Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Continuum 3 - Part 2A.
Note: Saturday was a big day, so I've split my report in two (poor report!)
I will begin by quoting directly from the notes I made on the Saturday (yep, I actually started making notes), around mid afternoon:
"Groan. Awake at 7.30am. Groan. Eat part of breakfast. Groan. Crawl back into bed for an hour's extra sleep. Groan. Eat rest of breakfast, resent being awake."
Saturday was great, and very busy, and I was very very tired. Much coffee was consumed. I have to say, room service breakfast is the best.thing.ever. Also, being awoken by Nebuloid leaping out of her bed and whacking me repeatedly on the feet whilst yelling "Wheeeee!!!" is extremely funny.
We crawled down to Ballroom 3 (I spent an awful lot of time in this room over the weekend...) for the Richard Harland Guest of Honour Speech
Based upon Richard's enthusiasm and good nature in Friday's vampire panel, I was looking forward to a fun GoH speech from him. I knew it was going to be interesting when I saw the set up of the stage. An overhead projector, a table set up with mikes on either side, the lecturn and behind the lecturn a whiteboard. Hmmm. And a lovely assistant (Richard's wife), all in black with thigh high boots. Additional hmmmm.
Richard started the speech by reading out a negative quote from a critic regarding fantasy (unfortunately I can't remember either the full quote nor the critic - my notes aren't that comprehensive...) and broke the quote down into three parts, which he wrote on the whiteboard. Two of them were: "Fantasy is predictable and safe"; "Fantasy is passive and undemanding". He then went about disproving each of those statements, using his books The Vicar of Morbing Vyle and The Black Crusade as examples of non passive fantasy. All that was left on the board after this part of the speech was "Fantasy is predictable and safe".
Then it all got a bit sinister... A reenactment of an interview with Richard alluded to rumours that Richard had received the manuscripts for the books he had claimed to write, and that in fact the "fictional" character Martin Smythe was the author of the above books, not Richard. It turns out that Martin Smythe has been making threats, and leaving mysterious notes, on the VileWatch website. A question and comment from the audience deepened the mystery, with a tale of kidnapping by Martin Smythe, and a call to reject Richard Harland and join Martin Smythe's crusade against vileness!!
Richard was obviously flustered by these revelations, and tried to get back to his speech - but was interrupted by a deep voice echoing from the back of the room. A bearded, behatted man in a long black trenchcoat strode down the centre aisle, booming out imprecations and decrying Richard's authorial ruse. He revealed himself to be Martin Smythe, and leapt onto the stage, striking Richard down with a single blow! Richard dragged himself off the side of the stage, Martin following to kick him repeatedly inna fork, before disappearing from the room.
Richard, shaky, beaten, bruised, returned to the stage, took out his handkerchief and carefully wiped the statement "Fantasy is predictable and safe" off the whiteboard before collapsing to the floor, to the accompaniment of huge applause and howls of laughter from the audience.
Best.Speech.Ever.
I stayed in my seat, wiping tears of laughter from my eyes, for the Moving Out of Genre Fiction into the Real World panel. Poppy Z Brite (wearing sunglasses, for it was too early in the morning for her), Jack Dann and Fiona McIntosh took their seats. But where was Neil? Cornered by fans again, and too nice to tear himself away. Jack Dann decided that Poppy was cool for wearing her sunglasses inside, so took out his own and put them on, as did Fiona McIntosh. Still no Neil. Jack decreed that the audience begin a slow handclap to get Neil's attention. So we did, and Neil strutted down the centre aisle, took his place on the panel, looked around at the be-sunglassed panelists, leaned into his microphone and said "What?" He then explained that he didn't have his sunglasses, and Jack noted that Neil just wasn't cool. To which Neil responded by explaining that he and Terry Pratchett had constructed the concept of Zen cool, which is that whatever you are doing is cool, and thus you are always cool. Zen cool.
Onto the actual business of the panel. None of the panellists could remember what they were supposed to be talking about, and asked if any of the audience knew. I dug out my big Continuum programme (as opposed to the pocket one), and flipped to the relevant page. Neil spotted this (eeee!) and pointed me out, saying "This lady here knows what we're talking about." So I read out the full explanation of the panel: "What happens when you've done everything you can as a writer in one genre, is it possible to successfully move to another?"; and they got into the discussion.
Nebuloid would like me to note that "This is the part of the convention when Neil noticed you". And, yes, I grinned and grinned and I treasure that moment dearly.
Sigh. I am a sad, sad fangirl. But also a proud, proud fangirl.
Oh, you want me to tell you what they said in the panel? Erm. Jack Dann's book about a world where James Dean is still alive sounds fascinating, and Poppy doesn't see her move from writing gothic, erotic horror to writing about food and the food industry as that much of a turnaround. She wants to write about something for which she feels a passion, that she knows, not write what people think that they want to read from her, which I find really admirable. I do wish that her latest books were available in Australia.
Lunch and then back to Ballroom 3 for the Neil Gaiman Guest of Honour Speech. Which I will bring to you in Continuum 3 - Part 2B. Stay tuned...
I will begin by quoting directly from the notes I made on the Saturday (yep, I actually started making notes), around mid afternoon:
"Groan. Awake at 7.30am. Groan. Eat part of breakfast. Groan. Crawl back into bed for an hour's extra sleep. Groan. Eat rest of breakfast, resent being awake."
Saturday was great, and very busy, and I was very very tired. Much coffee was consumed. I have to say, room service breakfast is the best.thing.ever. Also, being awoken by Nebuloid leaping out of her bed and whacking me repeatedly on the feet whilst yelling "Wheeeee!!!" is extremely funny.
We crawled down to Ballroom 3 (I spent an awful lot of time in this room over the weekend...) for the Richard Harland Guest of Honour Speech
Based upon Richard's enthusiasm and good nature in Friday's vampire panel, I was looking forward to a fun GoH speech from him. I knew it was going to be interesting when I saw the set up of the stage. An overhead projector, a table set up with mikes on either side, the lecturn and behind the lecturn a whiteboard. Hmmm. And a lovely assistant (Richard's wife), all in black with thigh high boots. Additional hmmmm.
Richard started the speech by reading out a negative quote from a critic regarding fantasy (unfortunately I can't remember either the full quote nor the critic - my notes aren't that comprehensive...) and broke the quote down into three parts, which he wrote on the whiteboard. Two of them were: "Fantasy is predictable and safe"; "Fantasy is passive and undemanding". He then went about disproving each of those statements, using his books The Vicar of Morbing Vyle and The Black Crusade as examples of non passive fantasy. All that was left on the board after this part of the speech was "Fantasy is predictable and safe".
Then it all got a bit sinister... A reenactment of an interview with Richard alluded to rumours that Richard had received the manuscripts for the books he had claimed to write, and that in fact the "fictional" character Martin Smythe was the author of the above books, not Richard. It turns out that Martin Smythe has been making threats, and leaving mysterious notes, on the VileWatch website. A question and comment from the audience deepened the mystery, with a tale of kidnapping by Martin Smythe, and a call to reject Richard Harland and join Martin Smythe's crusade against vileness!!
Richard was obviously flustered by these revelations, and tried to get back to his speech - but was interrupted by a deep voice echoing from the back of the room. A bearded, behatted man in a long black trenchcoat strode down the centre aisle, booming out imprecations and decrying Richard's authorial ruse. He revealed himself to be Martin Smythe, and leapt onto the stage, striking Richard down with a single blow! Richard dragged himself off the side of the stage, Martin following to kick him repeatedly inna fork, before disappearing from the room.
Richard, shaky, beaten, bruised, returned to the stage, took out his handkerchief and carefully wiped the statement "Fantasy is predictable and safe" off the whiteboard before collapsing to the floor, to the accompaniment of huge applause and howls of laughter from the audience.
Best.Speech.Ever.
I stayed in my seat, wiping tears of laughter from my eyes, for the Moving Out of Genre Fiction into the Real World panel. Poppy Z Brite (wearing sunglasses, for it was too early in the morning for her), Jack Dann and Fiona McIntosh took their seats. But where was Neil? Cornered by fans again, and too nice to tear himself away. Jack Dann decided that Poppy was cool for wearing her sunglasses inside, so took out his own and put them on, as did Fiona McIntosh. Still no Neil. Jack decreed that the audience begin a slow handclap to get Neil's attention. So we did, and Neil strutted down the centre aisle, took his place on the panel, looked around at the be-sunglassed panelists, leaned into his microphone and said "What?" He then explained that he didn't have his sunglasses, and Jack noted that Neil just wasn't cool. To which Neil responded by explaining that he and Terry Pratchett had constructed the concept of Zen cool, which is that whatever you are doing is cool, and thus you are always cool. Zen cool.
Onto the actual business of the panel. None of the panellists could remember what they were supposed to be talking about, and asked if any of the audience knew. I dug out my big Continuum programme (as opposed to the pocket one), and flipped to the relevant page. Neil spotted this (eeee!) and pointed me out, saying "This lady here knows what we're talking about." So I read out the full explanation of the panel: "What happens when you've done everything you can as a writer in one genre, is it possible to successfully move to another?"; and they got into the discussion.
Nebuloid would like me to note that "This is the part of the convention when Neil noticed you". And, yes, I grinned and grinned and I treasure that moment dearly.
Sigh. I am a sad, sad fangirl. But also a proud, proud fangirl.
Oh, you want me to tell you what they said in the panel? Erm. Jack Dann's book about a world where James Dean is still alive sounds fascinating, and Poppy doesn't see her move from writing gothic, erotic horror to writing about food and the food industry as that much of a turnaround. She wants to write about something for which she feels a passion, that she knows, not write what people think that they want to read from her, which I find really admirable. I do wish that her latest books were available in Australia.
Lunch and then back to Ballroom 3 for the Neil Gaiman Guest of Honour Speech. Which I will bring to you in Continuum 3 - Part 2B. Stay tuned...
