Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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WisCon is over; now I namedrop

The combination of jetlag and a cold meant that I did not get as much out of this year’s WisCon as I normally do. But everybody else seemed to be having an amazing time. There were a great many people there that I didn’t even get a chance to say hello to like Suzy McKee Charnas, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Jay Lake, Kelly Link, Sharyn November, Nisi Shawl, Helen Pilinovsky and I hardly had a conversation of any length the whole weekend long.

But I did finally get to meet Cherie Priest and she was just as fabulous as expected. More, even. (Thank you Liz Gorinsky for arranging it—lovely to see you, too!). As well as the elegant and charming Geoff Ryman (apparently he has a blog but I can’t find it—feel free to hit me with the URL) and the amazing Deb Stone who fights the good fight against book censorship for the American Library Association and is my new hero.

I also had the pleasure of introducing my best friend in the whole world,1 Ron Serdiuk, to all my lovely WisCon friends. Naturally he is now many more people’s best friend in the entire world. Seriously, to know Ron is to love him. But I saw him first, okay?

I did manage to catch up properly with Krissy and John Scalzi, as well as Doselle and Janine Young, Ellen Kushner, Delia Sherman, Nalo Hopkinson, Charlotte Boynton, Lauren McLaughlin, Andrea Hairston, Pan Morrigan, Ama Patterson, Shana Cohen, Lawrence Schimel, Ellen Klages, Caroline Stevermer, Claire Light and Holly Black (who is such a darling that she visited me in my room while I was gathering strength to get past my dread lurgy and go out and face everyone). Not to mention Julie Phillips, whose superlatively brilliant biography of James Tiptree, Jr. will be out later this year. It’s one of the best biographies I’ve ever read and I read a pretty early draft. Imagine how gobsmackingly awesome the final version is going to be.

It was also fabulous to see great big piles of my first (and only) anthology, Daughters of Earth, selling like hotcakes. A number of people had already read it and were very enthusiastic. Yay! Josh Lukin’s and Andrea Hairston’s essays were both mentioned in terms of gushing praise. Their essays are indeed very fine as are all the essays in the collection. There’s no way I’m picking favourites!

The wonderful folks of Dreamhaven donated a copy to be sold at next year’s Tiptree auction. (I recommend them as an online purveyor of all fine sf and fantasy books. And yes they still have more copies of Daughters.) I managed to get Samuel R. Delany, Ursula Le Guin, Vonda McIntyre, and Pamela Sargent (!!!) to sign near mentions of them in the acknowledgments, as well as the signatures of contributors Brian Attebery, L. Timmel Duchamp, Karen Joy Fowler, Andrea Hairston, Joan Haran, Pat Murphy, Lisa Tuttle and Kate Wilhelm. Elvis wept, eh? It better go for a decent amount next year.

I only managed to hear Gwenda Bond, Karen Meisner, Lauren McLaughlin, Claire Light, Scott Westerfeld, Christopher Rowe, Richard Butner and Gavin Grant read, which is to say I attended two different reading sessions. They were all fantastic and funny and weird. What more can you ask for? Well . . . I would’ve loved to have heard Carol Emshwiller or Samuel R. Delany or Ursula Le Guin or Vonda McIntyre or Jane Yolen or Kate Wilhelm or Karen Joy Fowler or Ama Patterson or Geoff Ryman read as well. I hear they were all incredible.

And it would have been nice to go to some of the panels people were raving about like the shapeshifting one and the one on enjoyable trash. I hear Micole Sudberg stunned everyone with her stupendous intellect, humour and wit. Mental note: must not get sick and spend way too much time napping in my room. At least I wasn’t alone in my illness.

Most moving moment: When Susan Vaught signed over her $1,000 cheque for winning a Carl Brandon Award to the Carl Brandon society. So generous! Such a classy gesture! I’m buying her book, Stormwitch as soon as. I hear it’s as wonderful as she is.

Now I go to bed.

P.S. I have no idea how any of my panels went. Sigh.
P.P.S. Too tired to paste in links to all the abovementioned folks.
P.P.P.S. I am massively behind with email. Sorry!

  1. I have a number of best friends in the whole world. [↩]

Posted by Justine at 18:35, 30 May 2006 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Daughters of Earth, Excuses, New York City/USA, Travelling, Whingeing | 12 Comments »

Comments

  1. CW Says:

    Wow, what a great list of names to drop! Lucky you :)

    Oh and I have been meaning to say, now that I know of your blog and Scott’s, whenever I spot your books in shops I get a jolt, it’s almost like “hey that’s a book by those people I [feel like I] know”… It’s very cool :)

    May 30th, 2006 at 7:00 pm

  2. 2. Justine Says:

    Wow, what a great list of names to drop! Lucky you :)

    I know! It’s so weird hanging out with such awesome writers.

    Last night I was in a bar where Ursula Le Guin and Vonda McIntyre were sitting at the counter and chatting with the bartender. It was hard not to squeal. I mean, I was in the same bar as two of my fave writers in the world! /fangirl

    whenever I spot your books in shops I get a jolt, it’s almost like “hey that’s a book by those people I [feel like I] know”

    I feel the same way about all the writers’ whose blogs I read.

    May 30th, 2006 at 9:03 pm

  3. Darice Says:

    It was lovely to meet you! (And yes, that bar was concentrated coolness, with nearly unending alcohol and snacks…)

    May 30th, 2006 at 11:55 pm

  4. CW Says:

    Ursula Le Guin and Vonda McIntyre!!!! Oohhhhhhhhh *hyperventilates*

    May 31st, 2006 at 12:48 am

  5. anghara Says:

    Yes, Ursula le GUin and VOnda McIntyre and Jane Yolen and Kate Wilhelm and Lois Bujold and lots and lots of other folks whose names you had gotten used to seeing on the spines of many books in bookstores and not on nametags hanging around their necks, as it were.

    It’s because of the 30th anniversary thing, but thie Wiscon had a very Worldconnish feel to it, in a way…

    I’m sorry you were feeling poorly, Justine – the few times I caught glimpses of you, it seemed like you were enjoying yourself in spite of it, though. I hope fun was had. Despite lurking lurgies.

    May 31st, 2006 at 7:21 pm

  6. Josh Says:

    appreciate the namedrop, j; and the hal duncan link is hilarious. hope you feel weller.

    May 31st, 2006 at 8:19 pm

  7. 7. Justine Says:

    Anghara: Nice to know I’m a better actress than I thought :-) Most of the time I could barely hear anything anyone said to me. (Ears full of snot.) And was so far off in fuzzy land that I only figured out who people were minutes after they’d gone. It was like being on drugs. Yukky drugs.

    Josh: Yes, he is. Though, wow, does he make me want to sit him down and feed him. Skiiiiiny is too fat a word for Mr Duncan.

    I’m very much looking forward to wellness.

    May 31st, 2006 at 8:25 pm

  8. sheree Says:

    Well, now I know we’re making some progress when folk starting mixing up what black woman read, LOL! Several did at WisCon, possibly more this year than in the con’s 30 year history, including Nalo (with Samuel Delany, hey now!) Nnedi, Nora, and Nisi (sorry I missed that jam session!), maybe Tempest (I saw her in the dealer’s room at the FARTHING table, but I’m not sure if she read), and Andrea performing from MINDSCAPE, because can’t call that amazing multi-character act a ‘reading’, and I read as well, but we must have missed Ama. The sly thing was duckin’ and dodgin’ this year, and working with the CBS to launch that beautifully moving awards ceremony, but it’s definitely on in 2007, because the woman writes an angel, yes indeed!

    All Best,
    SRT

    June 1st, 2006 at 5:39 pm

  9. 9. Justine Says:

    Thanks, Sheree, I just assumed. You know, seeing as how Ama’s a genius she musta done a reading. Do you know, I don’t think I managed to open the program guide even once. Ack!

    I’m sorry I missed you and Andrea and Nisi and everyone else reading too. Stupid cold from hell. I hear it’s after you now, too. Blerk!

    June 1st, 2006 at 5:43 pm

  10. Judith Says:

    Hey Justine, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Pamela see Ron first?

    June 1st, 2006 at 11:38 pm

  11. 11. Justine Says:

    Judith: If we’re going to get down to it I believe his parents did :-) But I have dibs over all these North Americans.

    June 1st, 2006 at 11:44 pm

  12. Judith Says:

    And long may it remain thus!

    PS I’ve linked you and Scott on the Misrule blog

    June 3rd, 2006 at 8:14 am

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