Tag: kaffeeklatsch
Eastercon/Dysprosium 2015
Over the long weekend I was at Eastercon (AKA Dysprosium, AKA the 66th British National Science Fiction Convention). Somebody kindly arranged for it to be held a short distance from my home, so it would have been churlish not to attend.
My panel was “A Maturing Readership – Young Adult Fiction”, skilfully moderated by Peadar O’Guilin. My fellow panellists were Adrian Tchaikovsky (author of the Shadows of the Apt series and general polymath) and 14-year-old Emjay Ameringen, keen reader of YA. It was really refreshing to be on a YA panel with an actual ‘young adult’ on it, and Emjay greatly enriched the discussion with her eloquence, humour and confidence.
There was a general discussion of how far YA had previously existed in another form, and the audience made many excellent suggestions of books from the past that would have supplied teenagers/young adults with reading material. Adrian suggested that in the past genre fiction had sometimes been treated as transitional reading, after children’s fiction and before adult fiction, and that this tradition might have had an influence on current YA literature.
A study by Bowker Market Research in 2012 found that 55% of people buying YA books were adults. We discussed possible reasons for this – the liberating themes of discovery, potential and overcoming boundaries in the books, the cathartic expression of intense emotions that adults aren’t supposed to show, the tight pacing, etc. Emjay said that these statistics didn’t bother her – in fact, knowing that adults were enjoying the same books that she was reading made her feel more mature.
Emjay also commented on the joys of re-reading the same book at a later age, and we talked about the ways in which a single book can provide a totally different reading experience depending on age. (I may now have to hunt down a picture book called The Bravest Ever Bear.)
With my panel out of the way, I spent the next couple of days running around the con having fun.
I attended panels/talks on supernatural detectives, early female paleontologists and archaeologists, the crazy/exciting areas of molecular biology, storm-chasing, the history of steampunk, turning books into roleplaying games, and how a fictional Home Office should deal with the paranormal.
Here are some things I learnt at Dysprosium:
1) Scientists have used DNA-folding techniques to create a 4-bit biological computer inside a cockroach.
2) It’s possible to end up inside a mile-wide tornado without immediately realising it.
3) This woman existed. Jane Dieulafoy, nineteenth century archaelogist, explorer, sharpshooter, writer, soldier and officially licensed cross-dresser.
4) Some Bolivian detectives use magic skulls to help with their investigations. (Also quite an intimidating presence during interrogations, apparently.)
Then there was the fiercely contested Dalekdrome!
Sadly, the technically impressive ‘Telepresence Dalek’ fell foul of the seesaw, and never finished the course.
The ‘Malek’ did better, but the weight of the baby dalek in the papoose was a little too much for her to manage the ramps.
The winner, chasing through the course with reckless panache, was ‘Davros, Wiper and Exterminator of the Daleks’! (It was also considered by judge Herr Doktor to be the most aesthetically pleasing.)
Needless to say, all daleks who completed the course dealt with the wooden stairs by pushing them contemptously off the edge of the table…
On Sunday afternoon, the BSFA Award ceremony was held in the Discovery hall. Cuckoo Song didn’t win Best Novel, but I am still deeply honoured to have been on such a strong shortlist. Thanks to everyone who voted for me, and congratulations to the winners!
Finally I had a very enjoyable and relaxed Kaffeeklatsch, with a group who put up with my attempts to force-feed them biscuits and creme eggs. We discussed my current project (an adult urban fantasy), the ‘Knowledge’, post-mortem photography, the changing book world, etc.
All in all, a lovely convention, during which I encountered so many friends I lost count. Many thanks to the organisers for finding room for me in the programme!
Anyone coming to Eastercon?
The 66th British National Science Fiction Convention, otherwise known as Eastercon, will take place this weekend (3rd-6th April) at the Park Inn Hotel, Heathrow. This year the con has taken the name Dysprosium, an element that appears to be used in nuclear reactors. I’m sure we shouldn’t let that worry us at all.
In case anybody is interested, I will be at large at Eastercon/Dysprosium. Here is my schedule:
Friday 3rd April, 18:45, Endeavour Room
Panel: A Maturing Readership – Young Adult Fiction
What makes us grow out of young adult fiction? But if we do grow out of it, why do so many adults prefer it? And if we are moving on from young adult fiction, what are we moving on towards? Or what should we be moving on towards? Or is the whole concept just a new form of snobbery?
Panellists: Emjay Ameringen, Peadar O’Guilin, Frances Hardinge.
Sunday 3rd April, 17:30, Discovery Room
The BSFA Award ceremony. Since Cuckoo Song is on the shortlist for the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel, I will be there with my fingers crossed. Needless to say, gifts of consolatory or congratulatory drinks will be quite welcome. And immediately afterwards…
Sunday 3rd April, 18.45-20.00, Armstrong Room
Loncon3
The World Science Fiction Convention is nomadic, descending each year upon a different unsuspecting city like a benign but unpredictable mothership. This year it was London that found itself overshadowed by the con’s intergalactic bulk, and bathed in an eerie, blu-ish glow.
Well, it took over the ExCel centre in London Docklands anyway.
Over five days, the convention featured over a thousand programme items – panels, workshops, interviews, lectures, plays, games, parties, concerts, film and TV screenings, dances, science talks and a great costume competition on the Saturday evening.
I was on four panels, the first of which was Fallen London: Recreating London in Games, moderated by Christi Scarborough and featuring Jonathan Green and Kate Nepveu. We talked about London’s rich history, and the fact that so many London-themed games were set in the Victorian period. (A good writeup of the panel by Kate Nepveu can be found here.)
My second panel was You Write Pretty, in which we each chose a sentence from a fantastical work, and had to convince the audience that our choice was the best of the bunch. Greer Gilman chose a quote from Andrew Marvel’s The Garden, EJ Swift picked a sentence from Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and Christopher Priest took a line from Robert Sheckley’s The Specialist. The audience ultimately voted in favour of my quote from Jabberwocky, but I suspect that had more to do with Lewis Carroll than my arguments.
Where is the YA Humour was my third panel, with co-panelists Gail Carriger, John Hemry and Jody Lynn Nye, and moderator Suzanne McLeod. Our answer to the title question: ‘There’s quite a lot of YA humour actually, you just have to look further than The Hunger Games.’ (In other news, Gail Carriger wears excellent hats, and John Hemry owns a tribble.)
My last panel, The Education and Training of a Young Protagonist, featured Zen Cho, John Hemry and Gail Carriger, with David Luckett as moderator. We discussed virtual schools, boarding schools for “gifted” children, combat training, tailoring education to the metaphysic and whether classrooms and teachers would still have a place in the schools of the future.
I also gave a reading of extracts from Cuckoo Song and A Face Like Glass, and hosted a Kaffeeklatsch, which roughly translates to “hour-long natter over tea”. And in this case, biscuits. Lots of biscuits.
My spare time was spent roaming around and admiring people’s costumes and the displays in the Exhibit Hall.
Here’s “Jolie” the robot dog, who can speak Japanese, Spanish and English, and who sulks if she’s carried in a holdall or not given her bone toy.
Pigeon Simulator! It detects your motions, and by flapping your arms you can soar, swoop and bank, while the big screen gives you your pigeon’s-eye-view.
It’s possible that I now own more steampunk goggles than I did…
