alias_sqbr (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alias_sqbr) wrote2013-03-31 08:17 pm
alias_sqbr) wrote2013-03-31 08:17 pm
Swancon!
I am too foggy and sore to leave my rom but not actually sleepy, so...a con report! Expect vagueness, sorry.
First, next years con: ISOBELLE CARMODY, ANNE BISHOP AND TAMORA PIERCE OMG!!!
The only one of those authors I actually like is Tamora Pierce, and even then mostly out of nostalgia. But Isobelle Carmody literally got me into science fiction (along with Anne McCaffery, who's dead, and Orson Scott Card, who I would have trouble not shouting at) and I used to be a MASSIVE fan, I ran one of the earliest Isobelle Carmody fansites back in the 90s (people used to actually email me thinking I was her). And then she NEVER FINISHED HER SERIES and I got VERY BITTER. And then there is Anne Bishop, whose books are over the top ridiculous crack (edit: which many will find MASSIVELY TRIGGERING. She likes to throw the kitchen sink at her characters for the sake of angst). All three have Issues and it's very single genre, but I can see them all being interesting and a lot of people are VERY VERY HAPPY and so I am happy for them and also amused imagining how my 14 year old self would feel.
Anyway, onto this years con!
Livecon is so great, amongst other things it makes it much easier to remember what I did!
I started the con feeling a bit blah. Thursday we arrived and I chatted to people before the guest dinner (which I did not go to) before going to bed super early. I'm glad we did this, it made me much more prepared when the con started on Friday morning. I still felt pretty vague on Friday though.
My interactive fiction panel went quite well despite me being very sleepy. Whenever I had a mental blank I asked the audience if they had questions or comments and thankfully they always obliged with something interesting :)
I did the "fan art" activity in the family room again. I was expecting lots of kids giving me instruction like lat year, but the only child present was quite happily drawing dragons by herself. Luckily there were several adults who gave me suggestions instead, I drew a portrait of a Swancon newbie couple and had a nice chat with another newbie who turned out to be Homestuck fan and with whom I have had a couple of very nice chats with since.
The "LGBTI representation in genre fiction" panel is the only guest panel I've made it to! Gail Simone was interesting though a bit self congratulatory, still the other two Actually Queer panelists prevented the "Boy those queer folk sure are hard to write!" vibe I got from the podcast of the last such panel. (Except for asexuals, who got that pretty hard :/)
I have seen Charles Stross around but the only time we've spoken it was about the fact that the hotel chose to replace the carpets of our corridor from 7am Friday morning, at various times trapping me in/out of the room and filling the air with the smell of glue. I have also seen Lucy Sussex around, she has a very interesting physical presence, I think "fey" may be the word I'm looking for? I bought her short story collection "Matilda Told Such Terrible Lies" since it was highly recced and I wanted to have read SOMETHING of hers (also I know the publishers, this has definitely been a con of realising how old guard-ish I am getting despite not being in any way a SMOF)
The weather has been lovely, every now and then I've gone out for an explore through the pretty streets filled with delicious East Asian food I can eat. (This part of Northbridge is about as close as Perth comes to a Chinatown)
I have very much enjoyedcupidsbow's vidding panels, and was particularly struck by (NOTE: lots of violence!) Doomsday by Norlack. The vidder ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ash48 was there, creator of some FANTASTIC Supernatural vids and the two of them had some really interesting things to say. One thing they got me thinking about was how some constructed reality vids work with the source (assuming certain emotional responses from the viewer, even if it's only to subvert them) while others just use it as a collection of contextless images to rearrange and may actually be more enjoyable if you don't know the source.
BOTH MY ART HAS SOLD WOO! The art show was really good this year, a nice range of art and craft including a STARGATE. I will try to dig up a picture, but basically a bunch of fans made a Stargate filled with blue flashing lights, and they took it to the con and attached it to a stairwell so that it's visible from two of the three floors of the hotel. Very cool.
Recs from the comics panel that I liked the look of: Vision Machine, Manga Man, Gone to Americay, Sledgehammer 44, Saga, Private Eye
My costume (Jane Crocker from Homestuck) came out pretty well and I had several people recognise and admire it, and several more admire it and ask where it was from :) (Swancon trends too old to intersect much with Homestuck fandom)
Much of today was spent resting or chatting which was nice. Margaret recced me the Bagup wetlands (it happened at the con, it's con related :P) I was also recced Tales of Vesperia.
The 2014 launch was cute, though it involved a lot of dancing from people I know are low on spoons, but maybe I should just take this as a sign that they were feeling energetic and enthusiastic :)
I don't have much planned for tomorrow, I am not looking forward to going home by train on a public holiday with my chair especially since I won't have the room to rest in between panels (I have been resting a LOT) but I will survive (hopefully)
EDIT: Congrats to Fe for winning the Mumfan award! (Not as gendered as it sounds, it's named for a fan everyone called "Mum" who was really supportive and welcoming) And everyone else who won stuff! And stuff! ...I am sleepy.
First, next years con: ISOBELLE CARMODY, ANNE BISHOP AND TAMORA PIERCE OMG!!!
The only one of those authors I actually like is Tamora Pierce, and even then mostly out of nostalgia. But Isobelle Carmody literally got me into science fiction (along with Anne McCaffery, who's dead, and Orson Scott Card, who I would have trouble not shouting at) and I used to be a MASSIVE fan, I ran one of the earliest Isobelle Carmody fansites back in the 90s (people used to actually email me thinking I was her). And then she NEVER FINISHED HER SERIES and I got VERY BITTER. And then there is Anne Bishop, whose books are over the top ridiculous crack (edit: which many will find MASSIVELY TRIGGERING. She likes to throw the kitchen sink at her characters for the sake of angst). All three have Issues and it's very single genre, but I can see them all being interesting and a lot of people are VERY VERY HAPPY and so I am happy for them and also amused imagining how my 14 year old self would feel.
Anyway, onto this years con!
Livecon is so great, amongst other things it makes it much easier to remember what I did!
I started the con feeling a bit blah. Thursday we arrived and I chatted to people before the guest dinner (which I did not go to) before going to bed super early. I'm glad we did this, it made me much more prepared when the con started on Friday morning. I still felt pretty vague on Friday though.
My interactive fiction panel went quite well despite me being very sleepy. Whenever I had a mental blank I asked the audience if they had questions or comments and thankfully they always obliged with something interesting :)
I did the "fan art" activity in the family room again. I was expecting lots of kids giving me instruction like lat year, but the only child present was quite happily drawing dragons by herself. Luckily there were several adults who gave me suggestions instead, I drew a portrait of a Swancon newbie couple and had a nice chat with another newbie who turned out to be Homestuck fan and with whom I have had a couple of very nice chats with since.
The "LGBTI representation in genre fiction" panel is the only guest panel I've made it to! Gail Simone was interesting though a bit self congratulatory, still the other two Actually Queer panelists prevented the "Boy those queer folk sure are hard to write!" vibe I got from the podcast of the last such panel. (Except for asexuals, who got that pretty hard :/)
I have seen Charles Stross around but the only time we've spoken it was about the fact that the hotel chose to replace the carpets of our corridor from 7am Friday morning, at various times trapping me in/out of the room and filling the air with the smell of glue. I have also seen Lucy Sussex around, she has a very interesting physical presence, I think "fey" may be the word I'm looking for? I bought her short story collection "Matilda Told Such Terrible Lies" since it was highly recced and I wanted to have read SOMETHING of hers (also I know the publishers, this has definitely been a con of realising how old guard-ish I am getting despite not being in any way a SMOF)
The weather has been lovely, every now and then I've gone out for an explore through the pretty streets filled with delicious East Asian food I can eat. (This part of Northbridge is about as close as Perth comes to a Chinatown)
I have very much enjoyed
cupidsbow's vidding panels, and was particularly struck by (NOTE: lots of violence!) Doomsday by Norlack. The vidder ash48 was there, creator of some FANTASTIC Supernatural vids and the two of them had some really interesting things to say. One thing they got me thinking about was how some constructed reality vids work with the source (assuming certain emotional responses from the viewer, even if it's only to subvert them) while others just use it as a collection of contextless images to rearrange and may actually be more enjoyable if you don't know the source.BOTH MY ART HAS SOLD WOO! The art show was really good this year, a nice range of art and craft including a STARGATE. I will try to dig up a picture, but basically a bunch of fans made a Stargate filled with blue flashing lights, and they took it to the con and attached it to a stairwell so that it's visible from two of the three floors of the hotel. Very cool.
Recs from the comics panel that I liked the look of: Vision Machine, Manga Man, Gone to Americay, Sledgehammer 44, Saga, Private Eye
My costume (Jane Crocker from Homestuck) came out pretty well and I had several people recognise and admire it, and several more admire it and ask where it was from :) (Swancon trends too old to intersect much with Homestuck fandom)
Much of today was spent resting or chatting which was nice. Margaret recced me the Bagup wetlands (it happened at the con, it's con related :P) I was also recced Tales of Vesperia.
The 2014 launch was cute, though it involved a lot of dancing from people I know are low on spoons, but maybe I should just take this as a sign that they were feeling energetic and enthusiastic :)
I don't have much planned for tomorrow, I am not looking forward to going home by train on a public holiday with my chair especially since I won't have the room to rest in between panels (I have been resting a LOT) but I will survive (hopefully)
EDIT: Congrats to Fe for winning the Mumfan award! (Not as gendered as it sounds, it's named for a fan everyone called "Mum" who was really supportive and welcoming) And everyone else who won stuff! And stuff! ...I am sleepy.