David Gullen's Blog, page 19

Science Fiction, WorldCon, and Finland

Last week I can back from Archipelacon, the Nordic SF&F convention at Mariehamn, in the Åland Islands of Finland. I had a great time, the convention itself was quite special, and here’s why:

It was brilliantly well-organised.
It had a great vibe.
Everyone was welcome.

There’s more I could say about the venue, the pool bar, the top-quality panels and panelists, the workshops, the fact there was an academic stream (I said everyone was welcome), that GRR Martin was one of the Guests of Honour* and there was a Game of Thrones burlesque show.** In brief, I came expecting good, and it was better.

I could say a lot more, but I want to talk about something else. So if you do want more thoughts on Archipelacon there are links to blogs on the convention’s web site, and others, such as the report from Ian Sales. The thing is, I want to write about WorldCon, the World Science Fiction Convention (no, not the Hugos, that has all been said). Voting to select the site for the 2017 WorldCon is now taking place, and one of the bids is for Helsinki, Finland.

I’m supporting the Helsinki bid. I’ve put my money behind it as a bid supporter because I not only hope it wins, I think it deserves to win.

That said, perhaps there are some reasons why Helsinki is not the best choice.

“It’s too far away.”

Too far away from where? WorldCon hasn’t spent much time outside of North America (I’ll come back to that), but it has been held in Australia and Japan. They weren’t ‘too far away’. Helsinki has excellent global transport links.

And hang on. Too far away? Really? I thought we were SF & fantasy fans. The whole point of these genres is that they take you far away. Here’s a chance to visit somewhere a little different, and quite special, with no spaceship or portal required. I promise you, once you come to Finland you’ll fall in love with the place.

“Finland is too small for a big convention.”

This one is easy because Finland has been hosting FinnCon for nearly 30 years. If you haven’t heard of it, this is one of the biggest European SF&F conventions, and is about the same size as a WorldCon. These guys have done this before. A lot.

There’s a second part to this, and it’s Archipelacon. Archipelacon was about as close to a pop-up convention as you can get. There’s never been one before, there may well never be another one again (though I hope there is). In my opinion this was the best organised convention I have ever been to. From the ferry tickets, to having everything ready for my panel, to letting me add some of my books to the trade stall because I’d forgotten to ask in advance, everything worked, and it worked well. Finns not only know how to run a convention, they’re proud of the fact.

There is another very good reason why WorldCon should leave North America again. From 2000 WorldCon has been held in the USA 11 times, Canada twice. Including next year’s event in Kansas, that’s 13 out of 17 years. And how many times has it been held outside of the English-speaking world? Just once, in Japan. To my mind this is reason enough to have the WorldCon in Finland.

While we’re on the subject of language, Finland is essentially a tri-lingual country. Finnish and Swedish are the official language but most people are fluent in English too. For us monoglots only able to speak English, language is not a problem.

In brief, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for WorldCon NOT to be in Helsinki on 2017. More to the point, there are plenty of strong, positive reasons why it should. WorldCon is supposed to be a global convention. Let’s help make it so.

If you are going to this year’s WorldCon in Spokane, or you are a supporting member, I urge you to vote for Helsinki as the location for the 2017 convention. Please.

If you want to know more I suggest you get in touch with the bid team.

I hope to see you there!

~

* Along with Johanna Sinisalo, Karin Tidbeck, Gary K. Wolfe and Parris Mcbride.

** Trust me, you had to have been there, I cannot adequately describe this show. I’m probably not even ALLOWED to describe some of it. It was – ahem – for grown-ups. Ask George, he was there. In fact he was there twice.

Chinese SF & Fandom

So here I am back from the excellent Archipelacon where Regina Kanyu Wang gave a video-report on Chinese fandom to a packed room, followed by a Skype chat between us in Finland, and her in Shanghai. Which is kind of awesome.

I’ll blog more about Archipelacon soon. There was so much interest in what Regina had to say I thought I’d re-post my interview with her for Vector, the critical journal of the BSFA, from late last year.

Chinese SF and fandom is having a renaissance – growing steadily from a small start. A few things have happened since my interview. Significantly, Applecore, than fan group Regina is part of, now has that English-language side to its website she mentions below. I’m sure interesting things are coming, so watch that space!

Meanwhile – here’s our interview:

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I met Regina at EuroCon in Dublin. She was also at LonCon3 as part of the Beijing WorldCon bid team. Regina was on a couple of panels at EuroCon, and later on we were part of a group that collected at the bar and chatted into the evening. I asked Regina which mythic heroes existed in Chinese culture, equivalent to, say, King Arthur or Robin Hood. She reminded us of what we already knew – the Monkey King (Sun Wukong) – and also told us a story of a white serpent that fell in love and wished to be human. The differences and similarities to our own stories were fascinating and left me wanting to know more. I also asked Regina if she’d be willing to do this interview, and I’m happy to say she agreed immediately.

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Thank you again for agreeing to answer a few questions about Chinese SF and fandom. First, please tell us a little about yourself, and how you became involved with clubs and conventions.

Well, my name is Wang Kanyu in Chinese and to make it easier for my foreign friends, I chose the western name Regina for myself. I live in Shanghai.

I have been reading science fiction and then later on, fantasy, since primary school. But I couldn’t find many friends who share the same interest with me before I entered university. I joined the university science fiction club as soon as I found it. At that time, our club was small and we usually went to neighbouring university to attend their events. Then we got the idea of founding an association of university sf clubs and holding Shanghai Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival annually.

Later on, I met Finnish sf fans as well as scholars in my university and started to have the contact with the Finnish fandom. That’s how I managed to attend Finncon 2013 and visit the Nordic and Baltic fandoms last year. And this year, to meet more friends, I attended Loncon3 and Shamrokon.

I understand there was an earlier SF movement towards the end of the Qing dynasty (Late 19th & early 20th century). Can you explain a little about the history of SF in China?

You are very knowledgeable! Yes, in the Late Qing dynasty, science fiction was introduced into China as a way to prosper the country. Literature has been regarded as something to carry social responsibilities in China for a long time. Learning advanced science as well as democracy from the west was the basic role that science fiction was supposed to play at that time. Most of the western sf translated into Chinese was kind of rewriting.

After PRC (People’s Republic of China) was established, the first wave of modern Chinese sf came in Late 1950s. During that period, the stories were mostly optimistic and limited.

Then came the Cultural Revolution, leaving little space for science fiction. After late 1970s was the second wave. Not only large amounts of works emerged, but also four magazines and one newspaper specialized in sf appeared, as well as fandoms started to grow.

In 1983, the anti-spiritual pollution movement wiped sf from the map. Not until late 1980s and early 1990s did sf recover from the attack.

After 1991, when Science Fiction World held the annual conference of World SF, was the third wave, contemporary Chinese sf writers who are still active today started to emerge.

When and where did the current Chinese SF fandom begin, and how big is it now?

The first Chinese SF fandom appeared in Shanghai in 1980 and immediately in other cities as well. But shortly after came the anti-spiritual pollution movement and all the fandoms were silent during these years.

The first fanzine in China was Nebular (Xingyun), edited by Yao Haijun, who is now editor-in-chief of Science Fiction World magazine. It was published from 1989-2007, 40 issues in all. It helped the forming of Chinese SF fandom.

Regional sf clubs and university sf clubs started to grow after 1990. Then a lot of online community emerged.

It is hard to tell how big the current Chinese SF fandom is now, because it is widely dispersed and diverse. The largest national (or global!) fandom, World Chinese Science Fiction Association has around 180 members and most of them are “professionals” like writers, translators, editors, researchers, etc. There are regular sf events in Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu, organized by different organizations and without registration system sometimes. The fandoms in different cities do have contacts, but mostly online.

Please tell us more about AppleCore.

In 2009, SF Clubs in four universities in Shanghai decided to organize a big event together. During the preparation of Shanghai Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival (SSFFF), we founded SF AppleCore as an association of university sf clubs in Shanghai.

SSFFF was held in 2009 and annually from 2011 till now. It is more based in universities. Most of the organizers and attendants are university students. During the weekends in a certain month, different events are held in member universities, organized by university sf clubs. A single event can attract 30-200 attendants, depending on the guests.

Since October 2013, AppleCore started the monthly gathering AppleParty, targeting at graduated fans. Usually we have movie screening, topic lecture, panel or short talks in the afternoon and have dinner together in the evening. 30-60 audience show up in the afternoon and 5-20 stayed for the dinner usually.

I thought a WorldCon 2016 in Beijing was a wonderful idea, a great way for fans to reach out and discover, in both directions. How was the whole experience for the bid team? Are there any plans for future bids?

Thanks! To be honest, I am more playing a supporting role in the bid team since I live in Shanghai and the core bid team is in Beijing. We lacked experience for the first time and were not very prepared, but we wish to learn! And I was amazed by the help and will to help offered by foreign fans as well as their interest in Chinese SF. It’s so warm and inspiring!

I cannot speak for the Beijing team, but Shanghai might plan a bid after 2020. I also know an American fan who has been living in Haikou for years want to start a bid in Haikou.

Is there a regional SF convention in your part of the world, similar to EuroCon for Europe? Do you have much contact with SF fandom outside of China?

Unfortunately, we do not have regional SF convention yet. But I hear the voice of starting one. It is kind of hard because China itself is so large as you see.

Fandom in mainland China has much contact with Hong Kong and Taiwan fandoms.

We also have much contact with the Japanese fandom and we are planning a Sino-Japanese SF research seminar in 2015 or 2016 in Shanghai.

I have got some contacts from south-east Asia at Worldcon.

More work needs to be done!

And what Chinese SF conventions or other events could a foreign visitor attend in the next two or three years?

We don’t really have regular conventions in China. Equivalently, we have events like festivals, awarding ceremonies and carnivals.

The most recent one is the awarding ceremony of Chinese Nebular in Beijing on Nov 1 and 2, 2014. International guests as Ken Liu (the brilliant Hugo and Nebular winner), Pierre Gévart (editor of the French SF magazine, Galaxies), Toya Tachihara (Japanese researcher on Chinese SF) and all the names you can think of in Chinese SF will come. You may find other information here: http://www.guokr.com/xingyun2014/index/ (Well, in Chinese… if someone happen to be interested in coming, feel free to contact me.)

One major problem for Chinese SF events is that they do not settle the exact date until just months before. But you can expect the awarding ceremony for Chinese Nebular and Galaxy every year. Around the two awarding ceremonies, there will be different activities. The former is usually in October or November and the latter in August or September. Sometimes they are bound together. It really depends…

As for Shanghai Science Fiction and Fantasy Festival, it’s usually in May. It is also quite easy to organize a meal for foreign visitors in Shanghai, although we do not have a settled plan for cons yet.

What different, new, or familiar things might we expect to see at Chinese conventions?

Different from the cons I have attended, the Chinese conventions are very “Chinese”…Yes, almost all the events and info are in Chinese since we do not usually have foreign visitors.

Unfortunately, I missed the past three international conventions in China, annual conference of World SF in 1991, 97′ Beijing International Conference on Science Fiction and 2007 International SF & F Convention just before Nippon 2007. They seemed to be very successful. So English service is definitely possible.

During the recent awarding ceremony of Chinese Nebular and Galaxy and their surrounding activities, there are red carpet, late night roadside BBQ and beer instead of masquerades and room parties. You may also expect signing session, seminars and lectures. The awarding ceremony of the Chinese Nebular this year will be a stage play, written by Liu Cixin (author of Three Body). That will be a brand new experience.

Which Chinese SF authors would you like to see in translation for us to read? Apart from cost of translation and rights, are there any other big obstacles to translation?

Jiang Bo and Chen Qian. Jiang Bo works in semiconductor area and writes excellent hard sf. Chen Qian is a librarian and is good at composing stories from a small and special angle, and she is a female writer!

The big obstacle I see is that Chinese SF authors are not so good at promoting themselves in the western world. So it is hard for them to be known by the English readers and editors. But now we have the Chinese SF project* on ClarkesWorld, which will help a lot!

(* The ClarkesWorld Chinese SF Translation Project, now fully-funded on KickStarter.)

Please tell us about some Chinese authors whose work we can already read.

Liu Cixin, Han Song, Chen Qiufan, Xia Jia, Zhao Haihong, Hao Jingfang, Fei Dao, Bao Shu, Tang Fei…

Actually a lot of Chinese authors have already been translated. Most of the translated ones are short stories. Do not miss the first modern Chinese SF novel translated into English, Three Body by Liu Cixin.

The online magazine and small press scene in thriving here. Is the same true in China? I’m also wondering if traditional literary culture feels superior to SF, as it can do in the UK, or if it embraces it?

Online magazine and online publishing is thriving here, too. It gives more writers the opportunity to publish their works. I do not see many small press emerging in China, maybe because of the strict publishing regulations here.

In general, traditional literary culture does feel superior to genre literary culture in China. SF has long been put under the branch of children’s literature in China. But in recent years, I see some trend of embracing SF in traditional literature. SF has been included into traditional literature anthologies and magazines. More researchers choose SF as their academic interest or SF authors and fans start to do SF related research in universities.

There have been various movements or styles in English language SF and Fantasy, such as Cyberpunk, GrimDark, and SteamPunk. What are the current theme or style movements in Chinese SF?

Umm, we had Silkpunk and Carpentrypunk, but they failed to become a trend. Only a few related stories.

What can be regarded as movements are Science Fiction Realism proposed by Chen Qiufan in 2012 and Science Fiction Futurism proposed by Wu Yan in 2014. Science Fiction Futurism advocates that SF reflects reality in a way that realism fiction cannot do. Science Fiction Futurism advocates that SF should construct the future.

SF can be used to examine the world as it is today, and can be optimistic or pessimistic about the future. Do you see similar things in Chinese science fiction?

That’s exactly what the two current movements in Chinese SF are about!

Sometimes today and future are combined. Most of Chen Qiufan’s works, setting in the near future, discusses the problems we can see or foresee today.

And of course you can see a lot of Chinese SF writing optimistically or pessimistically about the future. Numerous examples!

The Future! It feels the story of SF fandom in China is just beginning. What’s coming next?

We are trying to show more presence on the international stage!

I have already persuaded my friend to volunteer at the coming Windycon in November in Chicago.

AppleCore is building a bilingual website.

Official website of World Chinese Science Fiction Association (www.wcsfa.com) also has the plan of adding English contents.

I am going to keep a blog about Chinese fandom on Amazing Stories.

We have a lot to learn from the international fandom and we want to be part of it!

I have a dozen more questions, but also think I have taken up enough of your time. Thank you!

Thank you for asking all these insightful questions and give me the chance to tell about Chinese SF!

~

LARP and creativity

I’ve been dipping a toe back into LARP this year, not playing, just helping out in the monster crew for some games. It’s been really nice to get back into it, I’ve missed the escapism and the sheer good fun of it all.

It’s also been great for creativity, bringing lots of inspiration through conversation and plenty of time for your mind to wander. This is why I’ve written three short stories in the last two months, with another half-done, ideas for more, and dammit, yes, another really good novel idea.

There’s something about getting away from yourself, your own day-to-day life, that opens up your mind. Also, LARP is great fun and full of lovely people.

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Charity, micro-Finance, lending not giving.

I don’t often talk about what I do for charity because I believe giving and helping isn’t about you, it’s about them. This time I’m going to because I’m pleased with what I’ve achieved and I feel like I’ve done something useful and you never know, some of you might like to join in.*

Since early 2012 I’ve been lending money through Kiva, the micro-finance charity. Every payday I go to the web site, pick one or two or three people from around the world who need to borrow money to improve their lives, and lend them $25 USD towards it.

This is lending money, not giving. Over time the loans come back. If you want, you can re-lend the money and that is what I’ve been doing. Each month I’ve put a bit more in, and each month a bit of what I’ve already lent comes back. It all adds up, I now have a fund totally just over $3,000, and that is very nice.

What I like about this is that the money keeps working – and working. That $3,000 has now supported $10,000 worth of loans – all to individuals and collectives around the world who just need a bit of help so they can have a bigger harvest, a better education, more stock for their shop, or even just a toilet in their home. That number felt like a number worth celebrating.

Because the money returns, over time I can help more and more people each month. What started as one or two is now ten or twelve. Next month I should pass another target – my 400th loan.

Kiva’s not perfect but I’m happy with it. There are some risks. because a few loans don’t get repaid, or only partly repaid. This is tiny – less than half of 1% for me. To my mind that tells you something good about what people all over the world are really like.

I hope I’ll be able to continue to grow that fund for many years and help more and more people. That’s the plan. It feels like a good one.

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* If you are interested, take a look here.

There can be Only One

Of all your companions only you survived the ordeal.

And now…

You Have Been Chosen.

~

Just Been Rejected Blues, #2

Inspired Anne-Marie Czajkowski’s brilliant version I thought I’d do my own take of the Rejected Blues…

Oh dear.

Oh my.

You have been warned.

How Writers Cope with REJECTION

Frankly, I’ve had mixed results. Most of the time it’s simply ‘Meh’ and resubmit. These days when I submit a short story I’ll have the next market already researched and on the list.

Sometimes I’ve taken it badly, usually because my hopes were unrealistically high, i.e. based on no evidence whatsoever. And once I actually sat down and cried*. My rejection skin, like that of a rhinoceros, is thick but has weak spots.

Enough of that! Writers – here’s a glorious new thing that fell into my lap courtesy of good friends and serendip.

Friday night I was chatting in the kitchen with the lovely Gaie, listening to the blues on the radio, talking about words and writing as we ever do. For reasons now lost in the mists of time (and down the bottom of a bottle of Spitfire) we started on about Rejection. I made up a couple of verses of a blues lament and tweeted them

I woke up this morning,
Saw a letter on the floor.
It came from a publisher
Who didn’t want my words no more.

They said my characters were dull
My plots were old news
Yeah, I got them, I got to tell ya,
I got those just Rejected Blues.

By 10am Saturday my old friend Jim King had written the rest of the song, and by the afternoon the stunningly talented Anne-Marie Czajkowski had recorded this:

Lovely, crazy, talented friends – now THAT’s how to cope with rejection! Thank you!

~

*Note to editors from top markets: Starting a rejection with ‘This is one of the best stories I’ve ever read’ is not helpful.

Jerningham 2 (that is to say, Part 1)

Last week I took part in the Jerningham on Jerningham event – the life and poetry of the c18 poet Edward Jerningham in Jerningham Road, New Cross Gate . One of my readings was from his epic saga, The Rise & Fall of Northern Poetry. Frankly, it’s not that bad, and compared to the rest of Jerningham’s poetry it’s blood brilliant. (In fact it was about the only work of his to garner any contemporary praise.)

I enjoyed the reading so much I decided to record* a reading of the the entire section. Bear in mind I’m not a professional audio narrator, but like Edward Jerninghm, I did my best and I meant well.

So, here it is as an MP3 – The Rise and Fall of Northern Poetry, by Edward Jerningham (1727-1812).

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* Recorded using a Blue Yeti USB mike, and Audacity software. Both are brilliant, Audacity is free. Sound effects are mainly vox humana with some effects.

Live Performance! Jerningham, Bard of New Cross Gate!

Who really was the Edward Jerningham (1727-1812), described by Fanny Burney as that ‘mighty delicate gentleman’ and by William Gifford as ‘weeping at the age of fifty ‘o’er love-lorn oxen and deserted sheep‘?

You can find out a little about him here, or read about his membership of the deadly top-secret Della Cruscans romantic poetry society!

But – and this is the important thing –  was his poetry any good?

Well…

You could always read some. But poetry is meant to be read, to be performed.

So, why not come to Jerningham Road, New Cross Gate this Sunday, 29 March, at Midday, and listen the readings and performances of his poetry and plays taking place all along his eponymous road!

Performances including, I blush to mention, my own. Yes, gentle reader, my own vocal chords are being put to service in honour of this little-known student of poesy!

You can rest assured that the enthusiasm and sincerity of each and every one of these readings will be at a fitting level to make a worthy tribute to the quality of Jerningham’s work.

Honest.

Real Treasure in the Garden

The weather this weekend was fantastic – more like June than March – so we were outside and working hard. Achievements included planting potatoes, potting on various plants, tidying up the fruit canes. I also did half of my least favorite job in the garden and trimmed one of the two 70′ leylandii hedges bordering the garden.

The hedges were planted by the previous owners. Much as I dislike the job, they are nicer than fences, and the birds and bees use them for nests.

One of the last jobs was planting some asparagus. What little we’ve got isn’t doing much so we thought we’d try some more in a different location. While the other half was digging the trench she found this:

It was filled with clay so must have been there for years. A session with the hose and another with a nail brush cleaned it up.

 

As with a lot of neglected older vehicles the floor pan is shot, but as you can see the wheel arches are in surprisingly good condition.

I’ve no idea what the model is – any suggestions?

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