Cool Stuff Friday

First off, a self-promo link. For any SFWA members who might be interested, I’ve posted a copy of my story “Stranger vs. the Malevolent Malignancy” in the SFWA Forums. This is the superhero-with-cancer story I’ve spoken about.

Now, on to this week’s links:

Legend of Korra: Chapters 11 and 12

Legend of Korra
2 x 11: Night of a Thousand Stars
2 x 12: Harmonic Convergence

Full episodes available at Nick.com.

Episode Summary (from the Avatar Wiki): At the South Pole, Tonraq and his rebels are defeated by Unalaq and his forces. Meanwhile, in Republic City, Bolin prevents four waterbenders from kidnapping President Raiko and his wife. After a brief battle, the earthbender forces one of the man to reveal Varrick as the mastermind behind it all, leading to his arrest. With Mako’s allegations proven correct, he is released from prison. Korra and Tenzin and his family return to Republic City to gather reinforcements to travel South in order to stop Unalaq from freeing Vaatu and destroying the world. When Raiko refuses to send the United Forces, Mako, Bolin, and Asami accompany them instead on Varrick’s battleship.

After leaving Jinora’s spiritless body in Katara’s care, Korra and her friends attempt to break through the Northern defenses in order to reach the Southern spirit portal. Although initially unsuccessful, they manage to enter the Spirit World, where Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin leave to find Jinora’s spirit, while Mako and Bolin hold back Unalaq in order to give Korra the time to close the portal. However, when Harmonic Convergence starts, Korra had not yet managed to close the portal and Vaatu manages to break free from his prison inside the Tree of time.

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WFC Harassment Roundup

The World Fantasy Convention was held earlier this month. I wasn’t able to attend this year.

Let me repeat that. I wasn’t at WFC this year. What follows is based on online announcements from the con itself, a screenshot or two, and various blog posts and discussions. My main goal here is signal-boosting and hopefully helping more people to understand that this stuff matters. And also to vent my own frustrations…

This year’s WFC had problems. From accessibility trouble to the great fee-charging kaffeeklatch SNAFU and so much more. One of many concerns raised before the con was the lack of a sexual harassment policy. Their website originally said only:

“World Fantasy Convention 2013, as with any other predominantly adult gathering, will have a number of rules and regulations for the safety of attendees. These will be clearly stated in our Programme Guide, which will be given to each attendee when they register. In the meantime, we refer you to the UK’s Protection from Harassment Act 1997.” (Source)

This was tucked away in the FAQs, by the way.

A comment in the WFC Facebook group suggested people shouldn’t worry, because “…it is extremely unusual for this kind of behavior to take place at a World Fantasy Convention, as it is largely a professional-oriented event.” (Source)

In fairness, this comment doesn’t appear to have come directly from the convention board, but it does seem to capture their general attitude that we don’t have to worry about that sort of thing because we’re so professional!

Which is probably why someone programmed the following snarky announcement on the display boards in the lobby on Sunday morning:

“It’s Sunday. No one has lost their badge and no one has been harassed.” (Source)

That would have been a dickish thing to write even if it had been true. As should surprise nobody with half a brain, it was blatantly false.

  • “Myself and a friend were harassed on the Saturday night. We immediately put in a formal report with one of the red coats (the volunteer con staff)…” (Source)
  • “Two of my friends were harassed by a drunk man on Saturday night, making them feel incredibly uncomfortable. They compared notes and realized they should report it, and I helped them find someone to speak to. The organisers responded very well and quickly by taking down the information, but then the person in question was not, as far as they know, removed.” (Source)
  • “…it became clear that, despite protests to the contrary, people were being harassed in the bars by other con-goers. I was witness to two such incidents and heard about a third from one of the victims, who had put in a formal complaint.” (Source)

Afterward, the convention sent out a follow-up report which acknowledged:

“Regrettably, we learned of one small harassment incident that occurred on the Saturday night when an extremely drunken fan made a nuisance of himself in the hotel Lobby. Unfortunately, he was not reported to either of the professional Security guards who were on duty at the time or any member of the con committee. As a result, by the time we had found out about the incident and ascertained the details, the individual concerned (who was not attending the Awards Banquet) had apparently already left the convention. The person affected did not wish to pursue the matter with either the hotel or the police and, for legal reasons, we cannot publicly identify the individual responsible. However, after full consultation with the Hilton management and our Security team, we have passed the name of the nuisance-maker on to the organisers of next year’s World Fantasy Convention, who will decide on any appropriate action to take.” (Source)

Alex Dally Macfarlane does a nice job of shredding this one. Laura Lam also wrote a follow-up about this. If you’re not going to click over and read their takedowns, let me sum up.

What a bunch of minimizing, factually inaccurate, victim-blaming bullshit.

Cheryl Morgan has a post breaking down, to the best of her knowledge, who is responsible for the problems that plagued this years WFC:

“So my view on this complex mess is as follows. Steve Jones and his co-chairs are directly responsible for how the convention was run. The World Fantasy Board is responsible for having granted the convention to Jones in the first place (and they have enough experience of his behavior to have known what to expect). The Board is also responsible in that it has the power to set policy regarding how the convention should be run, and to select groups to run future conventions wisely.” (Source)

I don’t know how many people were sexually harassed at World Fantasy Con, nor do I know how many harassers there were. I do know that multiple instances have been publicly reported. I also know that these things tend to be under-reported, especially when an organization makes it clear they’re not really interested in taking such reports seriously, as this year’s WFC did from day one.

Here are a few tips for anyone who wants to run a convention that actually gives a damn about its members:

  1. Sexual harassment is a real thing, no matter how much you might want to shove your head in the sand and pretend otherwise. Create and publish a damn policy. Here are some links to sample policies you can use.
  2. Don’t use your public announcements board for passive-aggressive, shamelessly self-congratulatory lies.
  3. When someone reports having been harassed, you can worry about putting a stop to the harassment, or you can worry about minimizing things and covering your own ass. One of these options makes you an asshole. Choose the other one.
  4. Educate yourself so you don’t make asinine assumptions, like “professional” events being free of sexual harassment.

Any questions?

Home and Cosplay Pics

Got home from ICON late on Sunday. We lost power at the house a few hours later. Yesterday was blackout day. Around bedtime, we got the animals to heated homes, loaded the kids into the van, and headed over to my father-in-laws’ house for the night. Approximately 30 seconds after we settled in there, we discovered that the power was back on at our house.

So I’m behind on pretty much everything.

I will say I had a blast at ICON. Thank you to everyone who worked to make the con happen, and to the delightful guests of honor – it was a pleasure getting to hang out with you all!

Also, check out the pics from Windycon, including my Charlie Brown: Monster Hunter costume 🙂 Huge thanks to Ken Beach and Bruce Medic, the two photographers who worked the con. They also took a few shots of me and Jackson together, which was awesome.

I’ve posted three of their pictures below, or you can see everything at http://www.squirrelsnest.org/windycon/.

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ICON Schedule

This afternoon I’m flying down to Iowa to be Toastmaster at ICON 38. Which means I get to introduce and interview and generally hang out with their long list of guests of honor:

Any suggestions for questions I should ask, or particularly juicy stories I should share during opening ceremonies? 🙂

Here’s my schedule for the weekend, assuming nothing changes:

Thursday

Friday

  • 1 – 5 pm: DreamCon
  • 7 pm: Opening Ceremonies

Saturday

  • 9 – 10 am: Martial Arts in SF (Elm)
  • 3 – 4 pm: Fandom 101 (Elm) – Tentative
  • 4:30 pm: Guest of Honor Speeches/Interviews (Rosewood)
  • 6 pm: Art/Benefit Auction (Elm)
  • 10:30 pm: Bulwer-Lytton/Vogan Poetry (Waterloo)

Sunday

  • 9 am: Benefactor Brunch
  • Noon: Reading (Dogwood)

Looking forward to seeing at least a few of you there!

Legend of Korra: A New Spiritual Age

Legend of Korra
2 x 10: A New Spiritual Age

Full episodes available at Nick.com.

Episode Summary (from the Avatar Wiki): After successfully arriving in the Spirit World, Korra and Jinora get separated. Jinora ends up at Wan Shi Tong’s Library, where she is captured by Unalaq. Korra finds herself in a dark forest as a four-year-old, where she encounters Iroh’s spirit. With the help of the former Fire Nation general, she helps a lost dragon bird spirit, who in turn helps her to find the spirit portals. There, she is forced by her uncle to open the northern portal, lest he destroy Jinora’s soul.

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The Atrocity Archives, by Charles Stross

I’ve been wanting to check out Charles Stross‘ Laundry series for a while, and finally had time to read The Atrocity Archives [Amazon | B&N | Mysterious Galaxy]. The tagline is, “Saving the world is Bob Howard’s job. There are a surprising number of meetings involved.” That nicely captures the tone of the book, a blend of Lovecraftian threats from beyond with governmental bureaucracy, complete with budget meetings and petty managerial power struggles.

Bob is more of a hacker geek than a superhero, and it works well, giving us a reluctant hero who favors brains over brawn. (I have a fondness for that type.) There’s plenty of action, and there were times I found myself struggling to keep up with the plot twists and revelations … fortunately, Bob was struggling right along with me. He’s a sympathetic character, and a good introduction into the world of magic-wielding government spooks and computer-powered rituals.

As for the plot itself, well … Bob gets sent on his first field mission, seeking out a potential contact named “Mo” in the U.S. From there, we get magic terrorists, supernatural (and really nasty) Nazi technology, a bit of romance, and the impending end of the world universe.

It’s quick-paced, with lots of good historical background, a fun hero, and a dry sense of humor that works well to balance out the occasional horrific scenes.

The book also includes the Hugo Award-Winning novella “The Concrete Jungle,” which continues to blend magic and technology in creative and intelligent ways, talks about the real reason for all of those public cameras in London, and tosses Bob into the middle of another nightmare scenario. I wasn’t sure at first what I thought of the revelation of the true villains, but I decided I liked it. It fit well with the world Stross creates.

Also, Bob’s boss Angleton is a scary, scary man.

Short version – I’ve added The Jennifer Morgue, the second Laundry Files novel, to my wish list.

Cool Stuff Friday

I’m off to Windycon. Have some cool stuff!

Windycon Schedule

I’ll be Guest of Honor at Windycon this weekend, which is pretty dang exciting. Windycon is one of the earliest conventions I ever attended. It’s where I met my first editor, where I met my agent, and where the Magic ex Libris series was born. (In the green room, to be specific.) I’ve also started taking the family along to this one, which is a lot of fun.

My schedule for the weekend is:

Friday

  • 7 pm: Opening Ceremonies
  • 9 pm, Room 1602: ISFiC Book Release Party – The Goblin Master’s Grimoire

Saturday

  • 10 am, Ballroom A: Reading (As I don’t seem to have an autographing session, if you’ve got anything you’d like me to sign, I’ll make sure to leave some time after my reading.)
  • 11 am, Lilac D: Trilogy Squared
  • 1 pm, Lilac A: Superheroes of the 21st Century
  • 2 pm, Lilac A: An Author’s Best Friend
  • 7 pm, Lilac A&C: Harassment
  • 8 pm, Masquerade (Yes, I have a costume, and plan on entering the masquerade. This will be my first time. Be gentle!)

Sunday

  • 1 pm, Ballroom C: My Body Doesn’t Bend That Way
  • 2 pm, Ballroom C: Closing Ceremonies

It should be a fun (if busy) weekend.

So, anyone else going to be there?

Sandra Tayler Talks About The Strength of Wild Horses

Sandra Tayler is the author of Hold on to  Your Horses, a gorgeous picture book about an impulsive child named Amy. (You can read the book as a free .pdf.) From my review of that first book:

One of the most poignant moments in the book is when Amy breaks down and asks, “Why am I always the problem?” For these children (and their parents and caretakers), Tayler’s book provides a way to understand and start to control their impulsive behavior.

I was delighted to find out Sandra was kickstarting The Strength of Wild Horses, a second book about Amy. Like the first book, this one will be illustrated by the marvelous Angela Call. I’m happy to have Sandra here to talk about her hopes and goals for this new book.

You can learn more and support her Kickstarter at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1635154756/the-strength-of-wild-horses.

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1. You said you wrote Hold on to Your Horses, your first book about Amy, “because [your] daughter needed a story that helped her visualize and control her impulsive ideas.” What prompted you to write The Strength of Wild Horses?

I started seeing the need for a second book almost as soon as the first book was done. My daughter was finally able to visualize her impulsive creativity as something she could control and steer, but then she looked at me one day and told me that sometimes she got tired of steering. “What are wild idea horses good for?” she cried. I had a dozen answers for her, but they were grown up answers. A six year old is not going to be comforted by the fact that some day, when she is all grown up, her headstrong creativity will make her a fantastic project leader in the workplace. I had to find an answer that showed her how wild ideas can make a child’s life better. Strength of Wild Horses is my answer.

2. Has your daughter read the new book? What did she think?

She has and she likes it. I took much longer than I would have liked to find the answer to her question and there were also business and funding issues that delayed the project for six years. My daughter is twelve now and relates to the story in a very different way than she did when she was in Kindergarten, but she loves the way that I lifted some actual events from her life and folded them into Amy’s story. Some of the chaos that Amy creates is based on real life events.

3. I know you as a very loving and dedicated parent, and you’ve blogged about some of the challenges and rewards of being a parent. Can you talk a bit about stories as a way to help children learn and grow?

We all need stories, both adults and children. Stories help us explain–to ourselves–who we are and how to go forward. The right story can completely change how a person views themselves, which is what I accomplished with Hold on to Your Horses. Once my daughter had that story she was able to see that she could have an unfortunate impulse without being a bad person. Even more valuable was her increased ability to choose how to express her ideas so that they didn’t cause problems. Strength of Wild Horses takes that even further, showing that the existence of headstrong ideas can make the world a better place. These are powerful stories to hand to a child who struggles with high energy creativity that gets them in trouble. Over and over again through my parenting I have helped my kids find the stories they needed. I sometimes review books that helped us over on the Hold on to Your Horses facebook page. Stories can change the world by changing the people in it.

4. Angela Call’s artwork is bright, colorful, and gorgeous. What’s the story of how you brought her into the Horses projects?

I wrote Hold on to Your Horses because my daughter needed a story. Then because she was only six, I knew that the story needed pictures. I’m married to a cartoonist, so it seems like that would have an easy solution, except my husband and I both agreed that his art style wasn’t right. Instead we put out the word on the internet that I was looking for an artist. I couldn’t promise that the project would ever make any money, but I did promise that the artist would make half of any profit. I was fortunate that Angela saw the open call and decided to submit. Angela and I have never met in person. We do most of our communication via email.

5. This isn’t your first time working with Kickstarter. Assuming you meet your fundraising goal (and we hope you do!!!), what happens next?

If this project funds it will pay for a print run of 2000 books and cover the costs of Kickstarter, packaging, and postage. I’ve already paid Angela and advance out of pocket. In order for me to get paid, I’ll have to sell enough of those books. I’d like to get paid eventually, but more important is getting to make the book and making it available to people who need the story. If the project does really well, I have other stories to tell and Angela can draw really beautiful pictures…

6. Okay, time for a Very Serious question: why horses as opposed to, say, goblins?

Goblins are amazing and wonderful. Using them for the book was quite tempting, but my daughter loved horses at the time I wrote the story for her. I had to pick the animal which always focused her attention. Being able to tap into the common usage of the phrase “Hold on to Your Horses” was an added bonus.

7. Anything else you’d like to add or talk about?

I’d just like to express sympathy and support to all the parents out there who are struggling to understand their children. I think that is pretty much every parent at some point in their parenting life. Raising kids is hard, particularly when you can see what is coming and you imagine how difficult it could be. Hang in there. Expose your kids to all sorts of stories and pay attention to which stories your child loves. That can be a key of connection and understanding between you if you let it be.

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