Sasquan 73rd World Con - Saturday 2015

I just returned from my last program.  Like previous World Con's I was tired after two days and did not do as much.  Forty Seven North put on a party with free books at my hotel and the is what I just came back from.  They had free food, a free drink, and free books.  I got Boundary Crossed by Melissa F. Olson, Porr Man's Fight by Elliott Kay, Through the Door by Jodi McIsaac and The Far Time Incident by Neve Maslaovix.  We started out with two books and as everything was ending we were invited to take as many as we wanted.

I only went to two other panels today.  The Aliens Among Us was based on C.J. Cherryh's books.  The panel included Jo Walton, Jack Campbell and Ann Leckie.  All agreed that Cherryh influenced all of their writing and she has not gotten the attention she deserves.

The other panel was on online magazines.  Mike Resnick was on the panel with three other people I did not know.  All had online magazines.  It was interesting but did not offer much new information.

Helsinki won the 2017 World Con.  I voted for Washington DC first and Montreal second.  Will have to see who will host the North American Science Fiction Con now that 2017 will in Europe.

One last thought.  Did anyone notice that I did not attend a panel related to Science Fiction Romance?  I saw one that mentioned romance in SciFi.  I only saw one author I associate with SFR.  That is Sharon Shinn who writes what I call gentle romances with a Sci Fi background.  We need a bigger voice.  Next year World Con is in Kansas City.  Surely we can get authors to attend and hopefully have several panel to push our books.

The Hugo's are tonight but I will probably Google tomorrow to see who won.  I leave tomorrow for Seattle and the Alaska Cruise so more later.

My new friend Susan took my picture with my books at the 47 North Party.

Sasquan 73rd World Con - Friday 2015

My first full day at the con.  Spokane has fires burring all around and yesterday the wind brought a lot of smoke to the city.  It was so bad that there were signs telling people to stay inside.  It is better this morning as the wind  has shifted.  My hotel is connected to the conversion center so I do not have to go outside.  Even so the smoke was so strong that it smeledl was even in my room.  On to the convention.

I started the day learning how to drape a sari.  The presenter was late so all we got to do was watch instead of watching and the giving it a try.  Photo attached.

From there I went to a panel about aging and SciFi fans.  One of the presenters does research on the brain so we got some very interesting real science to go with the fiction.

A visit to the dealers room and the art show followed.  I found a pair of earrings that I quick picked at the the art show.  They are by the same man who did the ones I picked up at a previous con.

From there it was on to a panel featuring C.J. Cherryh.  I love her books and this was the first time to see her.  There were some interesting questions and she had short answers for all.

From there I listened to authors read.  Kevin J. Anderson, Beth Cato and Jack Campbell (John Hemry) all shared a reading from their works.  Anderson read a short story from a future release, Cato read from her current book (Her room was small and full with no seating when I arrived so I did not stay for the entire time), Campbell read from his next release and shared what was upcoming.

From there it was What's New from Ace/Roc.  Anne Sowards did the presentation.  She edits several of my favorite authors.  I could tell she loves her work.

After that it was Eric Flint.  It was suppose to be a reading but he does not read.  Instead he opened it up to question so it was like a mini Kaffe Klatche.  This was my third time to see him at a con and it has been interesting to see how he has changed over the years.  I first saw him in St. Louis.  He reacted to fans like they were something that got on his shoes and smelled bad but he could not scrape off.  I decided he was one of those authors whose books I like even if I did not like the author. I saw him next in North Carolina where I went to his Kaffe Klatche.  I did not expect much but he surprised.  He was much more in touch with how important fans were and I had a great time listening to him.  This time the big difference was in how he talked about his work.  In North Carolina he talked a lot about how he used blue collar workers as his main characters.  Here he talked more about works in progress and how he works with his collaborators.  It was a really good session.

Last but not least at 7:00 p.m. I went  to the Broad Universe Speed Reading.  All of the authors in this group are female and each participant has5 minutes to read from something they wrote.  At the last World Con I attended they were given only one hour in the middle of the day.  It was very rushed, the room was full to overflowing and not everyone got to share.This time they had a two hour slot but at the end of the day.  It was very well organized but the time meant that attendance was low.  Many of the authors shared fantasy but two were Space Opera and I will be looking for their books.  There was only one author I recognized and that was Elizabeth Bear.  She was also at the session at the previous con.

That ended my day at 9:00 p.m.

Group playing at a being from Galaxy Quest

One of the costumes in the big costume display

Model and presenter at how to drape a sari.

Sasquan World Con 73 - Thursday - 2015

I drove 315 miles on Thursday.  That put me in Spokane around noon (gained hour with time change).  I checked into the hotel and then went to the Con and registered.  After that I went to lunch at TGI Fridays and went over the program to see what panels I wanted to visit.  I don't choose as much on subject as I do on who is on the panel.  I love to hear from authors whose books I read.

On Thursday I started with Learning to Love the Deadline.  Patricia Briggs was a panel member and I love her Mercy Briggs and Charles and Anna books.  She did not disappoint.  She added a big touch of humor to the discussion while giving information on how she met deadlines.  Also why sometimes she did not meet deadlines.  Gillian Redfearn was the moderator and she came with some very good questions for the panel that added my enjoyment.

I stayed in the same room for the next panel on The Changing Face of Hard Science Fiction.  Nancy Kress and Karl Schroeder were both panelists.  I have read and liked books by both.  It was interesting but in the end each had their own idea about what made something Hard Science Fiction.

From there I went to What's New at TOR.  That was a short program with information about all the new books through January.

My big disappointment of the day was missing the Baen presentation.  Since I arrived in the middle of the day I was rushed in checking the schedule and missed seeing the Baen program.

I visited the dealers room and the Art Show from 2:00 until 3:00.  I paid my $40:00 to vote on the 2017 site selection before starting the programs. I started panels at 3:00 and ended at 5:45.

From there I visited the Con Suite where I was thrilled to see a Gluten free room so I could get a snack before returning to my hotel around 6:30.  I was still tried from driving so I made it an early hight.