Back from WorldCon, and busy as all get-out…

Since Michael’s tied up at work (odd metaphor, that), and I’ve got a little more time in between trying to get work, I wanted to write a little something about WorldCon before the headless-chicken thing gets too dramatic.

I think I enjoyed this year’s WorldCon more than any of the other five I’ve attended — well, except the one in Japan.  (Hey, it was in Japan!  What’s not to love about that?) Our families had a fine time as well; apart from the convention itself, Montreal is a beautiful city, and Schwartz’s serves the best smoked meat this side of — I don’t know, Smoked Meat Heaven or something.  And the 40-member spider colony on the hotel windows was really cool, though I realize that wouldn’t be everyone’s thing.

The Cecil Street panel and kaffeklatsch were my first experience of both (either?  Whatever).  We were all pretty amazed that so many people attended, and I hope the resulting discussions were helpful to everyone interested in creating or attending a writers’ group.  Lord knows we talked enough, which would argue some enthusiasm about our subject.

The panel on collaboration went well, and I stopped being nervous after hearing the experiences of the other panelists.  (Does everyone get nervous before doing panels?)  One poor guy had collaborated with someone who only contributed one paragraph to their story.  Tricky business, this.

Edge Publications gave a swell book-launch for Tesseracts Thirteen, which comes out this fall and is full of really creepy stuff.  I read part of “A Patch of Bamboo” without mucking it up too much, and the other five authors present read excerpts from their stories as well.  They all scared me a lot, indicating an accomplishment of objective.  Srsly, they were all diverse and well-written.  Is good book.

Let’s see, what else?  Michael’s panel on history was a success; it was very well-received and standing-room-only.  Everyone enjoyed his reading, too, which was scheduled for a disgustingly early hour on Sunday morning — I will leave him to talk more about these things.  Along with Jenny Blackford and Ann VanderMeer, both of whom I found a pleasure to meet, I told ghost stories in dim light for the children in the Kids’ Program, and had to tell my son not to interject remarks regarding continuity (good think I like him so much…).  I went to parties, met new people, re-encountered old friends, had a fine time studying my fellow humans  (mwa-ha-ha)… and when I get more of that time thing, I’ll maybe write more.

Time.  Yeah, that.  Want more of that.

More Worldon stuff

The Cecil Street Irregulars’ kaffeklatsch is a go, thanks to the organizational genius of Jannie Shea, and Michael and I will be among the participants.  We’ll be in the Palais de Congres, room 512C, at 11:00am.  Sign-ups are available on Thursday, but even if you show up at the ‘klatsch without pre-registering, they’ll let you in as long as there’s space.  The audience is limited to 40 people.  The Irregulars are a talented group of writers, and a dashed nice group of people.  Come and chat; it’ll be fun.

At the Edge Publications booth on Friday at 2:00pm, I will be among those signing copies of Tesseracts Thirteen, the latest volume of this long-running Canadian anthology.  From there we move on to the book launch, as you can see in the following announcement from Edge:

Tesseracts 13 Launch

Tesseracts 13, the latest in the Tesseracts anthology series from Edge, will be launched at Worldcon/Anticipation in Montreal.

T-13—the only all horror/dark fantasy anthology in the acclaimed series—is edited by Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell. It features 23 dark, original and exciting stories, introductions by the editors, and a comprehensive history of Canadian horror and dark fantasy by genre expert Robert Knowlton.

Come join us:

Friday, August 7^th

3 to 5 pm

Montreal Delta Hotel,

777 University Avenue

Suite 2815

This book isn’t out until the Fall, but you can buy copies of it at WorldCon and have them signed by attending contributers, including David Nickle, my fellow Cecil Streeter.  Here’s the information about the book, from the Edge webpage, and a look at the cover:

***

Tesseracts Thirteen invites you to delve into literature’s shadowy side!

This, the newest and most unusual of the popular and award-winning Tesseracts anthologies, utilizes the mysterious and bewitching number ‘thirteen’ to explore a new realm of innovative, thought-provoking and disturbing fiction. Award-winning authors and editors Nancy Kilpatrick and David Morrell have unearthed twenty-three stories of horror and dark fantasy that reflect a mélange of Canada’s most exciting known and about-to-be known writers. These eerie-genre tales range from the unsettling to the sinister. Inside you will find stories featuring:

The young, but not always innocent — ghosts; multiple births; comic book characters come to life

Romance gone terribly wrong — curses; mournful spirits; bringing back the dead

Creepy and twisted realities — mummies; windigos; post apocalyptic Canada

The authors in Tesseracts 13 span the country, from east to west coast, applying a particularly Canadian stamp to a classic and revered genre. Contributors include: Kelley Armstrong; Alison Baird; Rebecca Bradley; Mary E. Choo; Suzanne Church; Kevin Cockle; Ivan Dorin; Katie Harse; Kevin Kvas; Michael Kelly; Jill Snider Lum; Catherine MacLeod; Matthew Moore; Silvia Moreno-Garcia; David Nickle; Jason Ridler; Gord Rollo; Andrea Schlecht; Daniel Sernine; Stephanie Short; Jean-Louis Trudel; Edo van Belkom; Bev Vincent

Expert-in-the-field Robert Knowlton provides a fascinating and detailed overview of the history of horror and dark fantasy writing and publishing in Canada.

***

Do come to the book launch and buy a copy, talk to us, let us sign things for you.  The book is good horrifying value for money.  For all I know, the signatures may be horrifying, too.

WorldCon 2009 — our schedules

Michael and I will both be attending Anticipaton, the 2009 World Science Fiction Convention in Montreal, Quebec.  It runs from Thursday the 6th of August through  Monday the 10th.  If you’re going to be there and you’d like to attend any of our panels, here’s when we’ll be doing what, and where.

Michael:

Thursday 7:00pm 1hr
Room P-511CF
That was the Noughties, That Was
Carl Fink, Helen Gbala, Michael Skeet,
S.C. Butler, Virginia O’Dine
We’re four months off the end of a decade
– time for a retrospective. What were the
best sf/fantasy novels of the last ten years?
What will the decade be remembered for?

Friday 11:00am 1hr  Room to be announced
Cecil Street Kaffeklatsch
(time of event is tentative)

Friday 6:30pm 30min  Exhibit hall, 2nd floor
Autograph Signing
Michael Skeet, Kathryn Smith, Sherwood

Friday 9:00pm 1hr
Room P-511
Cecil Street Irregulars; A Canadian
Writers’ Group
Cory Doctorow, Douglas Smith, Karl
Schroeder, Madeline Ashby, Michael
Skeet, David Nickle, Jill Snider Lum,
Sara Simmons, Allan Weiss
The Cecil Street Irregulars writers’ workshop
is not its official name; it does not
meet irregularly, nor does it meet on or
anywhere near Cecil Street. It is, however,
one of the longest-lived of current writers
groups. Collectively the current and former
members have published numerous novels,
short stories, plays and poems; all continue
to insist (at least publicly) that they look
forward to the regular experience of having
their work sand-blasted by their fellows.

Sunday 10:00am 1hr
Room P-513B
Writers Who Have Collaborated:
Playing Well with Others
Jack Skillingstead, Jody Lynn Nye,
Michael Skeet, Lezli Robyn, Jill Snider
Lum, S.M. Stirling, David Nickle
Writers who have collaborated talk about
their experiences. Warning: War Stories
Ahead!

Monday 9:00am 1hr
Room P-522A
Author Reading
Matthew Rotundo, Michael Skeet, Richard
Chwedyk

Monday 10:00am 1hr
Room P-513B
How much History does an SF
Writer Need to Know?
Mary Turzillo, Michael Skeet, Connie
Willis, S.M. Stirling
Those who don’t study history are doomed
to repeat it. Writers talk about whether
writing about the future requires a solid
knowledge of the past.

Jill:

Friday 11:00am 1hr  Room to be announced
Cecil Street Kaffeklatsch
(time of event is tentative)

Friday 2:00pm 3hrs
Edge Publications Booth (Dealers’ Room), and then Delta Suite
Tesseracts Thirteen Book Launch/ Reading
My story “A Patch of Bamboo” appears in this thirteenth volume of the
Tesseracts anthology series of Canadian SF and Fantasy.  This year’s
theme was horror… more about this later.

Friday 9:00pm 1hr
Room P-511
Cecil Street Irregulars; A Canadian
Writers’ Group
Cory Doctorow, Douglas Smith, Karl
Schroeder, Madeline Ashby, Michael
Skeet, David Nickle, Jill Snider Lum,
Sara Simmons, Allan Weiss
The Cecil Street Irregulars writers’ workshop

Saturday 7:00pm 1hr
Room P-510D (Kids Programming)
Ghost Stories
Ann VanderMeer, Jenny Blackford,
Adrienne Foster, Sarah Smith, Jill Snider Lum
Come listen to some ghost stories! Sorry,
no campfire (but we can dim the lights).

Sunday 10:00am 1hr
Room P-513B
Writers Who Have Collaborated:
Playing Well with Others
Jack Skillingstead, Jody Lynn Nye,
Michael Skeet, Lezli Robyn, Jill Snider
Lum, S.M. Stirling, David Nickle
Writers who have collaborated talk about
their experiences. Warning: War Stories
Ahead!

Sunday 7:30pm  30min  Exhibit hall, 2nd floor
Autograph Signing
Jean Lorrah, Frank Ludlow, Jill Snider Lum,
Pat Lundrigan

The collaboration panel was Michael’s idea, and also features our fellow Cecil Street member, David Nickle.  Michael will be moderating that one, and I’m looking forward to hearing other people’s experiences of collaborating on fiction projects.  Anticipation isn’t going to lack for programming; there’ll be some very interesting stuff, and the kids’ programming track looks like a blast.  Hope we’ll see you there!