World Fantasy 2009, San Jose, CA — Friday, Oct 30th
Finally got some sleep last night. Got up in time to get to the 10 am panel.
10 AM: Who, What or Why Done It.
Panelists: J. Kathleen Cheney, Laura Anne Gilman, Thomas S. Roche, Danel Paul Olson (Moderator), Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.
Panelists talked about mystery in the sense of the original Greek — that which makes us silent and blind. The difference between grue and frission and how enigma or doubt can be carried throughout a story and woven into the structure without either telling too much or not enough. Panelists agreed that the hooks need to be set in the first fifth of the book. Much discussion was taken up with the unknown and the unknowable and that Gothic Romances are great at keeping the differences of these two. Once of the concepts that I found interesting was that “Horror is fear of the unknown and terror is fear of the known”. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch who the quote was from.
Some phrases that came up and were interesting:
The writer controls the first impressions a reader gets of the character and after that the character is on his or her own.
The Why and How Done it are often more satisfying mysteries but they are much harder to write
Panther as pet.
Not so much Who Done it or What Happened but just how screwed are we?
11 AM: VanderMeer on VanderMeer
Panelists: Ann and Jeff VanderMeer interviewing each other.
This was great panel as the VanderMeers asked each other questions or told stories about each other that maybe people didn’t know about them. Examples: Ann originally wanted to be a homicide detective. Jeff is an avid birder and tide pool explorer. Jeff is renouncing squid but he tends to use totem animals in his stories. Ann used to be in a rock punk band (back in the day). The audience enjoyed getting to know these two people better and the hour just rushed by.
Noon: Shelf Lives: The Art and Design of Book Covers
John Picacio, slide show
Picacio, through the use of a slide show of his work, led us through the thought process and stages that go into making a book cover. Picacio prefers to have read the book or at least read part of the book to get a feel for what the author is trying to accomplish. We saw beginning sketches that got more and more refined as the project proceeded. Using drawings, abstract color paintings, digital layering, and other techniques leading to a finished cover. This was a great look behind the scenes at how book covers go from concept to final cover.
We decided to break for lunch and then meet with some friends. We’d made arrangements to have coffee with Ann VanderMeer, who will be one of the Capclave 2010 Guests of Honor. While I was acquainted with Ann’s work at Weird Tales and the anthologies that she’s edited, I hadn’t really had a chance to talk with her. She was gracious enough to take time out of her schedule to meet with my Vice-Chair, one of my Programming people, Hyperion, and me.
Next up was meeting with some other people who were at the convention to discuss various projects and ideas for improving our local convention and hopefully reaching out to more readers of science fiction and fantasy in the DC area for Capclave. This is another way of saying we missed the afternoon panels.
8 PM: Group Autographing.
World Fantasy, rather than having a few authors sign during each time period, has one massive signing event. The Regency Ballroom was set up with tables and all the authors, editors, artists show up along with convention members who have books to be signed. A good time was had by all as there was also a cash bar and some nice munchies served at the same time.
[Hyperion: A couple more pictures of the Group Signing Event]
We later stopped by the Hospitality Suite for even more conversation. World Fantasy offers many opportunities for people in the field to just sit and talk about books, publishing, stories read, stories coming out, trends, and to meet new friends and connect with old friends. It’s a convention where it’s easy to get comfortable and talk about writing and stories with other people who are also passionate about fantasy in its many guises.