Jim C. Hines has an excellent post on his blog about sexual harassment at cons and what can be done; you can read it here. He has some very sensible suggestions.

I would like to add one more suggestion.

I call upon con committees to take on sexual harassment in a proactive way by clarifying what it is and that it will NOT be tolerated at their conventions. They can communicate this on their websites and in their programs, which often have rules of behavior anyway. Yes, this is a bummer. A convention is supposed to be a great time for fans and authors, and nobody wants to think about this stuff. On the other hand, no one needs to be intruded upon, harassed, made to feel uncomfortable, or actively threatened at a convention. Since it’s such an issue, it needs to be addressed.

These episodes are not rare occurrences. They happen often enough that a lot of authors and fans have the same story. There are repeat offenders. And while the stereotype of the congoer is of the socially maladjusted male, I cry bullshit on that. Harassers and predators know exactly what they are doing.

So if cons make it explicitly clear that harassment will not be tolerated and offenders will not be given a second chance but will be removed immediately, I think it will go a long way to making sure that cons are fun and welcome for everyone.

Yes, there are going to be gray areas. Where human intersects with human, there always are. I trust that we can work through the gray areas to come to the truth of a situation.

I love cons. I love fans. I love how smart attendees are, how interesting, and how funny. I just want everyone to enjoy their experience without weird sexual power-tripping going on.

To those who borrow this book: If you don’t return it to Patrice, your hard drive will crash, losing the last two hours work on your project, which were the best thing you’d ever done. Also, your e-reader will fall off the counter into the toilet. And your cat will throw up in your favorite shoes. So just save yourself the trouble and RETURN THE BOOK. Sincerely, The Author

The aforementioned book curse was by Emma Bull, who so inscribed my new edition of War for the Oaks. I had loaned a previous copy to a friend, who moved out of state with it.

This was a high point of a con with with many high points. I know that crests imply troughs, but seriously, there were very few of those. Everywhere I went I heard people praising the programming and the panels. Truly one of the best literary science fiction conventions in the US, not just in Texas.

It does an author good to have people at his or her reading, and mine was nicely attended. I read the first two chapters of Miss Bennet, and then a bit from the middle section of Lady of Temia, and people laughed at the funny bits. I decided not to do the book signing, because while I love sitting and chatting with my author friends, I also wanted to see some more panels, so I went to the one on Imagining the World without Fossil Fuel. Matthew Bey rode up on his bike and it was a great visual. Thought-provoking panel with great back and forth among audience and many salient points. Also, I got to hear Martha Wells read from the second book in the Cloud Roads series (Books of the Raksura I believe is the official series title). Have I mentioned that if you love fantasy you need to read her books? You need to read her books.

The guest of honor interview with Paolo Bacigalupi went very well. I like an interview subject who loves to talk, and entertainingly and intelligently so. Paolo gives great interview. It was fun and absorbing and a lot of people said they enjoyed it. If I had thought ahead I might have seen about recording it, but oh well. If you get a chance to see Paolo at a convention or elsewhere, take it. He is thoughtful and engaging. I really enjoyed his follow up to Ship Breaker, called The Drowned Cities, which he read from on Sunday and I’m looking forward to that book when it comes out next May.

Likewise the panel of Strong Female Protagonists, which had insightful commentary from all the panelists, but especially Amanda Downum, who had thoughtful things to say about the fallacy of Writing the Other  — women and men are not necessarily the Other. And thinking of women as being somehow Other (or men, for that matter) is, well, demeaning.

The agent panel with Kimberly Frost was interesting and absorbing. Aspiring writers may think they desperately need an agent, or they may be troubled by the idea of having to think about the business side of writing. However, being informed and armed with proper information better enables a writer to navigate their career and achieve their goals. Be informed, people.

The WisCon panel, which discussed the disinvitation of Elizabeth Moon as Guest of Honor, was ably moderated by Emma Bull, but I am conflicted about some of the conclusions drawn by the panel, and even exactly why it had to be discussed. I’ve made my feelings clear here, and certainly don’t think shutting down discourse ever serves any purpose, but…I will process my inchoate impressions into cogent thought and discuss further in a single blog post.

A wonderful little surprise was a short film by Jessica Gardner based on William Browning Spencer’s short story, “A Child’s Christmas in Florida.” The film transferred the story to Texas, and it was lovely and heartwarming, and truly deeply weird. If you get a chance to see it at a film festival or other source, do. Extraordinary.

On Sunday, I was treated to Jessica Reisman‘s reading from her new novel, then put myself on the Guns in SF/F panel on account of researching and learning how to shoot for the gunrunning subplot of Gordath Wood, and then, even though I was scheduled to moderate the Learning to Write panel, I made everyone from that panel go to Emma Bull’s reading instead, on the grounds that we can TELL you all about books and writing classes, but the best way to learn to write is to learn from the masters. Emma Bull read from Claim, her sequel to Territory, and then talked about researching Territory and the shootout at OK Corral and the politics of the old West, and how they resonate in our psyche. Good stuff.

Excellent meals, marvelous parties, a wonderful mai-tai at Mark Finn’s party that I had to leave unfinished or I would be unfit to drive home. Good friends, good conversation, books, and more. I love my ArmadilloCon!

ArmadilloCon Program

Here’s what I’m doing:

FRIDAY 9 am to 4 pm. Writer’s Workshop

SATURDAY

10:30. Reading. I’ll read from Miss Bennet. Will I manage to not speak in an English accent? This could be … interesting. In the Chinese sense of the word.

11:00 am. Signing.

3:00 pm. Guest of Honor interview with Paolo Bacigalupi. Will try not to fan girl too much.

7:00 pm. What do agents do and are they worth their fees? Oh, hollow laugh indeed.

SUNDAY

Noon. Learning to Write. Recommended Books and Classes. We should just do boot camp again. That was fun.

There are a lot of good panels and it looks like this is going to be fun, so if you are in Austin at the end of August, drop by and say hi.

The bookfairy made an appearance at Apollo Con.

This year the theme at Apollo Con, or at least the track I did, was young adults. I was on several panels about YA. The first, YA heroines, ended up being about Twilight and why Bella was too passive and too self-sacrificing to be a good role model. Among other complaints. One of the audience members pointed out that we would consider a self-sacrificing man to be a hero, so why couldn’t we consider Bella heroic? Jeanne Gomoll, the fan guest of honor and an all-around neat and interesting person, responded that Bella’s self-sacrifice only served to put the people around her in danger. I went further and said that the behavior could be a kind of self-loathing.

The YA Depravity or Reality panel delved into the Wall Street Journal review and was involved and engaging. I played devil’s advocate a bit and discussed how the reviewer had a point, although perhaps had she read through the books she held up as bad examples, she would have realized they weren’t all about the shock value. For instance, the reviewer talked about the inciting event in shine, by Lauren Myracle, which I read courtesy of my sister the librarian. Had the reviewer finished the book, she would have realized that there was redemption at the end, that the ending was hopeful.

However, as I pointed out, by normalizing some aberrant behavior, we do risk making it acceptable, as in the pro-ana Websites which are support groups for teens with eating disorders, but they often teach teens the “tricks” of anorexia, and are a how-to for what is deadly behavior.

As my fellow panelists pointed out, though, a teen who believes they are alone in their feelings and behavior may feel a sense of relief when they read a book about someone just like them who survives and overcomes their depression or sickness or such.

This year the next generation was well-represented, which is necessary for fandom to grow.

I was also on a panel about how to create the next generation of fans, and essentially we must continue to suggest books and movies to our kids, but also make conventions more young adult friendly, to bring in kids with programming they want to take part in. At Aggie Con, you feel the energy of the convention because it’s all young people, some still in their teens, and the convention is all about the changing guard of fandom.

Finally, I was also on a panel about how to revive science and math education in Texas. We are up against it, folks, and the discussion was fast-moving, thoughtful, and varied, and basically the panelists and the audiences finished up with a mandate to go forth and start causing a ruckus with our local school boards. This is too important to leave to people who frankly are frightened of science. I have nothing against faith and people of faith, but science and religion can co-exist, it has for centuries, and we must continue to stand firm against the forces of that would return us to the dark ages.

The writers workshop.

The writer’s workshop on Saturday was small, with only two workshoppers and two auditors, who didn’t have stories to be critiqued but who came for the discussion. I was able to give the students plenty of attention and I think they got a lot out of it. We talked about editors, markets, the editing process, etc. One of the things that surprised me was how isolated people can be if they live in small towns in Texas, as one of the attendees was. Science fiction and fantasy are still looked at askance in some areas. Cons are great way to let people who maybe are the only ones at work or school interested in science fiction get together with their real community.

I’ll talk about my panels in a later post, but for now wanted to talk about some of the features. The dealer’s room and the art auction are always fantastic, and I bought several books (well, there you go — booksellers are a bunch of pushers, they are): A. Lee Martinez’s Monster, Sharon Shinn‘s Fortune and Fate, and Gail Carriger‘s Soulless. I also bought this lovely figure, who lives in my writing office now:

I was kept pretty busy during the convention, but I made sure I got to go to the panel on Class M planets. Fascinating stuff about what we know about extra-solar planets and what a planet needs for it to be habitable by humans or for life at all. If I had my way it could have gone on for hours. Fantastic discussion, and exactly why I love science fiction conventions — it’s the science.

The masquerade is always great fun, and there were plenty of creative and funny costumes.

From left, Astronaut Stan Love, Paul Abell, Larry Dawson on Class M planets

The Cruellas would be a great name for a band.

Sadly, this time I didn’t get to see any of the movies, and Apollo Con always shows such great features.

The con was a great way to hang out with new friends and old. I enjoyed meeting fan guest Jeanne Gomoll and hope that I get a chance to run into her at another convention elsewhere. Such an interesting and engaging person. I also got to chat with Ann VanderMeer for a bit. I WILL sell another story to Weird Tales. There were the usual suspects from Austin and Houston and points around Texas, and the parties on Saturday night were a blast.

All in all, an excellent convention and I’m already looking forward to next year.

Here’s my schedule (my commentary in parentheses); if you are in the Houston area, hope to see you there.

Friday

6 pm. Out of the Basement: Fan stereotypes (hee!)

9 pm. YA Heroines: The joys of having a spine

Saturday
9 am – noon. Workshop  (yay!)

3 pm. Reading, shared with Rhonda Eudaly

4 pm. Darkness in YA: Depravity or Reality? (they must have read my blog and/or the Wall Street Journal)

Sunday

10 am Left Behind:  The Scientific Wasteland

Noon: The Next Generation: How We Raise Tomorrow’s Fans (I have OPINIONS on this)

So don’t overthink — do a quick spell check, check for length, make sure your formatting is clean and professional, and send in your RTF today!

If you have any questions, e-mail the Workshop Coordinator address on the workshop page, or drop me a line in the comments here.

As for Apollo Con, this is one of the best little cons in Texas, you know. Don’t miss it. Martha Wells is Writer Guest of Honor, and Ann VanderMeer is Editor Guest of Honor. What more can you ask for?

* Guest of Honor: Paolo Bacigalupi
* Special Guests: Emma Bull and Will Shetterly
* Editor Guest: Lou Anders
* Fan Guest: Fred Duarte, Jr.
* Toastmaster: Mark Finn

I’ve been a fan of Emma Bull since War for the Oaks. I read my copy until it fell apart. Got a new one, and gave it to a friend who professed not to read fantasy but who loved it equally as much. (She then absconded to Vermont with the book, but really, who can blame her?)

Paolo Bacigalupi wrote one of my favorite stories of all time, “People of Sand and Slag,” and I promise not to go all fan-girl. Okay, I promise to try not to go all fan-girl. Plus I just learned how to pronounce his last name at AggieCon a few weeks ago. So it’s fate. Or something. I’m already blithering. There’s no hope.

And Mark Finn as toastmaster? Oh this is going to be good.

Seriously, if you are in Central Texas in August, this will be the coolest place to be. I mean that literally, actually, since the hotel is always freezing. But definitely fans should try to make it.

Lots of costumes, lots of steampunk. Small panels, and they weren’t well attended, but that just gave me more opportunity to do things I normally wouldn’t, like check in on the SCA vs. Amtgard demo, or practice watercolors with one of the artists in the art show.

Punks, steam. Lots.

It was swell meeting John Joseph Adams, his fiancee Christy Yant,  and Catherynne Valente and hanging out with the Stauber clan.

Nerds are awesome.

Among the panels I did were Nerd Girls, which devolved into “Nerd Girls, past and present” (you kids have things a lot easier nowadays, because at least you can be smart in math without going all Ophelia on us). Earth building, in which the various approaches were espoused by the panelists. Upshot: Too much gets in the way of the story, too little and you may be missing telling details. Or not. Depends on the style.

The Firefly panel was absorbing and fun, although it took a dangerous tangent in the Civil War, states’ rights, and slavery, but we steered the craft away from those dangerous shoals. Look, it’s not like we’re afraid of controversial topics, but it was 10 am on Sunday. We might not have gotten out of there.

The Firefly panel. Matthew Bey at far left, Catherynne Valente in the center. I didn't get the other panelists' names.

That pretty much recaps the con.  I need to get back to work on GWIII, which I need to start calling by its working title, which is Lady of Temia. Today, that is. It might be Lady of Crows tomorrow.

The mystery panel. From left, me, Lilian, Stephen, Tracy

Excellent time at ConDFW this year. As always, a well-run operation. I had a lot of fun, the panels were informative, con-goers in excellent form (smart, funny, engaging, intelligent, handsome, etc.). Tim Powers and Brandon Sanderson brought the star wattage, along with Brad Foster and Jack McDevitt. How’s that for star power?

Arrived on Friday afternoon, checked in, and got ready for my panels. First up, the movie panel, which was a bogus topic, so the panelists decided to talk about trends in fantasy and science fiction in general. Hanging out and trading opinions with Brandon Sanderson, yay!

Martha Wells and her latest novel, The Cloud Roads

I went to the short story panel to meet up with Michelle Muenzler, and although Michelle and the other panelists are absolutely correct, don’t simsub your short stories, I did pipe up from the audience to say, if you want to live on the edge, go ahead and simsub, if one market is notorious for not responding in a timely fashion. I also related the anecdote of such a market, which shall go nameless, Interzone, which sent me a rejection for a story a year after it already appeared in another magazine. Look, editors — if Gordon Van Gelder can do it, so can you. Stop holding our stories hostage, and everyone will be happier.

Michelle still spoke to me, though, and a few of us went out to dinner at a great Taiwanese restaurant on her recommendation. Stina Leicht and William Ledbetter, wonderful company all con long.

I was on the Talking During Movies MSTK mashup and it was … it could have been fun. But listen, one guy hogged the mike, and his bon mots were pretty lame. Dude, when the only thing you think is funny is that the actress is wearing a leather bikini and all you can talk about is her tits, it’s not funny. There were a lot of things that were funny in the movie. Mark Finn had plenty of great quips. You sir, on the other hand, were drunk, sexist, and not funny. So I bagged out of there, and went to the bar.

Saturday morning was the mystery panel with me, Lilian Stewart Carl, Stephen Patrick, and Tracy Morris. We rocked. I do love mysteries and we talked about our favorites, what makes a good one, and why we like them.

I almost won the spelling bee. Went down on homunculus, dammit. I was one of the cohort who came in second and took home the Tasha Yar action figure. So here’s the difference between me, say, and a true blue fan. I was thinking, hey, I can take her out of the package and bring her to work where she can join my Qui Gon Jinn action figure, my horse figures, and my little guy from the Asterix comics. Then I remembered that my husband wouldn’t let me open the package. So she’s on the bookshelf in the living room, still in the packaging. Stay mint, Tasha. Stay mint.

The creating languages panel was full of smart! Funny! Wonderful! people! In the audience and on the panel. Robert Stikmanz, who has created a language, Jack McDevitt who at first wasn’t sure why he was on the panel but hey! His latest book, Echo, is out and it’s a perfect example of why. And Taylor Anderson, author of The Destroyermen series was also on the panel. I love those books. They are so much fun. And as he pointed out, language is also a function of physiology, and that segued into body language, and how understanding the unspoken language is as important as what is spoken.

I shared a reading time with A. Lee Martinez, which was hilarious, because Alex was cracking his own self up with the excerpt from his novel Monster, so he had all of us laughing. Then I read from GWIII and signed a few books and talked with fans, and heard someone say that the excerpt made them excited for the book, and you know what, that made my day.

Other readings were Stina Leicht from her new book Of Blood and Honey, Martha Wells from her new book The Cloud Roads, Paul Black from a kickass new novel that I think was untitled (the chapter title was Bitchslapped), and Michelle Muenzler from a dark dark fairy story.

Michelle Muenzler, reading from a dark fairy story.

Moonbase vs. Mars -- to infinity and beyond will require very smart people to get us there

I finished up with attending the Moonbase vs Mars Colony panel, and was reminded once again why I love science fiction. Smart people talking about exploring space in very intelligent, exciting and interesting ways. There are people dedicated to establishing humanity on other worlds. These are solvable problems. Hugely difficult, but solvable. The optimism and intellectual curiosity of space enthusiasts is unparalleled. There’s a lot of crap going on in the world. And the message is, science can lead us to great things, science and the spirit of exploration and adventure.

We gotta solve a few things first, but you know, start somewhere.

On Saturday night I fell in with a group of new friends and old, and before you knew it, we had melded into a comfortable group. It seemed as if we all knew one another for a long time. It was a wonderful experience, all too rare, to have that kind of connection with other people. So thanks everyone, from organizers to attendees to panelists, for a wonderful weekend.

Yes, even you, Talking during Movies dude. I’m over it already.