Wiscon: Sunday

[owlectomy]

I do not recommend norovirus as a weight loss method.

Sunday again I woke up bright and early and went to the panel, "Is LGBT science fiction and fantasy in trouble?" Answer: Yes! Apparently several small publishers/ e-publishers have gone under or are struggling. What I heard, from the panelists and the audience, is that if you write fiction that plays by the rules of the genre, then it's no longer that big a problem to have gay characters, but if your writing focuses more on the sex or the relationship then it can be a problem. Which, honestly, kind of surprises me, given how well the Anita Blake novels sell, or how hot paranormal romance is as a category, but I'm living out here in my liberal bubble now, after all.

Then, "Can Internet Drama Change the World"?

Great panel. heyiya moderated, sparkymonster, asim, oyceter, and oyceter were on the panel. And they talked about their experiences with online dramas, especially where race and privilege were concerned, and the effects those have had, both positive and negative; how frustrating it is to have the same conversation over and over and over again; the issue/red herring of "tone". Detailed transcript here. I am not feeling too happy about the internet drama right now (tip: if you have the flu, and you've read the Something Awful thing, don't watch the season finale of House) but reading over that transcript reminded me of how positive it can be. How positive things can come out of things that at the time make you want to pull out all your hair.

By this time I had noticed the signs warning that WisCon had the flu and everyone should make sure to wash their hands. I washed my hands, decided I was invulnerable, and ate some celery in the con suite, and then a sandwich down the street.

Went to the "Get out your Secret Decoder Ring" panel which had on it heresluck, oursin, who I was disappointed to discover is not actually a hedgehog, yuki_onna, and more. This was a panel about the ways in which allusiveness can work or not work, and I really appreciated how diligent heresluck was in insisting that "doesn't work" is a really blunt and narrow description; a novel works differently if you don't get the reference, and it may not work for as many readers, but that doesn't mean it breaks completely if you don't know the reference. (Or how on earth would the Hitchhikers novels be so popular with American teens?) Still, I found the panel didn't really explore the ways in which it can be good if not everybody gets it. Janine Young (I think) was very quick to dismiss the "nudge nudge, wink wink" kind of in-joke, and I do think they can make a work date very quickly, but when they do work, they work by creating a bond of secret knowledge with the reader. When I was reading Little Brother, for example, there are two references that made me almost squeal with that feeling of "He gets it, I'm in his secret club"--one to Alan Turing, which was explained in the course of things, and a joke on scrotums, which was not. I think there's some kind of value in that kind of thing.

Next panel: "The Eclipse One Cover Debate."
Eclipse One is a science fiction anthology whose table of contents was 50/50 male and female, but which only had men on the cover. (And, as panelists noted, it's a really really 'boy' cover; female panelists who were accustomed to reading the language of book covers said their eyes slid over it and it looked like it wasn't for them. I would agree with that assessment.) There was an imbroglio online about the cover, and the panel was for discussing this further with Jeremy Lassen, the editor. Who was outwardly very personable and charming and reasonable, almost enough so to stop me from considering that because I'm a pinko commie, I don't actually think "so it would sell better" is a good justification for anything. I mean, I will give Lassen credit for coming to the panel at all, and I think that Nightshade Press does some good work, but: I think they were wrong in this case. And I never heard Lassen say he was wrong. Being friendly and charming is not the same thing as apologizing.

And then the spontaneous panel on the Seal Press boycott, which is intimidating because as much as I would like to do something I have this habit of committing to things online and then flaking out really badly. But. I will point people to more information when there's more information to point to, and see what I can do.

As you can see, that's 3 internet drama panels in one day. Which is maybe a lot, and maybe not the number I would've chosen if I had to do it all over again.

By the end of that panel, at 5:15-ish, I was starting to feel mildly queasy. Did I want to go out to dinner with littlebutfierce and phredd and their friends? Of course I did! Because, of course, I had psychosomatic flu, not the real thing. So we went for Ethiopian, and it was very good, and then I ended up being given an extra ticket to the dessert salon, so I went to that while teetering back and forth between "really, I'm fine" and "then again, maybe I won't." I got a strawberry mouse and stared it down for half an hour. But! Sharyn November sat at our dessert table! She is a YA editor and has a really formidable personality, and it turns out we have a vague connection to each other; she knows one of the BPL higher-ups I've met briefly, and one I've seen before. I ended up feeling worse and worse and took a taxi back to my hotel room. It was a sour note to end the con on--no, actually, shivering and dozing my way through my flights was a sour note to end the con on--but I sort of feel the need to come back as soon as possible to make up for it.

Comments

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

Much better. I enjoyed hanging out with you too!