FogCon: Day 2
I'm not expecting that the day is over yet, because it's only 9:30 which is way too early for me to go to bed, but I decided I needed a break from public spaces, so I'm back in my room for a bit, to relax and do my write-up for the day.
I started my day with a turn through the dealer's room, where I didn't buy anything but might tomorrow, and then went to a reading. I was mostly there for Marie Brennan, who read one of my favorite of her short stories. Of the others, the one I particularly liked was Dominica Phetteplace; she was on the aliens panel the day before, and said good and thought-provoking things, so I was looking forward to hearing her work. I was not disappointed, and will mostly likely seek out more of her fiction.
Afterwards was the lunch banquet, where I was joined by![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
forestofglory, Jed, Mary Anne, and SE, who finally came to FogCon for the first time after my literal years of attempts to lure her here. Next I went to a panel on gender in the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer, who is one of the guests of honor this year. For some reason I had expected it to look at the topic of gender in fiction more generally, and as soon as it became clear that the discussion was going to focus firmly on a series that I mostly haven't read (I think I washed out after the first chapter of the first book), I should probably have left for the panel next door (on information overload). But I stuck it out, and it was still interesting. Especially as possibly the only panel I've ever attended that was mostly critical of the work of a con guest of honor.
And then it was time for my panel! We talked about taking the Bradford Challenge and other attempts to diversify our reading lists. I felt like we had a pretty great discussion about the benefits and challenges of reading more diversely, and then we spent a good fifteen minutes rec'cing books. I feel like I've gotten better at doing panels with time -- I guess last year's four-panel trial-by-fire at Wiscon was good for something! The last event before dinner was a panel with the title "Glorious, Bonkers Romance", which was pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This one was just fun. Probably the most bonkers of all the bonkers settings was The Iron Seas series by Meljean Brook, an alternate history setting where our world was largely conquered by the Mongols, who then developed mind control nanotech that infects everyone they've conquered, and there are kraken and orgies, and a island of lesbian separatists that is guarded by giant robots, and when the moderator was describing the books at first I thought they were talking about multiple series of books, but no! I asked, and both the mod and SE confirmed that this is all one world. I am tempted to check these out just for the world-building alone.
Then dinner, in the hotel restaurant, followed by my last structured event for the night: a reading and performance by the other honored guest for the weekend, Andrea Hairston. She's a playwright and stage director, and she put on a really wonderful show along with her collaborator Pan Morigan.
Now it's time to chill here a bit more, then decide where to wander next: maybe the bar, maybe the consuite, maybe some other adventure. Whatever it is, today has been a good day.
I started my day with a turn through the dealer's room, where I didn't buy anything but might tomorrow, and then went to a reading. I was mostly there for Marie Brennan, who read one of my favorite of her short stories. Of the others, the one I particularly liked was Dominica Phetteplace; she was on the aliens panel the day before, and said good and thought-provoking things, so I was looking forward to hearing her work. I was not disappointed, and will mostly likely seek out more of her fiction.
Afterwards was the lunch banquet, where I was joined by
forestofglory, Jed, Mary Anne, and SE, who finally came to FogCon for the first time after my literal years of attempts to lure her here. Next I went to a panel on gender in the Terra Ignota series by Ada Palmer, who is one of the guests of honor this year. For some reason I had expected it to look at the topic of gender in fiction more generally, and as soon as it became clear that the discussion was going to focus firmly on a series that I mostly haven't read (I think I washed out after the first chapter of the first book), I should probably have left for the panel next door (on information overload). But I stuck it out, and it was still interesting. Especially as possibly the only panel I've ever attended that was mostly critical of the work of a con guest of honor.And then it was time for my panel! We talked about taking the Bradford Challenge and other attempts to diversify our reading lists. I felt like we had a pretty great discussion about the benefits and challenges of reading more diversely, and then we spent a good fifteen minutes rec'cing books. I feel like I've gotten better at doing panels with time -- I guess last year's four-panel trial-by-fire at Wiscon was good for something! The last event before dinner was a panel with the title "Glorious, Bonkers Romance", which was pretty much exactly what it sounds like. This one was just fun. Probably the most bonkers of all the bonkers settings was The Iron Seas series by Meljean Brook, an alternate history setting where our world was largely conquered by the Mongols, who then developed mind control nanotech that infects everyone they've conquered, and there are kraken and orgies, and a island of lesbian separatists that is guarded by giant robots, and when the moderator was describing the books at first I thought they were talking about multiple series of books, but no! I asked, and both the mod and SE confirmed that this is all one world. I am tempted to check these out just for the world-building alone.
Then dinner, in the hotel restaurant, followed by my last structured event for the night: a reading and performance by the other honored guest for the weekend, Andrea Hairston. She's a playwright and stage director, and she put on a really wonderful show along with her collaborator Pan Morigan.
Now it's time to chill here a bit more, then decide where to wander next: maybe the bar, maybe the consuite, maybe some other adventure. Whatever it is, today has been a good day.