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Conflux #3
Oct. 1st, 2007 01:06 amToday we got a late start because I am a lazy sod. Tomorrow I'll make the 9 am panel, promise. Tomorrow I'll be the best zombie at the 9 am panel, also promise.
Jack Dann and Jonathan Strahan are a comic team who lard their one-liners with cool insights about their takes on publishing. I discovered this at the only kaffeeklatsch I shall make this convention. I wanted to go to more, but my energies are limited and I want to also reach the end of the Con and be able to write. I have just a week and a half that's writeable in, and spending it in bed wondering why I do conventions is not what I intend to do with that week and a half. I intend to create some more New Ceres. I meant to discuss anthologies in this paragraph - how did I end up talking about New Ceres? Can't be fatigue. Can't be anything to do with dancing half the night. Certainly can't be mixed drinks.
I was waylaid muchly today. I also achieved even more evil than usual. I gave Jane Routley identity problems. I did the same to Rebecca Locksley. I let my Chief Henchperson retire in a dignified fashion and told my main remaining minion (I thought she was my only remaining minion, but it turned out I was wrong - if your minions don't stick with you, you might want to try paying them in bubblegum) that if she could recruit 4 minions of her own, she could be an evil henchperson. We managed the recruitment just in time for the Evil Henchperson panel (which was very funny and I wrote down lots of gorgeous jokes for you, but I gave my evil henchperson (age 9) some of my paper to write her questions on and I mislaid my notes in the process). When my evil henchperson (age 9) asked a really good but slightly wicked question, Trudi looked out at the audience and asked "Why don't I find it surprising she's sitting next to Gillian?" Apparently my evil henchperson (age 9) later told Trudi that she wasn't Trudi's evil henchperson and that she already had an overlord. When I told her I was worried her father might be unhappy about the whole evil henchperson thing, she reassured me with "Don't worry. I've always been evil. Now I'm employed."
Somewhere in the middle of my recruitment drive I had seriously interesting talks with seriously interesting people and I joined in the Daikaiju 3 launch. Daikaiju 3 looks very fine, and giant monsters are always cool. Go buy it. Also go buy In Bad Dreams. Two launches - two books worth reading. This is just an example of the good ratio of happiness at this convention.
I went to two panels immediately after lunch. The first was wickedly funny. Russell and Dev and Ross and Mark talking about how Australia looks from the outside. Russell was chair and Russell was in fine form. Chocolate was thrown and evil comments were made and if ever I find my page of cool oneliners I will do you another report on it.
Dev pulled double duty today and chaired the next panel. He's been telling me I gave him a hard time. I didn't though. I was really nice and almost polite. What I did, though, was turn the questions back on him as chair. He had interesting things to say and I was determined to hear them.
I had another must-talk-to-friends break, mostly spent in the bar. I didn't drink, but I did have a very curious conversation with Liz Argall and Anita Bell. I was so fascinated by it that I felt like drifting from conversation to conversation, and to discover the full range of possibilities, but instead I got collared (the moment I left the bar) by my evil-henchperson-in-training. We solved the minion shortage, sent two of the minions out into the world to do evil, and ended up in the front seat of the "How to hire henchmen" panel.
After this, I needed a break from being evil, so I went to the blogging panel. Every single one of the panel knows me and I got blamed for things. I have finally realised that the trouble with being Evil Gillian is people blame me for things. Everything from suggesting someone blog to introducing potentially colleagues to... drabbit, I forget the rest.
If you think I sound as if everything is all about me, it's because today's been a bit like that. Not only did I get a replacement evil henchperson complete with her own minions, but Sharyn Lilley (the ever-wonderful) made me a dalek birthday cake. No, it's not my birthday, but she couldn't get to Canberra in April and she brought it now. It's *wonderful*.
Everyone sang 'happy birthday' and I blew my birthday candles out. My birthday candles were flashing lights that Kaaron Warren brought me from Fiji and I had to blow and turn the switch off. I had to do it twice because everyone present was rather amused. They were even more amused when we found we didn't have a knife and I cut the cake with a teaspoon. I am now an expert at creating deep and straight lines in cake using a teaspoon.
The rest of the day was masquerade. Lots of costumes. Lots of alcohol. Lots of music. Sean Williams was our DJ and Sean as DJ is so different to Sean as writer, though you sometimes see a glimpse of DJ-Sean in his haiku. We had ABBA and Dr Who and a Buffy song and everything geekily possible. And now it's tomorrow and I'm due to watch a panel in a mere few hours. A few hours after this it all ends. All except the blogging.
I have all those recipes to put up on my food history blog. I'll let you know when I start blogging them. I might even give you a link. That's then, though. What's now, is sleep. I suspect my dreams will be of ABBA playing and evil henchpeople and chocolate ghosts flying around vast rooms.
PS I think everyone who ate the banquet has now told me how much they loved it and everyone who didn't has said they should have gone. This is partly the reason for the waylaying and why I did so little in such great length of time. Also, I'm a lazy sod.
Jack Dann and Jonathan Strahan are a comic team who lard their one-liners with cool insights about their takes on publishing. I discovered this at the only kaffeeklatsch I shall make this convention. I wanted to go to more, but my energies are limited and I want to also reach the end of the Con and be able to write. I have just a week and a half that's writeable in, and spending it in bed wondering why I do conventions is not what I intend to do with that week and a half. I intend to create some more New Ceres. I meant to discuss anthologies in this paragraph - how did I end up talking about New Ceres? Can't be fatigue. Can't be anything to do with dancing half the night. Certainly can't be mixed drinks.
I was waylaid muchly today. I also achieved even more evil than usual. I gave Jane Routley identity problems. I did the same to Rebecca Locksley. I let my Chief Henchperson retire in a dignified fashion and told my main remaining minion (I thought she was my only remaining minion, but it turned out I was wrong - if your minions don't stick with you, you might want to try paying them in bubblegum) that if she could recruit 4 minions of her own, she could be an evil henchperson. We managed the recruitment just in time for the Evil Henchperson panel (which was very funny and I wrote down lots of gorgeous jokes for you, but I gave my evil henchperson (age 9) some of my paper to write her questions on and I mislaid my notes in the process). When my evil henchperson (age 9) asked a really good but slightly wicked question, Trudi looked out at the audience and asked "Why don't I find it surprising she's sitting next to Gillian?" Apparently my evil henchperson (age 9) later told Trudi that she wasn't Trudi's evil henchperson and that she already had an overlord. When I told her I was worried her father might be unhappy about the whole evil henchperson thing, she reassured me with "Don't worry. I've always been evil. Now I'm employed."
Somewhere in the middle of my recruitment drive I had seriously interesting talks with seriously interesting people and I joined in the Daikaiju 3 launch. Daikaiju 3 looks very fine, and giant monsters are always cool. Go buy it. Also go buy In Bad Dreams. Two launches - two books worth reading. This is just an example of the good ratio of happiness at this convention.
I went to two panels immediately after lunch. The first was wickedly funny. Russell and Dev and Ross and Mark talking about how Australia looks from the outside. Russell was chair and Russell was in fine form. Chocolate was thrown and evil comments were made and if ever I find my page of cool oneliners I will do you another report on it.
Dev pulled double duty today and chaired the next panel. He's been telling me I gave him a hard time. I didn't though. I was really nice and almost polite. What I did, though, was turn the questions back on him as chair. He had interesting things to say and I was determined to hear them.
I had another must-talk-to-friends break, mostly spent in the bar. I didn't drink, but I did have a very curious conversation with Liz Argall and Anita Bell. I was so fascinated by it that I felt like drifting from conversation to conversation, and to discover the full range of possibilities, but instead I got collared (the moment I left the bar) by my evil-henchperson-in-training. We solved the minion shortage, sent two of the minions out into the world to do evil, and ended up in the front seat of the "How to hire henchmen" panel.
After this, I needed a break from being evil, so I went to the blogging panel. Every single one of the panel knows me and I got blamed for things. I have finally realised that the trouble with being Evil Gillian is people blame me for things. Everything from suggesting someone blog to introducing potentially colleagues to... drabbit, I forget the rest.
If you think I sound as if everything is all about me, it's because today's been a bit like that. Not only did I get a replacement evil henchperson complete with her own minions, but Sharyn Lilley (the ever-wonderful) made me a dalek birthday cake. No, it's not my birthday, but she couldn't get to Canberra in April and she brought it now. It's *wonderful*.
Everyone sang 'happy birthday' and I blew my birthday candles out. My birthday candles were flashing lights that Kaaron Warren brought me from Fiji and I had to blow and turn the switch off. I had to do it twice because everyone present was rather amused. They were even more amused when we found we didn't have a knife and I cut the cake with a teaspoon. I am now an expert at creating deep and straight lines in cake using a teaspoon.
The rest of the day was masquerade. Lots of costumes. Lots of alcohol. Lots of music. Sean Williams was our DJ and Sean as DJ is so different to Sean as writer, though you sometimes see a glimpse of DJ-Sean in his haiku. We had ABBA and Dr Who and a Buffy song and everything geekily possible. And now it's tomorrow and I'm due to watch a panel in a mere few hours. A few hours after this it all ends. All except the blogging.
I have all those recipes to put up on my food history blog. I'll let you know when I start blogging them. I might even give you a link. That's then, though. What's now, is sleep. I suspect my dreams will be of ABBA playing and evil henchpeople and chocolate ghosts flying around vast rooms.
PS I think everyone who ate the banquet has now told me how much they loved it and everyone who didn't has said they should have gone. This is partly the reason for the waylaying and why I did so little in such great length of time. Also, I'm a lazy sod.