On August 4-5-6, 2017, the 39th
annual Armadillocon science fiction convention brought possible futures and
alternate pasts to Austin. A friend of mine said that it is “a very literary con”
and it lived up to that. On the second night, I saw a couple in Steam Punk dress,
but there were no other costumes, no t.v. or movie stars, just books, authors,
artists, editors, publishers, and, of course, readers. We had a great time.
Armadillocon prides itself on introducing the best new talent. The GoH
(Guest of Honor) was Nisi Shawl. Her steampunk novel, Everfair, is set in an alternate Belgian Congo that is - going on
the reviews; I have not read it - inclusive to minorities of gender and color. In addition, as is customary, there was
a Fan GoH (A. T. Campbell III). Other special guests were Mark A. Nelson
(Artist GoH), and Trevor Quachri of Analog (Editor GoH). Fantasy writer Tamora Piece was the Special GoH.
Armadillocon website:
You can edit the URL to see the archives back to 1994:
And, of course, Wikipedia has good background:
The con is sponsored by the
Fandom Association of Central Texas
(FACT): http://www.fact.org/
The panel discussions were all about the craft and business of writing, from how to get an idea, to how to turn an idea into a story, to how to sell to Analog (or anyone). Laurel and I attended several panel discussions together and split up for others.
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| Brad Foster of JabberwockyGraphix.com Artist, Panelist, and Pictionary player |
“Writing Golden Age Fiction Today” (billed as Lou Antonelli,
Alan J. Porter, James Reasoner, Adrian Simmons, but with Shane Friesner and
Keith West filling in for Adrian Simmons) was interesting to me because I have
an unfinished anthology, Millennium
Wonder Stories, set the present, but as if written in 1937-1939. Like any good story, the action must be
plot driven, fun, and adventurous, with a touch of romance. It has to be “a
story that moves.” Introducing a new world is key. A weird menace with “a
Scooby-Do ending” (unmasking the threat) is one way to frame those. A point made in other panels was that a
plot is not “an extended conceit.” In a Golden Age story, there are no moral
ambiguities. We get the future we deserved, not the one we got.
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| One of Many Panel Discussions (Barbara Ann Wright was inspirational.) |
Also on the first night, I went to “Timeless versus Tired
Tropes.” Like a riff in music, a
trope is a recurring shorthand: the plucky girl, the evil corporation, the
mysterious elf, star-crossed lovers, coming of age, bad-assed robot, first
person smartass, alien invasion, the dream sequence. Panelist Ari Marmell said, “A trope is a cliché done well.”
Steven Brust suggested subverting the trope, changing the reader’s
expectations. Panel chair Shawn Scarber offered the city as a character.
Friday night closed with an investigation into the sidekick,
“Frodo had Samwise, Han had Chewie…” with Michael Ashleigh Finn, Josh
Roundtree, Patrick Sullivan, Rhonda Eudaly, and Skylar White. The sidekick can
be relatable or inspirational, a friend whose presence relieves the author of
writing interior dialog. It opens the opportunity for a story about the
friendship. The relationship can be unequal or equal. The sidekick can also be
a stand-in for the audience. It is also possible to “subvert the trope” as was
done in Without a Clue in which Dr.
Watson is the protagonist.
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| Kurt Baty built a replica of the Antikythera Device with LEGO |
Saturday opened with Kurt Baty’s presentation on the
Antikythera Device. The topic was a little far afield, though science is
essential to science fiction. Kurt focused on the machine. I noted that the
Antikythera Device does open up both alternate history and lost history as
story devices. What would “wine punk” science fiction be like? A world of
Daedalus hang gliders, mirror-and-lens burning rays, bronze gear calculators,
for a society that speaks of geometry and astronomy. In the real world of the
time, a legal slave could be a lawful millionaire.
Laurel and I went to “Writing 101.” They suggested taking a common domestic
event and twisting the story, and other advice.
I went to the Guest Editor interview while Laurel was at
“Pantsing versus Outlining.”
(“Pantsing” is writing by the seat of your pants, not the now-criminal
harassment we suffered in our childhoods.)
I followed the Guest Editor interview with “How to Sell to Analog (and
other Markets)” while Laurel attended “Sitting Pilates for the Sedantary.” We
met up again for “You Have a Great Idea for a Story—Now What?” Laurel went to
“Serial Killers: Books that Ended a Series” while I walked out of “Technology –
Art – Business” which was supposed to be about how recent advances in graphic
arts technologies have changed the markets, but turned out to be about where to
get free copies of programs that let non-artists find out why they are not
artists.
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| Tristan Thorne of Sinister Smile, local publisher of eBooks, Paperback, or Hardcover on Demand or Otherwise. I bought one their scifi anthologies and showed him my "Millennial Wonder Stories." |
We both attended the session, “Novel or Short Story?”
chaired by Louise Marley, with T. Eric Bakutis, Urania Fung, Michelle Muenzler,
Patrice Sarath, and William Browning Spencer. We both took a lot of notes.
Among the good information was an introduction to where to find markets. Laurel
does more reading than I do, but we both benefited from learning about the
meta-lists of markets. That was all explored again in depth on Sunday with “Short
Story Markets.” That presentation started off rough with the panelists just
naming markets in random conversation until another frustrated guy in the audience finally pointed to the
easel and flipchart.
The same problem struck the presentation on Cartography
which I walked out of. I completed my master’s degree with two classes in
geographic information systems. I was looking forward to this. But I was
astounded (and not in a Golden Age way) by a panel on Cartography without any
graphics.
On Sunday, Laurel was at one of the very many readings by
authors that are the structural skeleton of the convention.
Meanwhile, I attended “Clarke Centennial: 2001: A Space
Odyssey.” I had a few problems with their opinions. It seemed a common
assumption that HAL 9000 typified “technology out of control” a harbinger for
petroleum which will kill us all with global warming. Quoting Dr. Chandra, I
replied, “HAL was told to lie, by men who find it easy to lie.” Then, I lost my
cool over global (even-if-it-is-real-so-fucking-what?) warming. However, I did
meet panelist David Afsharirad who edited three volumes of “Year’s Best
Military SF” for Baen Publishing Enterprises. I found him later in the dealers
room. (He was buying at a table, not selling from one.) I bought all three
volumes. He autographed them for me, inscribing them to my units in the Texas
State Guard, the Maritime Regiment, and Domestic Operations.
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| Hard SF From New Atlantic Industries. Find them on Facebook, and of course, at http://www.newatlanticindustries.com/ |
We picked up a ton of art cards, bookmarks, and other freebies, including self-published little stories. I bought a cool t-shirt, “Book Wyrm” in rich colors depicting a dragon in front of stacks of books. I also was happy to find a spin-off X Files/Star Wars poster (“I want to believe” with the Millennium Falcon for the flying saucer) from Vyktohria, who also draws pin-ups (website here). This was Laurel’s first scifi con. I went to a trekker con in Livonia, Michigan, back in the 20th century. All in all, we both benefited, and we brought home a lot to talk about, even a week later. One reason for this write-up is that we are still transcribing our notes in order to facilitate discussing them. We don’t do that for computer security conferences.
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