Worldcon 2009 – Part 2

Saturday
Two panels on podcasting and a panel called “Textbooks of the Future.” The podcasting panels were interesting. Mostly attended by people seeking technical and strategic information, of which there was a wealth to draw upon from the panelists. But it was a bit odd for me because most people were concerned with podcasting their fiction or some SF-related talk show, and the general understanding was that this isn’t a primary occupation, you won’t make any money, it’s a supplement to your main career goals, etc. Which is an entirely true and realistic expectation. But here I am with not one, not two, but three of the most popular podcasts in the world, from which I have indeed earned a living and which are a main career goal (along with writing — two full-time careers in one full-time life, am I dumb or what), but which have nothing to do with audio fiction of SF. So I ended up contradicting a lot of what’s said and looking all mega-diva, when I only meant to say Look, don’t rule out success and revenue; I’m proof it’s possible.

The “Textbooks of the Future” panel ended up being just me and Geoffrey A. Landis. He and I didn’t agree on much. The underlying question of the panel was whether textbooks can prepare you for, or in some way mitigate, future shock. My contention is that, first of all, textbooks don’t adequately prepare you for the present, and second of all, “future shock” (an alarmist sound bite coined by Alvin Toffler in his 1970 book of the same name to describe the whack on the noggin all of this information saturation and multitasking and ensuing cultural lag is supposed to give us) not only hasn’t come to pass, apparently something in our brains in fact gets off on all this information saturation like a dog rolling in something dead. Future shock has as its corollary the endless litany of SF novels that are essentially Frankenstein: By Thine Own Hubris Shalt Thou Be Undone. For a field that floats on a bubble of technological prognostication, science fiction is actually surprisingly alarmist.

Me & Geoffrey Landis on the Textbooks of the Future panel. Photo by jmcdaid
Me & Geoffrey Landis on the "Textbooks of the Future" panel. My T shirt says "I'm Famous On the Internet." Photo by jmcdaid

For me the highlight on Saturday was meeting John Scalzi and crashing his dinner with Cory Doctorow, Anne Murphy, and John’s wife Krissy (FWIW I tried to politely beg off and Scalzi insisted, which was actually fine with me because they were all such good company that dinner was bound to be a blast). Cory has a truly exceptional mind and is admirably adept at expressing himself.  John ain’t no slouch, either, and he’s also a pugnacious curmudgeon who goes for the jugular when he’s cornered, which I doubt happens very often, and which I confess reminds me enough of me to make me like him, which actually is unusual because whenever I meet someone who reminds me of me I usually can’t stand him or her.  But John & I were instant old friends, and I look forward to the two of us getting in a variety of kinds of trouble together.

After dinner we set up shop at the hotel bar for the rest of the night, and it became evident that Scalzi knows EVERYBODY. And Doctorow knows EVERYBODY. Whereas I have (wholly voluntarily, you understand) lived under a rock, as far as the genre is concerned, for quite some time now. Even more fun, though, John & Cory know the kinds of people you like to get into trouble with, which are usually my kind of people.

John & Cory were up for Hugo awards and it was fun to be around their excitement over it. John ended up winning and is having a blast on his blog megaphoning about it. Cory didn’t win, and I have to say that if there were a Hugo award for most gracious Hugo nonwinner, he’d win it hands-down.

I get back to my hotel room late that night and find that Neil Gaiman has mentioned the New Media panel on his blog, and in the course of that he mentioned my name. Gaimin is an insanely popular writer with an insanely devoted following. People who read his blog click its links and Google people he mentions.  People such as Steven R. Boyett.

I learn that my website account has been suspended because of the traffic.

That account hosts my writer site, my DJ/podcast site, the Ariel website, the Elegy Beach website, and my forum. Gone. Pfft. But here’s the staggering part: my podcasts generate over 40 terabytes of transfer a month. Now, most of that isn’t direct bandwidth; my podcasts’ mp3 files are hosted elsewhere. But I get about 2.5 million hits a month or so, and most of the traffic is people calling up the podcast feeds. My website doesn’t even hiccup at this.

But Neil Gaimin just mentions my name and ka-pow.

Neil, if you’re listening: You Must Use Your Powers Only for Good.

So that was a Real Fun Night of begging my site host to cut me some slack and reactivate my account, which they would only do if I would relocate the podcast feeds cuz that’s what was causing all the trouble. So I did. Type type type, beg beg beg, upload upload upload. And thank god I’ve learned to travel with all my necessary internet-related info onhand. Cuz there’s no better feeling than staggering into your hotel room in Montreal really late and half buzzed and dealing with technical support after learning that your entire online presence has been made an unperson.

That was Saturday.

4 Replies to “Worldcon 2009 – Part 2”

  1. Than you, Sheila! It’s a delight to be having adventures again. (Well, I never really stopped. But I did stop writing entirely around 1999, and it’s been a long slow return. It feels great to be back in the saddle again, but at the same time I have to confess that I don’t quite trust the horse. But I think — at least I hope — that one of the things I learned while I was off doing other things was how to handle this particular breed of horse. We’ll see!)

  2. I agree with Sheila, I’m really enjoying rediscovering your writing. I’m an age mate, +/- a year or two. I really liked Ariel when I first read it in ’83? ’84?, but I’m having some trouble with it now. Mostly, I remember too damn much of it! I’m getting (got?) much more pleasure out of your afterword and this blog. I’ll donate to your retirement fund as soon as Elegy Beach comes out. Thanks Steve!
    I can’t say that you changed my life, but you made it more enjoyable. By the way, I was the only person I knew who liked how you ended Ariel. The beer-fueled arguments were very funny, but killed my chances with a couple of girls

  3. Hey, John, thanks for posting! I actually have some trouble reading ARIEL now, too. It was difficult to proof & edit for consistency & minor updating for this edition because the damned thing is tattooed on my brain. I must have read and/or edited it at least fifty times by now, and by that point it’s hard to actually know what the words are saying.

    The Afterword was a lot of fun because I was able to address so many things that had been asked over the years, and maybe provide a bit of perspective. People tend to read anything you write as if you finished it a week ago, and ARIEL was written about 1500 weeks ago.

    ELEGY BEACH has an afterword, too, though not as lengthy.

    I’m sorry that liking the ending of ARIEL cost you some fun with some babes, but I certainly appreciate having you in my corner! And I’m delighted you’re enjoying the blog. I had one going about 3-1/2 years ago, and then Podrunner hit and metastasized across my life. I really like having returned to it, and I definitely hope to keep it going!

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