Bordertown, Neverwhere & Bookgasms
Sometimes I need to go somewhere to recharge, to open myself to new ideas, fresh creativity and inspiration. I'd gone to an art museum, visited friends and family, heard a concert of classic and modern opera, and now I was off to SFF bibliophile heaven: ReaderCon.
Ironically, this is the exact shape of many of us who were sitting around for days discussing books.
The truth was, I'd never been to ReaderCon and really had no idea what to expect beyond their impressive syllabus of topics, most of which went straight over my head. (Of course I'd never been to GenCon in all the years I lived in Chicagoland, either, but that was mostly because it scared the begeezus out of me...should there have been any begeezus left in me after meeting my high school crew.) That said, I was unprepared for the reality and basically sat back to watch and learn.
I love genre reading. My introduction (aside from fairy tales) was science fiction handed to me by my father during our epic family trip to Washington D.C. because, essentially, he wanted to shut me up. It worked. I read the 1066 page tome of BATTLEFIELD EARTH all the way down. (This was evidently before I developed carsickness while reading and perhaps not the wisest choice to give a ten year old girl.) However, I was hooked. I inhaled Asimov and Aspirin, Bradbury and Norton, Robinson and Zelazny, all the way to Gibson, Anderson, and Stephenson. And while I enjoy science fiction still to this day, I don't *love* it the way these people do.
I decided early on to simply listen for the nuggets of gold and wait for the 'ping'. My notebook pages filled with bits of wisdom like "Try for 5" by Isaak, (meaning when you write for assignment or to qualify for an anthology, you should write down your first idea, then your second, then your third until you get to the fifth; the one which is most likely yours and less influenced by the obvious influences we all share...which is how one zombie anthology ended up with several stories mentioning zombie penises. New truism: "When writers reach, they reach for zombie penises." - Edelman.) Some other moments of brilliance:
"The words on the paper are just a reminder of the story you are trying to say." - Kowal
"Try to find out what is working and why." - Ryman, regarding critique
"Romance is a hopeful genre." - Kelner
"The danger of using paranormal creatures as Other with People of Color is that these Others are dangerous in ways that real people are not." - Klages
"All beginning fiction is 'fanfiction' or adaptive to learn the narrative constraints." - Langan
"When you think about power, you think of power like supernatural power but there are others, like social power." - Johnson, regarding social and racial class in genre fic
"'Grown Up' is really in the late 20's and 30's - these are the key decisions that happen much, much later; after they get married and leave the house. It is in the urban, nuclear family phenomenon that YA lit exists." - Menon, regarding YA literature
"Kids don't want responsibility, but they do want power, but the Coming of Age novel is discovering that power requires responsibility." - Klages
"Every person thinks they're the only one who didn't get the manual." - Klages
"Tell your real truth." - Kushner
You'd think that'd be inspiring enough, but I had the fortune of being introduced to Ellen Kushner (that's *THE* Ellen Kushner) and managed not to keel over as I shook her hand and complemented her gorgeous outfit and thanked her very sincerely for Bordertown. As the Tribe would say, "Dayenu!" and that would have been enough. However, the next day I heard her speak on Gender and Sexual Identities in Speculative Fiction and I was completely blown away by her poise and insight and the gold sparked in my mind like fireworks. (Dayenu!) But I couldn't help it. I went up afterwards and said that she was glorious (which she is) and we ended up meeting to chat on the lawn with a bunch of other insightful people and was introduced to the lovely Delia Sherman (at last!) and basically got to bask in the intellect and humor of incredible writers I'd known growing up. It was...basically indescribable.
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. Dayenu! Dayenu! Dayenu!
The days continued and I kept scribbling and talking to people and sharing bookmarks. Some things kept coming up like a zeitgeist of current ideas: Tolkien's LoTR, WAS by Geoff Ryman, the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, the movie, The Incredibles, and THE CITY IN THE CITY by China Miéville. This fed a lot of great conversations (most notably with my friend, Heather Albano, and some of the talented folks from Clarion, Class of 2009!) I was enjoying such a conversation, admitting that a lot of China's larger work hurt my brain and I wasn't as interested in "weirdness for weirdness' sake" ala Clive Barker as I was more interested in things like Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE, (my absolutely favorite book of all time), where I could believe that each strange creature or character was supported by an entire culture and that this was one person representing many, many more. It was that sort of believability that made his stories "solid" for me. We were talking about the Sandman pantheon being completely unique and not derivative of Greco-Roman or Egyptian pantheons and that spoke of a brilliant mind when we sat down to our next lecture, I looked up and saw this:
My brain spasmed.
"That's Neil Gaiman," I said.
The person next to me looked up. "Are you sure?"
Hands shaking, I stumbled for my camera and said, "I am very, very sure." I snapped the picture.
"You should go speak to him."
What a ridiculous notion! He was one of my foremost literary heroes. The person I wanted most in the world to know that his book influenced me as a writer, a student, an anthropologist, a hermeneuticist, a lover of fantasy and culture and folklore and humor. I felt myself getting up and tucking my camera into my pocket. I stopped Neil Gaiman (whose name tag cleverly read "Mr. Amanda F. Palmer") and shook his hand saying that NEVERWHERE was my favorite book and influenced me greatly and that I now had a book coming out and I just wanted to say "Thank You" and some other babble, which I am sure he must be used to. He smiled sincerely and shook my hand and said "Thank You" and wished me "Good Luck" on my book and then leaned in and said, "What's your name?" I laughed and told him. Then he was whisked away with his two new Shirley Jackson awards and it only occurred to me later that I hadn't asked anyone to snap a picture. But that's okay. That moment was mine to keep and treasure.
And if *THAT'S* not inspiration, I don't know what is!
Ironically, this is the exact shape of many of us who were sitting around for days discussing books.
The truth was, I'd never been to ReaderCon and really had no idea what to expect beyond their impressive syllabus of topics, most of which went straight over my head. (Of course I'd never been to GenCon in all the years I lived in Chicagoland, either, but that was mostly because it scared the begeezus out of me...should there have been any begeezus left in me after meeting my high school crew.) That said, I was unprepared for the reality and basically sat back to watch and learn.
I love genre reading. My introduction (aside from fairy tales) was science fiction handed to me by my father during our epic family trip to Washington D.C. because, essentially, he wanted to shut me up. It worked. I read the 1066 page tome of BATTLEFIELD EARTH all the way down. (This was evidently before I developed carsickness while reading and perhaps not the wisest choice to give a ten year old girl.) However, I was hooked. I inhaled Asimov and Aspirin, Bradbury and Norton, Robinson and Zelazny, all the way to Gibson, Anderson, and Stephenson. And while I enjoy science fiction still to this day, I don't *love* it the way these people do.
I decided early on to simply listen for the nuggets of gold and wait for the 'ping'. My notebook pages filled with bits of wisdom like "Try for 5" by Isaak, (meaning when you write for assignment or to qualify for an anthology, you should write down your first idea, then your second, then your third until you get to the fifth; the one which is most likely yours and less influenced by the obvious influences we all share...which is how one zombie anthology ended up with several stories mentioning zombie penises. New truism: "When writers reach, they reach for zombie penises." - Edelman.) Some other moments of brilliance:
"The words on the paper are just a reminder of the story you are trying to say." - Kowal
"Try to find out what is working and why." - Ryman, regarding critique
"Romance is a hopeful genre." - Kelner
"The danger of using paranormal creatures as Other with People of Color is that these Others are dangerous in ways that real people are not." - Klages
"All beginning fiction is 'fanfiction' or adaptive to learn the narrative constraints." - Langan
"When you think about power, you think of power like supernatural power but there are others, like social power." - Johnson, regarding social and racial class in genre fic
"'Grown Up' is really in the late 20's and 30's - these are the key decisions that happen much, much later; after they get married and leave the house. It is in the urban, nuclear family phenomenon that YA lit exists." - Menon, regarding YA literature
"Kids don't want responsibility, but they do want power, but the Coming of Age novel is discovering that power requires responsibility." - Klages
"Every person thinks they're the only one who didn't get the manual." - Klages
"Tell your real truth." - Kushner
You'd think that'd be inspiring enough, but I had the fortune of being introduced to Ellen Kushner (that's *THE* Ellen Kushner) and managed not to keel over as I shook her hand and complemented her gorgeous outfit and thanked her very sincerely for Bordertown. As the Tribe would say, "Dayenu!" and that would have been enough. However, the next day I heard her speak on Gender and Sexual Identities in Speculative Fiction and I was completely blown away by her poise and insight and the gold sparked in my mind like fireworks. (Dayenu!) But I couldn't help it. I went up afterwards and said that she was glorious (which she is) and we ended up meeting to chat on the lawn with a bunch of other insightful people and was introduced to the lovely Delia Sherman (at last!) and basically got to bask in the intellect and humor of incredible writers I'd known growing up. It was...basically indescribable.
Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman. Dayenu! Dayenu! Dayenu!
The days continued and I kept scribbling and talking to people and sharing bookmarks. Some things kept coming up like a zeitgeist of current ideas: Tolkien's LoTR, WAS by Geoff Ryman, the Parasol Protectorate series by Gail Carriger, the movie, The Incredibles, and THE CITY IN THE CITY by China Miéville. This fed a lot of great conversations (most notably with my friend, Heather Albano, and some of the talented folks from Clarion, Class of 2009!) I was enjoying such a conversation, admitting that a lot of China's larger work hurt my brain and I wasn't as interested in "weirdness for weirdness' sake" ala Clive Barker as I was more interested in things like Neil Gaiman's NEVERWHERE, (my absolutely favorite book of all time), where I could believe that each strange creature or character was supported by an entire culture and that this was one person representing many, many more. It was that sort of believability that made his stories "solid" for me. We were talking about the Sandman pantheon being completely unique and not derivative of Greco-Roman or Egyptian pantheons and that spoke of a brilliant mind when we sat down to our next lecture, I looked up and saw this:
My brain spasmed.
"That's Neil Gaiman," I said.
The person next to me looked up. "Are you sure?"
Hands shaking, I stumbled for my camera and said, "I am very, very sure." I snapped the picture.
"You should go speak to him."
What a ridiculous notion! He was one of my foremost literary heroes. The person I wanted most in the world to know that his book influenced me as a writer, a student, an anthropologist, a hermeneuticist, a lover of fantasy and culture and folklore and humor. I felt myself getting up and tucking my camera into my pocket. I stopped Neil Gaiman (whose name tag cleverly read "Mr. Amanda F. Palmer") and shook his hand saying that NEVERWHERE was my favorite book and influenced me greatly and that I now had a book coming out and I just wanted to say "Thank You" and some other babble, which I am sure he must be used to. He smiled sincerely and shook my hand and said "Thank You" and wished me "Good Luck" on my book and then leaned in and said, "What's your name?" I laughed and told him. Then he was whisked away with his two new Shirley Jackson awards and it only occurred to me later that I hadn't asked anyone to snap a picture. But that's okay. That moment was mine to keep and treasure.
And if *THAT'S* not inspiration, I don't know what is!
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