I’m attending the VERY FIRST Discworld Convention in North America. I will try to post my impressions, recollections and thoughts each day.
Day 1–Thursday, Sept. 3
Not really the first day of the Con, or maybe it is. Check-in was well-organized, no problems, got my goodie bag. Any bidders on the official Discworld Convention water bottle?
No sign of Sir Terry. I have spoken with folk who saw him early Wednesday, so it appears that he arrived on Tuesday.
The temp is 104 (“feels like 103” the weather-folk say) outside, so foot travel is limited.
Hospitality Suite has chips, veggies, cookies, sodas, “Dried Frog Pills” (jelly beans), etc. Not all that healthy, but one can get by. Nearby “Irish Pub” has Boddingtons–OK!
Filk organizer appears to be a bit oldtimerish, but I’ll try to find some opportunity to play anyway. We’ll see about that one.
I’ve passed out a few business cards for my bookstore (Lookout Mountain Bookstore) and we’ll see if that produces any activity.
If anyone else from the SD is attending, please let me know! Let’s meet up!
I’m attending as Sir Terry, pictures to follow. One request for a picture, many who are amused by my nametag (“Not Him”) and several mutterings of “is that him? I don’t know. Maybe?” But no one who as asked me to sign books or anything.
[ul]Quick overview of activities today (Friday, Sep. 4):
Opening Ceremony–the Turtle Has Finally Arrived!
Alzheimer’s Research Trust Talk
Autographs with Sir Terry (this is the session I have a ticket for)
Diane Duane & Peter Morwood Autographing
Esther Friesner Reading
Born to Pune
“Not a Needle Among 'Em” Seamstress Guild Reception/Party
Movie: The Colour of Magic + Tourists’ Guide to Ankh-Morpork
Holy Wood Squares[/ul]
There are more activities, but I think these are the major ones.
P.S. About the Pterry autographs. There is a strict limit of 2 per attendee, you have to have a ticket and go the day your ticket says. Miss it and you’re out of luck. I can totally understand since there are 900 of us here, and that means Terry will be signing his name 1800 times over the weekend! Sheesh.
Re: pictures
Sorry, I can’t upload to my Web site from the hotel for some reason. “Support” says they can’t help.
Today was the official opening ceremony. Pterry spoke at length, amusing of course, but I was saddened to hear that he has trouble with some words, and more trouble with 3-dimensional moving frames–says that getting through a revolving door is quite the challenge.
There was no message board–how can you have a Con without one?–so I zipped down to OfficeMax* and got a cork board and some pins. Put a few items on to get things started and, I’m happy to say, the whole board is now covered with notes.
The “Seamstress Guild” extravaganza was this evening. After the presentation (Terry oggling the ladies, many baud-ish jokes exchanged) a lot of folk gathered at the front of the stage in the hopes of getting a pic with the big man (who is rather short, by the way). He saw me, as him, in the crowd and said “Arugh!” As well as “you get a picture!” I jumped up on stage, he was generous enough to exchange hats with me, and several folk took shots. I can only hope that one of them will get in touch with me so that I can have one for a souvenier.
Many more young folk arrived today, changing the balance to younger rather than older. A surprising number (to me) of young ladies. I had no idea Mr. Pratchett was that big with the lovelier side of the house.
A bit of a filk (just me and a banjo player) this evening and I’m toast. The official filk session is Sunday evening, for which I have prepared Night Watch (Bohemian Rhapsody).
Sorry about the spelling, too late for my poor hammered brain.
Costumes (there were prizes at the Seamstresses’ ball):
Nanny Ogg: 8-10
Granny: 2
Grim Squeaker: 1 (excellent)
Vetinari: 0 (to my surprise)
Greebo (human form): 1 (also surprising), looked great, didn’t have the attitude
Wizards: about 2 dozen, some excellent, some crappy
Rincewind: 3, one excellent, the others drab.
Sir Terry: 2 others besides me, but they didn’t have the right hat, or the clothes
CMOT Dibble: 1, but not impressive
Thieves Guild: 1, almost exactly the look shown on the Yearbook. Very nice!
Foul Ron and other beggars: 2 or 3. Pretty good, but they should mostly be about atmosphere rather than look, and that didn’t quite happen
A great deal of very large cleavage, unofficial seamstress guild action I suppose–not at all attractive, IMHO.
Ruby: 1, a guy in drag. Not pretty, but mighty amusing.
Watch: several, none impressive.
Duck man: 1…sorta. A gutted toy duck worn as a hat.
Dragon Sanctuary ladies: 2 or 3. I particularly liked the lady with the asbestos apron.
Twoflower: 3, two with nicely made cameras, one of which was fantastic, the other with a small luggage that had a remote-control motor in it. Cool!
The ladies of the Seamstress Guild ranged from modestly attractive to “lady, you shouldn’t wear that at your age and weight!”
I remember reading some interview where Pratchett said as far as he could tell his readership was about 50/50 male/female and that this was apparently unusual for a fantasy writer. He said he didn’t really know why he attracted more female readers; he’d heard it suggested that the strong female characters in the Lancre Witches books were what did it but he didn’t seem to think this was the case.
Personally, I’d say it helps that Pratchett is one of the few male fantasy writers whose female characters aren’t obviously based on his own…ahem…fantasies. I can think of plenty of male novelists who have created strong female characters, but most also feel the need to go on at length about how smokin’ hot these women are. Pratchett has written about smokin’ hot female characters too, but they’re not all pin-ups and descriptions of the physical attributes of the attractive ones are rare and generally played for humor.
The Discworld books are good enough that I could tolerate a bit of authorial drooling over say Angua, but I’m happy not to have to. Speaking of Angua, I’m surprised there weren’t any Anguas at the costume party! I’d think that she and Susan would be the most popular choices for younger women. Magrat would be fun, too.
Well, my last 2 posts were rather grumpy, weren’t they. Sorry for the lousy reviews of costumes.
Tonight was the maskerade. (spell check doesn’t like that one :)) I did not win any prizes for my Pratchett impersonation. There was an excellent Igor, super work on the stitches and suit–with spats!–as well as the limp. He won several prizes–my favorite. Several other Very Good costumes and the overall average was quite high. Very impressive for the first Con, ‘tho’ I expect most have been at other Conventions as well. The single Angua (no chest, sad to say) and her compatriot female guard member got the Judge’s choice from Ms. Friesner since they were Chicks in Chainmail.
Terry’s interview was good this afternoon. He answered a few fan questions, and rambled a bit about semi-related subjects. His closer was killer*: “My doctors say I’ll die of something before the Alzheimer’s gets me, so I’m taking it with me. Life is a story and I plan to write my own ending.” The crowd (myself included) went wild.
Tomorrow: Charity Auction (I will bid but won’t win anything, I suspect–a signed copy of “Once More With Footnotes” is up, $25 starting bid. Hah!), the Gala Banquet (which I will not attend), my presentation “The Serious Pratchett” (during the Banquet), You Lot Call That Football?, Steampunk on the Cheapside, and a variety of other amusement. And the big Filk session where I will try out my Night Watch (Bohemian Rhapsody) filk.
I’ve been promised copies of the picture of me w/Terry from yesterday. The young lady with a very nice camera does not have a computer with her here and will email when she gets home Monday/Tuesday. I also will be home late Monday and will try to post more-accessible pics then.
A bit of black humor there. I suspect Pterry would approve.
