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Conflux con report part 2
Oct. 6th, 2012 04:45 pmSunday at Conflux was packed with good stuff to see and listen to. I only wish I'd been out of bed in time to get to Ian McHugh's Apocalypse Lessons where he talked about ways to make your fictional apocalypse more convincing with detail from real disasters. [That's from the blurb].
Death by Chocolate was the first Sunday panel I made it to. Unfortunately the person who knew what the panel was supposed to focus on was ill, so we winged it and discussed what would be our favourite way to go, involving chocolate, and what sf and fantasy stories had featured chocolate,while real chocolate was passed relentlessly around the circle until one could stuff in no more.
Panels I attended that were actually about sf included Urban Fantasy as Alternate Reality and the Fildenstar Concert. I haven't mentioned them before but The Fildenstar were two performers on keyboards who sang beautiful speculative-themed songs which sounded very Celtic and folksong-like to my ears. They appeared at the opening ceremony and also this lunchtime concert. They do not have a CD yet, despite being asked several times, but we're told this will be changed asap.
The Australian Apocalypse/Post Apocalypse Films panel was very good value and showed us quite a few works which have disappeared from general view. I am personally looking forward to seeing Bait where people trapped in a flooded supermarket after a tsunami are menaced by sharks circling the aisles.
Most useful to me in terms of my own writing was Science of Environmental Apocalypse and its potential use in your science fiction. I think it was Cat Sparks who asked why more people are not writing about this actual apocalypse-in-motion and instead stick to the overused tropes of pandemics and bombs. She kindly indicated me as one who has been doing so as best I can with my Nightsider short fiction series and much fascinating discussion was had about writers such as John Christopher, Death of Grass and John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids. The panel included both scientists [Phil Berrie and Frankie Seymour, who has sailed on Sea Shepherd] and writers, [Cat Sparks and Simon Petrie]. I can't praise this panel enough. It alone was worth attending the convention!
The panels were so good on this day that I hardly got a break in the afternoon, and let's face it, with me not being a morning person, the afternoon and evening was most of it. Right after environmental catastrophe it was into Time travel - paradoxes are only the first step. Since this panel included real physics, I had to listen closely, but am afraid I didn't track all of it. Part of that was my own ineptitude and part constant interruptions from one or two people in the audience. Folx, if you disagree with what the panelist is saying, at least let her or him finish so people not so ofay with the subject can keep up.
The following panel I went to was in the last group of the con, the Great Debate. If you're run over by a truck and have the option of coming back, which would you rather be? Vampire or Zombie? This was eloquently argued by both sides, with the general push being that vampires have style but zombies are at least honest about their intentions. Sure, a vampire *may* bring you back as another of his kind, but you could just get chomped by a smooth operator in a cape.
In the first round of voting, the zombies won, but there were various demands for a recount. I think people voted then who didn't vote before, there were certainly more voters overall! So it ended up as a tie but we know which team of beloved shambling undead should have won.
Closing ceremony after this and then the Dead Dog gathering at King O'Malleys pub, where a room had been reserved. Great looking venue, with the least Irish cuisine I've seen in any pub. Not even any bangers and mash. Still, the pasta was excellent. I headed back to my hotel fairly early as I was quite honestly beat. I needed a good night's sleep, since I had to check out of the hotel next day and spend Monday as a vagrant until it was time to go to the airport to head home.
On Monday, thanks to Lawrie Brown's guidance, I didn't go too far off course in walking to Floriade from the hotel in Northbourne Street. I took a lot of pictures with my eeepad - may post some later - and enjoyed it particularly early on before the majority of the crowds arrived. For those fellow out-of-staters who've wondered where all the Canberrans were in the centre of the city, this is where. After several hours, I headed back towards Northbourne and tried to go to the National Museum, but it was shut for the public holiday. I considered the National Library but was very tired by then and also was not sure whether it too might be closed.
I encountered a most futuristic-looking talking toilet somewhere in a city mall, which informed me that I had 10 minutes in the facility before the doors opened of their own accord, and where you pressed shiny buttons to make anything happen, such as paper appear.
I also visited a few shops, notably the gaming shop Mindgames, and when I realised that I was circling the same city blocks, decided it might be time to go to the airport and get some rest before I had to get on a plane again.
I had a great time and enjoyed meeting the Canberran fans and writers as well as the fellow travellers from other states.
Death by Chocolate was the first Sunday panel I made it to. Unfortunately the person who knew what the panel was supposed to focus on was ill, so we winged it and discussed what would be our favourite way to go, involving chocolate, and what sf and fantasy stories had featured chocolate,while real chocolate was passed relentlessly around the circle until one could stuff in no more.
Panels I attended that were actually about sf included Urban Fantasy as Alternate Reality and the Fildenstar Concert. I haven't mentioned them before but The Fildenstar were two performers on keyboards who sang beautiful speculative-themed songs which sounded very Celtic and folksong-like to my ears. They appeared at the opening ceremony and also this lunchtime concert. They do not have a CD yet, despite being asked several times, but we're told this will be changed asap.
The Australian Apocalypse/Post Apocalypse Films panel was very good value and showed us quite a few works which have disappeared from general view. I am personally looking forward to seeing Bait where people trapped in a flooded supermarket after a tsunami are menaced by sharks circling the aisles.
Most useful to me in terms of my own writing was Science of Environmental Apocalypse and its potential use in your science fiction. I think it was Cat Sparks who asked why more people are not writing about this actual apocalypse-in-motion and instead stick to the overused tropes of pandemics and bombs. She kindly indicated me as one who has been doing so as best I can with my Nightsider short fiction series and much fascinating discussion was had about writers such as John Christopher, Death of Grass and John Wyndham, Day of the Triffids. The panel included both scientists [Phil Berrie and Frankie Seymour, who has sailed on Sea Shepherd] and writers, [Cat Sparks and Simon Petrie]. I can't praise this panel enough. It alone was worth attending the convention!
The panels were so good on this day that I hardly got a break in the afternoon, and let's face it, with me not being a morning person, the afternoon and evening was most of it. Right after environmental catastrophe it was into Time travel - paradoxes are only the first step. Since this panel included real physics, I had to listen closely, but am afraid I didn't track all of it. Part of that was my own ineptitude and part constant interruptions from one or two people in the audience. Folx, if you disagree with what the panelist is saying, at least let her or him finish so people not so ofay with the subject can keep up.
The following panel I went to was in the last group of the con, the Great Debate. If you're run over by a truck and have the option of coming back, which would you rather be? Vampire or Zombie? This was eloquently argued by both sides, with the general push being that vampires have style but zombies are at least honest about their intentions. Sure, a vampire *may* bring you back as another of his kind, but you could just get chomped by a smooth operator in a cape.
In the first round of voting, the zombies won, but there were various demands for a recount. I think people voted then who didn't vote before, there were certainly more voters overall! So it ended up as a tie but we know which team of beloved shambling undead should have won.
Closing ceremony after this and then the Dead Dog gathering at King O'Malleys pub, where a room had been reserved. Great looking venue, with the least Irish cuisine I've seen in any pub. Not even any bangers and mash. Still, the pasta was excellent. I headed back to my hotel fairly early as I was quite honestly beat. I needed a good night's sleep, since I had to check out of the hotel next day and spend Monday as a vagrant until it was time to go to the airport to head home.
On Monday, thanks to Lawrie Brown's guidance, I didn't go too far off course in walking to Floriade from the hotel in Northbourne Street. I took a lot of pictures with my eeepad - may post some later - and enjoyed it particularly early on before the majority of the crowds arrived. For those fellow out-of-staters who've wondered where all the Canberrans were in the centre of the city, this is where. After several hours, I headed back towards Northbourne and tried to go to the National Museum, but it was shut for the public holiday. I considered the National Library but was very tired by then and also was not sure whether it too might be closed.
I encountered a most futuristic-looking talking toilet somewhere in a city mall, which informed me that I had 10 minutes in the facility before the doors opened of their own accord, and where you pressed shiny buttons to make anything happen, such as paper appear.
I also visited a few shops, notably the gaming shop Mindgames, and when I realised that I was circling the same city blocks, decided it might be time to go to the airport and get some rest before I had to get on a plane again.
I had a great time and enjoyed meeting the Canberran fans and writers as well as the fellow travellers from other states.