RavenCon 17 (April 2024)

Last weekend, my husband, our daughter, and I attended RavenCon near Richmond, Virginia. Here's the convention's website. Information about this year's con is still up.

RavenCon

Guests of honor were editor Ellen Datlow and author Ursula Vernon, aka T. Kingfisher. Since she's one of my favorite writers, I was thrilled when I learned she'd be there. Her reading consisted of excerpts from a new "Sworn Soldier" novel -- sequel to WHAT MOVES THE DEAD and WHAT FEASTS AT NIGHT, yay! -- and a novel about an angel and a demon teaming up to solve a mystery in a small village. (She mentioned her dismay when the GOOD OMENS series premiered, after she was well into the book.) I watched part of her interview later, fascinating background information about the origins of her writing career.

I appeared on panels about Writing Believable Characters and Geeks Parenting Geeks. The latter especially was a lot of fun, the whole session filled with memories and anecdotes about introducing our children to the worlds of fantasy, SF, and horror, plus the works our kids turned us on to. My husband took part in discussions on Writing with a Partner and Writing a Series. Together we appeared in "How Will Religion Change in Space?" Well attended, that was lively and thought-provoking but slightly chaotic. In our opinion, the moderator opened the floor to questions too soon. Eager audience participation is always desirable, but people kept prematurely derailing topics in progress. I never did get to say much about Mary Doria Russell's THE SPARROW, one book I especially wanted to delve into, but anyway it was a worthwhile and memorable panel.

The most heavily attended session I watched, surprisingly, was a lecture with slides proposing that the folktale of "The Smith and the Devil" is the "world's oldest fairy tale." The room was packed, with people sitting on the floor and leaning against walls -- at 9 p.m. on Friday. An interesting late-night presentation I watched only part of was called "Ask a Necromancer," by a licensed mortician answering questions about her profession. On Sunday morning, a slide show about angel lore in myth, fiction, and film mentioned some works new to me that I may watch on video streaming. I brought up C. S. Lewis's Space Trilogy, strangely (from my viewpoint) omitted from her book list even though she cited several other things that sounded rather peripheral to the topic.

At the Saturday evening masquerade contest, even though I recognized hardly any of the costumes, I marveled at how impressively elaborate most were. Even the "cosplay showcase" of people who didn't enter the official competition featured many dazzling outfits. One I did recognize immediately -- the Queen of Hearts, complete with flamingo, with the equally regally dressed King of Hearts hovering in the background.

Fortunately for getting to events on time, the hotel restaurant offered buffets at all three meals on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday. Not so fortunately, we had to fend for ourselves at Friday dinner in the only food venue open, the bar. With the resulting crowd, we didn't get fed until half an hour after ordering, when the opening ceremony had already started. Aside from not being present for the self-introduction of guests, though, we didn't miss anything vital.

We drove there and back uneventfully. We arrived home on Sunday afternoon to find the house and the cats in good condition.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Telepaths and Language

One panel I attended at this year's RavenCon was about communicating with aliens. I brought up the question of whether a telepathic species would have a spoken language or the concept of words at all, which was then discussed at some length.

Touch telepaths such as Vulcans don't count. A society could hardly exist if people had be touching each other to share feelings or thoughts, so Vulcans naturally have a language. I'm thinking of a species whose members would communicate by short-range thought transmission, needing to be in each other's physical presence or at most within line-of-sight. In my opinion, they would have no evolutionary reason to develop language. They wouldn't need words, let alone speech, because they would form mental images of whatever they're "talking" about. Somebody on the panel raised the issue of what kind of environment would cause them to evolve telepathy as their chief mode of communication. It would have to be a world where both hearing and vision would be unreliable for that purpose.

Stipulating such an unusual environment, why would they develop words? People wouldn't even have names; they would identify each other by mental images of the person they're "speaking" to or about. If they eventually encountered interstellar travelers from Earth, the telepaths would probably consider our mind-blindness a pitiable handicap.

In order to develop science and technology, however, this species would have to invent language sooner or later, if only a written one. A society beyond the hunter-gatherer level requires keeping records, communicating at a distance, and transmitting information to future generations. One panelist suggested a universal mental "cloud" all members of the species could tap into, like a worldwide telepathic mainframe. Such a phenomenon, though, would go far beyond the short-range, person-to-person telepathy I'm considering. A species such as the latter couldn't create what we'd think of as civilization without writing or the equivalent. That step would be harder than simply inventing the alphabet would have been in our world. In a society without spoken language or even the concept of speech and words, the invention of written or electronic communication might require a genius on the level of the creator of algebra or calculus in Earth history.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

RavenCon

You can read about the 2023 RavenCon, held in the Richmond, VA, area this past weekend, here:

RavenCon

The guest of honor was Esther Friesner. I watched her "Ask Auntie Esther" presentation (consisting mostly of funny anecdotes about life in writing, publishing, and fandom) and part of an interview. She's as entertaining in person as her stories and anthologies are (e.g., the CHICKS IN CHAINMAIL series she edited). Another special guest, horror host "Count Gore De Vol," of course costumed in vampire regalia, acted as MC for the masquerade contest. Although I didn't recognize the sources of most of the costumes, I enjoyed seeing them anyway. The only child entrant played a role I did know, Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter series. The most unusual costume, I thought, was "Jor-El in the Fortress of Solitude." The contestant wore a cardboard diorama of the interior of the ice fortress on his head. His actual face, in white makeup, emerged through an opening in the back, with a tiny figure of Superman looking up at him. The intermission featured entertainment by a filk music group called Dimensional Riffs, whom I liked. (For one thing, most of the lyrics were clearly understandable, often not the case with instruments drowning out vocals in some groups' performances.) They sang Star Wars and "Firefly" material.

My husband and I appeared in a session on creating memorable character names, which I thought went well. Recommendations of resources for finding or generating names, plus lots of discussion about what not to do.

Some panel highlights: "Raising Children in Space," including both generation ships and extraterrestrial or extrasolar planets. "Should We Be Genetically Altering Humans?", ranging from correction of genes that cause severely disabling or life-threatening conditions to radical redesign of human embryos. Both of these had actual scientists on the panel with solid information and substantive issues discussed. Same with "Writing Believable Aliens." The panel on how not to think about women characters, focusing more on reader response than on strategies for writers, was interesting but not quite what I expected. The "Mary Sue" concept, since it figured prominently in the printed schedule's panel description, took up a lot of time, and in my opinion the panelists sometimes applied it too broadly and not quite accurately. Some interesting discussion anyway. An archaeologist gave a presentation on medicinal and magical plants found in "spell bags" (usually, in fact, pots rather than bags, which don't last very well) in burials of shamans. She showed slides of plants and the burial sites, with skeletal remains. The lecture explored two different sites, one in England and one Native American burial from the eastern U.S. She barely managed to fit all her material into the allotted time; I wish the talk could have gone on longer.

Same hotel as last year, spread over three different buildings on a beautiful, green campus. Buffets were available for breakfasts and dinners, fortunately. We heard from those who ate lunch in the "tavern" that service was painfully slow. Typical of a convention hotel, sigh. Luckily, there is also a "grab and go" food counter, although their selection is limited. The location is within less than half a day's drive from us. We had nice weather for the most part; the predicted Saturday rain didn't turn out to be much. On the whole, a satisfactory weekend at a not-too-big con.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

RavenCon 15

This year's was the first RavenCon since 2019. They moved from Williamsburg, Virginia (where we attended for three years before the lockdown began) to a new location just north of Richmond, the same general area as their original home base. It was the first time at that hotel, though. The facility consisted of three large buildings with red brick, colonial-style exteriors in a beautifully landscaped setting. Luckily, the weather stayed nice enough for walking between buildings, aside from a slight chill the first couple of days. The hotel provided buffet meals from Friday morning through Sunday morning. That's always a big plus at a con, because we can eat at our own pace and not be late for panel sessions.

Guests of honor were author Terry Brooks and filk singer Rhiannon's Lark. Staff and people on the program had an opportunity to get books signed by Terry Brooks on Friday morning, a few hours before the official opening of the con. That gathering didn't have a big crowd, so he chatted a bit with each person who brought books for him to sign. He's a very nice guy. Later in the weekend I attended an interview in which he gave a lot of interesting information about how he sold his famed first novel, SWORD OF SHANNARA, and the twists in his later career. In addition to hearing a full-length performance by soloist Rhiannon's Lark plus two brief interludes (at the opening ceremony and the costume contest), I watched filkish duo Nefarious Ferrets. In both cases, I could understand the lyrics (not always a given!), liked the singers' voices, and enjoyed the songs' contents, both funny and serious.

Les (my husband) and I, along with one other couple, presented a panel on creative collaboration in marriage. We had a lively discussion, and I thought it went well. I appeared on two other panels, one on the appeal of vampires and one on paranormal romance. Les participated in sessions on "mid-story blahs," combat in speculative fiction, and hypothetical energy sources of the future. I watched the last few minutes of a slide presentation by a man from Richmond's Poe Museum, about Vincent Price's Poe-related movies; I wish I'd been able to see all of it.

All the costumes at the masquerade struck me as impressively elaborate. Even though I recognized the sources of almost none, most being based on video games, I enjoyed and admired them. My only complaint about the event was that sometimes the background music was too loud.

We came away with a good impression of the hotel. Despite its single major flaw, the lack of an auditorium, only one event—the masquerade/costume contest—was so crowded that standing latecomers lined up against a wall. Since the location is closer to home for us than the previous hotel, I hope RavenCon stays there for a long time. Especially because it takes the entire weekend to learn the layout of a new venue, and I don't want the effort wasted. :)

You can read all about the convention and view the program schedule here:

RavenCon

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

RavenCon

We spent this past weekend at RavenCon in Williamsburg, Virginia. The author guest of honor was Melinda Snodgrass. Because she worked with George R. R. Martin on his Wild Cards series, the con played with a Wild Cards theme at the opening ceremony Friday night. I haven't read any of the series, but the premise sounds intriguing. In case you haven't either, it goes like this: A plague has rewritten human DNA. Among the total population, 90% died. Most of the others survived with grotesque mutations, and a tiny percentage developed superpowers. At registration, each attendee received a tag to attach to the name badge. Black Queens were dead (I got that one). Jokers got amusing mutations. Aces got superpowers. Friday night, the Jokers and Aces were called up front to learn their mutations or powers. Fun!

I appeared on the program in the Broad Universe rapid-fire reading. This year, so many authors participated that we got a two-hour time slot. Each person was allotted a little over five minutes for intro and reading. I read from my new light paranormal romance novella, "Yokai Magic," and it seemed to go well.

The program included a STEM track of panels and presentations, held in a designated "science room." Among other topics, sessions covered life sciences and medicine in SF, what science fiction authors get right and wrong about science, effects of space flight on the human body, and "Space doesn't work like that." A significant number of people with military experience, as well as scientists, appeared on panels. A non-science session that particularly impressed me tackled morality and ethics in SF and fantasy. One panelist held a doctorate in philosophy and had worked on the alignment system for Dungeons and Dragons Third Edition. There were also writing craft sessions, genre-focused sessions, and all the usual features you'd expect at an SF con. Fandom for David Weber's Honor Harrington series has a prominent presence at RavenCon, and at least two panels focused on that universe.

The musical guests of honor were the Library Bards, a filk duo. I enjoyed their songs when I could comprehend the lyrics. In common with most of the musicians I checked out, however, the Library Bards sang to a recorded background track of very loud, hard-rock style instrumentals that tended to drown out the words. However, they performed some pieces I liked quite a bit, e.g., a tribute to one of the "Dr. Who" stars (although I'm not familiar with him, it was cute), a celebration of Stan Lee and the Marvel universe, and a song summarizing the entire plot of PRINCESS BRIDE. Two musical guests I especially liked were the Nefarious Ferrets (a duo) and Gray Rinehart; both of those acts sang and played in a calmer style, and I could understand the words. (When old age creeps up, being able to hear the words of songs and TV dialogue becomes a non-trivial concern!)

Some highlights of the Saturday evening masquerade included a mother-child pair in elaborate kitsune costumes, a fan-dancing "steampunk geisha," and a joint appearance by Spider-Man and Spider-Man Noir (all in black). Unfortunately, the event ran behind schedule, so I eventually left to attend a panel and therefore didn't find out who won.

We were pleased with the hotel this year. Unlike last year, when they didn't have a room for us until well after the designated check-in hour, this time we got settled right away. Also, the meal service in the cafe was noticeably faster than in the previous two years we've attended. This hotel offers one delightful perk upon check-in—a large chocolate chip cookie for each guest.

You can read about RavenCon here. The programming schedule and the rest of this year's information are still on the site:

RavenCon

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

RavenCon

My husband, our youngest son, and I spent the past weekend at RavenCon in Williamsburg, Virginia.

RavenCon

This was our second year of attendance and the first year my husband (Leslie Roy Carter) and I have participated in panels there. The 2018 writer guest of honor was horror author and STAR WARS tie-in writer Chuck Wendig.

My husband and I appeared together on a panel about "Collaborating as a Couple." It wasn't quite what I expected, because the other couple weren't writers; they worked in film on special effects, makeup, and costuming. They provided lots of interesting anecdotes and information about their profession. I took part in a session on "The Evolution of Horror." Of course, we couldn't adequately cover such a wide topic in fifty minutes, but we had an engaging discussion with plenty of audience response. Les also participated in "Ask a Scientist," "Weapons Engineering," and "One If by Air, Two If by Sea" (mainly on military science in real life and fiction).

I especially liked the panel on SUPERNATURAL, one of my favorite long-running TV series. "Medicine in Fantasy" was full of intriguing information plus opinions on realistic and not-so-realistic depictions of healing in fantasy, and it could easily have gone much longer. Some writing-related sessions I viewed all or part of included "Life Hacks for Writers," "Ignore This Advice: Writing Tips That Aren't So Great," "Writing Outside the Box," and "Writer Without a Day Job" (featuring a group of full-time writers whose apparent productivity put me to shame). "Everybody Dies" discussed good and bad ways to handle character deaths. "Vampires, Monsters, and Ghosts—Oh, My" didn't particularly focus on vampires, as I'd expected; it was about using monsters in general in fiction. "Is That Blood on Your Dress?" dealt with the history and appeal of Gothic romance. "Morally Ambiguous Bad Guys" and "Longing for the Love of Monsters" were a couple of other highlights.

I enjoyed the filk group Misbehavin' Maidens, who performed lively, funny, mildly bawdy songs (mildly in the daytime show I attended, anyway). The set included "Dumb Ways to Con" (what not to do at conventions) and, as a sign of the times, a piece about consent. The Saturday night masquerade didn't have a huge number of entries, but they were all worth seeing. My favorite was a couple enchantingly costumed as Beauty and the Beast. Also, there was a woman in a green dress and matching green antlers whom I found very impressive, though I can't remember what the outfit represented. The con naturally had film and anime tracks, none of which I watched because of attending panels or going to bed in time to get a reasonable amount of sleep. In the snack and relaxation space labeled Ten-Forward, a fan group screened some original STAR TREK episodes they'd produced, of which we watched a few minutes. The films seemed to have quite a professional look.

The hotel has a confusing layout for the uninitiated, but this being our second year there, I began to get the hang of it. The spread-out nature of the space made the gathering feel uncrowded even though the total attendance (from what I heard) significantly exceeds that of our Thanksgiving weekend event, ChessieCon.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt