Lyda Morehouse's Blog, page 45

CONvergence - Day 3

It's after midnight again, and I'm home from CONvergence. I attended the guerrilla slash panel, which was severely hampered by the fact that they did, in point of fact, have to occupy a space by force. They moved the crowd they'd gathered in the North Tower's atrium into a space that used to be a coffee shop, but was just a big empty room. There were no chairs, tables, microphones or any of that, so the acoustics were horrible. I did manage to learn about some 'meta' trends that are happening in various fandoms. I hadn't heard of alpha/beta/omega, for instance. The other interesting thing that was brought up was that apparently there's been a lot of marriage fics across fandoms, and it was speculated that it had a lot to do with the rising of marriage equality.

I actually left the panel before it was finished, however, because midnight slash panels always seem to devolve into semi-drunken babbling squee that I have no hope of following because people are shouting out shows I don't watch and Anime I've never heard of and crying about OTPs I don't know.

But, today was a weird day for me in general. I woke up in a crabby-ass mood and it never entirely improved. I spent most of the day at home, in fact, away from the convention, trying--unsuccessfully--to write. But, eventually, I decided I wanted to go back if for no other reason than I might as well be grumpy surrounded by fabulous cosplay. And, CONvergence always has amazing cosplay, particularly on Saturday, since it's the night of the masquerade. It think the most astounding (and not necessarily in a GOOD way) costume I saw was the guy who was crawling around convention dressed as the Human Centipede (if you don't know it, DON'T GOOGLE IT. There are things that can not be unseen!)

I heard rumors of Renji cosplayers, but only saw the one Urahara.

I went to listen to the one-on-one with Charlie Jane Anders, who I first met at a WisCON years ago. She's delightful and entertaining as fuck, and the interview was being done by haddayr so the whole thing could have been a comedy routine (with heart and soul.) I initially followed Haddayr and Charlie to the "Space Lounge" but they hadn't opened yet, and I still wasn't in the right mood for crowds so I left them to do the party circuit without me. Instead, naomikritzer and I hung out and compared con notes.

I suspect I could call the day a win, but I'm not sure, given my in ability to shake the grumps.

Tomorrow, I have my final panel of the con, "Neil Gaiman's Sandman," which I'm not entirely looking forward to. I loved the comic books (which I read as comic books, rather than as collected graphic novels for the most part), but I'm not a squeeing Gaiman fangrrl. I suspect the other panelists will be. If I were more organized, I'd be tempted to bring along my signed copy -- signed for Shawn, actually -- of the Arabian Nights Sandman stand alone issue and tell the story of how Shawn, who was working at The Book House in Dinkytown at the time sold Neil the full several volume set of Arabian Nights and had it shipped to his-then home in London. But, that's really the whole story, so perhaps not. More likely, I'll tell about how Gaiman's Morningstar inspired my own.

CONvergence Day 2

I had one panel today, at 8:30 at night, which may not seem like a "late night panel" to you folks, but 8:30 PM skirts the edges of my bedtime. I'm an unrepentant lark, my friends. I'm often in bed by 8:00 pm. Thus, perhaps, needless to say, this was not my best panel of the con so far. It was called, "They Came from Fandom..." and it was ostensibly about how some of us professional writers started out as fans (or, as in my case, re-embraced fandom AFTER going pro.)

What it sort of became was Fandom 101, aka "Back in the late Jurassic, before the Internet, when the word 'fandom' meant community, not genre...."

That was a fine topic, but I didn't feel I had a lot to contribute to the discussion. In all honesty, even if we had stayed on topic, I'm not sure what I would have had to say about the subject. I mean, in some ways, it seems like it ought to be a gimme, as in: if you don't love SF, what the f*ck makes you think you can write it? What is strange to me is that, apparently, there are SF/F writers out there who are somehow NOT fans.

I guess the thing is that "fan" is described differently these days. But, back in the late Jurassic, it kind of just meant you read the stuff and liked it. I didn't really become active in the con scene until I was starting to pursue a career as a writer, so in some ways I didn't come from the kind of FANDOM that some of the panelist were talking about. I did write fanfic, but, back in the late Jurassic, there wasn't an internet for me to post it to, so all my Anne McCaffery and Katherine Kurtz fanfic stayed in the notebooks they were handwritten into. I also really remember being counseled not to act too fannish on panels (specifically, I got the whole "dress for the job you want" lecture, with the implication that if you showed up to con cosplaying, you weren't serious about being a writer.)

I tried to talk about this a little on the panel, because even though the Minneapolis/St. Paul fan community is very accepting of fannish pros, I'm not sure it's honest to say that you get taken as seriously sitting on a panel at Anime Detour in your shinigami costume as you do dressed in corporate drag. In fact, I felt a wave of 'and you are...?' from my fellow panelist when I came and sat down next to him at Detour, because I was full-on cosplaying. Despite 15 books in print, the book (panelist) really is still judged by the cover (costume).

Which was why, for the most part, Detour was a much more freeing, fun experience for me. I'm not in costume at all this weekend, nor will I be. Because at this con, I'm a pro, not a fan.

This was also one of those panels that suffered from CONvergence's policy of not always naming a moderator. We ended up letting the person who volunteered for the job have it, and so far, in my experience, that's often the LAST PERSON WHO SHOULD HAVE THE JOB. The volunteer moderator did a pretty good job of asking questions, but she was willing to let the topic meander and I was just not up to the task of herding cats (which I might have been if I had something to say, but I really didn't feel like I did.)

So, it was kind of meh.

At one point, one of the panelists brought up the idea of the permeability of the membrane... as in, how easy is it to pass between pro and fan? I thought this was an interesting concept, but we never really explored it.

I'm bummed because it was another all-star cast. I almost always love being on panels with Emma Bull. Catherine Lundoff is a bright, interesting woman who is always a pleasure to talk to. Patrick Neilson Hayden is, of course, a giant in the field, being, as he is, a senior editor at Tor Books, but also a long time fan. Joan Marie Verba likewise is often a great panelist, but for whatever reason, none of us entirely clicked.

For myself, I blame the hour. If the panel had happened when I arrived at the con at 1:00 pm, it would have been smashing, because I would have been at my peak.

Probably the best panel was the accidental Marvel Movie panel that happened when I had dinner with naomikritzer , Will Alexander, and seanmmurphy , which wasn't a panel at all, but a bunch of us getting wound up and fannish about all the latest films and comparing them to the comic book canon.

I attended a lot of panels, but I probably should have gone to Theatre Nippon. I'm probably not going to catch any anime movies this con because I'm planning to skip tomorrow. I'll try to do a write up of the panels I attended because I did actually take a few notes on thoughts I had, but it's like 1:30 in the morning and my brain has stopped "braining" as the kids might say....

Fireworks!

I'll probably end up posting again later tonight (or possibly tomorrow morning) about whatever happens later today when I return to CONvergence, but I wanted to say that the fireworks last night were spectacular.

We've gone to various places over the years, but this year we decided to brave downtown St. Paul to see the Harriet Island fireworks. Rather than try to drive on to the island, however, I thought maybe the best place to watch was the boardwalk on the East side of the river (those familiar with St. Paul = down by Shepherd's Road near the Caribou). We parked in the historic district across the street from the Ramsey House and walked the few blocks to the river. Mason and I had never really explored that area, and we were impressed as hell with the houses. I got a photo of him near this European style fountain, but I haven't taken it off my camera yet. Anyway, he and I vowed to explore the neighborhood at a later date.

We sat just off the boardwalk on the grass near the river. I started to get cranky when the crowd started trickling in around us, because I was SURE they were going to block our view of what was happening across the river. Mason kept asking, "Are you sure you know where these are going to be fired from?" Of course, I didn't, but I assured him that we'd have a view of SOMETHING. We could see the fireworks of other cities over the tree line, which didn't help Mason's worries at all, "Ima, what if those are all we'll get?"

Ha!

It turned out that we were SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THE STAGING AREA. In fact, when the first one went off, everyone had to shift to face the boardwalk. So all those people who pushed past us to sit closer to the river, actually had a MUCH CRAPPIER VIEW. We were almost directly under the fireworks. In fact, Mason had to plug his ears, and it was easier for us to watch, while lying flat on our backs.

It was spectacular.

I'm not sure I've had a better time. Sometimes, in fact, they were so close and surprising, I actually squealed (and I am decidedly NOT a squealer, usually.)

I'd been irritated by the crowd and a little sad to be missing out on the first night of CONvergence parties, but I have to say, after that show, I have _no_ regrets. It was worth all the hassle (and the slow escape from downtown, too!)

CONvergence - Day One

Wow, that registration line, huh?

Holy cow!

I was one of the lucky ones, as a panel participant and a former GoH, I got to stand in the "expedited" line. This meant I only waited a half hour to get badged. I last heard that the going rate for regular con attendees (of which, btw, this year hit 7,000) was FOUR HOURS. I saw volunteers running up and down along the lines making sure people had cool water and snacks if they needed one, because while I was waiting someone fainted... at least I presume so from the term "medical emergency."

I'm not sure why the wait was so long. The badges weren't pre-printed which may have been part of it. I think, perhaps, too, that the number of people who turned up on the 4th of July was unexpected. It's possible that the concom didn't quite anticipate the logistics of lots and lots of people with the day off work (and likely to want to register today rather than tomorrow, when they very likely have to go back to work...) I'm not sure CONvergence has actually ever started on the 4th before.

I should say that I think the volunteers and staff were working overtime to make things right. It's just that everyone showed up kind of at once, which is unusual. Mostly people trickle in over the day. But, I came right about when the con started and there were already lines.

But, the nice thing about standing in line for a while is that you see a lot of people passing by. I got a chance to hang out with jiawen and catch up a little with her. I chatted with Aaron Vander Giessen I also got to see Sigid Ellis for a few moments. Had enough time to start a feud with Birdchick Sharon Stiteler, and get to my first panel... which I had honestly not been looking forward to. I'd been making faces in the hallway about the dumbness of the title: "Books I Hate That Everyone Else Loves." I was expecting my contribution to go like this: "Lord of the Rings. Never finished it. Thought it was dull, dull, dull" cue: angry fan mob, the end.

But I'd forgotten how wonderful my fellow panelists were. Will Alexander is always a treat as is David Schwartz. So, we managed to make the panel fun (and I hope) interesting. Probably the best moment was when one of the panelists (whom I shall not name to protect his or her livelihood) mentioned that he or she disliked AMERICAN GODS. After I high-fived them, I noticed a DEADLY silence in the audience. You dare! The sacred Neil Gaiman may not be dissed! (Never mind that earlier someone in the audience admitted to hating on LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula LeGuin.) I really actually thought that the audience might turn on us at that point. We had to quick make a joke and get back to books by other people that had failed us.

We never managed to actually discuss, more than in passing, what makes a book get on this list. I think Will Alexander brought up the idea that often books that are "hated" were once loved, but they turned some unforgivable corner. The author made us feel manipulated (as in ENDER'S GAME) or otherwise betrayed the contract with the reader (Sheri S. Tepper's FAMILY TREE). We also talked a lot about books we loved when we were twelve that horrified us when we returned to them as experienced, better informed readers (Anne McCaffery's DRAGONRIDER OF PERN) or books that turned us off with repulsive, unredeemed characters (Stephen R. Donaldson's LORD FOUL'S BANE.) I also confessed to bouncing off the first Harry Potter book because it had read too much like wish fulfillment to me. That lead to books that everyone loved (ie were bestsellers) that we found sort of mundanely or even poorly written, (cue the usual suspects, ala Stephen King).

I'm not sure the discussion was deep, but it was interesting. People bounce off books for lots of reasons. We even briefly discussed the fact that some books don't work for us the first time, but we find we can read when we're in the "right mood" for them.

Also... in breaking news, a surprising amount of classics don't work for SF/F people. (I actually long knew this. I got an English major, after all, and we read no SF/F, despite the fact we could have read Frankenstein or anything by HG Wells.)

I then followed Dave and Will to the programming participant's gathering in the bar, but I had to bail early tonight because last year we missed fireworks because I was a GoH and didn't quite get the message from my family that THIS WAS IMPORTANT, and thus, partied, while my son sobbed, which made me a VERY BAD PARENT. Thus, this year, I promised a dozen times that I would NOT miss this. In fact, we're going to head out super-early to get a good seat. So I'll be leaving in about a half hour.

Anyway, I'm hopeful that the con will be a good one this year. It's shaping up well so far.

Happy 4th of July

Happy American Independence Day to my friends celebrating it! Today always makes me think of my favorite story from our trip abroad. My folks took Shawn and I to London in the 1990s, and I arranged for us to get ticket to the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. (It was so long ago, I actually had to write a letter.) At any rate, while we were standing in line to get in, an English couple heard our accents and exclaimed, "Why are you here? This isn't _your_ history!" My dear papa, without missing a beat, said, "Yes it is. We just rebelled."

I swear an Irish family behind us nodded quietly. :-)

Perhaps today, I can get Mason to watch School House Rock with me again, and we can all sing along to the Preamble and "Lovely Lady Liberty, with her book of recipes, and the finest one of all... the great American Melting Pot!"

But, okay, enough of such red, white and blue talk. This weekend is also the beginning of CONvergence, whose theme this year is, perhaps ironically, "The British Invasion." Last night, I went to the pre-party that's open to guests of honor and former guests of honor, like myself. I brought along Eleanor Arnason, partly because I had a feeling that if I didn't offer to give her a ride, she wouldn't go, but also because I knew she wouldn't want to stay terribly long (being somewhat crowd shy) and, if left to my own devices, I might stay out all night.

Anyway, it was a nice gathering. I was happy to be able to introduce Eleanor to Christopher Jones (my Marvel/DC comic book artist friend) and one of the Guests of Honor, Charlie Jane Anders (of io9, whom I know from early WisCON days.) Eleanor couldn't take the crowded room, so she headed off to the hotel bar. I hung around a little and chatted with some other friends like Anton Petersen and Dave Hoffman-Dachelete (and his all-grown-up daughter Sari!) and then found Eleanor talking to Peg Kerr in the bar.

All and all a good start to my con, I think.

My schedule is nothing like last years (wherein I attempted to break the record for most panels at a con):

Thursday, July 4
3:30pm
Books Everyone Else Loves But I Hate
Don't be ashamed to share your true feelings. It's OK to have your own sense of style and which books you prefer. Come vent with us. Panelists: David Schwartz, William Alexander, Jason D. Wittman, Lyda Morehouse, Laura Thurston

Friday, July 5
8:30pm
They Came From Fandom!
Professional writers who started out as fans before becoming pros spill their "secrets". How did fandom influence your writing? What fandoms were/are you a part of? Did your relationship with fandom changed when you got published? How did you do it? Panelists: Catherine Lundoff, Joan Marie Verba, Emma Bull, Lyda Morehouse, Patrick Nielsen Hayden

Sunday, July 7
9:30am
Neil Gaiman's Sandman
For many people, this is when graphic novels started. They were certainly groundbreaking. Let's discuss. Panelists: Jamie Cleven, Lyda Morehouse, Roy Cook, Mark Goldberg

Christopher Jones also invited me to crash his Avengers panel:
Friday, July 5
12:30pm
Marvel Universe Phase 2
We know they're coming. And Joss Whedon is in charge. What can we expect from the next phase of marvel films and what have we seen so far? Panelists: Daniel Wallace, Christopher Jones, Matt Gamble (mod), Michael Lee, Charlie Jane Anders

But, we'll see what the moderator says when I get there. Regardless, I may try to be in the audience for that one.

So, there's not a lot today, but I was thinking that tomorrow will be my big day to spend at the con.

Applied!

Yesterday, Shawn and I went down to the Public Health Department to apply for our marriage license. Unlike the straight couples who were also there, ours won't be issued until the law comes into effect on August 1, 2013. (They can pick theirs up after a five day waiting period.)

Being who Shawn is, we'd checked out the marriage license on-line. It's probably easier than almost any other government form. There are no tricky questions: just your name, address, and the usual things like social security number. There's a space for your name change, if you want one. And a part where you have to swear you haven't committed any recent felonies (note use of the word RECENT.) Shawn let me be applicant #1. (I was thinking we'd have to flip for it.)

For whatever reason, the process was slow. We were number 61, and when we came in they were on 55. It took so long we worried about our parking meter. So, of course, when Mason and I went to go add quarters, they called a bunch of numbers and we almost missed our turn.







The clerk who processed our application took her job VERY seriously. Given that there's really NOTHING to the form she checked it over super-dooper carefully, like, I don't know, we were applying for a bank loan. Then, she seriously held up our drivers' licenses and STUDIED OUR FACES. This baffled me because I couldn't quite understand what difference it would make if I was faking out a marriage. I suppose if we were changing our names in some way, we could be spies assuming a new identity, but it doesn't take effect until after we're married... so, it was weird. Anyway, we also had to swear we weren't related, which, considering we already reproduced, seems like a closing the barn door after the horses are out sort of thing... not to mention the fact that currently there's no way for us to co-mingle our genetic material anyway. Though, afterwards, I considered the fact that there's no genetic consequence to a lesbian marrying her lesbian sister, it is still kind of squicky.

I dunno.

Anyway, that's done! Now we just have to figure out the rest. We're leaning more and more towards a simple, private deal in August so I can get insurance ASAP and then taking our time and doing up a proper wedding once we have time to plan and organize.

As a bonus, we'll have several this summer to experience and decide what among them we liked and didn't like.

I'm considering quite seriously becoming a member of the Czech Slovak association (as I am partly Czech) because they have a really nice, fairly cheap hall for rental. If nothing else their newsletter made them seem extremely charming.

So, yay?

I Guess This Was Pride Weekend, Eh?

On Facebook there are hundreds of pictures of all my friends out at Pride Festival this weekend. I kind of forgot about it, and kind of actively avoided it. Shawn hates crowds. And, while I'm sure Mason and I would have had fun wandering around, it's kind of sad to be a Pride without your partner. Plus, I've talked about this before, but I have a weird sort of nostalgia for the smaller Pride--the one without Target sponsorship and all the corporations and all the...well, mainstreaming. It doesn't feel quite as NECESSARY that I show up and be counted, like it did in the days when we operated more in the shadows.

I don't want those days back, but it was a different feeling knowing that going to Pride meant choosing to be seen, because there were very, very few allies that showed up. If you went, you were Queer (with a captial Q), and suddenly everybody knew it.

Shawn didn't used to go back then either, but that was because she was closeted and, in those days, you had to respect that choice because people lost jobs and friends and family when they came out.

Instead, we stayed close to the homefront and were proud of Shawn's ethinic heritage: Germans from Russia. We made two batches (about 100) fleischkuekle.









As you can see, we decided to do the deep fat frying outside, which was an EXCELLENT choice. Having stood to roll out dough for two hours, it was nice to be hanging out in backyard with the picture perfect weather we had last night. Our neighbor across the alley, Tom, was practicing his guitar with his church band and so we were also serenaded. They mostly played alt rock, so it was a lot of stuff I knew and liked. And, honestly, they were pretty good. Tom is a good guy. He helped me move the brush pile that sat in the back of our shade garden for three years awaiting a "truck." He offered his. So, that gives him several free passes to sing whatever he likes at high volume, IMHO. (And, like I said, it wasn't half-bad, anyway.)

In other news, by chance (and a trip to Midway Books) I happen to be able to offer another complete set of my AngeLINK books in support of the fundraising efforts of Dybukk Press. They're trying to recoop production costs for their latest anthology KING DAVID & THE SPIDERS OF MARS in which my short story "God Box" is scheduled to appear. If you have interest, feel free to contribute: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/king-david-the-spiders-from-mars-tales-of-biblical-terror-bible-fiction. Last time my donation went within an hour, but for whatever reason this time no one has snatched it up. So, this may be your big chance! A lot of these books are rare and hard to find in print!

Finally, today is the day that Shawn and I are going to fill out our application for a marriage license. Mason is off school, so I'm going to get my haircut in about a half hour, pick up Shawn, and then we're going to go down to the license bureau and fill out the forms! One step closer to being legal!

And since I'm sure some people are wondering, we're seriously leaning towards an elopement, with a big wedding to follow later when we've had a decent amount of time to plan.

My Little Math-a-magician

Mason's homeroom class at Crossroads had, as part of Grandparents and Special Friends' Day, a talent show. There was a lot of singing, some dancing, a comedy act, a magic show, and an origami demonstration. Mason decided to be a "math-a-magician" and tell a few brain teasers, trick questions, and end with an honest-to-goodness math trick.

He's wearing my tuxedo tails and a top hat we made:


He had index cards to prompt him, but they only had one word on them. He memorized all the stories and the math magic. I have to say, even if he weren't my boy, I'd have been darned impressed.

Afterwards, Shawn and I talked about how grateful we are that Crossroads is the kind of place where Mason is considered "cool" for wanting to put on a show of brain teasers. In my day (back in the Late Jurassic), I would have gotten the wedgy treatment for being as "adorkable" as Mason is. I'm just so happy that Mason (so far!) hasn't faced much of that, in fact, like I said his class seems really proud to count him in their numbers.

This Has to Stop

http://www.jimchines.com/2013/06/how-to-report-sexual-harassment-by-elise-matthesen/

Jim Hines has posted a blog by Elise Matthesen in which she reports on an incident of sexual harrassment that happened to her while in attendance at WisCON. Elise isn't exactly a friend of mine, but I know her. She's been a part of Minneapolis/St. Paul fandom/prodom forever. The editor who harrassed her is Jim Frenkel, my former agent, a man who I must be eternally grateful to for selling my books to Roc, but of whom I'm ashamed to say I'm not at all surprised to hear this about.

I have nothing but respect for Elise for her bravery in coming forward about this, because, despite the fact that she's the first woman who has chosen to make an official NAMED report, everyone in the community knew about this guy.

Of course, I didn't when I signed on with him, and, tbh, he never harassed me, but we also parted ways over dubious practices on his part. Thing is, like a lot of women who probably were willing to report but wanted to do so confidentially, when I was offered a chance to be agented by Frenkel, I was young and desperate to break in to publishing. I probably would have literally signed with the devil.

And that's exactly how this stuff happens, folks.

CONvergence Schedule

I'll be in attendence at "con," this year. CONvergence is July 4 - 7 this year at the Radish Tree (as people call the hotel that was once the Radison, became the Sheridan and is now a Doubletree) in Bloomington, MN.

My panels are:

Thursday, July 4 at 3:30 pm
Books Everyone Else Loves, But I Hate

Friday, July 5 at 8:30 pm
They Came From Fandom

Sunday, July 7 at 9:30 am
Neil Gaiman's Sandman

There's no way I'm going to be happy with this year's CONvergence since last year I got to be one of the stars of the show. I will probably be seen wandering the halls muttering "I have no minions... none" dejectedly to myself, because OMG THE POWER of having Anton at my service last year was a heady rush indeed.

The good news is that with such a tiny schedule, I will have lots of time to attend other panels and harrass
, er, I mean, support my friends.