My personal snot storm was viral, not pollen-based, but it was still very unpleasant.
StellarCon 40
The revival went better than I thought possible. Around 300 people came through over the course of 16 hours, and even though they let students in for free, the club profited over $900 from external ticket sales and vendor fees.
On Saturday I did a short version of my Alien Ecosystem Project, referencing Scavengers Reign, and on Sunday I read a longer version of “The Elder Colossus” from All Tomorrow’s Futures. Otherwise, I was either working my table or schmoozing with other vendors at their tables.
Two of the three conventions spawned by StellarCon over the years were there.
Ret-Con in Cary
ConGregate in Winston-Salem
Mythic Con (formerly Mace) was not.
That was interesting, to hear about some of the experiments they tried over the years.
Look What I Found!
In poking around my writerly e-mail account and downloading some files for archival purposes, I ran across this response to a call for reviewers from Publisher’s Weekly. I do a lot of stuff even I don’t remember doing, so I suppose I can’t blame other people for not remembering it, either.
January 9, 2022
Dear PW:
Below are three attempts at the house style from recent reading, one in each of my interest areas. A recent resume is attached.
Thanks for your time,
rh
Science/Math, Personal Growth, Business
The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again
Catherine Price. Dial Press, Price, (352p) 978-0-593-24140-0
This spiritual sequel to How to Break Up With Your Phone is written in the same hipster-nerd style, combining personal anecdotes and dryly confessional footnotes with quick and clear summaries of scientific research on mindfulness and positive psychology. Expanding on her previous screed against distraction as the root of many of our modern troubles, Price identifies three components of “True Fun” — playfulness, connection and flow — all of which are good and necessary, but none of which is sufficient by itself, or even in pairs. The first section covers Price’s definitions and much of the science. The second gets into the self-help aspects, which consist first of Marie Kondo-style exercises for decluttering of one’s mind and relationships. Later ones explore personal history to find “fun magnets,” situations that maximize the likelihood of spontaneous moments of True Fun. Setting of priorities and goals may not sound like fun, but Price makes credible claims that making True Fun a priority is a necessary prerequisite for finding it more regularly. Price’s playful but not dumbed-down approach to peer-reviewed science and her own quirky control-freak personality is a major contributor to the charm of her sixth nonfiction book.
Science Fiction / Fantasy
Critical Role: Vox Machina — Kith & Kin
Marieke Nijkamp. Del Rey, Price, (368p) 978-0-593-49662-6
The first tie-in novel to a burgeoning podcast empire based on the in-game exploits of a troupe of Dungeons & Dragons players helmed by actor Matthew Mercer, this prose prequel to a pair of graphic novel adaptations stars half-elf twins: brother Vax, a sarcastic thief, and sister Vex, a more sarcastic ranger with a pet bear called Trinket. Dutch author Nijkamp has previously written YA novels and comics, as well as editing a short story collection about disabled teens. Inclusion and exclusion are likewise the transparent themes of this book, expressed in the twins’ origin story as unwanted mongrel children of a noble elf father and a human seamstress, schooled as assassins in the beautiful and queer-friendly yet racist elven city of Syngorn. These flashbacks alternate with episodes of the main story, which involves a mining town under siege by undead “ashwalkers.” Who is deserving of protection by the town walls and Shademaster Derowen’s magical ring, and who will be excluded? Anyone killed by the ashwalkers becomes one, and the fact that no one mentions this poor strategic planning on Derowen’s part is emblematic of the almost allegorical emphasis on theme over plot throughout. Fans may forgive.
Memoir, Fiction, Science Fiction
Fan Fiction: a Mem-Noir, Inspired by True Events
Brent Spiner, with Jeanne Darst. St. Martin’s Press, $27.99, (256p) 978-1-250-27436-6
Based loosely on a real fan/stalker incident that occurred during filming of the fourth season of Star Trek: the Next Generation, Spiner’s kooky hybrid debut features a version of himself as a neurotic schmuck, alongside tall-tale doppelgangers of his fellow Trek cast members, casting Patrick Stewart as a bad-ass beneficiary of standard British Shakespearean martial arts training and Levar Burton as a crystal-gazing, sage-burning mystic. When he is targeted by a psychotic fan who believes herself to be his character Commander Data’s android daughter Lal, Spiner engages a knockout bodyguard, Candy Lou Jones, who just happens to have a twin sister, Cindy Lou, who is an FBI agent. This love triangle plays out against Spiner’s grueling routine of make-up and examining his fan mail for volume (vs that of his cast mates) and for gruesome surprises from Lal. The stress unmoors Spiner, and he drifts into sleep-deprived reminiscences of his stepfather and his happier pre-Trek days as a struggling actor in New York. A darkly absurd mash-up of film noir tropes and celebrity tabloid confessionals, sprinkled with Yiddish and all-in-good-fun libel, it should never work but mostly does.