ConZealand - Day I!

Today was my first day at this year’s Worldcon, and look what arrived in the mail - a very nice con book! 

ConZealand was supposed to be held in Wellington, New Zealand, but guess what happened while they were in the middle of planning it? Yep. COVID 19.

Instead of cancelling it altogether or making it a small local event, they started all over again and turned it into a virtual event. I thought it might be hard, what with all the stuff about Discord and Grenadine and such, but in the end, after some initial confusion I was logged in and all I had to do was choose my panels and click into them, taking me to simple Zoom meetings. Very smooth! 

I also encountered an old friend from my Andromeda Spaceways days on Discord. Nice! 

As I have family commitments for the rest of the con, I just went to as many events as I could, in hopes of slipping in one or two a day, but found to my delight that the sessions have been recorded and will be up till August 9, so while I won’t have the live-time pleasure, with chat, I can see the panels I miss. I’m giving it a test run tonight in bed.

I got up early this morning, 6.00 am my time, to hear the dealers’ room folk talking about their goodies. I haven’t bought anything from those people yet, but it was just a test run to see if there were any problems logging in. There weren’t. Zoom is so very easy when you’ve been doing absolutely everything on it, as I have. 

After the dealers’ room thing, I rushed off to make breakfast and put stuff in the wash before my first session of the day. It started off as “The art of the interview”, by a group of podcasters. There were some interesting points made, but in the end, it wasn’t for me, and, unlike at a live convention, where everyone would see me leave, I was able to wander over to “Future Laws”.

Now, that did interest me. A group of panellists, including at least one lawyer, speculated on the legal problems you might have in the future when things are different. Think about it. Things are different even now from when we were all growing up. What happens if we have clones? AI?

The opening ceremony competed with several other panels, but I always go to the opening and closing ceremonies if I can. This happened on the web site, for good reason; it was a number of small pre-recorded videos put together beautifully and linked by the two committee members - the GOHs, including toastmaster George R.R Martin, the guy who is making the Hugo awards showing how he did it, and such. 

 

My next panel was going to be on Australian SF and fantasy, but when 15 minutes past the starting time had gone, I found another panel. It turned out that Jack Dann, the moderator, had been having trouble with the tech. He said on Twitter that the panel did happen, but late. 

Meanwhile, I went to “Shared Common Myths” in which authors from different backgrounds talked about their own myths - Korean, Irish, Nigerian. I hadn’t heard of any of thrm, but I bought a book by the Irishman and the Nigerian and made a note of the Korean lady’s book which is not out yet. Two books already and I hadn’t even left my living room... whimper! 

I did miss one planned panel, on what inspired the panellists in their writing because I needed that hour to make lunch and put clothes in the wash. But I can see that recording when I go to bed later. 

Next was a panel on “The Chronology of Calendars” - that one was great fun! There was discussion of how you would work out a calendar for an invented world, and how it would be affected by how long the year was, whether there were moons, etc. Mention was made of Star Trek Stardates, but there were other considerations, like what about religious Calendars? Someone recommended a series by Yoon Ha Lee, The Machineries Of Empire, which was obsessed with calendars. 

Guess who wandered over to Apple Books and bought the first book in the series? One guess. 

I have long wondered what Jews would do in space, with a lunar calendar to work out the different holy days. Someone on the panel said that was a good point and that the Muslim calendar would also have problems there. 

I attended a kaffeeklatch with my friend Gillian Polack, who said she had a couple of new books coming out. 

If there had been the time I might have invited her to talk about why there is so much cooking and eating in every one of her books. She loves cooking and so do her characters, but she denies being in her books.

My next panel, out in the park, was on character names. You know how Dickens always gave his characters suitable, or st least over the top, names? The authors on the panel spoke about how they chose their characters’ names. One of them advised strongly against killing off your enemies in your stories unless you are willing to risk being sued. 

I ordered dinner from the Indian restaurant and it arrived while I was at the panel “Scary Stuff” in which panellists did a round robin horror story, which worked out surprisingly well. Elizabeth Knox was one - I’m still reading my first book by her, The Absolute Book, which I had to buy from a NZ bookshop, as it was not available here.  Frances Hardinge, another, a British writer is on this year’s Hugo shortlist.   

The next panel was on the theme of fae in countries outside of Europe. Some were invasive European fairies. Others were indigenous ones, because the folklore of most countries has some similar stories and Otherworldly folk. The only panellist I had heard of was Jodi McAlister, who has done a series involving the cruelty of faeries in a cruel landscape like the Australian bush. 

Sigh!  I bought my fourth book for the day. The problem with ebooks is that you don’t have to defer gratification.

Finally, I went to a very interesting panel on cons in the era of COVID. Four panellists talked about conventions they had been organising or, in one case, had been the guest of honour, before they had had to be cancelled. There was lively discussion, both among them and on the chat thread, about the advantages and disadvantages of virtual cons. On the one hand, we miss the face to face, and making friends you do in person. I personally miss al, the photos you take with friends and in costume. 

On the other hand, you can chat without disturbing the panel. Some of us just couldn’t have attended a traditional convention. It saves flying and environmental issues. And it’s quite possible even to sing filk songs on Zoom! 

I’m off now to have a shower and go to bed, where I can catch up with at least one panel from today. 

A long but enjoyable first day!