World Fantasy Convention 2012

The husband, the room-mate and I just got back from our second day at WFC2012.  We laid out all the books we got in the complimentary book bag and that we had bought in the dealer's room.  Then we all shared a furtive look and silently denied that we might have a problem.  That we might be - gasp - book collectors!

But it's true, and we've known it for sometime now.  The last time I suggested a gentle cull of our ever overflowing bookcases, I was met with wide-eyed stares and threats of violence.  We don't talk about culling books any more.

So, with no hope for a cure, we decided to resolutely move on.  Now let me tell you about all the cool stuff we got:

The Abhorsen Bracelet

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We attended Garth Nix's reading in the afternoon, where he read from a forthcoming book in the Old Kingdom (Abhorsen) series.  We were beyond excited.  Nix was able to read the entirety of his prologue and two pieces from chapters 1 & 2.  It sounds really good - I can't wait!  Then he explained how they had done a limited casting of the silver bells from the books in charm form in 2010.  He said that he had intended to bring one of the charms to the con to give it away at his reading.  Then Nix dropped the bombshell - he had left the single charm at home, but had brought one complete bracelet with him.  He asked if anyone had their birthday that day (no one did) and then asked if anyone had a birthday in November.  Kami (my room-mate) and one other girl raised their hands.  The suspense was building.  Nix decided it would go the person whose birthday was the closest to today.  The other girl answered - November 10.  Then Kami - November 1!  I thought she was going to faint.  So now we have it and it is so beautiful.  I'm glad the bracelet went to her because she loves those books as much as I do and they really mean a lot to us.  Congratulations, Kam!  Take good care of those bells!

ChiZine Books

We have yet to attend an event that ChiZine is at (or running, for that matter) where we don't walk away with some really rad books.  So we picked up 'Every House is Haunted' (ChiZine Publications) and 'SuperNOIRtural' (Burning Effigy Press) by Ian Rogers.  He was a really personable guy and spent a few minutes indulging me in a conversation about noir, urban fantasy and web design.  I expect the books will be excellent.  Also, he drew Kami a haunted house.  Awesome.

We also picked up 'The Book of Thomas' by Robert Boyczuk.  We heard him give a presentation at the Spec-Fic Colloquium in 2010 called 'Why You Can't Teach Writing' and it was really funny.  His talk was filmed and you can view it in two parts on the Colloquium website.  I recommend it!

On Friday night, at the massive author signing, we bought Robert Shearman's collection called 'Remember Why You Fear Me.'  This was one book we were determined to find at the convention and we even got Shearman to sign it.  The best part was that he remembered us and was so gracious about the blog post I wrote.  I wish we could keep this man in Canada, because he is such a gem.  On Saturday, we went to his reading where he read a piece from this book.  It was phenomenal and I am running out of synonyms for 'wonderful' so I should move on.

Lastly, we picked up Helen Marshall's new book, 'Hair Side, Flesh Side.'  (Can we also take a quick aside to talk about how fucking amazing these covers are?!)  This is her debut collection and I'm really excited to dive into it!

Bakka Phoenix Books

We (of course) made a stop at Bakka Phoenix Books to chat with Chris and pick up some new reading material.  We got 'Father Gaetano's Puppet Catchism' by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden, 'Fair Coin' by E.C. Myers and 'Queer Fear II' edited by Michael Rowe.

The Book Bag

The rest of the books you see pictured above were included in our incredible book bag, courtesy of WFC.  Included were books by George R. R. Martin, Elizabeth Bear, Carrie Vaughn, Megan Crewe, Gena Showalter and many, many more.

The Panels & Readings

We went to a fairly even mix of panels and readings on Saturday.  The first was a panel called 'The Future of Cover Art in Fantasy and Horror.'  It was a really solid discussion on where illustrated works are headed with the advent of e-publishing.  Hugo Award-winning artist John Picacio did a fantastic job as moderator and we walked away feeling optimistic for Kristi's illustrative future for the first time ever at a convention. 

In the afternoon we went to hear a panel on 'The Lexicon of Horror', which included Gary K. Wolfe, David Hartwell, Peter Straub, Michael Dirda and guest of honour John Clute.  It was a fairly intellectual discussion, but there was also a great deal of humour thanks to Clute's sharp wit.  I will definitely attend more of his panels in the future.

Readings included Gemma Files (who read new short fiction!), Garth Nix and Robert Shearman.  A great day, all told.

Chizine's Spec Fic Colloquium at the Gladstone

​Today we attended the 2012 Toronto SpecFic Colloquium at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto, hosted by Chizine Publishing (ChiSeries).

​The Gladstone Hotel was the perfect setting for this year's Colloquium.  Although the weather outside was wet and cold, the atmosphere inside the newly renovated Queen West landmark was perfect.  Old creaky hardwood floors, original brick walls, and glass doors - authentic artsy Queen West!

The program kicked off with a talk​ by Robert Runte about Canadian Science Fiction.  A solid introduction to the day, as it tried to answer the question: What is Canadian SF?  Runte offered a few trends - ambiguous endings, a focus on setting, themes of alienation and the observer as the 'hero', to name a few.  While he cautioned about shoehorning oneself into these categories (it doesn't make you any less Canadian if you don't write that way), I definitely felt like he hit on two themes I keep coming back to in my own writing - that is, ambiguous endings and themes of alienation.

Helen Marshall was the second speaker and her presentation was focused on the coming of ebooks.  She structured her talk around two main subjects - language and form.​  While there is no denying the popularity of txt spk, it doesn't seem to quite lend itself to story telling.  Marshall did talk about poetry trying to take new forms, but poets have a difficult time giving up control of how their lines and poems look on the page, as it's undeniably part of the message.  Further, she suggested that epublishing is pushing us towards a 'formless' literature that can be resized and reformatted without taking anything away from the prose.  Finally, Marshall flirted a little with the idea of hypertext fiction (the new choose-your-own-adventure!) and even pointed out that some publishers were willing to give it a try, even if they didn't really​ know what it was or how to publish it.  From a writer's perspective, there were some good takeaways from this talk - while we're mostly lost in our words, we should maybe keep language and form in the backs of our minds.  For those wanting to take on self-publishing, it's especially important to think about how your story is going to look on the page and how to make it as accessible as possible.

​After a short break (during which we went in search of tea), it was time for the guest of honour, Robert Shearman.  As I have a poorly lacking knowledge of Doctor Who, I wasn't sure what to expect.  I should never have worried - Shearman stole the show.  He was humble, funny and genuine.  He talked about his difficulties growing up with a speech impediment, how he found renewed confidence and passion in the theatre and how to find the 'weird' in any ordinary situation.  His discussion about finding freedom in the structure of short fiction was especially moving.  He was absolutely brilliant.  I bumped into him later in the hall and told him that I thought he had done a spectacular job - he was so appreciative and sincere.  Shearman is in town for the Colloquium, the World Fantasy Convention and SFContario.  If you can catch him at any of these events, do so.  It will be worth it.

Lunch followed and we sat down at the Gladstone restaurant.  We had a great meal and fantastic conversation about the first half of the Colloquium.  We all agreed that it was the best one yet!​

​Back to the room for the afternoon program.  Peter Watts was up first with his talk on Hive Minds.  If you've never seen Watts at a convention or speaking engagement, you're really missing out.  After a brief introduction to his topic, he somehow linked it up to child molestation and punctuated his point with a picture of the Pope at Vatican City on the projection screen.  There's really nothing I can say to explain it except maybe: "That's Peter."  He's bloody fantastic.  We've been to all three Colloquiums so far, and every time we end up discussing Watts' topic the most fervently afterwards.  Sometimes he has you questioning free will, sometimes organized religion.  Today, he took on neuroscience and fascinating topics like split brain syndrome and echopraxia.  Watts is the kind of guy that can make you really consider having half of your brain anaesthetized just to find out what your right and left hemisphere personalities are like...

​After a short break to switch laptops, Karin Lowachee did a presentation on children in warfare.  While her topic included a discussion on one of my most favourite books - Ender's Game - I really felt like the momentum of the day slowed right down during her presentation.  Lowachee graciously stepped in when one of the original guests could no longer attend, so maybe it was just a matter of having less time to prepare.

​Finally we were down to the last break and last presenter of the day.  Admittedly, I was most excited about seeing Scott Bakker's presentation.  I am a huge fan of his incredibly twisted novel 'Neuropath' and I knew he'd give a fascinating talk.  Bakker picked up right where Watts left off - braaaaaaiiins!  He talked about the difference between our cyborg fantasies (not like that!  /wink wink) and the reality of neuroscience.  [On a side note, he totally botched his slideshow and it was incredibly endearing.]  What especially intrigued me in his talk was the question of whether we really have a grip on free will, or if one hemisphere of our brain is just really good at lying to us.  Bakker talked about an experiment where they asked split hemisphere patients to do something that engaged only one side of their brain.  They then asked the other hemisphere why they had done it.  While in reality the person had no idea, their brain had no problem coming up with a perfectly plausible lie on the fly.  So you have to ask yourself, do you know the real reason why you're reading this, or is your brain just really, really good at lying to you?

So in the end, the day was an absolute success.  And if you missed this year's Colloquium, head over to the ChiSeries website and get on the mailing list so you don't miss the next one!​

--SJ​

Today's Flavour Text:​

"The jury's still out on if our stomachs are conscious and plotting against us."​​  --Peter Watts