Went down to check out the Lunacon. OK, now I know better. I don’t have to do that again. SciFi conventions seem to more about dressing up as your favorite character from Zena than reading Science Fiction. I got the feel that it was more about creepy clothing fetishism than anything to do with literary SF. I was fooled because they had a real author as a guest of honor.
I have to take a shower now.
I took some pictures, but I think that I should just reformat the camera’s memory card and think about something else.
3 Comments
That is a big part of a lot of the conventions, but there’s some great info available at most Cons.
A lot of the panels I’ve attended, and some of the ones I’ve been on have been very educational…but I’ve found after hours in the bar is the place to be. Most of the writers hang out there, and they’re more than willing to talk, and I think a lot of them would agree with your assessment of the fans…but most Cons are still worth doing.
Alas, literary cons are a vanishing species. Possibly because people who can read well, and read for pleasure, are a vanishing breed? (And the lights go out, one by one, ushering in another Dark Age…one hopes not, but…)
— Lady Sekhmet
I feel bad about this because there were many literary things going on, but so well hidden as to make them hard to find. The web page did not have the program, so I had no way of planning my trip. The website was a poor imitation of other Con sites, but totally useless.
I would have attended several talks, some with real authors and editors, on subjects that I am interested in, if I had known in advance where they were going to be. I wandered around the meeting rooms, but I found only stores selling crystals and other new age merchandise.
But I started to panic, being the only male not dressed in a kilt, not wearing makeup, or without body art and strangley died hair.
I would guess, though, that the Blues Music scene, where I feel extremely comfortable, would freak those people out.
Still, a bunch of fat chicks in leather bustiers is a strong signal that I was in the wrong place.