On Cons and Crossings

Hi, this is Jo the nomad, currently in Ottawa, Ontario, where the weather is hot, but not as hot as it could be, and not as hot as we left in Victoria. Astonishingly hot there. I've blogged about the cross-Canada-so-far on my own blog here. Lots of pictures of empty road!

I spent last weekend at World Con in Montreal, which was very interesting. The great thing about SF cons is their eclectic nature. As well as writing tracks and SF&F fan tracks, there was Regency dancing, which I missed because it conflicted with something else, and many panels and speakers on just about any subject of interest -- economics, politics, telescopes, medieval warfare, nano technology....

I've never quite figured out why SF fandom is so interested in Heyer. Does anyone have an idea? There's nothing odd about liking Heyer and Regency dancing, but why exactly that?

The masquerade was fun, of course, and the quality of costumes was high, as was the cleverness of some of the presentations. The winners are shown here.

In addition to the art show, there was a display of costumes and other such where I took the pictures scattered around here. The robot is steampunk, though whether it actually works or not, I'm not sure. You can get an idea of steampunk here.

It's definitely historical because it's based in the Victorian period, asking how technology might have developed if steam had been the main means of power.

And now, I'm trying to recover from the long car trip and the con, but a writer's life goes on. I have page proofs for Chalice of Roses to go over, and edits of The Secret Duke, and questions from the UK publisher about Lady Notorious. Never a dull moment!

Have you ever been to an SF con? 

Have you ever taken a long, multi-day car trip?

Perhaps our next one will be a more leisurely wander through Europe.

Jo :)