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Tuesday after NorWesCon. Haven’t been in a lot of years. Had to reset my expectations after meeting the new folks in charge last summer at WorldCon.
I was about half right.
Looking around, I realized two things that helped me put it into the right bucket.
One) It’s a comfy con. The place you go to see friends you’ve known for 20 years but only ever see at cons. Con buddies is the technical term. Lots of that happening. Not a lot of business, but NWC leans heavily into TradPub, with small press being second fiddle and Indie being down in the trombone section somewhere where they don’t have to think about it.
Lots of writers at the con. Maybe a few dozen making a living. Almost all of us (not counting Ursula, but she’s awesome) Indie. And she kinda is hybrid, so we’ll claim her.
Two) The fan base was 75-90% Fantasy. And swords and elves fantasy, with a little urban, but not much. Only saw a handful of folks in SF cosplay, and most of them were older than me. I was sick Saturday and missed, but Thu/Fri/Sun, I was in the bottom third of the con attendees by age, and I’ll turn 57 this summer.
Emerald City ComicCon and PAX both lean way younger. Those are the future of fandom, as old cons have largely been captured by the staff and the same people run them forever, getting old and stodgy.
That was kinda my feel about the place, once you got past chatting with con buddies. Stodgy.
And the hotel is really badly organized for just sitting around and chatting. There are almost no places where you can hang out and meet new friends. The dealer room holds maybe forty booths, and is crowded. The corridors were packed with bodies and very few chairs, most of those individual. You had to go upstairs to some event party.
And the hotel should have been renovated ten years ago. Four elevators serving the tower. Only two working at all this weekend, and on Friday afternoon they were down to one. Twenty minute waits to get upstairs, with the stairs hidden away from view behind “Staff Only” closed doors.
Clean. Friendly. Still verging onto dump. Decade past its time and desperately in need of refreshing, but that kinda was my take on the con itself.
Partly, I don’t read Fantasy. Way too many lazy writers who do a magic system that is either D&D (stolen verbatim from Jack Vance, BTW), or does whatever the plot needs, without any coherence. The Fabulous Publisher Babe™ designs magic systems with costs and limits that balance the availability of power. You can’t just snap your fingers and advance the plot.
I get tired of lazy world building and Tolkien pastiche. Or D&D campaigns written up verbatim. LitRPG really bores me. But we live in the future, and there are no more gatekeepers, so I can go out and find what I want to read.
It’s not at NorWesCon. Almost no SF, and most of that was Star Trek TOS era. Saw one BSQ Classic era Colonial Warrior who looked seventy. Saw one girl in her teens wearing the Rebel flight suit from Star Wars, which gave me hope.
A good experience. Not a great one.
Question for you folks. I need to find some software that will let me do pencil sketch art of fashion plates. Lines, rather than color or texture. Not the least interested in AI tools, because AI is theft, so I might have to wait until the AI boom implodes. Alternatively, an artist looking to make a few bucks. Not the least interested in Anthropomorphic chibi with enormous tits, which it 97% of who responds when I say I’m looking for an artist. Especially something clearly stated at the other end of art.
But if you know a guy (or a dame), send them my way?
Finished a short in a new universe over the weekend. Starting back on more Redlance soon. Kincaide is still end of April to done. Slowly recovering from the weekend and the cold. Will get there.
How’s your morning?
shade and sweet water,
b
West of the Mountains, WA
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