FOG-Con 2014

Ah, one of my infamous travelogues/con reports. It’s been a little while.

FOG-Con 2014

I’m still pretty new at science fiction/fantasy shows (as opposed to comic shows, which were old hat for me in 1990 and 2008 as an exhibitor). Still getting used to things. Still figuring out how to talk to other humans without all these electrons as a mediating force overcoming my own outsider-ness. It’s a work in progress.

FOG stands for Friends of Genre, but the focus was certainly on science fiction and fantasy, with a touch of horror here and there (and YA, which really isn’t a genre in and of itself, but more a target audience.) Of course, playing to that audience expectation becomes kind of a set of genre expectations over time, doesn’t it?

Right, I’ll stop being meta.

FOG-con was held over in Walnut Creek, which I have to say, is just not my kind of town. It’s blank, at least the parts of which I stayed in (and passed through on the hunt for dinner on Friday night). Expensive, crowded, lots of monoculture options for food, at least along the beaten path. I know, that describes just about everywhere, but this was moreso. Ultimately, not a big deal, since I wasn’t spending much time outside the hotel during con hours.

Though I did venture out for a Japanese dinner on Friday, which tasted great until I got back to the room and started having an allergic reaction to something I ate (nothing exotic, seriously, raw fish and tofu yakisoba). Which precipitated me finding the closest drug store and hitting the Benadryl hard, then to stare at UFO documentaries (the modern kind, not the cool 70s kind) and keeping the drool from running down my chin.

But I did fun stuff at the con before that. Was on a panel alongside Griffin Barber, Catherine Hinglersinn, Andrés Santiago Pérez-Bergquist and Shannon Prickett moderating. A quick word about our moderator: he wore a black T-shirt with the words GRUE REPELLENT emblazoned across the chest. I told him I thought that grue repellent would light up and he replies “Oh, it glows in the dark. But I’m surprised that you caught the reference.” It’s because I’m old, Shannon.

The subject of the panel was secrets, entitled “A Secret is Something You Tell One Person at a Time”, to which my natural reply is “A secret is something that two people can keep if one of them are dead.” Robert Anton Wilson taught me that one. I’d say the panel was about half split on tech-focus and the other half on the social/human/power relationship focus of secrecy. The point being, it all comes down to the behavior of various kinds of hairless apes and what they do to get along. The tech is an often-fascinating tool, but the humans pushing the buttons are much more interesting to me. Still, we managed to keep the audience well-entertained and perhaps even informed for more than an hour.

I always feel like the guy who brought a fish to a knife fight given that I’m hardcore liberal arts/social science and only marginally a techie in that I learn just enough to keep my tech more or less functioning (and often not even that.) Hopefully that brings a different perspective that’s valuable in and of itself. Which is sometimes why I have trouble with calling my writing science fiction since I’m not as wrapped up in the world-building itself. Far more interesting are the things that people do with the tech/situation/whatever, which means I pay short shrift to a lo of what people look for in SF. Happens in my fantasy work too. My world building is just enough for things to go on in, not particularly deep.

Sat in on a panel about occult/secret history and conspiracies, which there was no way in hell I was going to miss, right? Was pleased to see a number of familiar notes hit (Aliester Crowley, OTO, Rosicrucians, Jack Parsons et al) and a few unfamiliar ones as well. Always nice to come away from a panel needing to research a few new things. In particular, the SHADOWRUN module that apparently blew the lid off the higher-order Scientology stuff in the early 90s, which I need to track down now. Sure, that’s all old hat now with the internet and thirty seconds, but there was a time that this was genuine suppressed knowledge that was hard to get a hold of. And Tim Powers is always fun to hear from, though it’s weird now to hear him talked of as one of the three fathers of steampunk (KW Jeter and James Blaylock being the others). I mean, I just read his work because it was different. Though I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that Robert Anton Wilson’s ILLUMINATUS trilogy wasn’t discussed at any length, since it’s basically the blueprint for conspiracy fiction (or maybe that’s just me.)

But then I never really was a joiner, and haven’t wanted to do a steampunk anything since mid 1991 when I hammered out an adaptation of AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS script. Sure. That’s as natural as Nutella and graham crackers now, but in 1991? A little less so. Though I still have those notes but I think I’d rather work on something more my own, y’know?

So right, after that, it was get to my assigned room, only to find out that it was 76 degrees inside it, with no opening windows and an air conditioner that only blew hotter air into the room. Luckily I was able to get another room, thanks to the crew behind the desk.

And now we’re up to the allergy fit, which meant I watched TV (that’s how crappy I felt) instead of prowling the hotel bar. Also I knew precisely nobody there, which always makes me feel weird in that kind of situation. Woke up in the middle of the night unable to sleep so I worked on a thing that will probably see the light of day, collaboration with a musician, making up some more backstory for his VHS synth-rock/coldwave/what have you projects. I’m doing this for pure fun since I’m kind of in a rough patch with the day job and could use some pressure relief. Anyways, it’s bonkers, and deliberately so. I hope I get called on its unbelievability, then I’m just going to laugh. I’m not writing believable, I’m writing crazy.

Breakfast the next morning at a local chain diner then off to the convention again. Panels on alternate history and the secrets of the writing world. Oh and late for a networking panel that morning (which is only fitting since I have the networking skills of a beached jellyfish). The Secrets of Writing was certainly the most entertaining of the bunch. And really, for all the secrets revealed (Nobody Cares But You, You Will Not Get Paid Well, Atavan is Your Friend) there were many not touched upon, but you have to leave something for the sequel. Great level of representation in terms of place in career, editor versus writer, publisher versus editor versus writer. I always like my buckets of icewater to come with a laugh and this delivered.

Then on to my reading. You saw that right. I read. In public. The entirety of “Tug on the Ribbon”, from the collection of the same name. Thanks much to Julia Dvorin and Andrea Stewart for moral support and actually talking me out of bailing. Okay, not really, but the thought crossed my mind more than once. Surprised I got through the whole thing. I guess I shut down higher functions long enough to stay out of trouble, though I suspect I didn’t have a lot of stage presence. But I didn’t quit, so I want credit for that.

Ducked out to San Francisco to meet a friend. Which was cool for a variety of reasons. I’d never driven the 24 before, and it’s a fun little freeway that bores right through Diablo Mountain. Before I hit the tunnel, though, I spotted the art deco marquee of the Orinda Theatre off to the left and was determined to go see it on the way back. So yeah, I get distracted pretty easily. Little art deco, little neon and I’m occupied for hours. Good dinner with said friend (Japanese food that didn’t cause a full-blown food allergy, thank you very much) and some photography in SF’s downtown. Afterwards, he handed me a bunch of comics to read. I just don’t know when that’s going to happen…

Back over the white serpentine curve of the new Bay Bridge and over the hill to Orinda. Got lost on very small two-lane roads and finally found the place (meaning I’d overshot it very early). Spent half an hour just staring at it and taking shots. I love real movie theatres. Multiplexes, not so much. But pictures are worth thousands of words, so let’s just do it:

Didn’t sleep a wink. Worked on more crazed SF, tried to sleep, felt the impending dread of losing an hour, finally gave up and woke up at eight. Breakfast at the same diner, since they did well the day before. Returned and caught the From Inspiration to Draft panel. I dig attending process panels, mostly because I’m lazy and if someone has found a way to work better, I sure want to know about it because doing more work than necessary isn’t my thing.

Trouble is that these things often just work for them, and not necessarily for anyone else. Still, I keep trying to find another shortcut.

Chatted with a dude wearing a P-Funk t-shirt in the dealer’s room, and man that doesn’t happen enough. Bought a book of IWW protest songs and the first volume of Moorcock’s BYZANTIUM tetrology (that’s a word, right?). I mean, who expected an anarchist bookstore in the dealer’s room?

Bid FOG-Con farewell and went off to Alameda to visit the town. Alameda really is right out of a Tom Waits song, built on the rubble of the 1906 earthquake (or so I was told) and definitely its own place. Good antique stores (and yes, I left empty-handed, though I could have easily picked up a few more books, always more books) and choice of restaurants. But the real attraction was meeting a friend from Twitter and hanging out at the High Scores Arcade Museum and playing a bunch of cabinet machines. Places like this seem to get fewer and fewer every year. One day I’ll write up the arcade experience in the 80s, but not here.

Suffice it to say, I’ll be heading back to High Scores again. One afternoon certainly wasn’t enough. All the games were kept in great shape (burn-in aside, but that’s a hazard of any CRT of any age) and there was a good selection of titles to play (though I’d liked to have played DRAGON’S LAIR again, but I understand they’re pretty hard to maintain.) Still, it was great to commune with the phosphor-god spirits through their mechanical oracles or avatars or whatever they are. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Then it was time to head east to home. Digest and process. Try and figure out what I learned and if I’m smart enough to really apply it.

Thanks to the organizers and panelists who made it a fun weekend away from real life for just a little while.

Next up is Bay-Con, though I have no idea what I’ll be doing there. But I’m sure I’ll fill folks in.