Report on ConDFW XI

Author GOH Cherie Priest

ConDFW XI was held over the weekend, beginning on the afternoon of Friday, February 17 and ending, as these things tend to do, just over 48 hours later, on Sunday February 19.  The author Guest of Honor was Cherie Priest, and the artist Guest of Honor was William Stout.

I wasn't able to get away as early as I'd hoped Friday morning, so I missed the afternoon panels.  I visited with friends, kibitzed with Mark Finn during his signing, then went and grabbed some food.  The Opening Ceremonies were held after dinner and only lasted five minutes.  Since I was five minutes late, I got there just as everyone was leaving. 

Finally, a Voice of Reason

Lee Martindale has weighed in on the ratio of male/female writers in Year's Best lists and anthologies.  I tried to post a reply, but wasn't able to.  I don't have a Livejournal account, and I couldn't figure out how to log in from Google, so I'm replying here.  Finally, someone with credentials who speaks with a voice of reason.  If you read my interview with Lee, this shouldn't surprise you.

Trading on the Oldest Profession

The Ladies of Trade Town
Lee Martindale, ed.
Harp Haven Publishing, 297 p., $16.99

Yes, you read the title of this post correctly.  The anthology under review is about the world’s oldest profession.  But before we get into that, a few words regarding what this book is not are in order.  This book is not porn.  Nor is it erotica.  Lee Martindale has been working on getting this book published for a while, and part of that process involved, if you’ll pardon the phrase, pimping it at various conventions to prospective contributors.  Her words when explaining the restriction about explicit sexual content were, and I quote, “How good a writer are you?”  In other words, she was more interested in well written stories about the characters themselves than the details of said characters’ plumbing.  Some of the stories have essentially no sexual content.  Sexual themes, yes; sexual content, no.

Also in order is a small disclaimer.  Lee is a longtime friend, as you know if you’ve read the interview with her.  That does not mean I am automatically going to cut her slack if I think this is a poor book.  (She didn’t cut me any slack when she rejected my submission, and she was right in rejecting it.)  We’ve known each other for too long and have too much mutual respect to let the other get away with substandard work.  I’m going to be honest about what I think.

The Adventures Fantastic Interview: Lee Martindale

Lee Martindale is a renaissance woman in the worlds of science fiction and fantasy, wearing multiple hats, including writer, editor, publisher, mentor to new writers, convention guest, and filker, just to name a few.  She makes multiple convention appearances every year, often accompanied by her husband George, so if she’s at a convention near you, stop and say hello to her.  Recently at ConDFW, Lee sat down with Adventures Fantastic to discuss writing, publishing, her new book (reviewed here), and other interesting topics such as her preferred weapons.  Interviewing her was a blast.  I’ve known Lee for more years than either of us is willing to admit, so there’s more back and forth between interviewer and interviewee than in previous interviews I’ve run.  Here’s what she had to say.

AF:  What got you into writing and why science fiction and fantasy?

LM:  That’s a good place to start.  What got me into writing was being raised by a grandfather who was probably one of the best oral storytellers I’ve ever heard.  He was Irish – it’s genetic – and I grew up pretty much learning the craft at his knee.  I started crafting my own stories before I learned how to write.  And there was, until a tornado took out my house in 1974, a pencil-on-lined-yellow-notebook-paper romance novel hidden away.  Thank God, it ended up in Oz or I’d still be living it down.  I started writing nonfiction and selling it when I was 30.

Report on ConDFW X

ConDFW X was held on February 18-20, 2011, at the Crown Plaza in Dallas, Texas.   Guests included Brandon Sanderson, Tim Powers, and Brad Foster.  Jack McDevitt, last year's guest who was unable to attend due to weather, was also there.

Lee Martindale interviewing Jack McDevitt

This was a good convention.  I have only one complaint, aside from the usual that time passed too quickly and I had to miss some of the programming because I couldn't be in more than one place at the same time, and that was the con suite.  It seemed to have thin offerings this year, which is unusual because ConDFW usually has an excellent con suite.  But that's minor. 

It was a great con, a lot of fun, and I was able to interview several people.  Over the next few weeks, as I transcribe the interviews, I'll post them here.

My biggest regret was that I wasn't able to attend Tim Powers Q&A session, but at least I did manage to score a signed copy of On Stranger Tides, which is the basis for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean IV, complete with original sketch. 

Tracy Morris, Tim Powers, Lou Antonelli, and Bill Ledbetter 

 

 

 

 

There was the usual number of writer oriented panels, on breaking out of the slush pile, how to write cross genre fiction, and that type of thing.  Steampunk was prevalent, and a good deal of the art show had a steampunk theme.  Beverly Hale's line of steampunk accessories in the art show was particularly stunning.  I noticed about four or five self-published authors had tables in the dealers' room, each of them trying to promote their books.  I leafed through one of them, and the dialogue was pretty stilted.  While I wish the author well, I hope the author is able to improve their craft. 

Probably the most eye-popping thing was in the charity auction.  Someone had donated a large (I'm talking huge here) number of movie related items:  posters, signed publicity photos, Star Trek figures.  That in and of itself wouldn't be especially eye-popping except that two of the posters were signed.  One was Apocalypse Now, and the other was The Blues Brothers.  Yes, the entire cast of both movies, including Marlon Brando and John Belushi.  I have no idea what they went for, but whoever walked away with them surely got them for less than market price.

Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson used part of his GoH session to discuss how genre fans shouldn't denigrate fans of subgenres that don't like.  His point, which was much more eloquently made than I'm stating it, was that genre readers in general, and readers of fantasy and science fiction in particular, have been looked down upon and ghetto-ized by the literary establishment and the general public for years.  We shouldn't turn around and do that to each other.

(l to r) Frank Summers, Mark Finn, Brandon Sanderson, Gloria Oliver, Stina Leitch, and Lee Martindale discussing magic systems.

The panel I found most thought-provoking was the one on how much should magic systems operate on scientific principles, meaning how well developed should the rules governing an author's magic system be worked out.  When the discussion went to the audience, I suggested that many science fiction writers use more magic than many fantasy writers because they take Clarke's Law and reverse it, making magic indistinguishable from sufficiently advanced technology.  I also suggested that maybe people were reading more fantasy than science fiction these days (at least according to sales numbers) was that fantasy was delivering the sense of wonder that science fiction used to deliver.  I may develop this idea and follow it up with another post.

All in all this was a great con.  Rather than talk about it, I'll let my photos speak for me.

(l to r)  Brad Sinor, Teresa Patterson, Kevin Hosey, Scott Cupp, and Lee Martindale discussing the making of anthologies.

The hotel lobby seen from the 2nd floor.

(l to r) Frank Summers, Thomas Knowles, Bill Fawcett, Michael Finn

A good time was had by all.