So, yesterday I did something new: I went to a con. A tiny con, admittedly, but a con nevertheless. Fantasticon, which is an annual Danish con for the fantastic genres.
Anyway, I got up early on a bloody saturday, found my way to Valby, met![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ximeria and kabal42, who were also attending, and paid my entrance fee somewhere along the way.
There were a number of different panels - I got to see four of them (I'm not sure why I only ended up seeing panels - there were presentations and interviews and stuff, too, but there were constantly two things happening at once, and if you wanted time to talk and look at stuff and to just wander down and get some fresh air, you ended up having to skip stuff). Also, there was a small dealer's room, and I might possibly have ended up buying a steampunk novel set in Denmark, which I shall have to get around to reading, and an old science fiction magazine containing the original Enemy Mine short story (I blameexeterlinden for that one...)
First panel I watched was on the recent wave of superhero movies - it had a a nice mix of superhero comic book fans and superhero movie fans and it was interesting and occasionally argumentative. Also, I learned things about the Tim Burton Batman movies I hadn't know before.
The second panel was on fan fiction. It was actually quite interesting - the traditional "Fanfic 101" part didn't last too long, and the panelists were clearly very enthusiastic and knowledgable. Besides, the example fandom was Supernatural - they showed some very nice wingporn fan arts. Also, a lot of omegaverse, which personally I could have lived without, but hey - each to their own - besides, it was amusing that just as we were getting an explanation of who can impregnate who, complete with a graphics, the door opened to admit a couple of late, male congoers. Perfect moment to arrive, really. Also, when one of the audience members asked about 50 Shades of Grey, he was told by one of the panelists in no uncertain terms that that book wasn't something we wanted to talk about. No, seriously, perfect moment is perfect.
The third panel I saw was actually a bit of a letdown after the fanfic panel. The third panel was called "Dark erotica" and was mostly about a new short story collection blending horror and erotica, called Drifter, which is so new that I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Anyway, the panel was the editor, two of the authors and a moderator - and it was a bit. Well, compared to the frankness of the fanfic panel, it was kinda disappointing, actually - the panel seemed a lot less enthusiastic than the previous two (though that might just have been the air - nobody seemed to consider opening a window). There was a lot of mumbling and not much - well, the way talked about the anthology left me unimpressed. The woman author spent a lot of time talking about her story, which was about a teen succubus, except she never actually used the word succubus and it sounded to me like she thought she had made some amazing discovery, the woman who feeds on men sexually story, instead of it being a frankly very common theme. Towards the end it actually felt as if the audience were the ones trying to get the panel to liven up a bit, asking about the selection process, about whether the authors had any concerns regarding becoming known as writers of erotica, about the ratio of homo/hetero/autosexual stories in the anthology (apparently, one of the 13 stories has a bit of homosexuality in it?), why the focus on especially women as being the dark and mysteriusly sexual in a majority of the stories? Frankly, at the end of the panel, I thought the whole thing sounded dreadfully conventional bordering on downright old-fashioned - but I guess I still need to read the book to be able to pass judgment on that.
Fourth panel was about "Challenging stereotypes in SF and fantasy" and it was interesting (even though it was less sf/fantasy and more challenging stereotypes generally, really).
And in between panels, like I said, I browsed books and spent a bit of money. We talked to people - the fanfic panel people, who seemed very nice (it's always a pleasure to meet other people in RL who are fannish and not just fannish, but fannish in the same way I'm fannish, even if it's not in the same fandoms). Also, I met an former colleague from Esbjerg - they're doing a Fantasy festival next year, which sounds really interesting, and not only because Tamora Pierce is going to be there (though I must admit, that is a big point in its favour, and the primary reason why I am strongly considering going).
Anyway, after the fourth panel I went home. The con is today as well, but I must admit that only one or two of the things on the programme for today sounded really interesting - and maybe if all four panels yesterday had been as enthusiastic and lively as the first two...
Anyway, that's what I did yesterday. And it was fun. Will probably be going again next year.
Anyway, I got up early on a bloody saturday, found my way to Valby, met
ximeria and kabal42, who were also attending, and paid my entrance fee somewhere along the way.There were a number of different panels - I got to see four of them (I'm not sure why I only ended up seeing panels - there were presentations and interviews and stuff, too, but there were constantly two things happening at once, and if you wanted time to talk and look at stuff and to just wander down and get some fresh air, you ended up having to skip stuff). Also, there was a small dealer's room, and I might possibly have ended up buying a steampunk novel set in Denmark, which I shall have to get around to reading, and an old science fiction magazine containing the original Enemy Mine short story (I blame
exeterlinden for that one...)First panel I watched was on the recent wave of superhero movies - it had a a nice mix of superhero comic book fans and superhero movie fans and it was interesting and occasionally argumentative. Also, I learned things about the Tim Burton Batman movies I hadn't know before.
The second panel was on fan fiction. It was actually quite interesting - the traditional "Fanfic 101" part didn't last too long, and the panelists were clearly very enthusiastic and knowledgable. Besides, the example fandom was Supernatural - they showed some very nice wingporn fan arts. Also, a lot of omegaverse, which personally I could have lived without, but hey - each to their own - besides, it was amusing that just as we were getting an explanation of who can impregnate who, complete with a graphics, the door opened to admit a couple of late, male congoers. Perfect moment to arrive, really. Also, when one of the audience members asked about 50 Shades of Grey, he was told by one of the panelists in no uncertain terms that that book wasn't something we wanted to talk about. No, seriously, perfect moment is perfect.
The third panel I saw was actually a bit of a letdown after the fanfic panel. The third panel was called "Dark erotica" and was mostly about a new short story collection blending horror and erotica, called Drifter, which is so new that I haven't had a chance to read it yet. Anyway, the panel was the editor, two of the authors and a moderator - and it was a bit. Well, compared to the frankness of the fanfic panel, it was kinda disappointing, actually - the panel seemed a lot less enthusiastic than the previous two (though that might just have been the air - nobody seemed to consider opening a window). There was a lot of mumbling and not much - well, the way talked about the anthology left me unimpressed. The woman author spent a lot of time talking about her story, which was about a teen succubus, except she never actually used the word succubus and it sounded to me like she thought she had made some amazing discovery, the woman who feeds on men sexually story, instead of it being a frankly very common theme. Towards the end it actually felt as if the audience were the ones trying to get the panel to liven up a bit, asking about the selection process, about whether the authors had any concerns regarding becoming known as writers of erotica, about the ratio of homo/hetero/autosexual stories in the anthology (apparently, one of the 13 stories has a bit of homosexuality in it?), why the focus on especially women as being the dark and mysteriusly sexual in a majority of the stories? Frankly, at the end of the panel, I thought the whole thing sounded dreadfully conventional bordering on downright old-fashioned - but I guess I still need to read the book to be able to pass judgment on that.
Fourth panel was about "Challenging stereotypes in SF and fantasy" and it was interesting (even though it was less sf/fantasy and more challenging stereotypes generally, really).
And in between panels, like I said, I browsed books and spent a bit of money. We talked to people - the fanfic panel people, who seemed very nice (it's always a pleasure to meet other people in RL who are fannish and not just fannish, but fannish in the same way I'm fannish, even if it's not in the same fandoms). Also, I met an former colleague from Esbjerg - they're doing a Fantasy festival next year, which sounds really interesting, and not only because Tamora Pierce is going to be there (though I must admit, that is a big point in its favour, and the primary reason why I am strongly considering going).
Anyway, after the fourth panel I went home. The con is today as well, but I must admit that only one or two of the things on the programme for today sounded really interesting - and maybe if all four panels yesterday had been as enthusiastic and lively as the first two...
Anyway, that's what I did yesterday. And it was fun. Will probably be going again next year.
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I hope you had fun and I hope you can recover from your hard trekking in a nice, relaxing sommerhus. :-)
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