I know exactly what you mean! I kept running around and then, all of a sudden, it was over!
And just as well, otherwise I would have died of exhaustion or starvation, in whichever order :) Seriously, though, that rivals Boston for the best Worldcon I've ever been to (I think I've done 7 now); and given that it was a smaller con, they did marvels.
I can't fault the con for such great programming, but I do hope sometime we can catch up in person in a more leisurely way.
You doing World Fantasy Con this October? We live just up the road from San Jose, and we're seriously thinking about doing it this year - it's been so well-recommended. I'd love to catch up with you, if you are :)
My goodness, you have a gorgeous accent and voice! I could listen to you read the back of cereal boxes and enjoy it. :).
You have no idea how much I trade on that accent! It's wonderful being a Brit in California :) :) (Well, except when people think we're Australian. We get a bit shirty about that.) I can do a proper Jamaican patois, too - that normally drops a few jaws :)
I'm not comfortable making any stronger argument than I suggested (these things may be linked), but I hope that just raising the questions of what this means and how it will affect the genre and reading patterns, etc., is enough to create interest and get people thinking/talking.
I thought the point about how it might affect the genre was really fascinating, by the way; especially the idea that earlier YA sf carried a message of optimism that the current trend of YA books does not.
Yet even in the older generations, those of us who imprinted as much on Tolkien as we did on sf were imprinting on a story of sacrifice, loss and irreparable change. (I've never accepted the contention that LotR was 'consolatory' fiction.) And HP, although it has an apocalyptic edge to it, is essentially triumphant. But what's odd is how dominant your figures show dystopias/apocalypses to be. It's the sort of result I would have expected in the 1950s, but not now especially. Perhaps it's the amorphous nature of the threats we face. Should I come up with any thoughts, I shall be happy to pass them on to you, but I think thoughts would require intelligence, which in my case is sadly dwindling.
no subject
And just as well, otherwise I would have died of exhaustion or starvation, in whichever order :) Seriously, though, that rivals Boston for the best Worldcon I've ever been to (I think I've done 7 now); and given that it was a smaller con, they did marvels.
I can't fault the con for such great programming, but I do hope sometime we can catch up in person in a more leisurely way.
You doing World Fantasy Con this October? We live just up the road from San Jose, and we're seriously thinking about doing it this year - it's been so well-recommended. I'd love to catch up with you, if you are :)
My goodness, you have a gorgeous accent and voice! I could listen to you read the back of cereal boxes and enjoy it. :).
You have no idea how much I trade on that accent! It's wonderful being a Brit in California :) :) (Well, except when people think we're Australian. We get a bit shirty about that.) I can do a proper Jamaican patois, too - that normally drops a few jaws :)
I'm not comfortable making any stronger argument than I suggested (these things may be linked), but I hope that just raising the questions of what this means and how it will affect the genre and reading patterns, etc., is enough to create interest and get people thinking/talking.
I thought the point about how it might affect the genre was really fascinating, by the way; especially the idea that earlier YA sf carried a message of optimism that the current trend of YA books does not.
Yet even in the older generations, those of us who imprinted as much on Tolkien as we did on sf were imprinting on a story of sacrifice, loss and irreparable change. (I've never accepted the contention that LotR was 'consolatory' fiction.) And HP, although it has an apocalyptic edge to it, is essentially triumphant. But what's odd is how dominant your figures show dystopias/apocalypses to be. It's the sort of result I would have expected in the 1950s, but not now especially. Perhaps it's the amorphous nature of the threats we face. Should I come up with any thoughts, I shall be happy to pass them on to you, but I think thoughts would require intelligence, which in my case is sadly dwindling.