Two More ConZealand Panels!

Between last night and today I have seen another two panels. I mean to catch up with at least two more before ConZealand switches them off. 

Actually, I watched only half of “What’s In A Name?”, the panel on choosing names for fiction. It was quite interesting,but not what I had expected from the blurb. As there were several more I had wanted to see at the time, I dropped out after all the panellists had had their say. The intro was, of course, about  Charles Dickens and how apt his names were, and how it was done in general in the Victorian era. Okay, we all knew that if we were attending the panel. 

The panellists - none of whom I’d heard of, but all writers with a distinguished career, one with a very distinguished career, from what we were told - were asked, among other things, whether they had to come up with names before writing a story. One of them said yes, but she advised people to check with someone of the appropriate background before using a name from another language. (She was researching a Chinese name). Sometimes the name might mean something over the top, sometimes they might not even be names in that language. Wise advice! (She was the one with the very distinguished career)

The one to whom I could relate most was the gentleman who said he just couldn’t think of names immediately, so found first person was handy.

I totally get that! I, too, do a lot of first person and am likely to change names later. If I had to think of names immediately my stories would never be written. 

At the same time, I do think about names for secondary characters. For example, an irritatingly soppy character in my novel Wolfborn was named for Chaucer’s Prioress. It became appropriate for other reasons late in the book. 

I moved on to a panel I had wanted very much to see, on “The Second Golden Age of science fiction”. I loved it! 

One of the panellists was a German lady, Cora Buhlert, on the shortlist for Best Fan Writer(she didn’t win, but if I’d been familiar with her work before I would have voted for her) and Best Fanzine, Galactic Journey. I voted for The Book Smugglers, a very useful review zine, but I could see why Cora was eligible for that panel. Galactic Journey pretends it is being published in the 1960s and reviews books, magazines and stories of the time. I think I will have to check it out again! I only caught a brief part of it when researching my fanzines. 

The panel was moderated by Dr Bradford Lyau, a University academic who studies this stuff. Kathryn Sullivan is a children’s and YA author, though I haven’t read any of her work as yet. The other two panellists were those two veterans Jack Dann and Robert Silverberg. Jack is younger than Robert, though he has white hair and has had it since I’ve known him(He moved to Australia in the early 1990s, because, he said, his partner needed to be here to do her job, while he could work anywhere). Jack has edited quite a few anthologies, mostly themed ones, with the late Gardner Dozois, but he has also written novels and short stories. I have a few. One is The Memory Cathedral, about an alternative universe in which Leonardo Da Vinci actually built some of those things we know he invented. The Rebel is about James Dean, only he survives that crash. There are more, but after hearing another panel he was on, I bought his latest book, Shadows In The Stone, another Renaissance Italy fantasy. Argh, still buying books from the con! 

Robert Silverberg says he is the last of his era alive, except for a very old James Gunn(he wrote The Listeners, which I read years ago). He has been to 67 World SF cons. I’ve read some of his work, but the one I recall the most is Gilgamesh The King, which I liked very much. That novel was based on the ancient Epic Of Gilgamesh, which I got as a 14th birthday present from a friend. It’s the story of a king who goes in search of immortality after losing his best friend, Enkidu, and seeing him in the unpleasant afterlife. Gilgamesh goes to visit Utnapishtim, the last survivor, with his wife, of the Flood on which the  Biblical Flood story was based. Utnapishtim and his wife were granted immortality. He gives Gilgamesh a herb, but while he is asleep a snake goes past, eats the herb and sheds its skin, as snakes do. So poor Gilgamesh stays mortal.  

What I liked about Silverberg’s version was that he gives Gilgamesh another reason for his quest. As a young child he is at his father’s funeral, based on the royal burial found in Ur. He sees many courtiers going into the grave with their king. The Queen doesn’t go, but her lady in waiting does, as does a slave child representing Gilgamesh. Leonard Woolley, the archaeologist, said it was a voluntary thing - they would have believed that they were getting a higher quality afterlife. But young Gilgamesh decides it isn’t going to happen to him - ever! 

It was fun to hear those two old war horses reminiscing about their mutual friends of the old days by first name. 

Robert said that he didn’t consider the 1960s as the second Golden Age; for him, that was the 1950s, when he was first writing and being published. He said that pretty much anyone with a typewriter could make it as a professional in those days; with 39 US science fiction magazines, there was a lot of demand. Then the company distributing all those magazines went belly up in 1958, and so did a lot of magazines. Later, yes, in the late 1960s, there was another surge of SF publication.

Jack was published later than Robert. He said that he was first being published at the same time as George RR Martin. As they were friends, he at first celebrated when George won awards, then realised it meant he wasn’t winning! He smiled as he said that, of course, Jack is a lovely person. Anyway, he said that he has won a lot of awards himself, except for the Hugo. Maybe next year,  Jack? I hope so! He remembered quite a few authors first published in the 60s, especially female authors, such as Kate Wilhelm and Joanna Russ. Also, Alice Sheldon, better known as Janes Tiptree Jr; she was middle aged by the time she was first published in 1968, and decided to use a male pen name. No one found out till 1977! There is an award named after her(the Tiptree, not the Sheldon!)

A question about favourite universes of the 60s got the panel reminiscing about theirs, but I thought Cora made the best comment. Her favourite universe of that time was Frank Herbert’s novel Dune. That world was, I agree, very well plotted out. It’s a planet where water is so scarce that if you spit at someone it’s a compliment, because you are sharing your body’s water. But it’s also the only source of the Spice, which is needed by navigators to get spaceships through space. 

Cora pointed out that whatever planets turn up in later films, eg Tatooine, the planet  Dune is there. It certainly was an influence.

There was also discussion of 1960s SF shows and films. 2001: A Space Odyssey came out in 1968. Planet Of The Apes, of course. Plenty more, including The Time Machine, but they mentioned what was in the top of their heads.  

Here is a link to a Wikipedia list of US science fiction films of the time, though not only the US was doing science fiction. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1960s_American_science_fiction_television_series

The shows mentioned included Star Trek, The Twilight Zone(around in the 60s, but I’d swear it started in the 50s) and The Outer Limits. All of them had SF writers involved, either writing for them or whose stories were adapted. A young David Gerrold - only 22 years old at the time - wrote “The Trouble With Tribbles” for Star Trek. His first sale, but a classic, and he has gone on to do very well since then. 

A panel I enjoyed very much. I have read a lot of those authors mentioned and I, personally, think it was a golden age, sorry, Bob!

Here is a link to the Galactic Journey web site. Enjoy!  

https://galacticjourney.org/