Very belated fannish Friday Five

[altariel]

1. What celebrity would turn you into a complete and utter fangirl/fanboy if you met them in person?

Well, Tanith Lee, it transpires (see question 5). Bujold, I imagine.


2. What is the MOST fannish thing you have on public display in your home? In your office?

I suppose, if I were pressed to choose, I would say that the most fannish thing in the house is the full-size Dalek in the living room. My office (bear in mind I work at home) is full of fannish things. I'm particularly fond of the CyberMen screensaver which I've printed out and stuck on the wall.


3. What is the most public space you've read fic? Did anyone notice?

On the train? On the bus? Starbucks? All places where I write fanfic too. No, nobody noticed, no-one ever pays me any attention. There's a photo of my first encounter with slash, reading a zine on a train to Worthing, with a thoroughly priceless expression.


4. What is your most embarrassing moment when you had to explain something fannish to a mundane?

I've always been perfectly frank about fannishness. I'm sure other people have been embarrassed on my behalf, but I appear to be entirely free from shame. I guess I'd say appearing in Varsity under a headline which amounted to Altariel Is Sad: It's Official - but I then spent the following week having people come up to me and telling me how cool Blake's 7 was and being nice to me. Ah, that fifteen minutes of fame.

My most embarrassing fannish moment amongst fans was when I showed Our Man, Bashir to some friends and admitted I nearly hadn't shown it to them because "I wasn't sure whether it counted as slashy." Yes, they mocked.


5. Name a fannish moment for which you wish you could have a "do over" and fix.

I was excruciatingly fannish when I met Tanith Lee earlier in the year, gushing like a fool and thanking her for writing Sarcophagus. Smooth, huh?

Comments

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Did someone set you up with some slash and then snap a photo, or was the photo-taking a coincidence?

I confess - the photo was a reconstruction of an expression I'd involuntarily produced about a minute earlier. It was decided it shouldn't be lost for posterity.


Our Man Bashir, eh? I think that counts as slashy. :0)

This is what people keep on telling me! Really, I am the most stupid person alive sometimes.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

I was excruciatingly fannish when I met Tanith Lee earlier in the year, gushing like a fool and thanking her for writing Sarcophagus. Smooth, huh?

I think it's inevitable with slash B7 fans. I did something very similar at the same con. I mean, Sarcophagus. Vila huddled on the floor and alien in Cally's body saying he'll make an ideal pet. Oh, yes.

The fannish moment I wish I could do over is meeting Samuel R. Delany in 1995 at the Glasgow Worldcon and failing entirely to tell him everything I'd loved about his writing over the past 10 years.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I did something very similar at the same con. I mean, Sarcophagus.

This was my thing exactly: "Sarcophagus. You wrote it. Thank you!"


The fannish moment I wish I could do over is meeting Samuel R. Delany in 1995 at the Glasgow Worldcon and failing entirely to tell him everything I'd loved about his writing over the past 10 years.

I guess there are worse things to do to a writer than to go up to them and say that you loved something they've written. But goddamn it's scary.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

The thing is, I wanted to do it. Tell him how much I loved Sand and Neveryon and "Time, like a helix", and all of that. But I had the chance and I just froze. I couldn't say anything. I really, really regret that.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I love those limericks, they're absolutely hilarious. I'll check out QG later on - my reward for getting some work done today!

[trixieleitz]

Smooth, huh?

Especially as it was on a stage, in front of a large room full of people, all of whom were focused on you both at the time.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I thought at least I managed to keep the gush until it was just me and her.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Wendy Cope has another very funny Eliot pastiche in the same book as the limericks (Making Cocoa For Kingsley Amis) - Eliot's version of Hickory, Dickory Dock.

I like this Waste Land parody too, particularly the beginning:

Spring's a lousy time, reviving
Heart-throbs one thought had been forgotten.
But life is like that, bloody
Awful when you stop to think about it.
Crawling, fog-bound, over London Bridge,
Going for a picnic up the Thames,
Stopping for a quick one in a pub,
Seducing a typist in a flat,
Tout c'est la même chose. La vie, c'est terrible.
Da.
Damn.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There was a writer I greatly admired (used extensively in my thesis) that I found out (when starting work on it) was still alive, aged 99. I stupidly put off writing to him, and he died last year at 102. I should have taken the chance and just written to him, but couldn't summon up the nerve. As is said in Sarcophagus, "Regret is part of being alive..."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Remark the mouse...

There's a link somewhere on this LJ to a Vogon Poetry Generator...

[trixieleitz]

I'm fairly sure I remember you saying it. But it has been nearly seven months. Maybe another Redemption-goer has a better memory than me.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Trust me, the moment is burned on my mind - it was right after the panel ended. You might have been standing right behind me. Perhaps I gushed at the start of the panel, but the brain is doing the 'Protect! Protect!' thing.

[manna]

I was excruciatingly fannish when I met Tanith Lee earlier in the year, gushing like a fool and thanking her for writing Sarcophagus. Smooth, huh?

I was stewarding right at the beginning of the con. Before Tanith Lee had picked up her badge. No, I didn't recognise her. Yes, I stopped her and asked if she had a badge. Yes, she was very nice about it, even though it forced her to have to say, "But I'm Tanith Lee!"

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Well, despite us both, she did seem to enjoy herself! :-D

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

1. What celebrity would turn you into a complete and utter fangirl/fanboy if you met them in person?

Well, Tanith Lee, it transpires (see question 5). Bujold, I imagine.

What about LeGuin and Engdahl?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, I never thought of them. Engdahl I managed to hold a decent non-squeeing email exchange with. The thought of Communicating with Leguin makes the heart flutter.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Now that's a good take on it - even if I did babble like a fool, at least I got to say hello to her! :-)

Hello to you too! Please do friend me, and I'll do the same, if I may?