CONvergence - Day One

[lydamorehouse]

Wow, that registration line, huh?

Holy cow!

I was one of the lucky ones, as a panel participant and a former GoH, I got to stand in the "expedited" line. This meant I only waited a half hour to get badged. I last heard that the going rate for regular con attendees (of which, btw, this year hit 7,000) was FOUR HOURS. I saw volunteers running up and down along the lines making sure people had cool water and snacks if they needed one, because while I was waiting someone fainted... at least I presume so from the term "medical emergency."

I'm not sure why the wait was so long. The badges weren't pre-printed which may have been part of it. I think, perhaps, too, that the number of people who turned up on the 4th of July was unexpected. It's possible that the concom didn't quite anticipate the logistics of lots and lots of people with the day off work (and likely to want to register today rather than tomorrow, when they very likely have to go back to work...) I'm not sure CONvergence has actually ever started on the 4th before.

I should say that I think the volunteers and staff were working overtime to make things right. It's just that everyone showed up kind of at once, which is unusual. Mostly people trickle in over the day. But, I came right about when the con started and there were already lines.

But, the nice thing about standing in line for a while is that you see a lot of people passing by. I got a chance to hang out with jiawen and catch up a little with her. I chatted with Aaron Vander Giessen I also got to see Sigid Ellis for a few moments. Had enough time to start a feud with Birdchick Sharon Stiteler, and get to my first panel... which I had honestly not been looking forward to. I'd been making faces in the hallway about the dumbness of the title: "Books I Hate That Everyone Else Loves." I was expecting my contribution to go like this: "Lord of the Rings. Never finished it. Thought it was dull, dull, dull" cue: angry fan mob, the end.

But I'd forgotten how wonderful my fellow panelists were. Will Alexander is always a treat as is David Schwartz. So, we managed to make the panel fun (and I hope) interesting. Probably the best moment was when one of the panelists (whom I shall not name to protect his or her livelihood) mentioned that he or she disliked AMERICAN GODS. After I high-fived them, I noticed a DEADLY silence in the audience. You dare! The sacred Neil Gaiman may not be dissed! (Never mind that earlier someone in the audience admitted to hating on LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula LeGuin.) I really actually thought that the audience might turn on us at that point. We had to quick make a joke and get back to books by other people that had failed us.

We never managed to actually discuss, more than in passing, what makes a book get on this list. I think Will Alexander brought up the idea that often books that are "hated" were once loved, but they turned some unforgivable corner. The author made us feel manipulated (as in ENDER'S GAME) or otherwise betrayed the contract with the reader (Sheri S. Tepper's FAMILY TREE). We also talked a lot about books we loved when we were twelve that horrified us when we returned to them as experienced, better informed readers (Anne McCaffery's DRAGONRIDER OF PERN) or books that turned us off with repulsive, unredeemed characters (Stephen R. Donaldson's LORD FOUL'S BANE.) I also confessed to bouncing off the first Harry Potter book because it had read too much like wish fulfillment to me. That lead to books that everyone loved (ie were bestsellers) that we found sort of mundanely or even poorly written, (cue the usual suspects, ala Stephen King).

I'm not sure the discussion was deep, but it was interesting. People bounce off books for lots of reasons. We even briefly discussed the fact that some books don't work for us the first time, but we find we can read when we're in the "right mood" for them.

Also... in breaking news, a surprising amount of classics don't work for SF/F people. (I actually long knew this. I got an English major, after all, and we read no SF/F, despite the fact we could have read Frankenstein or anything by HG Wells.)

I then followed Dave and Will to the programming participant's gathering in the bar, but I had to bail early tonight because last year we missed fireworks because I was a GoH and didn't quite get the message from my family that THIS WAS IMPORTANT, and thus, partied, while my son sobbed, which made me a VERY BAD PARENT. Thus, this year, I promised a dozen times that I would NOT miss this. In fact, we're going to head out super-early to get a good seat. So I'll be leaving in about a half hour.

Anyway, I'm hopeful that the con will be a good one this year. It's shaping up well so far.

Comments

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

Ah, opinions on books. Here we go. :D

I adored Lord of the Rings because of the prose, and bounced straight out of Game of Thrones because of the prose. I have no idea why that should be. American versus British turgid perhaps? Also, with Game of Thrones, I couldn't get away from Martin. He loomed between me and the story and I could see the characters past him. Strange feeling, but there you go.

I've never read American Gods, and feel guilty about it. I think I've read Left Hand of Darkness, but I don't remember it, which is extremely unusual for me, and also makes me feel guilty.

I've never read Ender's Game, now probably never will. And still go back to Dragonriders when I need a fix of nostalgia, though these days it makes my toes curl in a not so good way. (It was the first book I bought with my own money after I got a weekend job as a teen.) Family Tree broke the contract? *thinks* Damn, I'm gonna have to go reread it 'cause I don't remember. Which probably says a lot actually. There were animals riding on humans? Yeah, didn't make a huge impression that one. Though if we're talking reader contract and breaking it, I have NEVER recovered from Narnia. I felt betrayed and befouled at the end of that. At age 13 I learned the hard lesson of not trusting the god squad, they're a sneaky lot.

Harry Potter - she world-builds like a mofo and needs a better editor. Stephen King wrote too many books too quickly and got formulaic - and also needed a better editor. Red pens to the rescue!

I adored Donaldson's Bane series despite the anti-hero. When I first read it I thought it said some really profound things about the human condition, though in my defence I was 15 and angtsy. Not sure what I'd make of them now, though I did take the time to rebuild the series on my bookshelves when I saw them around second hand.

Animal Farm and Brave New World. Classic, SF/F, absolutely freaking brilliant. Must reads for everyone, imo. 1984 was okay, but not as good as Animal Farm which kept me riveted first to last. Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide series. Perfect. Clever, funny, surreal, and endlessly giving.

There you go, my penny's worth. :D Hope your family firework viewing went well, and enjoy the rest of the con.



ETA: And Pratchett! How could I forget my hero, Granny Weatherwax, or Nanny Ogg with her inability to stop spelling bananananana...

[lydamorehouse]

I should say that GAME OF THRONES did come up. I haven't read it, but when a panelist mentioned it, the audience cheered. Apparently, you're VERY NOT ALONE in disliking that "beloved" book. I wonder, though, if some of that is overexposure. We didn't even bother to go down the list of the other usual suspects who kind of got a lot of hate because of overexposure and not being well written. (No one even bothered to mention 50 SHADES OF GRAY or TWILIGHT, for instance. I think we assumed no one in the audience of hard-core SF readers ever loved those books.)

NAME OF THE WIND by Pat Rothfuss got a bit of hate from the audience, though I hadn't read it and the panelists seemed to feel it was "meh"-worthy rather than hate-able.

I also loved DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN the entire series. I drew my first fan art for it, and I admitted on the panel that it was also, for me, one of my first real loves. I can still tell you the first page F'lar is described (78.) But this isn't the first time that I've heard it argued that Anne McCaffery really maybe wasn't as much of a feminist that we all remembered and that the dragons mating scenes could be read as rape. This is actually why I've vowed to never re-read those books as an adult. I'm afraid I'll stop loving them and that would be a shame.

FAMILY MATTERS is the one (and I could have put this under a spoiler cut, but since it's in the comments I'll just say) where the heroes all turn out to be animals. That kind of switcheroo made a lot of readers get whiplash in less of a "oh, cool surprise!" way as "WTF, I quit!" I was intrigued to learn yesterday that Sheri S. Tepper has her own entry in TV tropes because SHE USES SO MANY OF THEM (and it is argued uses them badly).

And, yeah, all the SF classics are brilliant. I loved 1984 and Animal Farm, but I was never assigned them in class. No one on the panel or in the audience hated on any of those. (Though two people agreed that the FOUNDATION series by Asimov was a huge disappointment, though maybe not hate-worthy.) When I said "classics," I meant we were mostly discussing books like EMMA or GREAT EXPECTATIONS that are good, but didn't hit a lot of SF people because... well, not SF. I mean, no one was saying these weren't great books, just that, no surprise, for SF people, they didn't always make our heart soar the way they did for most other people.

Another thing I didn't mention that we discussed that I found really interesting was that sometimes a single detail can kill an entire book. I can't remember the books people had brought up that fit that category because most of them were ones I hadn't read. But, writer beware, eh?

(I also haven't read AMERICAN GODS, but Shawn had. She mostly left that book the way she leaves most of Gaiman's novel efforts, with a "meh" rather than strong feelings one way or another. She and I were a huge fans of Gaiman's comic books, however, and sometimes I think that it's hard to read a different format, you know? I didn't like Chris Claremont's books much either, but I loved his run at the helm of X-Men.)

[empty-mirrors.livejournal.com]

Dragonriders mating scenes = Aliens made them do it, or sex pollen trope. This is my excuse and how I get past it.

Family Tree: I remember! That was breaking the reader contract??? I thought I'd forgotten something else. But-but that was novel and interesting and about the only thing the tale had going for it! How do the heroes being animals break the reader contract? Did no one ever read Winnie the Pooh or Beatrix Potter as kids? *wanders off mumbling about stupid readers*

I have never read the Foundation series. I am a poor excuse for an SF fan. :(

On the detail thing - Yeah, I've had that happen to me, though like you I can't remember an example off the top of my head.

The only real 'classics' I bounced off in a huge way were Dickens. I just can't read him. No idea why, but it just doesn't work. He puts me straight to sleep. Which is annoying because I feel I should read him. I loved the musical for Oliver :D

[lydamorehouse]

You're a poor excuse for an SF fan? I had to _start_ the panel admitting I'D NEVER FINISHED THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

:-)

But, I haven't read the FOUNDATION series either. I've read some Asimov short stories, but not any of his novels. So, we suck together in our fannish cred.

I often hate it when I get picked to be on a book panel like this, because I feel like I always get showed up as woefully under read. But, I tend to make up for it by having strong FEELINGS about the books I did read, like the HUNGER GAMES trilogy came up and I could have spent the entire allotted hour discussing what bugged me about that series. (I did freak out the audience, however, by admitting that I refused to see the movie because the whole point of that book was how disgusting it is to pay to watch kids kill each other, so why would I spend $7 to watch kids kill each other!!???)

I think the issue people had with FAMILY TREE was they _they felt_ that the talking animals weren't well telegraphed. You maybe picked up on clues that most readers didn't, is all. So you can go off muttering justifiably. I had a similar experience, not with FAMILY TREE, but another book where the surprise ending was that the pov characters were aliens. I kinda-sorta saw that coming, but I ended up with a "ripped off" feeling rather than an "Ah HA!" one that I'm sure the author had intended. I can't remember the title of that book its author, unfortunately, though I might be able to find it if I search the archives here, because I think I ranted about it when I read it.

This is where it all becomes subjective, you know? Gene Wolfe came up because, apparently, he has a tendency to pull rugs out from under readers. Will (I think) said that Wolfe didn't bother him because he anticipated that move, so it ultimately was part of the fun of the book, rather than a bother. That's one of those "tricks" that can either backfire or work. But, again, it's interesting in terms of "writer beware" things, I think.