Cherie Priest's Blog: It's awards season, so here comes the shameless self-promotion, page 81

TeslaCon: It Can Be Done

TeslaCon was billed as a full-immersion steampunk salon-type steampunk event/experience, and I admit, I had some reservations. When I hear "full-immersion" in that sort of context, I think of all the LARP games I attended in my younger years, wherein I was afraid that maybe I was surrounded by douchebags who took themselves too seriously. I mean, I didn't know about those guys, but I was mostly present in order to play dress-up and lounge around playing rock-scissors-paper with my friends.

Ahem.

Anyway. What I'm trying to say is that TeslaCon could've been a weird, awkward experience. But in fact, it was a weird, MARVELOUS experience with just the right mix of Serious Immersion and Ooh Shiny Imma Buy That Then Go Drinking with My New Friends. It was a weekend of theme parties and spontaneous shindigs, carefully orchestrated murder mystery theater and random shenanigans, artifice and practicality, and a whole lot of clever details that made the whole thing hang together.

Among my personal favorite details: a concerted campaign to replace all the hotel's boring signage with signs that were more fun – including a rather epic undertaking by which they relabeled all the hotel rooms with Victorian signage that marked them as berths rather than rooms; uniformed porters who provided assistance, support, and service all weekend (they were student volunteers from the organizer's classroom); the cheesy first-floor conference rooms which had been transformed into lovely boutique storefronts, open for business; a "duty-free room" (read: dealers' room) full of stuff for both men and women – as sometimes these things have a lot more stuff for the ladies*; a fully functional and prettily maintained tea room; the sound effects simulating a dirigible's engine; the opening movie/credits which were exquisitely produced; the 19th century style "ticket booths" (registration booths); a very friendly, helpful, and accommodating independent bookseller; a FABULOUS fashion show featuring wares from three of the coolest freaking women I have ever met; and THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS.

The overwhelming majority of those in attendance were in costume, and I swear to high heaven I spent the whole damn weekend all google-eyed (O_O), pointing randomly and saying/thinking, "I want that … and that … and that … and that … and that … and OMG I AM GOING TO GO BROKE HERE … and that … and that … and …" (ad infinitum)

Perhaps best of all – there was a rather outstanding swath of steampunk interpretation on display. I saw everything from a seriously hot punk fin-de-siecle gangster's moll to a period-correct 19th century British Red Cross nurse; I saw folks aged from toddler to elder in full regalia, from high tea to utter cheerful silliness; there were western-style rangers and renaissance damsels; I spied gothic lolitas dancing at the ball with clockwork zombies, and dirigible flight attendants hobnobbing with a woman in conquistador-inspired masculine wear.

And everyone was "doing it right."

Everyone was "steampunk enough."

Because everyone was having fun with it.

Everyone's interpretation of the style was accepted, celebrated, and appreciated – whether or not it was 100% historically accurate reenactor-wear, or utterly fanciful mechanical fairy-wear. Everybody got it, and was willing to be friendly and flexible, and welcoming of anyone who wanted to come out and play. It was a wee veritable temporary utopia for fans, lovingly constructed by a gent named Eric Larsen, who served as the host and MC of the festivities.

Reader, particularly given the recent snark upon the genre … you can imagine my slack-jawed astonishment and subsequent delight.

No one picked any fights about what steampunk was or wasn't, what it should be or should not be; and no one was too cool to get involved and have a good time. No one tried to correct or harass anyone, and no one threw a shit-fit about how everyone else wasn't taking it seriously enough.

I would've been prepared to vow that it couldn't be done.

So. Yes. Here, let me link you some photo sets: StrangeKnowledge on Flickr,

Jessica Coen on Flickr,

ScarletGenesis on Flickr.

If anyone else has any pics they want to share, feel free to post them in the comments either here or at my LJ if that's easier for you. There were more gorgeous clothes and people there than any given event has any right to claim, and there are probably a zillion shots out there I haven't seen (and sure, I appear in some of them – even in the sets linked above).

By design, TeslaCon is a smaller event – with membership limited to only a few hundred people. I believe the total was somewhere around 400, and next year I think (though I could be mistaken) the goal is no more than 600. The organizers want the event to remain manageable as a cooperative, potentially immersive experience, and they don't feel that going bigger will mean going better. Therefore, if I were you, I'd keep my eye on this webpage and swipe a pass as soon as they become available. I suspect that once word-of-mouth gets around, those passes will not last long.

Yes. So. Well. There you go – that was the original purpose of my weekend in Madison, and it was absolutely cool – and it set a very high bar for next year's event, which I fully expect the amicable Mr. Larsen to jack up EVEN MORE (next year you won't be in a dirigible; you'll be in a submarine).

My next post will cover some of the extra-conventional details, including the Barnes & Noble, Borders, a hyper-groovy 13-year-old boy with a book report, and supper with Sarah Monette and company (including a super-cool archivist and her family). It will also make mention of mostly naked college-aged rugby players, so, yeah. Stay tuned.

Over and out for now …

* Bonus coolness: the dealers' room and boutiques were all open to the public, which made for happy vendors and happy spectators – and led to a few extra day-passes being sold.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Official Notice

I had planned/was scheduled to appear over at the marvelous book blog Bitten By Books tomorrow – but I will not be able to make that commitment. Circumstances have conspired against me, and I just can't give them what they need for this event (though we will try to reschedule for later).

This is my fault, and not theirs – so please don't hold it against them.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Home

Just a quick post to say that I have, in fact, arrived home in Seattle. I am too tired to do much of anything – and am even eyeballing my luggage (carry-on only) as something that will require a glass of wine and maybe some very loud music in order to address; therefore, I will not create a proper blog post, or do anything else remotely productive either. Instead I will hug my kitty (I might as well – she's clinging to me like a barnacle), see about a snack, and be relieved that I (technically, sort of) arrived back at my apartment before nightfall.

Anyway. I'm outta here for now, and I'll begin the long, hard haul of playing catch-up tomorrow.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

TeslaCon

Sorry to be such a terrible blogger, but I am have a BLAST of a time at this thing! Have done shopping. Have watched and cheered wildly for fashion show. Have run into people I know from Atlanta. Have picked up a few presents and generally had a most excellent sort of goofing off for the last two days.

Today I'm doing a panel in a few minutes, and after that I'm meeting a couple of very awesome (not-convention-attending) friends from the area for supper. After that, I've been invited to go out gothing with some of the convention folks – but with the time change and me being on West Coast schedule and all … I'm not 100% certain I want to do that, since I'm on a 9:00 a.m. panel tomorrow. I'm just not quite as cool as I used to be, when it comes to skimping out on the sleep.

Anyway! Much love to everyone, and back to this event full of wildly well-dressed people for me.

:)

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

looking in my suitcase for a friend

It was dark when I left Seattle this morning, and dark when I made it to Madison. I've lost an entire day to the sky.

I wouldn't mind so much if my day hadn't stared at 4:30 a.m. – THANK YOU ORBITZ, FOR THAT 4:30 A.M. WAKE UP CALL INFORMING ME THAT MY 8:30 FLIGHT WAS PREDICTED TO BE ON TIME. Kindly go die in a fire.

Some of us experience great difficulty getting back to sleep, especially when we've been having seasonal issues courtesy of an allergy to (the freshly resurgent) leaf mold. Helloooo fall in a very wet place – where legions of autumn leaves festoon the neighborhood, and cheerfully rot in the rain.

At any rate, I am really just crushingly exhausted right now. Until I ate a Nutrigrain bar (I always pack them for times like this) I was literally shaking from low blood sugar and a desperate desire to find a stationary pillow. Now, I am revived enough to type this post – which is good, because I really wanted to log on and declare myself ARRIVED.

In fact, I am arrived at a clean, cozy hotel which has thus far proven to be populated with helpful, friendly people. All omens are good thus far, and I'm looking forward to the weekend.

But I hope you lovely locals understand if I make this a very quiet, very early evening in. There's a (very slight) chance I might wander downstairs for food, but in addition to my way-too-early morning today, I have a signing at Barnes and Noble tomorrow morning at 10:30; and I need to meet my liaison at a quarter 'till ten. Which is a quarter 'till eight, when one factors in my body being on West Coast time.

Hardly the crack of dawn, I know. But after a long day of travel and sniffles, the prospect of a long, Benedryl-ensured night of total wipe-out is the only thing keeping me upright even this long. So. Peace-out, you guys. It is to be hoped that I'll see some of you tomorrow.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Oh hai, O'Hare

I'm in Chicago, albeit briefly. Using the airport wifi, which is (a). not free, and (b). not good. Not for me, anyway. Not right now. Regardless, I'm glad I sprung for it and logged on. Why? Because guess what I learned: Russian rights have just sold on Bloodshot! Which isn't even out until the end of January! And it already has two sets of foreign rights out the door!*

Holy cow, man. That bad-boy is really revving up…

[:: does a little dance ::]

[:: gets funny looks from TSA ::]

[:: dances anyway ::]

* Italian rights sold a few months ago, astonishing (and delighting!) no one more than me.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Madison or Bust

Heads up, Wisconsin for I AM INCOMING, oh yes. My main event out in that fine land of dairy products and other assorted varieties of awesome: TeslaCon. The very first of its kind, actually. I am rather stoked, I don't mind telling you! A weekend of dressing up and goofing off in steampunkland? Yes, please!

But also – while I'm in the area, the organizers of this event have kindly partnered with a local B&N and Borders, both of which I will be visiting during my time in your cheese-producing midst. (Yes, I know that there is much more to be found in Wisconsin than cheese, but I really freaking love cheese.)

These will be public events, not affiliated with the convention – so you do not have to be a participant at Teslacon in order to show up, hang out, get your stuff signed, and hear some corny jokes from yours truly. As follows:

Friday, November 5th – Barnes & Noble – East Towne Mall location, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.. Yes, that's earlier than most of my other signings and whatnot, and I do apologize – but the store is working around convention programming.

Sunday, November 7 – Borders – East Madison location starting at 5:00 p.m. and running 'till whenever. Hopefully, this will allow some of you who are working on Friday to catch me while I'm around.



I am always (and I do mean always) happy to meet readers, and as one of my LJ icons states so bluntly – I will talk with anyone about anything. I am a talker. Furthermore, I am a talker who works at home alone all day, so when I get to actually LEAVE THE HOUSE for convention-type shenanigans, I am usually very wound up about it and very excited to have people to talk to.


[:: imagines husband nodding with undue seriousness ::]


Anyway! Now the time has come for me to do all those tiny travel things that add up to an evening's worth of work. Printing all pertinent docs, making sure I have all the phone numbers I need, deciding what precisely I'm going to wear so that I can cram my +5 Carry-On of Holding to the limit, charging all electronics, performing pet maintenance, go to the bank, go to Walgreens, and the like.


I will have my laptop in Madison, but I'm not sure how much time I'll have for updates. If you're terribly interested in following my out-of-town shenanigans, Twitter is your best bet. I can send pictures via Twitter, and I rather enjoy doing so.


Thanks for reading, everyone – and I hope to see some of you in Madison later on this week!

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Dreadnought Channel Rides Again

Tonight! Third Place Books – Lake Forest Way location, 7:00 p.m. – Come out and see me! There will be books, gossiping, griping, glorifying, and giddiness. Plus many other states that have nothing to do with the letter "g".

Tor.com excerpts Dreadnought – First taste is free, you know. This is the opener, set in the Civil War hospital. It might be a little grim. But hey, it's not as gross as chapter two! Wait…I might not be selling this right … hm…

Clarkesworld Interview – With yours truly, wherein we talk about where books come from, where I came from, what's up with this whole Clockwork Century thing, and what's coming up next.

SF Signal tackles Dreadnought – Declaring that it "avoids sequelitis and stands quite nicely on its own." Thanks, SF Signal! (However, I'm not sure why they say you don't ever get to see the mechs. You totally do. I read that section all the time – and if you've been to any of my events in the last month or two, you've heard me do it. It starts around page 98, and several pages are spent on Mercy's encounter with them. Ah, well.)

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

November 1, 2010

Did you ever have one of those days where you're gone for a few hours, then you come home and realize that a huge flow of work has logjammed itself together in your absence – and you spend the rest of the day playing catch-up, but somehow never catching up?

Yeah. I'm having one of those right now.

However – I did not want to let the Monday slide by postless, especially not considering that tomorrow night, November 2 at Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park), you can catch me reading, signing, and goofing off with the Third Place crew starting around 7:00 p.m. And I really wanted to squeak in a heads-up about that before the day of the event. On general principle.

For what it's worth to you, this is the last local bookstore event on my calendar at this time. I'll be doing a library reading in Tacoma at the end of this month and I'll be appearing SteamCon (at Seatac); but if you want to catch me in public in Seattle, it's tomorrow or never for 2010.

In other news, I'm still taking questions over at Questionland through Wednesday. Some of the more recent ones have asked about the nitty-gritty of publishing and/or the creative process – and though I'm perfectly comfortable with both of those subjects, I very rarely blog about them.

Why? Because I worry that it's too much like golf – which is fun to play, but a total snooze-fest to watch. I just don't want to bore you with it.

But if you ask, in a pointed fashion, in the kind of forum where I'm taking questions on pretty much any subject whatsoever,* then sure, I'll do my best to give you an answer. You might not like it much, but you'll get one.

* At my personal discretion, mind you. Asshats will be ignored, but oddballs will be indulged.

[Crossposted from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]

Live and Loud

Swing by. Ask whatever you want.
Doesn't have to be about books - but it can be if you like.
I'll be hanging around at Questionland through Wednesday.





Ask Cherie M. Priest at Questionland Seattle


(Click that link. Stupid LJ won't post the widget.)