Chilled-out Novacon
Nov. 14th, 2005 10:38 amIt was the con where I took no photographs, bought hardly any books and for most of the time just hung out in the bar, and actually had some time to read for once. Then again, there was the absence of several regulars who were missed, notably Dave Langford, who a few of us met in Reading just before we drove up. He was looking very fragile after just having had his stitches out from his operation, and he clearly wasn't up for doing anything at all, let alone anything fannish.
So Alastair Reynolds was a great Guest of Honour and very likeable guy, his tongue-in-cheek concept of 'Ductile SF' (somewhere between Hard and Soft SF) is to me infinitely preferable to Geoff Ryman's 'Mundane SF' manifesto.
Nova Award results (in case you haven't heard elsewhere):
Best Fanzine: Banana Wings
Best Fan Writer: high-heeled
fishlifter
Best Fan Artist:
bohemiancoast
My own Zoo Nation came in second on the fanzine list, around 30 votes behind Banana Wings, so many thanks to everyone who voted for it. Banana Wings was a well-deserved win, the
fishlifters have done four excellent issues this year alone, high-heeled
fishlifter was once again lost for words at winning another fanwriter Nova, and I think
bohemiancoast thoroughly deserves her fan artist win on the strength of her great Plokta covers (I tied 3rd with
grytpype_thynne).
It was something of a relaxacon this year, with quite light programming. Of my two panel items, the first was a University Challenge-style SF quiz on Friday chaired by
grytpype_thynne, Birmingham vs. Rest of the Universe, which with Greg Pickersgill and Julian Headlong we trashed Birmingham by a long margin (but then we did have
fluffcthulhu as a mascot so we couldn't really lose). The second was 'Why Aren't Catastrophes So Cosy Anymore?', to which I contributed less and less as it inevitably turned into a (rather unmoderated) 'disaster management' discussion, there being two disaster managers also on the panel, looking at the aftermath of New Orleans and the coming bird flu pandemic. But there was quite a bit of audience participation, so it wasn't entirely a catastrophe.
We could also have done with
molesworth to liven up Saturday night with a TAFF party, as the bar was suddenly taken over by a posse of Bingo players for at least an hour. The hotel is certainly becoming less popular, but it seems we're there for next year as well.
Best quote of the weekend came from hong-haired
fishlifter, referring to Alastair Reynold's discussion of Greg Egan's Schild's Ladder, and
fjm's enjoyment of said book: "Science Fiction so complicated only Farah can understand it."
So Alastair Reynolds was a great Guest of Honour and very likeable guy, his tongue-in-cheek concept of 'Ductile SF' (somewhere between Hard and Soft SF) is to me infinitely preferable to Geoff Ryman's 'Mundane SF' manifesto.
Nova Award results (in case you haven't heard elsewhere):
Best Fanzine: Banana Wings
Best Fan Writer: high-heeled
Best Fan Artist:
My own Zoo Nation came in second on the fanzine list, around 30 votes behind Banana Wings, so many thanks to everyone who voted for it. Banana Wings was a well-deserved win, the
It was something of a relaxacon this year, with quite light programming. Of my two panel items, the first was a University Challenge-style SF quiz on Friday chaired by
We could also have done with
Best quote of the weekend came from hong-haired