BayCon 2015 Report

Baycon 2015BayCon this year was an extravaganza geared to make it absolutely clear women are welcome and respected in the science fiction and fantasy fandom. SallyRose Robinson and Kathleen McDowell, the co-chairs, did an excellent job securing the first all-female special guest array from writer to artist to fan while also inaugurating a new tradition in adding a youth guest of honor with two heads…umm, joined at the brain?…the wonderful Winner Twins.

Seanan McGuire managed to single-handedly demonstrate without a doubt that female-driven did not mean all sweet and nice. The woman is positively bloodthirsty in a humorous and scientific fashion. Though I didn’t end up crossing paths with the Winner Twins except at the big events, the way they interact with each other is a delight to observe. Definitely a good dose of humor this year.

There were a few comments that might have seemed separatist, but anyone paying attention would have seen the more general guests had the normal mix of genders. The harassment policy being posted should have helped reassure those concerned about the prevalence of issues while a couple panels addressing misogyny directly offered opportunities for exploring the question, educating those willing to listen, and perhaps starting us in a better, more inclusive direction.

So, on to my personal experience at the con.

I started with meeting old friends and securing a projector for my first presentation, one on the tools available to those who are, or are considering becoming, indies. With the schedule changing to a full day on Friday because of a hotel mix-up, I had no idea what my attendance would look like, but I had a good number of interested folks.

I let their questions drive the program as promised, giving a mix of tips on what to do (or not to do) along with walking them through some of the advantages of both Scrivener and Jutoh. Because of the time, I did not get to look at cover art beyond a quick mention of GIMP for those with design skills, but a good number of those attending came to me later to say it was informative.

I’m also thinking to add an Indie Toolbox section to my For Writers part of my blog to keep this conversation going. I put together a thinking sheet for people to marshal their resources that might prove helpful for those assessing what they’ll have to pay for with money and what other options they may have had including trades or beta readers for example. I wasn’t sure how it would go, and I’m quite happy with how it did.

My second panel, immediately afterward, was a weird one on self-identity and what that meant if you were moved to a different form or timeline. I walked into it with some ideas but no real sense of where it would go.

I should not have been afraid. Lon Sarver proved a wonderful moderator, the other panelists (my husband Colin Fisk and Karen Brechley) offered a lot interesting paths to follow, and the attendees were engaged and participating. We talked both about the physical and mental/spiritual sense of self, the consequences of radical change to self-identity even when the change worked to our advantages, and the composition of self sourced in the brain and brain chemistry or as a whole entity driven as much by the endocrine system, for example, as the central data storage in the brain. Physiology, philosophy, and even cultural differences offered a diverse and compelling discussion that created moments of discovery, such as when I learned my long-term goal of being a brain in a jar is instead a nightmare as not being able to move would trap me.

My third panel was not until Sunday and fell right on my sweet spot. The Joy of Victorian Era Speculative Fiction. Marie Brennan came prepared as the moderator with a number of great questions, and I can’t remember a single one that didn’t segue nicely into where the discussion was going already. The panelists were Lillian Csernica, Norm Sperling, Brad Lyau, Jim Partridge, and me, offering a broad range of perspectives from writing fiction to historical scholarship, to music and recreation.

We looked at the forces drawing us to this time period, what made it fascinating, the blinders people seem to wear in naming the period as though only England had anything to say in that timeframe, what to watch out for in your research, some areas that haven’t been explored as much as they deserve, and, (my favorite as you would know from reading my books) the social and cultural pressures that characterize the Era. Again, a lively discussion with attendees engaged and participating. More than one person commented on it later, including some who wished they’d been there because they’d heard about it second hand. I came out of the panel with some reading suggestions and a new perspective on Jules Verne.

Though I didn’t have as many panels as I usually do, I certainly did not lack for things to do. Beyond all the wonderful hallway conversations both with old friends and ones made this very year, I managed to drop in on a few intriguing panels myself.

As part of the effort to draw in the younger crowd, and because he’s articulate and interesting (no bias here at all, I swear), my son was invited to be a panelist for the first time. I only managed to catch one of his panels, but it was the one he’d proposed and had sparked imagination on both the panelists and attendees side. The panelists beyond Jacob Fisk were Tex Thompson, Marie Brennan, Kathleen Bartholomew, Emily Jiang, Cassie Alexander, and Seanan McGuire with Kevin Andrew Murphy moderating.

With that heavy a panel, you can sometimes outweigh the audience, but this was standing room only. The topic? The Biology of Mythical Creatures.

The panelists explored different mythological creatures from a “how do they work” perspective which wasn’t always looking at the “is this possible” standpoint but proved fascinating anyway. They started with dragons and immediately leaped into cultural differences led by Emily Jiang. Then they were off on the mechanisms for making fire breathing possible from multiple heads, chemical mixing, and the risks to the beast. Mermaids got their moment with a good number of chuckles about their human mimicry and how it would not function when they lived at the bottom of the sea or how it could, selkies were approached in a different direction that’s enough to give me nightmares, and other creatures were touched on in a lively, dynamic discussion that had attendees, myself included, continuing the conversation afterwards.

I also made one of the themed readings (historical fantasy) with Tex Thompson, Marie Brennan, Diana L. Paxson, and Mary Robinette Kowal. It introduced authors new to me whose books I’m planning to try and reminded me of a couple books on my TBR shelves that will be moving up in the pile. That is always the best result from a reading.

There was so much more I wanted to do and see, some of which I succeeded and others I got distracted from by grand conversation and interesting people. I did go to what is possibly my first variety show at BayCon because some friends were heading there and had a great time. I also caught Seanan McGuire’s concert. She’s a talented author and has a serious set of pipes to go with her off-the-wall, and often dark, sense of humor.

I could keep going, but I need to get this posted. In case you hadn’t noticed, I had a wonderful time both as a panelist and as an attendee while I only touched on a small fraction of the things available…though I did get some puzzle time and made new friends there as well.

I want to say thanks to SallyRose and Kathleen, to those who keep the con running (tech, security, operations, gofers, etc.), to the Green Room staff, to those who manned the con suite, and to the panelists and attendees without whom it would not happen. BayCon is my “home” con even now that I’m not living in the Bay Area, and it takes an amazing amount of effort to pull it together each year. I am always stunned and amazed at the obstacles overcome to provide such a wonderful resource and community open to anyone with an interest in speculative fiction.

My brain is still muddy, I’m not unpacked, and I have a gazillion emails to deal with, but I’m already looking forward to next year.

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