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LoneStarCon day 3, or working to indoctrinate the next generation
Saturdays panels featured poking at the flaws in Star Wars, bemoaning the lack of respect for knowledge in general media and culture, reveling in obscure cinema, and an exploration of history and myth in fantasy and sf. Top that off with too much time in the dealers' room, a fan fund auction and the masquerade, and it was a full day.
What Can We Expect from a Disney/J. J. Abrams Star Wars?
Dave Wolverton, David Brin, Regina Franchi, Shanna Swendson
Brin's book Star Wars on Trial
Brin's afraid his hopes might be raised. Regina & Dave fear that it will all go to feed the Disney merchandising machine, although Abrams might rise above that. Shanna says it would be really hard to do more senseless merchandising than already exists.
Hopes: Brin hopes it will rise above the on/off switch of simplistic good and evil. Yoda's faux eastern guru nastiness makes him a really evil character, never really helpful to anyone. Wolverton who wrote SW novels was told that only the movies were conanical. He liked the Star Trek reboot and feels Abrams has a chance to be successful, especially if he's allowed to do something original. A screenplay to a producer is like a fire hydrant to a dog. Everyone wants to take a piss on it and make it their own. Wolverton also says that he doesn't believe the supposed Lucas 9-story arc was never actually written down anywhere. He hopes Abrams will give us back the sense of wonder. Shanna hopes we finally get some strong female characters again, like the strong intro of Leia in the 1st movie.
Rocket Scientists, Geeks and Mystics
John K Strickland Jr., Tanya Huff, Joe Haldeman, Jordin Kare
great quote, but I can't remember who they attributed it to: "You want scary creatures of the night, just hang around Washington for a while." In a discussion of the lack of understanding of science and denigration of scientists in the media and society. Discussion has drifted away from fantasy fiction, but there was some discussion of fantasy creeping into sf, such as that dumbing down of sf and the science in it. "magic wand sf" Mythology mutates and changes over time.
30 Great SF & Fantasy Films You Almost Certainly Haven't Seen
Perrianne Lurie, Elektra Hammond, Adam Troy Castro, Terry Floyd
Rapid fire, one after another they recommended a batch of obscure movies, some I've seen and some I haven't. Some sounded a bit more like horror for my taste, but there's definitely some I'll check out.
The Influence of History and Mythology on Aspects of SF/F
Moshe Feder, J. Kathleen Cheney, Stina Leicht, Robert Silverberg, John Maddox Roberts
The moderator did a good job of balancing this panel with very new writers and then Silverberg, who has been around for decades and still always brings interesting things to any panel.
Why they chose to write in specific times and/or cultures: Stina Leicht said she had been told that Celtic mythology was done to death, but she felt that much of this urban fantasy was not based on real Celtic historical tradition, but on more recent perceptions of it. Kathleen picked Portugal because the geography fit her story, but she had to do a lot of research in order to write the work. John was inspired by a love of the Roman era to start writing in that period. "Myths are things that never happened but are always true." Silverberg writes about both what he knows and what he wants to know for nonfiction. Mainly he wrote about things he wanted to know more about. Silverberg: "A writer of fiction needs to study the details of human folly." He views myths as explanations of something unknown.
Myth of the Blue Lady - an example of a recently created mythological figure.
Is working in a set historical setting confining or convenient? Kathleen - its important to do the research but you can't research endlessly. Stina: Writing about recent events is tricky because there are still fresh and personally painful memories.
I bid, but didn't buy anything at the auction to support DUFF: The Down Under Fan Fund and The TransAtlantic Fan Fund , but maybe I'll do better next year. Both are worthy causes, but I was trying to stick to a very strict budget in order to save up for next year's cons.
After dinner I got in line early for the Masquerade. I know they have big screens on either side of the stage, but I still like to sit as close as possible. In line next to me was a high school age girl from Seattle who was attending her first con ever and having the time of her life. I showed her where to find out about GeekGirlCon and Norwescon in her home city and she is itching to join the Seattle con scene.
What Can We Expect from a Disney/J. J. Abrams Star Wars?
Dave Wolverton, David Brin, Regina Franchi, Shanna Swendson
Brin's book Star Wars on Trial
Brin's afraid his hopes might be raised. Regina & Dave fear that it will all go to feed the Disney merchandising machine, although Abrams might rise above that. Shanna says it would be really hard to do more senseless merchandising than already exists.
Hopes: Brin hopes it will rise above the on/off switch of simplistic good and evil. Yoda's faux eastern guru nastiness makes him a really evil character, never really helpful to anyone. Wolverton who wrote SW novels was told that only the movies were conanical. He liked the Star Trek reboot and feels Abrams has a chance to be successful, especially if he's allowed to do something original. A screenplay to a producer is like a fire hydrant to a dog. Everyone wants to take a piss on it and make it their own. Wolverton also says that he doesn't believe the supposed Lucas 9-story arc was never actually written down anywhere. He hopes Abrams will give us back the sense of wonder. Shanna hopes we finally get some strong female characters again, like the strong intro of Leia in the 1st movie.
Rocket Scientists, Geeks and Mystics
John K Strickland Jr., Tanya Huff, Joe Haldeman, Jordin Kare
great quote, but I can't remember who they attributed it to: "You want scary creatures of the night, just hang around Washington for a while." In a discussion of the lack of understanding of science and denigration of scientists in the media and society. Discussion has drifted away from fantasy fiction, but there was some discussion of fantasy creeping into sf, such as that dumbing down of sf and the science in it. "magic wand sf" Mythology mutates and changes over time.
30 Great SF & Fantasy Films You Almost Certainly Haven't Seen
Perrianne Lurie, Elektra Hammond, Adam Troy Castro, Terry Floyd
Rapid fire, one after another they recommended a batch of obscure movies, some I've seen and some I haven't. Some sounded a bit more like horror for my taste, but there's definitely some I'll check out.
The Influence of History and Mythology on Aspects of SF/F
Moshe Feder, J. Kathleen Cheney, Stina Leicht, Robert Silverberg, John Maddox Roberts
The moderator did a good job of balancing this panel with very new writers and then Silverberg, who has been around for decades and still always brings interesting things to any panel.
Why they chose to write in specific times and/or cultures: Stina Leicht said she had been told that Celtic mythology was done to death, but she felt that much of this urban fantasy was not based on real Celtic historical tradition, but on more recent perceptions of it. Kathleen picked Portugal because the geography fit her story, but she had to do a lot of research in order to write the work. John was inspired by a love of the Roman era to start writing in that period. "Myths are things that never happened but are always true." Silverberg writes about both what he knows and what he wants to know for nonfiction. Mainly he wrote about things he wanted to know more about. Silverberg: "A writer of fiction needs to study the details of human folly." He views myths as explanations of something unknown.
Myth of the Blue Lady - an example of a recently created mythological figure.
Is working in a set historical setting confining or convenient? Kathleen - its important to do the research but you can't research endlessly. Stina: Writing about recent events is tricky because there are still fresh and personally painful memories.
I bid, but didn't buy anything at the auction to support DUFF: The Down Under Fan Fund and The TransAtlantic Fan Fund , but maybe I'll do better next year. Both are worthy causes, but I was trying to stick to a very strict budget in order to save up for next year's cons.
After dinner I got in line early for the Masquerade. I know they have big screens on either side of the stage, but I still like to sit as close as possible. In line next to me was a high school age girl from Seattle who was attending her first con ever and having the time of her life. I showed her where to find out about GeekGirlCon and Norwescon in her home city and she is itching to join the Seattle con scene.