Diversicon 14 – “No Boundaries”
Aug. 15th, 2006 11:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydamorehouseA number of people have surprised me by asking how this convention went, so I thought I should give a little con report. I have to be honest and say that ever since I became a full-time mom, I spend less and less time actually attending local conventions. I was a very bad participant this year and was only at Diversicon for my panels. I didn’t even attend any of the parties after Mason went to sleep.
As Tate (in a cute little black number), I moderated a panel about vampire chick-lit. I thought this discussion went pretty well. We started to try to crack the nut of a question I continually find fascinating, which is, why is this sub-genre so popular *right now*? Vampires seems to come and go in popularity among readers ever since Bram Stoker captured the imagination of Victorian audiences .
Every time the vampire comes back into popularity, he changes. Last time (in the 80s) there was an emphasis on his horror aspects and the introduction of a strong homoerotic subtext/text thanks in large part, of course, to Anne Rice.
In a strange way, this discussion bled into the panel about Feminist Romances. One of the things we discussed is how the chick-lit heroine appeals to a number of women because her undead lover is just that, a lover, not the sole purpose for her existence. Buffy the Vampire Slayer being a good example of a kick-butt heroine for whom the romance, while important (especially in the first couple of seasons), isn’t her end all, be all. And that’s appealing to the modern sensibility. Why this kind of heroine when coupled with a paranormal, undead guy is so utterly fascinating to modern readers we never really decided. I think I may have to propose a panel at a future convention with this narrow focus, because I’d really like to know the answer. If anyone reading this has any ideas, I’d love to hear them!
The other panel Tate was on was Feminist Romance-- is there such a thing/is such a thing possible/what would it look like, if it were? Catherine Lundoff brought in some examples of books she thought qualified. Unfortunately, the only one I can remember is Wen Spenser’s A BROTHER’S PRICE, which I took a certain amount of umbrage with (see earlier post). I had a personal epiphany about that book thanks to this discussion, however, which was, that I would probably have taken it with a wink if it had actually come out from a romance publisher. Because Wen is known as an SF/F author, my expectations about how she “should” have explored gender were different. Romance is allowed to make me giggle; SF/F should make me think.
On Sunday, I attended as Lyda and attended the traditional Lyda panels – the state of GLBT characters in fiction (print and media), and the ubiquitous “Religions in SF” panel. I mostly learned that if I want to find good T characters in print media, I need to look to mystery. Ellen Kuhfeld suggested THE JANUARY CORPSE as well as a number of other mysteries as examples of sensitive portrayals of T characters. She also handed me a list of anime that I need to check out, but, of course, I can’t find that slip of paper right now to share the titles with you.
The religion panel has become the kind of panel I could do in my sleep and since people have calmed down about the fact that people in Fandom are Christians (as well as Jews, Muslims, etc.) it’s never the disaster it has been in the past. (I’ve attended these where mostly the panel consisted of people shouting about which version of God they believed was whole damned elephant, if you know what I’m saying. Whatever.) We never really touched on a question I thought was interesting, which was, “what elements would make a believable made up religion for aliens/a fantasy setting?” Next time, perhaps.
So, that was it.
If I may put in a plug for Diversicon. It’s a good convention – very committed to its mission statement, which is to focus on the diversity in speculative fiction. This year one of the guests of honor was Bryan Thao Worra who is one of the most widely published Loatian-American writers (at least according to his bio in the program book), and I was really disappointed that I didn’t have the time to attend his discussions of two films I’ve seen Gin Gwai (Hong Kong’s original of “The Eye”) and Ju-On (Japan’s original of “The Gruge.”) It’s small, which is both problematic, and a bonus. I rather like smaller conventions because the whole thing starts to feel like one, really long discussion with an intimate group of people. But, on the flip side, it’s hard to draw book dealers because the profit margin is so slim for them. Without book dealers, getting local authors to come is tougher, because we like to know that our books will be there for sale. Dreamhaven attended on Saturday this year, which was nice.
As Tate (in a cute little black number), I moderated a panel about vampire chick-lit. I thought this discussion went pretty well. We started to try to crack the nut of a question I continually find fascinating, which is, why is this sub-genre so popular *right now*? Vampires seems to come and go in popularity among readers ever since Bram Stoker captured the imagination of Victorian audiences .
Every time the vampire comes back into popularity, he changes. Last time (in the 80s) there was an emphasis on his horror aspects and the introduction of a strong homoerotic subtext/text thanks in large part, of course, to Anne Rice.
In a strange way, this discussion bled into the panel about Feminist Romances. One of the things we discussed is how the chick-lit heroine appeals to a number of women because her undead lover is just that, a lover, not the sole purpose for her existence. Buffy the Vampire Slayer being a good example of a kick-butt heroine for whom the romance, while important (especially in the first couple of seasons), isn’t her end all, be all. And that’s appealing to the modern sensibility. Why this kind of heroine when coupled with a paranormal, undead guy is so utterly fascinating to modern readers we never really decided. I think I may have to propose a panel at a future convention with this narrow focus, because I’d really like to know the answer. If anyone reading this has any ideas, I’d love to hear them!
The other panel Tate was on was Feminist Romance-- is there such a thing/is such a thing possible/what would it look like, if it were? Catherine Lundoff brought in some examples of books she thought qualified. Unfortunately, the only one I can remember is Wen Spenser’s A BROTHER’S PRICE, which I took a certain amount of umbrage with (see earlier post). I had a personal epiphany about that book thanks to this discussion, however, which was, that I would probably have taken it with a wink if it had actually come out from a romance publisher. Because Wen is known as an SF/F author, my expectations about how she “should” have explored gender were different. Romance is allowed to make me giggle; SF/F should make me think.
On Sunday, I attended as Lyda and attended the traditional Lyda panels – the state of GLBT characters in fiction (print and media), and the ubiquitous “Religions in SF” panel. I mostly learned that if I want to find good T characters in print media, I need to look to mystery. Ellen Kuhfeld suggested THE JANUARY CORPSE as well as a number of other mysteries as examples of sensitive portrayals of T characters. She also handed me a list of anime that I need to check out, but, of course, I can’t find that slip of paper right now to share the titles with you.
The religion panel has become the kind of panel I could do in my sleep and since people have calmed down about the fact that people in Fandom are Christians (as well as Jews, Muslims, etc.) it’s never the disaster it has been in the past. (I’ve attended these where mostly the panel consisted of people shouting about which version of God they believed was whole damned elephant, if you know what I’m saying. Whatever.) We never really touched on a question I thought was interesting, which was, “what elements would make a believable made up religion for aliens/a fantasy setting?” Next time, perhaps.
So, that was it.
If I may put in a plug for Diversicon. It’s a good convention – very committed to its mission statement, which is to focus on the diversity in speculative fiction. This year one of the guests of honor was Bryan Thao Worra who is one of the most widely published Loatian-American writers (at least according to his bio in the program book), and I was really disappointed that I didn’t have the time to attend his discussions of two films I’ve seen Gin Gwai (Hong Kong’s original of “The Eye”) and Ju-On (Japan’s original of “The Gruge.”) It’s small, which is both problematic, and a bonus. I rather like smaller conventions because the whole thing starts to feel like one, really long discussion with an intimate group of people. But, on the flip side, it’s hard to draw book dealers because the profit margin is so slim for them. Without book dealers, getting local authors to come is tougher, because we like to know that our books will be there for sale. Dreamhaven attended on Saturday this year, which was nice.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 04:39 pm (UTC)I missed most of your panels, alas, since my Irish Water Spaniel (descended from a cross between the now extinct Shannon Spaniel and the Pooka) had to be at Irish Fair. I've started avoiding religion panels too. They get ugly at Wiscon for sure, and they seem to rehash the same thing over and over. Perhaps if the panel were actually named something like "Elements of a good faux religion" we could get somewhere, although the ghost of L Ron would certainly attend.
Hi, Katie
Date: 2006-08-15 07:58 pm (UTC)Diversicon
Date: 2006-08-15 05:45 pm (UTC)Anyway, I am with you, Lyda: I want to know WHY so many women have become enamoured with vampires at this juncture! I'm not sure if I can figure it out by myself because sometimes the things straight women like is a mystery to me. (Hmm...there are so many inappropriate things to say here...safest to just move on) ANYWAY, I wonder about this vampire thing a lot.
I don't see a corresponding surge in lesbian vampire stories. There have always been some, but I haven't noticed a big increase. Is that significant?
I think, if this question is not completely resolved through blogging by next Diversicon, a panel SHOULD be convened to answer this specific question. Good idea.
Re: Diversicon
Date: 2006-08-15 07:52 pm (UTC)I've been thinking about this in terms of larger social movements. I have absolutely no facts to base this on, only a vague sense of things... but I've heard people say (on that panel, even,) that Dracula came out at a time when women's sexuality was being feircely controled by Victorian society, and thus hit a nerve, if you will.
The 1980s was another time of repression in its own way. The Reagan era, with its regressive politics, inspired (or at least deeply informed) cyberpunk as well. I came out as a lesbian at this time, and there was a teaming underground of... I'm not sure what to call it... maybe Ellen's term, "perversity." Hints of that sort of thing are certainly to be found in Anne Rice's vampire series. I'm thinking of all of her later BD/SM stuff, which, at the time, was oh-so OUT there, which is now been fairly mainstreamed.
So, what's up in the 00s? And, as you said, why is the romance/straight-girl crowd into it?
Re: Diversicon
Date: 2006-08-16 02:53 am (UTC)On the blog Pandagon the other day I saw an image of an ad that's being run by a religious right group that's trying to ban hotel-room porn. In big scary letters it says something like, "When something that starts with a click can end up with being a REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER, something is wrong!" My first thought, when I saw this ad, was that it was placed by a group trying to repeal some stupid-assed law like the one in South Carolina banning sex toys. Because, dude, that's damn true; if ordering video porn puts you in the slammer, something IS really wrong. (Unless it involves children, but I really doubt that's the case with the pay-per-view dirty movies in even the sleaziest hotel rooms.)
Anyway, kids in particular are bombarded with this message -- that sex is dirty, dangerous, and disgusting, and only perverts are doing it. (That's basically what sex ed IS in some schools right now. Thank goodness I live in the sheltered liberal enclave of Minneapolis, or I'd have to homeschool.) So, maybe the vampire is the ultimate pervert? A pervert who seduces and converts (unlike, say, actual gay people) yet who is fundamentally a bad boy in need of the love of a good woman? Maybe it's safer to imagine freeing your sexuality by sleeping with a vampire, than to declare yourself a feminist and say you have the right to good sex with the partner of your choice (and Plan B, to boot) and the religious right can go suck an egg?
(I'm thinking out loud, here, so my argument could probably be picked apart pretty easily.)
Vampire Chicks
Date: 2006-08-15 08:44 pm (UTC)I don't know abot vampires...I've had this conversation so many times. It's interesting - since I've looked at it mostly from a queer POV, I have found that most stories I've come across with lesbian suckers tend to focus on the vampire being a dyke and turning her intended victim. A while ago, I wrote a story called Van Helsing 2005 about a halfbreed vampire hunter/vampire. The response I recieved from the story was pretty much two-fold: on the plus side, readers enjoyed seeing a dyke vampire actually in confluict about what she was doing, from bothe sides of the coin (hunting vampires and alternately turning) The other half was PO'd because they felt that the character's ambivalence toward both sides of who she was reflected some or other ambivalence toward sexuality. (Fetching the One-Eyed Cyclops from behind the mountain again...) In short, they wanted to see a lesbian vampire who had no qualms about sinking her teeth into every woman she came across.
Must we always choose to stay on the well-trodden road?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-16 04:46 am (UTC)Is it okay if I steal that for a Minicon 42 programming idea?
no subject
Date: 2006-08-16 09:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-17 03:22 am (UTC)More vampire thoughts
Date: 2006-08-16 05:16 pm (UTC)Also, some pretty sexually liberated people like these books, so would they be reading them to fulfill some taboo sexual desire? I'm not sure.
Do you suppose ONE of the attractions to vampires right now is that they almost never have to be careful about exchanging bodily fluids? I mean, vampires are about passion and need and hunger and they don't ask about their victim's sexual history, suck blood through a dental dam, or worry about the morning after (except for, well, being indoors the morning after, lol). I wonder if the danger and the immediate passion isn't a draw, given the whole AIDS thing. And since blood is featured prominently with both vampires and HIV/AIDS, there is a pretty direct connection.
It's just a thought. I don't think that's the WHOLE attraction by any means, but I wonder if that contributes.
By the way, I should confess that my partner reads a lot of the vampire romances but I don't so much. They mostly don't ring my chimes as much as they do her's. Partly that's because I can't imagine being attracted to a vampire . . .though I CAN imagine the attraction of being one, in some instances. :-)
Partner chiming in here ... on vamp attraction
Date: 2006-08-22 10:06 pm (UTC)What is the attraction?
Some of the appeal revolves around the idea of the "outsider" -- both the vamp and the slayer are by nature "outside" normal society on many levels, in almost every story. They are gifted, stronger, different, sometimes even unacceptable to the mainstream. This is true of the various paranormal books I've read, vamp or not.
I also wonder if many of us reading these books are just bored with our vanilla lives and feel that we have no real way to 'stand out' and be noticed in society, no way to change the world we live in, not really. Having a secret life as a slayer (or as a vamp, for that matter) makes things really interesting and perhaps more meaningful.
Secret Lives of Slayers...
Date: 2006-08-23 12:05 am (UTC)THAT makes a lot of sense to me.
Secret lives are generally very cool. Several entire genres are mostly based around the coolness of secret lives (the whole superhero thing, for instance, which I was always WAY into as a kid.) Add to that magic... and you've got yourself a winning formula.
Especially since one of the appeals for me, which I can't remember if I talked about, is the urban, present-day setting of most of these chick-lit vampire novels. I love the idea of running into a vampire/werewolf/demon in the grocery store. How cool would that be?
Re: Secret Lives of Slayers...
Date: 2006-08-31 10:27 pm (UTC)Uh, no, I wouldn't want to meet a werewolf or a vampire in the grocery store. But for all I know, I already have.
Terry
Diversicon
Date: 2006-08-31 10:20 pm (UTC)Diversicon is small, but it's so interesting that it's quite easy to miss one good panel while being at another or having a conversation with the GoH. Luckily, in the current hotel, the program rooms are right next to each other.
Terry
Oh Lyda!
Date: 2006-09-13 12:37 am (UTC)I have read two of your books and am chomping at the bit for more...
Congratulations on becoming a mother! it's an awe-inspiring change of life, isn't it? no longer about us, our life is for their prosperity and "survival preparation" for the next 18+ years or more
also 'grats on the advance. can't wait to read more of your work, and possibly be inspired enough to get off my duff and write one as well.