WorldCon, Part 2

Note: In most cases, I've added the lists of panelists from the program book, not from my notes.

2006 Aug. 25, Friday

* I got up at 06:40 and took a shower; I then had a breakfast of coffee and a danish pastry in the hotel lobby, returning to my room for morning gongyo. At 09:10 I got in touch with SS.

* At 10:00 I attended panel 390 on religion in SF books and movies. The panelists were Fr. JOhn Blaker (M), John Maddox Roberts, Dr. Bob Blackwood, Robert Charles Wilson, and Randy Smith. It was mostly concerned with Christianity and to a lesser extent, discussion of movies prevailed.

* At 11:30 I attended the "Forgotten Favorites" panel, with Amy Thomson (amy_thomson) and Rachel Manija Brown (rachelmanija), both of whose readings I would go to later on, and Garth Nix. Two other panelists didn't show up.

* I went to IHOP for lunch at 12:40. I got their best waiter, it seems. I had the chicken breast sandwich.

* I attended the Ann McCaffrey event at 14:30.

* At 16:00 I attended panel 566 on whether Magazines are Flourishing Or Withering Away, featuring editors Gordon Van Gelder, Bridget McKenna, Scott Edelman, Kevin Standlee, and Ellen Datlow (M) (except I think there was a substitution). During this event, I discovered that I had lost my comb and one of my room keys.

* The final panel of the day, Creating Languages, was the one I had most looked forward to. It started at 17:30. Unfortunately there were too many authors there rather than language creators and too much joking rather than discussion of SF languages. The panelists listed were Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen, Vernor Vinge, Rudy Rucker, Harry Harrison, and Lorien Gray (M).

* At 19:00, I went to the hospitality suite to eat. I skipped the masquerade for some reason and eventually went back to the hotel, did evening gongyo and went to sleep.

WorldCon, Part 3

Note: In most cases, I've added the lists of panelists from the program book, not from my notes.

2006 Aug. 26, Saturday

* At some point, I got up and did evening gongyo, which I had skipped the night before, before taking a shower. I had a breakfast of orange juice, coffee, and pastry in the hotel lobby, going back to my room for morning gongyo at 08:40.

* At 10:00, I attended Amy Thomson's reading; it was the second time I heard her read, the first being at Norwescon last year. She read from Nomad, her novel-in-progress, using a different section than she had read before. I bought a copy of The Color of Distance and got it autographed. I might mention here that before Norwescon, I don't recall ever even hearing of her before -- I went to her reading because it shared the hour with Yoon Ha Lee's reading.

* At 11:30, I went to panel 705: the Rise of Theocracy, after a detour to the hospitality suite. I noted a couple of panel quotes: "Conscience trumps doctrine" and "Every text must be interpreted". Unfortunately, I didn't note who said what. The panelists listed were Howard V. Hendrix (M), Mike Shepherd Moscoe, Robert Charles Wilson, and Randy Smith.

* I attended the Harlan Ellison event at 13:00, possibly the last time for such, since HE announced HE's not going to any more conventions.

* At 14:30 I attended panel 799: The Works of Connie Willis. The panelists were Nancy Kress, Robert Silverberg, Kim Stanley Robinson, Gardner Dozois (M), and Pat Cadigan. This was more an entertainment than a serious literary discussion. Connie herself attended. Afterwards, I spoke to Nancy Kress, who's a friend of Sally Caves.

* I finally met briefly with SS at 15:40 in the Hilton lobby before going to Rachel Manija Brown's reading by way of the hospitality suite. The reading, from her autobiography, was short due to her being booked in two places at once. It was a dire warning about what can happen when psych meds are discarded.

* I had green tea with SS in the bar. The Hour with Frederik Pohl was cancelled to my great disappointment, so I went back to the bar and had water to accompany SS's port. I rather regret being so virtuous with regard to drinking. SS was working on her conlang dictionary and had a large stack of pages she was checking off. Then we went to the adjoining sushi bar with seven of her old friends. At 19:50 four of us went to the Hugo Awards ceremony.

* SS got invited to a party, so I went to the hospitality suite. Forrest J. Ackerman, who was at the first convention, was there. At 23:15 I went back to my hotel and started reading The Color of Distance.