August was
my worst reading month so far and I only managed to finish two books. I have no
excuses other than that I was busy working. I did start two more books, but I didn’t
manage to finish them in August. And even though I read eight books in July, I’m
now two books behind the schedule in my reading challenge of fifty-five books.
I’ll have to step up. As has been my habit throughout the year, one book was
from my reading list and the other wasn’t.
First book was
Ride the Storm by Karen Chance, the long-awaited next chapter in her Cassandra
Palmer urban fantasy series of time-travelling Pythia and her entourage of vampires, demons and mages. One vampire and one mage in particular. As always, it was a wild romp through space and time – at times
a bit too wild. The first part of the book was constant tumbling from crisis to
battle and back with no breathers or plot development in between, as if the
author was afraid that the reader will get bored if something earth-shattering
isn’t constantly happening. At this point of the series it’s getting exhausting
though. I’d like some moments of reflection and recap. At least the plot-line
we’ve been following for the past three books came to a conclusion – after an
endless battle that took most of the last third of the book – and Ms Chance’s two series finally converged in a fairly meaningful fashion. Still, it was an
entertaining book and I’m happy to continue reading the series.
Ride the Storm by Karen Chance
Second book
of the month was Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab, the second and last book of her
Monsters of Verity duology, and third book of hers that I’ve read this year. The
duology is set in some post-apocalyptic future where demons come to exist every
time humans commit murders. The first book introduced Kate, a daughter of a
human monster controlling the demons, who was trying to seek her father’s
approval with catastrophic consequences, and August, a demon who was struggling
to become as human as possible. In this conclusion of their stories they’ve
both changed, August maybe more, as he has embraced his demon side in order to
fight demons. Together they prepare for a final confrontation to defeat the
greatest demon they’ve yet encountered, one that thrives on human emotions. It
was a hefty book, yet nothing much seemed to happen. The plot sort of meandered
on until the final battle. It wasn’t as emotionally engaging as the first book either,
but the ending was satisfying. And even though it was only a duology, the story
has room and characters for more books too. I’d very much like to read those.
Our Dark Duet by V.E. Schwab
And that
was my reading. I’m hoping to do better in September, but it’s not looking good
so far. There are great books from my reading list published this month that I’m
looking forward to reading, but I’m still pressed for time. And when I have
free time in my hands I haven’t been reading. I’ve been binge-watching Lucifer
on Netflix – and I’m not even ashamed to admit that on a blog post about
reading. It’s a great series. And do I sense a demon theme in this month’s post...?
Here’s the long overdue report from my day at the WorldCon 75, my first ever time attending. The event
was held on August 9-13 in my home country, Finland, so it was a once in a
life-time chance to experience it with a minimum trouble. I originally thought
to attend the entire five days, but life intervened in the form of work, and so
I could only attend on Saturday. I tried to make the most of it by planning a
full day.
Storm Trooper welcoming me to WorldCon 75.
I arrived at the conference centre about fifteen minutes after the doors
opened at nine in the morning, and the queue was already at least fifty metres
long. It caused me a few palpitations until I figured it was the line for
people who hadn’t purchased their day passes in advance. I had, so I just
walked past, trying not to look gleeful. Half an hour later I felt bad for all
those people when it was announced that the day was sold out, which left most
of them outside. The queue for pre-purchased passes was three persons long, the
shortest line for me the entire day. I should’ve enjoyed it.
My day pass.
The first order of business was to get a cup of coffee, but the nearest
café in the lobby had a line so long I wouldn’t have made it to the first panel
of the day at ten. I didn’t despair, but located the only other open restaurant,
an Indian place that also sold coffee, and had my cup there with a minimum
fuss. Thus fortified, I set out to find the room for the first panel.
Now, I’d come prepared. I’d printed out all maps of the conference
centre and marked the correct rooms, but I hadn’t taken into account my
inability to decipher the maps. It took me twenty minutes to find the correct
room. To my shock – even though I knew to expect it – the queue led far away
from the room around a couple of corners and then some. Resigned to not getting
in, I took my place in it anyway. And it was worth it, as the room turned out
to be – well – roomy, and I got a good seat.
Bad Romance panel.
The first panel was called Bad Romance. I’d chosen it because I write
romance and I don’t want to write it badly, but also because Max Gladstone was
on it. He doesn’t strike me as a romance writer, but I like his Craft Sequence
fantasy series and wanted to hear him. He turned out to be worth the queuing.
The panel had a hiccupy start as the chair didn’t show up, but a member
of the audience volunteered to moderate. She turned out to be Julia Rios, who
had won a Hugo Award the previous night for Uncanny Magazine and had partied till
four in the morning, but she still managed to be a great moderator. Not only
did she keep the conversation flowing, she also managed to live tweet the
panel. As a whole, the panel was good and funny, though I didn’t learn anything
I hadn’t known before.
Second panel of the day, Beyond the Dystopia, started right after the
first ended. Luckily, the room was easier to find and it was large enough to
accommodate everyone who wanted to attend. I didn’t even have to queue, though
I had to settle with a less than stellar seat. The topic was interesting and
even though the panellists didn’t have anything world-shattering to offer, it
gave me some food for thought. And Joe Abercrombie was on it and he’s always
funny, despite the gloomy topic.
Beyond Dystopia panel.
Then it was time for a quick lunch – only a short queue as I went for a
slightly pricier option to avoid it – and deciding which panel to attend next:
Authors and their Cats that would’ve had Robin Hobb on it, or Colonialism and
the Space Opera. I chose the latter, mostly to avoid the long queue of the
first. My tactic wasn’t entirely successful and the line was as long as at the
first panel – it was in the same room – but this time I knew I’d get in and
didn’t panic. I even managed to assuage the person queuing behind me that we
would get in.
The panel was very interesting, even though it didn’t have a chair and
everyone just spoke of what they wanted. Two historians told their view and two
authors from colonialized countries, Aliette de Bodard with Vietnamese
background and JY Yang from Singapore offered their personal experiences of
colonialism. The question of language and narrative, i.e. who controls language
controls narrative, was very interesting. And since the collective
recommendation of everyone attending was Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, I think
I’ll have to read it too.
Colonialism and the Space Opera panel.
My first
true moment of queue came next: I wanted to see a panel that had George R.R.
Martin on it and I only had about fifteen minutes to make it to the correct
place on the other side of the conference centre. You can guess it: the room was almost full already when I got there and
the line that snaked up and down the lobby outside it had almost as many
hopefuls still. If I’d been sneaky – and I did consider the option – I would’ve
attended the Authors and their Cats panel that was held in the same room and
then remained on my seat, but I’d chosen differently. I gave the queue a chance
anyway. I didn’t get in. But I wasn’t too sad: I’d had a close-up glimpse of
the man himself on my way to the venue when he walked past me. Later I took a
photo when he was signing his books.
The queue to see a panel with George R.R. Martin on it.
With some
unscheduled free time at my hands, I went to check up the vendors’ area where
the book signings took place too. Another long queue waited there for Martin to
show up for his signing two hours later, and next to it, a line for those who
wanted to have an autograph from Robin Hobb, which was almost as long. I’d
thought to attend the latter signing, but gave it up then and there. I know
queueing is part of the con fun, but it’s not for me. The line for Max
Gladstone’s signing was almost empty, as he was finishing his appointed hour,
but I got cold feet and didn’t go to have his autograph either. In my defence,
I only have his books on Kindle and had nothing to get the autograph on.
So I
checked the wares instead. There weren’t as many vendors as I’d hoped for and
no one sold anything I wanted to buy. The greatest disappointment was the
booksellers. There weren’t many to begin with and they only sold mainstream
bestsellers that everyone there probably already had, regardless of the genre. Only
at the second pass later that day I managed to locate three books that I
bought, though mostly because I felt I had to have something to remember the
con by. I went to have a cup of coffee instead. The café closest to the vendors
was almost empty, in contrast with the one in the lobby that had constant
queues.
My loot.
And then it
was already time for my last event of the day: an interview with Joe
Abercrombie. The queue there was long too, but everyone fit easily in and I had
a nice seat. The Finnish interviewer seemed dry and humourless at first, especially
compared with Abercrombie, but he warmed up later too and the interview turned
out to be truly funny. That Abercrombie is funny, always amazes me, as he is
the self-appointed Lord Grimdark, which he told started as a joke that everyone
took seriously. But I guess you can’t be grim all the time.
The queue to see Joe Abercrombie in the same lobby as in the photo above.
Interview with Joe Abercrombie.
After the inteview, I made a quick visit to the signing area to get a glimpse of Robin Hobb signing, and managed to see George R.R. Martin too. Both handled the long queues with affable routine that was both impressive and swift. For all the queuing, each person got maybe twenty seconds with their idols, if that. I think it was good I didn’t spend my day waiting for that.
People lining for a Robin Hobb signing.
Robin Hobb.
George R.R. Martin.
That was my
con experience. Lots of interesting topics and even more queueing. I didn’t
have a chance to socialise with other con-goers – I didn’t even pause to
photograph the few cosplayers there were – mostly because I’m not good at small
talk, but also because everyone was busy finding their next event and didn’t
have time for chats. A few people stopped me to compliment me on my T-shirt
though, so that’s something. I’m fairly sure the social side of a con happens
at evening parties, but sadly I didn’t have time to stay for any of those. My
train home left before the evening was over. Still, I had a great day, if long;
twelve hours including the travelling time. I doubt I would’ve had energy for
any evening activities anyway. I wish I’d had a chance to attend the whole con,
but one day was better than nothing. And who knows, maybe I’ll attend the next
time the WorldCon is held in Europe.
My con T-shirt.
Did you
attend? Share your experiences in the comments.
