Eeriecon 8 ReportApril 21-23, 2005April 21 - Eeriecon is what I call my "backyard convention." Held every year in Niagara Falls, New York, it's an easy, 45-minute drive up to the convention. I could do the drive on a daily basis, but stay at the hotel for a number of reasons. First, we make it a family trip with the whole McDermott clan going up for a weekend vacation at the Falls each year. Second, I like being in the hotel at a convention. It gives you more time with fans and friends. I don't want to be the commuter author. Third, it helps the convention. SF conventions rely on hotel reservations to keep a good relationship with their hotel. The more reservations, the happier the hotel stays, and the less flack the convention committee gets about the noise, the late-night parties, and the eventual mess that a three-day convention produces. So, our whole family headed to the Falls early on Friday. We try to do something fun in the area each time, and this year I wanted to take my kids on the trip behind the falls. I remember my parents taking me down into the tunnels when I was younger and knew that it would be a special treat for my children. We were not disappointed. The wall of water rushing past the mouth of the tunnel no more than ten feet away is pretty darn cool, but as an adult, my favorite part is the sight of the fall from the lower deck. One of the tunnels comes out onto a deck situated no more than 10 yards from the edge of the falls, down by a pile of rocks I learned this year had actually fallen from a spot known as Table Rock. The view of the falls from this vantage point is simply amazing, and my kids enjoyed it immensely. Of course, I think they enjoyed the gift shop and restaurant afterwards just as much. After an afternoon on the Candian side of the Falls, we headed back across the Rainbow Bridge (which has another spectacular view) to the hotel and the convention. The first session on the schedule was an hour set aside to remember Pat York and Octavia Butler, two authors who had made an impact on the Western New York community before their tragic deaths this past year. I didn't know Octavia well, but Pat and I had formed a friendship over the past few years, and this was definitely an emotional hour for me. Anne Bishop, Lynn Flewelling, Josepha Sherman, and Harry Turtledove sat around with those of us in the audience and swapped stories about these two fabulous women. My favorite part was a poem that Anne read for us near the end. I found the text of it and have reprinted it below:
After this emotional hour, I had a couple hours off before my first scheduled appearance. While my daughter helped out with the People and Things Auction and my boys spent their allowance at the same place, I spent some time with my writing group talking about just about everything, including writing every once in a while. Then it was time for the Late Night Talk Show. This is another annual Eeriecon event. Usually Rob Sawer plays host, but he was in Boston for a speaking engagement, so Josepha stepped in, with my good friend David Clink acting as Ed McMahon. We got to hear from various guests about what they have been up to lately, including Guests of Honor Esther Friesner (who just may be the funniest woman in SF) and Tanya Huff (one of the nicest people in SF). I got myc few minutes near the end and, as usual, talked too fast and forgot to mention about half of what I wanted to tell everyone. Oh well, it gave me grist for hallway conversations later in the weekend. April 22 - After a particularly early night of partying, I got a decent night's sleep and was pretty well-rested for my busy Saturday. My first panel was "Harry Potter and the Rings." This was a pretty fun panel moderated by my friend Dr. David DeGraff. Joining Dr. Dave on the panel was one of the funniest men in SF, Jim Alan Gardner, a local poet I've met a couple times named Jennifer Crow, and Marvin Kaye, a fascinating author and professor from Philadelphia, whom I wished I had been able to spend more time with during the rest of the weekend. We had a rousing discussion on the effect of both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings on the state of the genre today. One of the best panels of the weekend, I thought. After this, I had a llittle time, so I took the kids to the swimming pool to give them a chance to swim and to give my wife a chance to not have to watch them. I took along some chapters of my friend Al Katerinsky's newest manuscript to critique. It was a relaxing hour (except for all the death and destruction in Al's book). Then I went to my next panel: called True or False, which was to discuss whether the laws of physics and society should be disregarded for the sake of a good story. I have to admit I was dreading this panel because I was paired with someone I am not so fond of. But a few of my friends came to my rescue. Carl Frederick (one of the most fascinating men in SF - former Physics professor, current Artificial Intelligence consultant, and bagpipe player), along with Tanya Huff and Dr. Dave DeGraff performed a palace coup and took over the panel, outing the moderator and placing me as their puppet leader. We had a fantastic time along with Arinn Dembo and Mark Garland discussing the topic of real life versus fictional life - where should they meet and where should they part company? the panel I had been dreading turned out to be quite enjoyable, despite the fact that I had to moderate with no advance preparation. Another hour off was spent in the art show (which was one of the best Eeriecon art shows in recent memory) and the dealer room. I then took center stage in the reading room (following the great Harry Turtledove) and read from my short story, "On the Off-Ramp of the Intergalactice Superhighway, which will appear later this summer in the Golden Age SF: Takes of a Bygone Future anthology. I wasn't able to hold onto any of Harry's crowd, but it was a wonderful reading with several people in attendance who had never heard me read before. My official day was almost over. The only thing left was the annual What Line's Mine gameshow before I could be released to have some fun. WLM is more fun than ten authors should be allowed to have. The Emcee, Amy Kauderer, reads edited quotes from the works of the authors in attendance. Our only job is to try to match the quotes to the appropriate author. You get ten points for each correct answer. There's no penalty for guessing, unless you miss one of your own quotes (then you lose ten points). And cheating is highly encouraged. I learned last year that sitting next to Carolyn Clink helps because she normally wins and is more than happy to let those near her cheat off of her. Alas, Josepha had positioned herself next to Carolyn and saved the seat next to her for Harry Turtledove. I had to make do sitting next to GoH Tanya Huff, with Harry just to her right. A position I cherished, sitting next to such wonderful authors. Well, I did fairly well, never missing any of my own quotes and the cheating was quite rampant. The right answers fairly sped down the line each time, making it one of the closest matches in history of the game. After that, I was officially done for the day, but I was full of energy from the game, and went to dinner with some friends before coming back to the hotel for the Masquerade. My twin boys had decided that week to do the masquerade dressed as lumberjacks and singing the Lumberjack song from Monty Python. They even developed hand and body motions for the entire song. They had a great time and everyone in the hall roared with laughter, especially when they turned around to "Go to the Lavatory." Then came the moment in the weekend I had been long awaiting - Poker Night. This is an unofficial Eeriecon tradition. Dave Clink, Carolyn Clink, Dr. Dave Degraff, and I play Texas Hold'em with anyone who wants to join in. This year, my writing group buddy (and new dad) Herb Kauderer was the big winner of the night. I think he tossed me from each game we played and ended up in the final showdown of almost every round. As usual, I played well for quite a while, building up a decent pile, only to make a couple huge blunders and spend the rest of the night scrambling to get back into the game. But we had fun and I finally crawled into bed at about 3 a.m. April 23 - Sunday is usually a slow day at any convention, so working on about five hours of sleep, I was not expecting to need to contribute too much during my first panel of the day. I was sitting on a 10 a.m. panel with two huge named in the business - Robert J. Sawyer and Harry Turtledove (the moderator). I could skate by on a couple witty comments. No problem. Except that Rob never got out of Boston after his speaking engagement, getting stranded by the airline in Washington D.C. due to a mechanical problem, and Harry had to get ready to get on his plane later that morning, and couldn't make the panel either. I was quickly voted moderator by those of us left (Carl Frederick, Mark Garland, and James Allen Price. So once again, I had to moderate a panel I had not prepared for, and this time do it on five hours of sleep. All in all, the panel went well and the audience of four people grew to about twelve or fifteen by the end, who truly seemed to enjoy what we "professionals" had to say about the writing process. After that panel, I found Lynn Flewelling in the hall talking with Tanya Huff. I had wanted to get a chance to catch up with Lynn and rode up to the consuite with the two of them. Well, this was my lucky day because Tanya and Lynn sat down with Esther and Harry, so I got to spend a wonderful hour chatting with my good friend Lynn and all three Guests of Honor. Eventually, Lynn, Tanya, and I all went to the dealer room to buy copies of each other's newest books and we had an impromptu autograph session. That hour will be one I will remember my entire life. And that's the lure and the payoff of going to SF conventions. These great authors whom you only know through their work on the page, are so accessible at conventions. And here I was, part of the professional crowd, trying to suppress my inner fanboy. It was fantastic. After that, I had to get back down to business for one more hour. Marvin Kaye, Carl Frederick, Jim Alan Gardner, and I all talked about how we deal with Writer's Block. This time I was ready to moderate, as this was the one panel of the weekend I was actually supposed to run. We had a small but elite crowd, with Anne Bishop and Josepha Sherman both in attendance along with the last couple of die-hard fans, who had stayed for the absolutely last panel of the weekend. It was fun, and we all shared a bit too much about our writing styles and processes. After that, it was time to pack into the car, find a late lunch and drive back home. With everyone dead tired, the whole family spent most of the rest of the day sitting in front of the TV or computer, or napping. It had been another successful Eeriecon. I can't wait for next year. |
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