affects a lot of people in different ways.
Failed once again to score free books. So much for committee graft; I got through the entire con without a single free book and only one honestly-earned (and yet sadly too small) phone pouch.
Somewhere around here I attended a girly room party where
maharetr was draped in pretty silks like a doll. Panel: Furry Movies and TV
Interesting, and hardly disturbing at all. I learned things, got in my Black Beauty question, and was glad I was restrained from leaving until I'd seen Cookie Monster say "Arrivederci Frog". Off to sleep.
