altariel | Eastercon 2012

So, Eastercon. Best yet, IMHO. I know there's been controversy about the awards speeches culminating in resignations from the BSFA and that's a real shame. But my sense while I was there was that this was the most diverse and inclusive Eastercon has been (ever? certainly that I've attended), and I got a real sense that the community is at last reflecting on these issues and trying to gain forward momentum. That the conversation is happening. The Guardian thought so too.

(FWIW, I nearly gave up on science fiction fandom a couple of years ago. This Eastercon has gone a long way to stopping me doing that. Although I'm still curious to discover this parallel world of YA dystopia writing that apparently exists...)

My two panels ("Is Doctor Who science fiction?" and "Relative Dimensions: the limits of Doctor Who") seemed to go well and I certainly enjoyed showing off. The latter panel took some serious turns when we discussed where the Doctor would never visit (for example, slave ships and concentration camps), and I hope we handled this respectfully and sensitively. I need to reflect on this more.

Highlights for me: the panel on the breathtakingly prolific Naomi Mitchison, and the opportunity to handle some gorgeous first editions of her works, particularly To The Chapel Perilous, with its lovely Pauline Baynes cover. I wish that panel had lasted another hour! (Those who were at the panel or know the writer might be amused to know that when I popped into a local s/hand bookshop to ask whether they had anything by her, I was asked, "What did she publish?" Where should I start?!) One of the panellists, Lesley A Hall, gave a terrific George Hay lecture: "Invisible Women: Scientists Women Don't See", which you can watch on Ustream here.

There are several other panels, GoH readings, etc available on the Eastercon Ustream channel, and I gather the panel on the Nature of Heroism is worth watching, particularly for Tricia Sullivan's contributions. Also, don't miss the amazing film of motion captures from the ISS, In orbit above the blue marble.

I was restrained about book buying as we've recently culled ~600 books in our recent house move, and I can't quite justify overloading already full shelves in the new place. But I did get two Women's Press SF books, which I'm currently collecting: A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski and Letters from Home, short stories by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Cadigan and Pat Murphy. Also my two contributor's copies of Dark Currents.

I also allowed myself a couple of books on Kindle: I'm now about two-thirds through Among Others by Jo Walton (and thinking thinky-thoughts about it in relation to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz). I also bought Empire State by Adam Christopher, who impressed me in a panel on "The Death of the Author", about shared world anthologies, fanfiction, transformative works, etc. The publishers of Empire State have opened up the universe to fan writers, with a view to commissioning short stories for an anthology based on the world. More here and here. I sometimes find fanfic panels at Eastercon a bit irregularly verbed ("I write transformative works; you scribble retellings; she churns out that sparkly nonsense"), so it was refreshing to hear a writer like Adam Christopher being robust about the idea, and happily recounting how his first story was published in a small New Zealand Doctor Who fanzine.

Finally, I gather that George RR Martin was in the building. I know him only as the man who stopped my last Doctor Who book from entering the top ten bestseller list but I'm sure he's lovely and writes very nicely. I had the distinct impression, as ever, that there were several conventions happening at once all around me and I hope that everyone at the Game of Thrones convention had a smashing time! And even I couldn't resist getting the obligatory photo taken on the throne: thank you,