Journeyman

The first day at the con ... found me really running tired for multiple reasons, but I Pepsied my way through, having a fine crabcake dinner with Friends of Liad stalwarts Myles and Nancy from Chicago, that was at the Birch bar... and we were joined by John Peraultt (that can't be spelled right, sorry John) ...
so then the first panel on invention, where I couldn't get into the groove, in part because there were so many experts in the room ... that there wasn't much newer, realer, or more on point that I could add.

after that went back to the Birch bar for a drink some other folks and we ended up with a mini-round-table on the state of publishing...and rushed away from that to grab something else to eat because suddenly dinner was five hours behind me.

I was more in gear for the "keeping your serial fresh" pane; I moderated but a lot of the panel just ran, which is fun, with Mike Flynn, Juliet mcKenna, Pat Bray and Joel Shepherd ... not sure we solved it for other people, but it was an interesting time with some good audience questions and comments, too.

Then to the Art reception for wine and cheese and a bit of cheese cake ... lots of good folks and good music ...talked there with a bunch of the folks from Anticipation re hotels in Montreal ... and it looks like they are going fast... gah ... need to make reservations soon...

Then to parties for awhile, and had a chance to go to the Raleigh NASFIC bid party where Warren Buff was holding the fort. There were SMOFS at the party, to be sure...

And I got to my room to discover fresh news that Duainfey mass market is already in the wild and for sale, these 10 days early,really. then to be, andf then the alarm was going off and now, breakfast over, need to rush off to the dealers room... more impressions and comments as the clarify...

February 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of the publication of a quirky little space opera titled Agent of Change written by a pair of quirky authors named Steve Miller (kinzel) and Sharon Lee (rolanni).

To celebrate this event, there will be a Liaden Universe® suite at Boskone -- http://www.nesfa.org/boskone/ -- and we look forward to seeing you -- yes, you! -- there to raise a cookie and toast the Clan. Note that the convention hotel has * now extended the reservation deadline* until February 8th. Act quickly ...

Note: We're also looking for help running the suite, so if you're going to be going to Boskone and would like to help, please drop a note to Steve at srmATkorval.com.

We'd like to take the opportunity of this Auspicious Event to thank all of our readers and Friends of Liad for their interest, support, encouragement and friendship over the years and across the galaxy.

You guys rock.

Sharon and Steve

We...

rambled up from Boskone via train in the snow late last night. About the time the very comfortable business class car on the Downeaster crossed the border-bridge into Maine I noticed that the light of the buildings outside seemed... muted. Eventually we saw damp streets through the train windows, and by the time the train rumbled through Old Orchard Beach many of the streets appeared snow covered...

Arriving in Portland, we found there wasn't a lot of snow -- perhaps an inch -- but the roads were pretty slick. The ride home took a lot longer than I usually plan for, given the (by then) intermittent snow and intermittent damp-to-icy roads, not to mention the wind, which was gusty and changeable, as if it hadn't abated since Thursday night. I found out when we stopped at Cumbies for milk that the day had been warm locally, thus explaining the slick underpinnings to a the dusting snow.

The con itself was great -- I'd been needing con for sometime, seeing as how the last one we went to was than half-a-year ago. A good (and very long time!) friend trained up from Baltimore and another came in from Albany, and managed to spend time with each, and even both, along with official duties. Weather affected some travelers (one friend had her car rear-ended within shouting distance of the hotel and kept some home -- I had several panels remade on the spot so they were different -- though no less fun or useful -- than the ones I thought I'd be moderating.

I found myself a little food-challenged at one point when the con briefly seemed to overwhelm the con hotel's ability to feed people, that worked out and I coped the rest of the weekend by punting a lot and keeping extra crackers in my carry-bag and lemon-cake back in the room to break chunks off of in lightning visits.

Among the highlights of the con for us was our late night visit to a filksing where Filk Guest of Honors Lee and Barry Gold were kind enough ask and the singers kind enough to agree to rearrange the room's schedule so Lee and Barry could sing Lee's song, "Agent of Change," for us. A very strange and moving thing to hear a song based on our story. It gave me chills, it did. I hope to get permission to post the song here or *somewhere* ... sigh.

I'm sure I'll have more details of the con as time goes on. We saw, and held, copies of the Meisha Merlin mass market Tomorrow Log .. .but the one I held was already owned by someone who took it home. We also spoke with Ian Randall Strock, a long-time professional acquaintance and an entrepreneurial kind of a guy who has started a new online news-site trade-magazine SFScope.com and though the site is only a few days old there's already some news on it.

Elsewise I spent some party time at the con... you might have seen me at the Buffalo Dog party hosted by Lawrence M. Schoen, author of the two SRM Publisher "buffalito" books, or at the Montreal in 2009 party, the KC in 2009 party, the PhilCon party (serving genuine Tastykakes!) the Bronx Babes party, the ...well, in any case, I made it some of the parties.

Among the sadder things for me was mostly missing Christopher Stasheff...at one point he was the reader ahead of us in a reading room so we saw each other on the way out and then I managed about thirty seconds of fan-boy thank yous for Rod Gallowglass, who helped convince me I wanted to be a writer.

And, we read the first chapter and half or so of Fledgling to the assembled masses, had a quiet "literary beer" in a very noisy hotel restaurant -- I wouldn't be surprised if the folks who signed up but didn't show just couldn't find us

Despite what looked like a really good art show I only spent a few minutes there on my own and a short while at the art show reception, which I usually make an evening of, since I was suffering from schedule difficulties; I think the "grand room" approach of arts how, dealer's room, and con suite is an entirely workable model.

I'm sure more will strike me since I've already amended this twice...

OK crew --

this doesn't include our plans to listen to some Liaden filk, to hit some bid parties, to visit the semi-to-fully-official Buffalodog party hosted by Lawrence M. Schoen Esq, our hopes to breakfast with friends, or our usual visit to the artist reception. It *does* look like I'll have a busy Saturday and may need someone to bring us in a sub or something so we can have a reasonable time for lunch... but that remains to be seen. Looks like I'll be doing dealer's room and artshow on Friday. I do note that we'll not be paneling together, which may be fairer to everyone else, but we do have a joint literary beer and a signing and a reading...

We are ... Not sure what we're going to read. Sounds better than not agreed, don't it? Hard to decide if we should read from Fledgling or maybe "Prodigal Son" fromm Allies... or something else. Rolanni is promising a poll on the matter.


Boskone Schedule as we now know it:

Sat 11:00am
Straddling the Line: SF and Mystery Hybrids
Panelists: Robert I. Katz, Paul Levinson, Steve Miller (M), Melissa Scott
Is "whodunit meets howdunit" a more natural marriage than with, say, a technothriller nurse book? Compared to regular SF, must you plot more rigorously? Can you hide more clues among SF's many infodumps? Who has arranged this kind of marriage
especially well? How?

Sat 12:00 noon
The Business Side of Writing
Panelists: Joshua Bilmes, Jeffrey A. Carver, Gay Haldeman, Sharon Lee (M), Darlene Marshall
Our experienced panel is all business as they discuss topics such as how to get, grok, and get along with agents and publishers; why keeping good records prevents bad karma; whether you can deduct Boskone from your taxes; and what to do after submitting your latest story. (Hint: start your next one.)

Sat 12:00 noon
What Can't You Read?
Panelists: Janice Gelb, Fred Lerner, Steve Miller, Patrick Nielsen Hayden (M)
All of us have books that are considered classics or, when we hear the description are convinced are exactly the type of book we would like -- yet we don't. What are some of yours, and why? What makes some types of books very widely regarded by many yet
nearly unreadable by a few.

Sat 2:00pm 0.5 hours Reading
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

Sat 4:00pm Autographing
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller
Jane Yolen

Sat 5:00pm
The Small Press Renaissance
Panelists: Beth Bernobich, Steve Miller (M), Steve Sawicki, Lawrence Schoen
Small presses are becoming more important, not only in reprinting fiction but also as a source of new fiction. From the publisher's side, how can you build up a small press? What are small press opportunities for writers? What kinds of special things can small presses do that the bigger publishing houses may ignore?


Sunday


Sun 11:00am
Making Writing More Vivid and Memorable
Panelists: Tobias Buckell, Greer Gilman, Sharon Lee (M)
How can a writer make the story particularly vivid or more memorable? Omit needless words? Show, don't tell? (And never say "very"?) Does the use of specific place names or particular word choices help? How else do writers bring those marks on the pages to life? Why do some passages or details stay with us after the book is done, but others
are gone a month later. Perfectly prepared panelists may even bring favorite passages.

Sun 11:00am
The Ever-Growing Rift -- Pros and Fans
Panlists: Gay Haldeman, George R.R. Martin, Steve Miller, Priscilla Olson (M)
Five years ago at Boskone, we discussed the growing rift. It's time to look back, to see if things have gotten better -- or worse. Below is what we asked then. Let's look at those questions again, five years later. In recent years, some pros view themselves as separate from the fannish community, and some fans are happy to have it that way.
It used to be different. What happened? Is it getting worse? (Yes - but why?) How can this (damaging...OK, argue it if you want!) trend be reversed?

Sun 1:00pm Literary Beer
Sharon Lee, Steve Miller

Sun 2:00pm
The Devil is in the Details
Panelists: Michael F. Flynn, Rosemary Kirstein, Sharon Lee (M)
Sometimes, a writer can get some details wrong and a story can still be a great one. At other times, getting the details wrong is a killer. What details does a writer have to focus on? Where can you get away with missing something? How does this vary, depending upon your audience? What kinds of things will an audience ignore, even if they know that they are wrong?

Going to be there? We're still not sure if/when/where there'll be a Friends of Liad breakfast. Let us know here or there if you'd be interested...

Biographers take note -- this isn't easy!

Do you find it hard to talk about yourself, or choose what's important? I mean, like, the bio below has nothing about my history as a professional chess tournament director. Nothing about teaching folks with disabilities how to use computers. Nothing about my cats and co-authors Arwen, Patia, Max!, Nicky, Kodi, Brandee... Nothing about being a childrens librarian, nothing about my grandmother's influence on me... sigh. Nothing about the dead dog parties I've been to. Nothing about the newspapers I've written for or edited, nothing about the.... sigh... You'd think I'd have the hang of this now -- I've only been doing con bios for harrpumphtyseven years. I've spent an hour on this and it ought not to take so long, I guess.

Attempted bio for upcoming Boskone:

Steve Miller is a writer, editor, publisher, fan, librarian, and
computer guy who comes to Boskone whenever he can.

A 1973 graduate of Clarion West, he was the founding
Curator of Science Fiction for the University of Maryland's
SF Research Collection, and has been active in fandom
since the late 60s, with a background of pubbing fanzines,
running artshows, and doing convention program books
as well as being in the hotseat as Vice Chair of the
Baltimore in 80 WorldCon bid.

His first pro sales were to Ted White at Amazing Stories in the 1970s. More recently, he's co-author (with wife Sharon Lee) of the
Liaden Universe® novels and stories, including Balance of Trade, winner of the Hal Clement Award for Best Young Adult SF Novel, and Scout's Progress, a Prism Award winner.

Steve is founder and publisher of SRM Publisher Ltd; since 1995
SRM has published an eclectic mix of genre and genre-related titles
including mystery novels as well as science fiction and fantasy
novellas, short stories, and related essays. SRM's thirtieth title is due in 2007.

Lee and Miller's latest hardcover -- due out this spring from
Meisha Merlin -- is Web of The Trident. Also due out RSN
(if not at Boskone!) is the Ace mass market edition of
Crystal Soldier and the Meisha Merlin mass market
edition of The Tomorrow Log.

.............

guess it'll do.