WorldCon: AfterReport Proper

All right, now my brain has properly recovered, I can write about the weekend.

For me, WorldCon didn't start until Friday night.  Circumstances kept us from leaving Austin for San Antonio until much later than I had originally planned.  By the time we reached the Convention Center, registration had closed.  So we weren't able to get our badges yet, but the guy we asked about it told us that unless we wanted to go to the Dealer's Room, it really wouldn't be an issue. At that hour there were almost no panels going on, so we just started looking around for familiar faces.

After some wandering and we found the wonderful Stina Leicht, who was giving advice to two people* who had been part of the the Con's Writers' Workshop.  (Stina and I work the ArmadilloCon one, but we had nothing to do with this one.) She led me to the hotel bar, where the action really was happening.  We split up so she could drop her stuff off in her room, and a little while later I got this as a text: "Do you want to go to the TOR party?"

The answer to this question is going to be YES.

So Stina collected Nicholas and I and up we went.  And it was lovely and interesting, and Marco Palmieri was the bartender.  I've been a big fan of Marco's since Star Trek books are totally my reading guilty pleasure, and he was the editor over there for their most interesting run.  Also of note: David Brin showed me his fillings.  This was, apparently, proof of why he is a much better writer than young whippersnappers like myself, since he gets radio reception in his head.  Now, I've heard some chatter out there about how old the WorldCon crowd is and such, but let me tell you, having there be a place where you are still considered "one of these young kids" at 40 isn't all that terrible.

photo by Gretchen Peterson Johnston

Saturday involved going to panels, and then it was time for the Rayguns reading and signing.  Everyone present read one page from their story, which we did very efficiently.  I was pleasantly surprised, I thought we might go into overtime.  Fortunately, "Jump the Black" is in the back half of the book, and we went in order, giving me plenty of time to just marvel at the fact that I was going to give a reading from my story out of an actual book, and figure out just what my "one page" was going to be.  Then we formed a line of chairs and started signing for the crow, assembly-line style.  That was a lot of fun, even when the publishers brought out two boxes of books for us all to sign. 

So afterwards, we went to Drinks With Authors, the event Myke Cole and Steve Drew from Reddit Fantasy put together.  This was quite a fantastic event, and Nicholas was completely in charge there.  Seriously, if you want to rule a bar event, being an intelligent and articulate 13-year-old doesn't hurt.  He stood out, is what I'm saying, but he backed it up by having things to say that kept people's attention.  He also won a first edition of Robin Hobb's first book, which Wesley Chu desperately wanted.  Wes eventually agreed to whatever devil's bargain Nicholas forced him into in order to get the book.  Myke was quite enthusiastic in his appreciation of my son. It's a good thing my cousins*** had toughened me up in my youth, and I could take an affectionate chest pounding from his military-grade arms. 

Sunday was a bit of a blur-- again, a few panels during the day.  Now, I haven't talked too much about the sexual politics of WorldCon, and fortunately I didn't see or hear of any specific harassment issue.  However, at one of Sunday's panels, there was an incident that fully falls into the realm of "mansplaining".  In a panel on cosplaying and gender issues, where the panel consisted of three women, they were talking about body image and how that affects their choices.  A man from audience basically told them, "You shouldn't worry about that, because we always think you look lovely", missing the point spectacularly.  The panel and women in the audience smacked him down quite well, but I doubt what they were saying drilled into his skull. 

Better things on Sunday: Nicholas made a steampunk gun.  He also bought a shoulder-holster, and just having those two things earned him some "good costume" comments.  I thought that was funny.

Also, there was the Campbell panel, in which the four Campbell nominees all wore tiaras, and got Ben Bova to wear one as well.  Worth the price of admission just for that.

Then there were the Hugos!  I'm definitely glad I went there, because it was very much worth it.  It's the Nerd Oscars, of course you go.  Afterwards, I introduced myself to the editor from DAW, and then hung out at the bar for a while before finding my way up to the Loser Party.  Again, a thing you go to if you can.  Frankly, at this point, even though I barely had anything to drink, my head was swirling with Con Overwhelm.  So details are fuzzy.  I'll simply list further wonderful people whom you should read: Max Gladstone.  Nancy Hightower.  Valya Dudycz Lupescu.  Chuck Wendig. 

(You probably knew that last one already.)

That's all I got.  Time to get back in the word mines.


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*- Something funny about the scope of WorldCon-- and it is quite huge.  There were plenty of people I know, that I know were there that I never saw.  And others who I only saw in brief passing.  Yet there were other people that I ran into constantly, and that included the two people Stina was talking to.**  I'm sure there's some sort of movement-of-particles math that would explain it. 
**-  If you were one of those two people, I'm sorry, but I've forgotten your names completely-- but you were both very charming people who I hope have a lot of success in your future, and feel free to contact me.
***- At some point, I need to explain the rules of Quarterball. 

Incoherent WorldCon Post

I've literally just gotten home from WorldCon, which was amazing and still a lot to process.

Mostly because of this:

 

 So, that's an actual thing that exists.

But, yeah, it's too much for me to go into right now.  People were amazing.  The Campbell nominees, in particular, were amazing people.  Look how great they are:

Max Gladstone, Mur Lafferty, Chuck Wendig and Stina Leicht

 OK.  I need to recover.  More of coherence later.

WorldCon Bound and other milestones

WorldCon / LoneStarCon starts today.  I won't be going down until tomorrow afternoon, unfortunately, but I'm very excited.  A little nervous, as this is my first "big" con, but I think it's important to keep stepping things up.  I made myself a little pledge a few years ago to keep doing new things-- convention and career-wise-- that scare me a little.  Two years ago that was being on panels and a Writers' Workshop teacher at ArmadilloCon.  Last year it was giving a reading.  This year, I think WorldCon, in and of itself, is sufficient. 

I'm not an official participant, which is fine, given my current status as a writer.  I will be an unofficial participant in one thing, however:

Rayguns Over Texas Group Reading/Signing
Saturday 1700-1900
007A (Convention Center)

Even though I've mentioned it before, it bears repeating that I am immensely pleased to be included in Rayguns.  From what I've seen of the preview excerpts, everything in it is great.

Furthermore, with Rayguns now released, I believe my eligibility for the Campbell Award starts today.  If I'm wrong about that, someone let me know.

In other news, I've now sent a polished draft of Way of the Shield to my esteemed agent.  I've also updated the excerpt over on my webpage, so go and check that out.  This novel was particularly challenging to write, certainly more so than the other three books set in Maradaine.  It definitely was the one where the original outline survived the least in the writing process.  My original concept was more of a mystery/thriller, with a plot involving figuring out who was killing members of Parliament.  That didn't really fit the themes I was working with, and also made things feel a bit too close to what I had already done with Maradaine Constabulary.  The end result is much stronger, I think.  We'll see if the agent agrees.

LoneStarCon and the Amazing People in this Industry

So, I will attending WorldCon in San Antonio at the end of the month, though I won't be appearing on any panels.  Given the size and scope of this thing, I am absolutely fine with that. There will be a reading for Rayguns Over Texas on Saturday, followed by a signing for the anthology, and I intend to be on hand for that.  But that's not anything official.   I am happy-- thrilled-- to simply attend and drink up the atmosphere and see fellow writers and meet new people.

A big part of that is due to the simple fact that most of the people in this industry are fantastic people, both the ones that I've met and become friends with, and the ones I've only had minimal interaction with.

For example, a college friend of mine, who is in the process of medical school right now, also was accepted to Clarion West this past summer.  He had applied to Clarion mostly as a hail-Mary, and was pleasantly surprised to be accepted.  The problem, though, was he wasn't sure if he could swing both it and his academic duties.  He contacted me, worried that if he had to turn it down, he'd be blackballed.  This, apparently, was what he had experienced in medical school-- if you were accepted into a sub-internship, turning it down was career suicide.  I was pretty sure it would be fine, of course the Clarion people knew that taking six weeks off from the other responsibilities of life was something few people could manage.  But I wanted to confirm, and I asked around, asking writers who I knew had been involved in Clarion, even if my own interaction with them had been minimal.  And every one responded quickly and courteously.  And, of course, they all agreed: everyone involved in Clarion would understand perfectly.

Here's another example.  A few months ago, after I finished reading Boneshaker, I did a small amount of research on Cherie Priest, which made me realize that I had had an inside-baseball-business-of-writing question that she might have some insight on.  So I emailed her with my random-yet-rather-specific question.  In less than 24 hours, she not only responded, but with a long and well-considered answer.  Did she have to do such a thing?  Of course not, but she did, even though such a response would have easily taken a half an hour out of her day.  Why?  Because she's good people.

The list could go on.  I have sung praises of Stina Leicht to the sky, of course.  There's plenty more I could name.  Julie Kenner and Kimberly Frost, for example, who both read multiple drafts of query letters for me.  Matthew Bey, who dropped my name when invites were going around for Rayguns, and Rick Klaw, who was open to that despite having only met me in passing.*

I bet you every single one of those people have some story of someone who paid forward to them.  And I have every intention to do the same.

So, if you spot me at WorldCon, come say hello.  Promise I won't bite.

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*- Not to mention, you know, accepting my story into the anthology.

Quick Promotional Post: Rayguns Over Texas

Today I'm under the hammer, so the post is a quick plug:

After months of rumors and innuendo, Rayguns Over Texas, the new anthology of science fiction by Texas authors, will finally premiere in just 24 days on August 29 at LoneStarCon 3 (aka the 71st Annual World Science Fiction Convention) in San Antonio.

Over at Rick Klaw's site, he'll be posting an excerpt a day from the anthology.  Look at some of the names on that: Bruce Sterling!  Michael Moorcock!  Joe Lansdale! Aaron Allston!  And many more.   I'm ridiculously pleased to be on this.  Go check it all out.

Hugo Nominations: Best Novel and Best Novella

So, given that voting for the Hugos closes this Tuesday, I should close up my thoughts on the major Awards.

Best Novel

•     2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit)
•     Blackout, Mira Grant (Orbit)
•     Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
•     Redshirts: A Novel with Three Codas, John Scalzi (Tor)
•     Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW)

All right: I only read two of these: Redshirts and Throne. I really wasn't interested in reading Book 15 of a series I've never read, so Captain Vorpatril was pretty much out.  To a lesser extent, that applied with Blackout, but also from reading Mira Grant/Seanan Maguire's other entries, I wasn't interested in carving out extra time to read something else.  And as for 2312... with all due respect to Mr. Robinson, but his books are not for me.  I muscled my way through Red Mars some time ago, and tried to do Green Mars, but I felt I was doing that entire out of a strange sense of obligation instead of enjoyment.

So, with only two books read, what comes out?  Well, frankly, I tore through Redshirts in about 24 hours, finding it a lot of fun.  I'll admit, I found the three codas to be a process of diminishing returns (Coda 1 was a good follow-up, Coda 2 was interesting, and Coda 3 felt extremely tangential), but the whole book was highly enjoyable.  Throne, on the other hand, was just fine.  A perfectly good book, but I honestly didn't quite get why this was the highly-nominated super-buzz book of 2012.  I didn't even think it was the best psuedo-Middle East fantasy of 2012. 

Best Novella

•     After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
•     The Emperor’s Soul, Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
•     On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
•     San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, Mira Grant (Orbit)
•     “The Stars Do Not Lie”, Jay Lake (Asimov’s, Oct-Nov 2012)

Again, didn't get all of these read.  Didn't even start The Emperor's Soul, and only got a little of the way into On a Red Station.  It didn't hold my interest, but I won't include it in my voting plan.

"The Stars Do Not Lie" didn't hold my interest either, mostly because I felt it was heading towards an obvious revelation and shuffling its way to it, so I grew uninterested.  After, Before, During also made its way to an obvious climax, and the revelations of that climax were less that compelling.  But the writing itself, and the path there, were strong, so I enjoyed reading it, even if I felt somewhat dissatisfied with where it ended up.  Also, San Diego 2014 was enjoyable to read, but on the whole it wasn't satisfying.  Between those two, I'll give After the edge.

Voting closes in two days! 

State of the Writer: Summer 2013

A writer is at a party where he meets a neurosurgeon.  "So you write books," the surgeon said.  "I've always thought about taking a summer off to write a book."  "That's funny," said the writer.  "I've thought about taking a summer off to do some brain surgery."

So, we're knee-deep in summer now, and for me it's always more of a challenge to maintain my writing discipline, but I've been pretty good so far.  The main thing I've been working on is editing, and that's a bit harder to put a metric on.  When you're writing, you can use daily word count to track your progress.  That doesn't quite work with editing.

Given that, here's where things stand, and where I plan things to go for the rest of 2013.

Thorn of Dentonhill, Holver Alley Crew and Maradaine Constabulary are, of course, out in the world shopping.  I try not to dwell too much on the details of this process.  That's what agents are for. 

Way of the Shield is finally finished as a rough draft.   Editing it to a fine, clean draft that is worth sending to my agent is my current "main" project.  Part of that is also outlining summaries for the planned Books Two and Three of Way of the Shield.  Knock on wood, that stuff should all be send to the Agent by the end of July.  Should. 

Secondary project is fine-tuning the outline for Banshee, which has gone through a lot of permutations over the years.  However, I've found a new angle that really excites me, and I look forward to tackling that once I send out Shield. 

Beyond that, I've got a handful of loose ideas that haven't quite coalesced into a plan.  Of course, with any luck, someone will be wanting the Book Two for Thorn, Holver Alley, Maradaine Constabulary or Way of the Shield.  I might even write a first chapter for each as a warm up.  I'm thinking of also trying my hand at novelette/novella length works.  We'll see.  I've had some Secret Projects that I've intentionally kept back-burnered until I finished the quartet.  So something may beat its way into the forefront of my brain.

Also: Rayguns Over Texas will be an actual, printed book that you can hold in your hands in two months.  Isn't that exciting?  I mostly consider it a small reward, a reminder that this hard work will be worth it.  And it will.  And as another reminder of that, here's Macklemore to play you out.

Hugo Nominations: Best Novelette

Continuing with my opinions on the Hugo Nominees, the Best Novelette nominees are:

• "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)
• "Fade To White" by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
• "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)
• "In Sea-Salt Tears" by Seanan McGuire (Self-published)
• "Rat-Catcher" by Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)

On the whole, I enjoyed reading all five of these.  But some, of course, I enjoyed more than others.

"The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" is a strong favorite for me in this batch, even though the titular boy isn't really who the story is about.  It starts out giving a rather thorough description of what's going on with him-- for some odd reason, he doesn't have any shadow, he doesn't reflect in a mirror, nor can a picture be taken of him.  He can be seen, of course, but looking at him gives an uncanny-valley effect, as his face has an almost glowing-photoshopped quality.  He has a brief bit of celebrity as a child, but after a while, people stop caring, and he tries to live a normal life.  Until he meets another freakish boy, who is somehow made of living glass.  This is treated as an oddity, but simply one of those things that happens in his family.  Being living glass is not easy, as he's not very flexible yet incredibly fragile.  In fact, of all the living-glass people there have been in his family's history, he's the first one to make it to the age of fourteen.  The work does a fantastic job of showing the friendship of these two outsiders, though it's really about the glass boy.  The Boy Who Cast No Shadow himself is mostly an oddity in order to have empathy for the glass boy.  But the whole thing works well as a metaphor for children who are born with a condition that will damn them to a short life. 

"In Sea-Salt Tears" and "Rat-Catcher" have a lot of similar notes, which is not surprising, given they are written by the same person.  Both are stories of a fae-creature (a selkie and a cat-fae, respectively) who have to navigate the tragic politics of their fae-world.  Of the two, I preferred "Rat-Catcher", but only a bit.  I have to confess, fae stories don't quite click for me, especially with the tropes in play in "Tears".  The set-up for "Tears" is interesting: the main character is a selkie by birth, but is still effectively mortal, since one doesn't become a true selkie without a skin, and skins are in limited quantity.  You only get a skin when it's passed on to you.  The main character gets passed over for a skin several times, and then gives up and starts up a romance.  The romance, of course, gets tested when she finally gets offered a skin.  My big problem with this one boils down to Secret Tropes.   This one has "I don't want you to do X because I have Reasons that I won't tell you"  "Well, if you won't explain, I have to do X."  Character does X.  Other character THEN reveals Reasons.  Why didn't they reveal them earlier? BECAUSE SECRETS.  Yeah, I'm not crazy about that sort of thing.  "Rat-Catcher" is a bit more of a romp, and while it's also tragic, it's at least a fun path to the tragic.  It's as fun as a story about the Great London Fire destroying the fairy world could be.

"Fade to White" is interesting.  It has the same DNA as "The Handmaiden's Tale", in that it depicts a world torn by mass infertility, and dealing with it in 50s-sitcom-morality methods.  However, in Valente's version, both men and women are tested for their fertility, as the number of fertile men are one-fourth of the number of women.  Fertile men will get to become "Husbands" for four women, but with an overcomplicated system of spending one week a month in each wife's home, and the wives living in separate communities, so there's never any sense of embarrassment or impropriety or anything other than nice, normal nuclear families.  It's well-done satire, though there are constant switches in form and voice, some of which worked for me and some didn't.

"The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" was a frustrating read.  It was a piece that's very deep in its own worldbuilding, and just hits the ground at full throttle and hopes the reader will stay caught up.  Now, I had no problem catching up, but the whole piece stayed at arms-length, emotionally.  The gist of the piece is in a future where the solar system is being colonized, most of the people out in space have their bodies completely altered-- mostly to a squid-like form-- and thus their sense of identity shifts from human to other.  The slang term for the altered forms is "sushi", and thus making the change is "going out for sushi".  Part of my frustration comes from these slang terms-- the author couldn't seem to pick a single one for what the altered call normal humans.  Three or four terms are used interchangeably, though the one that stands out for me is "featherless bipeds".  This stands out because there's never a feathered biped... so why the distinction?  I feel like the setting deserves a bigger story than Cadigan is giving it here.

So, to my rankings:

1. "The Boy Who Cast No Shadow" by Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Postscripts: Unfit For Eden, PS Publications)
2. "Fade To White" by Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld, August 2012)
3. "Rat-Catcher" by Seanan McGuire (A Fantasy Medley 2, Subterranean)
4. "In Sea-Salt Tears" by Seanan McGuire (Self-published)
5. "The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi" by Pat Cadigan (Edge of Infinity, Solaris)