A longer version of this article is on my author website.
The When Words Collide convention in Calgary from August 16 to 18, provided a golden occasion to see old friends again and meet new writers and readers! It is an annual ReaderCon, meaning, focusing on books and reading more than movies and media SF.
Hanging out with friends
Yes, there are the presentations, lectures and workshops, but also, just meeting people from the four corners of the country and the US, people I haven’t seen since before the Covid, is a great moral booster. I met some of them in Montréal at the Scintillation 5 organized by Jo Walton and a dedicated team.
At home or visiting family, I rarely discuss my WIP, my projects (all the contrary in my teens).
I do mention the novels I’m working on, briefly, but expending about any challenge, lack of inspiration, difficulty would bring glazed eyes. But in a convention, interacting with peers who experience the same kind of problems give me courage.
Books, books, books!
A host of new books covering the coffee table!
Adding to my pile of books:
Super Earth Mother, Guy Immega. Guy does hard-SF and takes his time to craft a believable story.
Drunk Slutty Elf and Zombies Den Waldron
Making Rounds, Allan Weiss
A crane among Wolves (just for the cover)
Undaunted, Dave Sweet with Susan Forrest
Skeletons in my closet, Dave Sweet with
War of the Words, a collection of short stories
Those I met but in passing, Rob J Sawyer, who in a presentation explained how the J in his name help people find him among the thousands of Robert Sawyer. Robert Runte, knowledgeable in Canadian SF.
Enjoy the Slush fiction!
I was deeply impressed by Rhonda Parrish, Adria Laycraft, Shirlee Smith, Ella Beaumont, Greame Cameron: super editors, able to detect a story’s faults and clichés. The panels of slush fiction I attended were fountains of fun (to put a bad cliché) and really instructive. Some pet peeves here:
- Starting a story with a character waking up in bed
- Having a POV character looking, observing… doing nothing.
- Form the start, we need to know WHO is telling the story, or WHo we follow, and the story problem.
Know your rights: contracts with Den Valdron
Den is a fantastic author of fun or gritty Sf books, but alse a lawyer, and here, he walks us through the pitfalls of copyright and contracts, those contracts that writers are soooo eager to sign to get published!
I never saw Den pleading in court, but as a presenter, he is lively as he walks around and tells it as it is. His booming voice still echoed in my ears as I write this.
Stop pushing us onto the sidelines!
Too often an author introduces a disabled secondary character into a story, mostly to check the disability box. BUT the treatment shows that often those writers have no idea what it’s like to live the experience. (I plead guilty here at least once, however, in Phoenix Clouds, Blanche is the heroine.)
My favorite panel, We are the heroes, not the sidekicks: Building worlds and stories in SFF that center disabled protagonists, with Cait Gordon, the author of this book, Iris and the Crew tear Through Space, and her colleagues: Arlene Marks, Madona Sakoff, Rick Overwater, Fiona McTaggart. Few people marginalized because of a disability recognize themselves in fiction.
“it’s just as infuriating when the person who looks like us is just a sidekick. Or, we “cure” the person’s disability and there, yahooo, everything is beautiful!” says Cait Gordon.
Or, the hero saves a pitiful disabled person but, oh the lottery winner! that person turns out to be the talented “whizkid” who will save the colony!
I learned a lot, and appreciated this inclusive vision. We need to stop ignoring persons who just have special needs for technical assistance and accommodation. In Cait Gordon’s universe, everything is accessible and no one considers themselves “disabled”.
One person noted: this is similar to the trap that many Paralympic athletes experience: pity or inspiration. Just for that panel and the friends I met there, the trip to Calgary (with the patient husband) was worth it.
Exploring around Calgary
After saying goodbyes to many new author friends, we went on a beautiful promenade at heritage Park.
After the convention, my husband and I walked in the Heritage Park, passing close the the Owl’s Nest Bookshop that was present at the Convention. The next day, we follwed the trails along the Bow River, to the Calgary downtown.
