ConVersion 19
We went, we launched, we drank beer. Well, I drank beer. And fell off the stage at my first panel. Sigh. But, although a dizzy spell later prevented me seeing Guy Gavriel Kay, I did exchange some e-mail with him after which made up for it a bit. We got to visit with publisher Brian Hades and meet Edge editor Cheyenne and their new sales person, Kim. Enjoyed most of the panels. Got to debate Robert Sawyer's right to watch me in the shower with him on the panel regarding the pros and cons of a transparent society and discovered that although his Neanderthals in Hominids have a very different approach to full disclosure of events than our Reetions with their arbiters, we were equally frustrated by criticism of tranparency which assumes there will be glaring flood lights on everyone's minute and private moments without any checks or sheer common sense. For example, if anyone could watch anyone, would we all spend our every waking moment doing that? As I understood it, Saywer's Neanderthals only devulge the record in their "black boxes" when called upon to do so by a trial investigating their guilt or innocence regarding a specific charge, and anyone interested in how arbiter-based social transparency works can, of course, explore those features on the ORU site. In a nutshell, there are consequences for being a peeking tom since that is ALSO on record and there is personal motivation for success even though there is no money economy of our kind. In fact, the accounting is far more refined and exact than it could ever be in a society without arbiters. Other highlights for me were the drinks and meals with fellow writers met only at cons, as a rule: Dave Duncan, Marie Jakkoker, Rebecca Bradley. And, of course, Alison. :-) This is the first con we've done together since I, also, became a "pro". People actually bought copies of Brian's very beautifully manufactured Throne Price and asked for authographs. This will never get boring. :-) My husband David Lott and I attended the Aurora awards, MC'd by Robert Saywer, at which Julie E. Czerneda claimed both the short fiction and novel categories. David checked out her web site after to enjoy the exictement there and scanned the program to send it to her. I've promised him I'll take a crack at reporting on the event to send on to her, if I can revive some of my old journalist skills, polished up with a little "creative non-fiction" instincts. :-) A big THANK YOU to all who attended the launch party or bought the book from the Edge booth. And to the con-going con organizers of VCON who have extended Alison and I an invitation to VCON in October. Thanks Fran! David has taken in the pictures we took for development. Life allowing, we will get them scanned, captioned, and on the ORU this weekend. I say "life". I should say--Family Fun Pizza Night. We are throwing one. Jennifer, Angela and Tegan are busy off to my right, as I type, rehersing the night's entertainment which will be the "Matchmaker" scene and song from Fiddler on the Roof.
posted by Lynda at 11:57   comment? e-mail lynda@okalrel.org 0 comments