Post Microcon 29

Posted by Colin Harvey Feb 23, 2009

I wasn't able to stay the whole length of Micrcocon last weekend, but I did manage to make Saturday, which is more than can be said for GoH Jasper Fforde, who unfortuantely hurt his back just prior to the con. Commiserations, Jasper.

One of the more interesting panel items was given by author Mark Leyland, whose books Slate Mountain and Cloud Forest both appeared in the 1990s. Mark outlined the difference between a protagonist and a hero (in the classical sense), which is a person prepared to take up arms in pursuit of something that they believe in, but which has become so inextricably linked that the two have become synonymous.

In the afternoon author Christina Lake and Fan Doug Bell gave a lecture on 'writing the future' in which they outlined a history of that aspect of SF. SF is often conflated with futurism, at which point the futures that have not come to pass are highlighted as failures. Doug posited the idea that futures that never materialized, such as Brave New World, should be seen, not as failures but as alternative futures, an idea that I am embrace.

Veteran Fan Steve Green gave a film-show and tallked of his life in Fandom (Fans, we decided, were distinct from fans in that the latter consume the SF field, whether as viewers or readers, whereas Fans want to communicate and pass on their thoughts).

In all, an interesting and thought-provoking day, and well worth the time.