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Con Day TwoMay 27, 2006 I copyedited for an hour and a half in my room then went out to prowl the Saturday morning farmers' market. It wasn't eight o'clock yet, still very early by sf standards. The market goes all the way around the big square in front of the capitol, and nearly all the vendors are farmers, bakers, and serious gardeners. I managed to resist many temptations thanks to the lack of cash in my wallet and the specter of stuff (e.g., maple syrup and honey) smashing to bits in my luggage or spoiling (e.g., a glorious array of cheeses) in my room. Did score breakfast, which I ate while listening to music on one side of the square. The options were all good: a bluegrass/old-timey trio of guys, two young women on violin and (I think -- I was behind them and couldn't see properly) viola, and two more guys, a percussionist and a penny-whistler. The temptations in the 10 a.m. time slot were even more daunting than the food at the farmers' market. How to choose among "Writing vs. Politics," "Chick Lit and Chick Flicks -- Legitimate Genres or Marketing Ghettos?," and "The Changing Language of Communication," among others? I went to the Aqueduct Press reading. I already knew the work of Lucy Sussex, Rosaleen Love, and publisher Timmi Duchamp, so my expectations were high -- and well met. Also reading were Anne Lane Sheldon, whose poetic interpretation of the Inanna legend I especially liked, and Nancy Jane Moore. All five were very good readers. One reason I tend to skip readings, even though they're a great way to hear what writers have just finished or are currently working on, is that many writers don't put much effort into their performances. The wages of appreciation: I immediately trotted off to the dealers' room and bought four titles from Aqueduct's Conversation Pieces series:
Then I wandered up the aisle to the Tachyon Publications booth and sprang for Suzy McKee Charnas's Stagestruck Vampires and Other Phantasms, which leads off with "Beauty and the Opéra or the Phantom Beast," an incredible story that I've loved since I first heard Suzy read it about 10 years ago but didn't have a print copy of. Buying just one book at a time seems stingy, so I added the second James Tiptree Award Anthology, even though the first has been sitting unopened in a pile I bought and brought back from Gaylaxicon last July. (For more about Aqueduct Press, which is publishing seriously important stories and essays from the feminist f/sf crossroads, check out their website: www.aqueductpress.com.) Oh yeah -- in between the reading and the buying I was interviewed by Linda Wight, a Ph.D. candidate at James Cook University in Queensland who is doing her dissertation on representations of masculinity in texts that have won or been shortlisted for the Tiptree. I wasn't on any panels today but attended two afternoon offerings: "Food and SF/F" and "Feminist Fiction Is So Five Minutes Ago." I was uneasy about the latter: was this going to be a "feminism is passé, we're all queer now" panel? I needn't have worried. Turned out to be a most interesting exploration of what for me is becoming a recurring theme for the whole con: How do we avoid the cycle in which one generation's exhilarating innovations become the next's hidebound orthodoxies? For that matter, how can we get past the notion that generations come with rigid boundaries and even walls between them? More about that when I get to Sunday's "Fundamentals of Feminism" panel. The conversation at dinner was so interesting that I actually missed the Tiptree Award fundraising auction, always a WisCon highlight. This year, I'm told, Mary Doria Russell (author of The Sparrow), auctioneer and Nebula Award winner Ellen Klages, and several attendees pursued Tiptree Award winner Geoff Ryman around the room, trying to dress him in a hot pink bra. Mary donated this particular bra to the 1998 auction; it reappeared the following year then went into hiding. Geoff led his pursuers on a merry chase but eventually emerged from under the stage and put the bra on backwards, around his hips. He also signed the bra, which should increase its auctioneering potential the next time it manifests. It's already raised several hundred dollars for the Tiptree juggernaut. What's next?
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