I will be at World Fantasy in Toronto next weekend!

I’ll have a stack of shiny new BCS flyers and anthology-cover postcards. There’s no BCS reading or panels this year, but I will be doing a reading of my own fiction Saturday at 12:30.

It’s a story forthcoming in Space & Time: a second Clark Ashton Smith pastiche, a companion piece to “The Very Strange Weird of Endart Sscowth,” which they published in S&T 114.

Feel free to say hello, if you see me in the halls, or in the bar, or on the party floor at 3:45 Sunday morning.

I had a great time at Capclave, as usual.

I met many neat folks, including Carol Frank of WSFA, Katie Hartlove of Cold Moon Press, writer Alan Smale, GOH Nick Mamatas, Alexander Harris and his fellow Baltimore SF buddy whose name escapes me, fellow VP alums L. Blankenship, Peter Sursi, and also Stephanie Sursi.

And I renewed acquaintances with many others, including editors Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace, BCS authors Dave Millstien and Ann Chatham, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Larry, and Jen, Melissa, Renee, and Day, and the always brilliant and engrossing James Morrow.

I really enjoyed reading from my satirical fantasy “The Sadly Only Mildly Dramatic Tale of Sijo Uthwen,” which is forthcoming from Space and Time. That was great practice for when I read it at World Fantasy next month.

I enjoyed all my panels, especially the one on rejection, where we got to talking about personalized rejections like I write for BCS and how to approach comments on your work, and the one on online publishing, talking about magazines and publishing formats and models and who in the field influenced us and impresses us.

Well met, all!  I hope to return next year. I’m a little concerned about crowd control re: next year’s GOH. (Hint–he’s gone from huge within the genre to huge within the mainstream, thanks to his TV show on HBO.) But he is a brilliant and engrossing guy, with a neat history at DC-area cons, so I’ll brave the sea of fans to hear what he has to say.

Cheers, Capclave.

In the post-ReaderCon sexual harassment revelations and groundswell, something that incensed me equally didn’t get much discussion. With autumn con season upon us, it’s on my mind again, and I welcome input.

Genevieve Valentine’s account of her harassment at ReaderCon also included mention that she, while on a panel, was referred to by a fellow panelist as “missy.” I find such belittlement, of anyone for any reason, colossally offensive.

Having at the time just moderated a ReaderCon panel myself, I immediately wondered, what’s the best response to something like that, when it’s happening?

I’ve thought about it, but I’m not the most socially adroit, so I would appreciate hearing others’ thoughts.

I think the response would be different depending on what role I was in: audience, fellow panelist, or panel moderator. Here are the responses I came up with. All comments welcome.

As an audience member: when the panel opens for questions, ask the disparaging panelist a two-part question. ‘Did you actually call that other panelist _____, and if so, why in the world would you disrespect a fellow panelist like that?’

As a fellow panelist: when the disparaging panelist finished, or maybe even interrupting them, ‘Did you actually call this other panelist _____? If so, then I’m not interested in a single other thing you’ve got to say.’ And leave the panelist table and walk out of the room.

As the moderator: when the disparaging panelist finished, ‘Did you actually call this other panelist _____? We don’t belittle people like that, at least on any panel I’m moderating. If you do it again, you can answer to the con-com.’

(My vindictive side would like to include in that last one ‘or I will call security and have you removed’ or the Conan-esque ‘or you and I can step outside and discuss it.’ But those don’t seem wise. :) )

Any thoughts? I do think it’s something that deserves pointing out in the moment. But if the disparager chose to get belligerent, things might get tense.

I hope to never need this. But if I ever see this sort of thing happen, I would like to have an idea of what might be a good thing to do.

Thanks very much for any comments.

Capclave

I will be at Capclave, my local DC-area SF/F con, this weekend, where reading, unlike the beanie-capped fellow at right, is not extinct!  With a stack of shiny new BCS flyers and anthology postcards.

I’m on several panels and will have a reading. Here’s my schedule:

Friday 6:00 pm: Reading
I will be reading from “The Sadly Only Mildly Dramatic Tale of Sijo Uthewn,” my Clark Ashton Smith pastiche that was recently accepted by Space and Time magazine.

Friday 7:00 pm: Small Press an Ebook Perspective
Small press editors discuss ebooks. How are ebooks affecting the small press industry? How do you compete with the big boys?  (This one includes editor Neil Clarke.)

Saturday 11:00 am: Rejection
Thank you for submitting your story, unfortunately… Nobody sells everything. How do authors cope with rejection? What do editors do to help?  (This one includes editor Sean Wallace.)

Sunday 2:00 pm: Online publishing, from blogs to e-magazines
What are the advantages and disadvantages of publishing online? Who are some of the best online publishers and what do they do? What can be learned from some pioneers? And how can new would-be publishers get started? (This one includes both Neil and Sean!)

Feel free to drop by these if you’d like to hear my insight on any of the above. Also drop by my reading if you like Clark Ashton Smith and/or dry wit.

And if you see me after panels or in the halls or the bar, feel free to say hello.