#ditch diggers

“You can pull it off if you write like an angel. I do not write like an angel.” – Ursula Vernon (T. Kingfisher) In this episode of Ditch Diggers, hosts Mur Lafferty and Ursula Vernon (T. Kingfisher), talk about the horrors of ADHD convincing creative folk that they can do ALL the things. (You can’t do all the things.) They also talk about Naomi Alderman’s acquisition of Six to Start, the…

"Well that's rewarding them too much"

No one's stopping you from doing it then

"Well I can't because [xyz]"

You're making this job sound even harder

"My job's also hard"

Hello dear Gentle Reader,

I need to process, so you’re getting a con review today. Here are my feels on WorldCon (including the parties) plus resources and links follow ups on my panel discussions.

Frankly, WorldCon felt a bit like being Tam Lin, in the end. As if I had been pulled underhill, into a place with no time and too much terrible beauty.

Beware the unsidhe and fandom, or are they the same thing?

WorldCon San Jose 2018

By far the best thing to happen was Mur & Matt winning the Hugo for Best Fan Cast: Ditch Diggers. Are you a writer? Then you should listen to this podcast. No excuses now, shut up and listen. You’ll make my life a lot easier because you’ll stop asking me stupid questions.

Yes, there are stupid questions. Anyone who told you differently was selling something.

Mur in a Chicken hat and self at the Hugo After Party having a grand time

So Ditch Diggers wins and I am flipping ecstatic. I love them both, and we met because of podcasts. I am so delighted they won. It helps that I’m the Fairy Godmother of Ditch Diggers, so YES!

If you want to watch a great summation of WorldCon and listen to some awesome thoughts on the event and winning the Hugo, you can’t do any better than Matt’s little video…

The Venue

San Jose gave its all, in terms of weather and food. I feel like both would be hard to beat by any other WorldCon ever. There was so much hole-in-the-wall deliciousness within walking distance. My biggest disappointment was The Grill at the Fairmont – overpriced, overcooked, and bland. That’ll teach me to eat at the hotel and not the obligatory Nor Cal hole-in-the-wall. Nash.

Us locals were particularly amused by the general delight in all the yummy tacos, which, quite frankly, for us were merely passing good. Yes, including the lamb and pork belly ones. Trust me, this is WHAT WE DO.

My crew and I trekked vast distances for stellar Indian buffet and yummy Ethiopian on the advice of those who actually live in downtown San Jose and were not disappointed. Honestly, I keep ending up living in the Bay Area because of the food.

Rarely do I get a chance to eat exactly how I want to at a con – which is to say, not-American lighter faire, and mostly vegetarian. San Jose made that easy. Not to mention the fact that my hotel, the Hyatt, laid on a nice breakfast spread to get the day started RIGHT.

The Panels

I had three panels, a kaffeeklutch, and a signing. That’s actually pretty light schedule for me. But I also had interviews and meetings and such.

My favorite panel was the first one with my friend Shelly Adina. We are both comfortable at cons and with public speaking and don’t have many pickles left to give, so we went all out with hilarious and snarky. The room was packed and the questions were brilliant and people laughed at all the right times.

Photo source.

Panel Resources

Carriger & Adina Talk Steampunk (tea and silliness optional)

Things of interest from that panel:

Storypunks Podcast: Steampunk With Author and Podcaster Gail Carriger

The Sea Is Ours: Tales from Steampunk Southeast Asia

Writing and Researching Steampunk & Victorian History (my big blog post with TONS of resources)

Follow up article: Steampunks Abound at Worldcon

Young Adult: Looking at the World Through a Skewed Lens

Things of interest from that panel:

The 38 Best Queer YA Novels

The Lesbrary book review site

Why You Should Read “Fluff” Books

Spy-Fi: Secret Agents, Fantasy, and Science Fiction

Things of interest from that panel:

Gerardo Horacio Porcayo had some fascinating things to say about CyberPunk in Mexico, check out his stuff

History Extra podcast: Spies through the ages

Back to (Assassin) School: An Unconventional Reading List

Kaffeeklutch and signing….

I always give away swag and secrets at these things (and at my bookstore events) so no links of anything for you here. You have to come see me in person for that. Although the Chirrup may have something new and exciting to tell you this weekend.

WHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Source: Steampunks Abound at Worldcon

The Parties

I didn’t really hang out much on the party floor. I helped throw a lovely little tea party with Borderlands in their sponsor suite. And I buzzed up once to visit Locus. In general, however, the room parties were a bit too hot and crowded for me, most of the time.

An Informal Afternoon Tea: Etiquette, Fashion, and Excess in the Late 19th Century

What’s the Difference Between English, Irish and Scottish Breakfast Teas?

Mostly I hung out at the bar, or tried too. Because the best bar (Fairmont) would keep playing less than the best music, loudly, so we kept leaving and migrating about to lesser bars.

Running into the lovely Debbie at the Retro Hugos.

Too much time was spent walking aimlessly trying to meet up with people. Bars we did end up at weren’t prepared for authors-en-masse and did dumb things like close early out of fear or desperation or trauma. My shoes got progressively more practical as the convention went on, because there was just so much walking. This did not thrill me in any regard.

By far my favorite evening gathering was a the Hugo After Party, mostly because I always relax more at the end of the con, and I got to dance. The music was really good and I had my girls with me so there was lots of bouncing about. I did take an epic tumble due to a spilled drink on the dance floor and am now sporting an extremely impressive bruise. Yeah, I’m graceless AF.

The Concluding Muddle

WorldCon was kind of all over the place for me.

I started it off receiving some very sad news, which rather impacted my mental state the whole time. But I ended it over-the-moon happy for two friends of mine and dancing my little heart out. In the middle? I spent most of the con unmoored. Physically drifting from bar to bar, panel to panel, person to person. Emotionally wavering between grief, delight, annoyance, and joy. I socialized with buddies from Faire, friends from high school, author soulmates, steampunk lovelies, and professional contacts.

In a weird way, my whole identity was tested.

I guess you could describe my reemergence into mundane life as rather muddled and a little fractured right now. So forgive me these confusing times while I work myself back out?

I seem to be still there, at WorldCon, in that odd in-between underhill of magic and fairies and lost time and space, and beauty, and horror.

You know how it goes with the fae. Right?

Yours as always,

Miss Gail

Which reminds me you should all go read The Perilous Gard. (And for goodness sake why isn’t this in eBook form? Who’s managing that woman’s estate. Are you mad?)

Members of the Chirrup will have the option of entering to win this parasol on Sunday. You need to join before it goes out. This charming lace sunshade is one of a kind… because I decorated it with the blue ribbon myself. There will also be more gossip about WorldCon, and a super exciting secret about an upcoming project.

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DD 12.5 If you haven’t heard, Ursula (T. Kingfisher) is writing the prequel novel for ASTARION, the most popular Baldurs Gate 3 character. So of course we have to talk about work for hire, why you do it, what you receive from it, and how to get these jobs. Also you can preorder Astarion! Even if you’re not a Baldur’s Gate fan, work for hire is likely to come up in your writing career, and you…