NORWESCON
was a great con this year, at Seattle's Doubletree hotel at Sea-Tac. I went to a lot of writing and science panels to get
new ideas for techniques and what is current and on the cutting edge. Also ate at Wild Ginger (always awesome), Sharp's Roaster twice (also great), and a Hawaiian BBQ place (not as good as the real thing). Did some shopping too and picked up a cigar box blues guitar, books and some minor clothes.
Thursday
-You Must
Write Every Day and Other Lies. There was a lot of do’s and don’ts on this
panel. Takeaways were to write for practice and habit, read outside your genre,
know the rules so you know how to break them, and have good cadence and rhythm
(read out loud).
-Flying Wind
Power. A great snapshot on the science behind wind power generation, new
methods being used and planned and what might be great for the future.
-Failure of
Imagination: The Crash of Spaceship II. Solid step by step of the errors and
problems that caused the crash and a great sidebar talk by an investor for XCOR
(another space plane company).
Friday
-Science and
Religion in Space. A good group talk on how religion can survive space travel
and advances in science. Takeaways for writing religion in science-fiction are
to ask the following questions: is it practical, is it current, is it popular,
is it relevant.
-Escher
Girls, Striking a Pose & the Hawkeye Initiative. An amusing look at the
contortions and impossibilities of some characters on book covers or comic
books. Also went into the rule that if it look ridiculous if a male is in the
pose then the artist should not do it.
-The Rest of
the World in Space. A nice look at what non-USA counties are doing in space.
-Finding
Your Voice. A fantastic panel on how to make the work that you are writing your
own style and to do it consistently. Takeaways were: Use the different sides of
yourself to write different styles and genres, write to yourself as you were 20
years ago, and be honest and bare for the first draft.
-Talk with
Science Guest of Honor Dr William Hartmann. A very smart scientist who was one
of the first planetary scientists (under Dr. Keiper) and who developed the
current theory of the formation of the moon. He is also the foremost expert on
dating craters and geological features on the moon and Mars. Validates the use
of generalist who can step back from problems to see the bigger picture.
-From the
Moon to Mars with William Hartmann. An overview of the life, science and art of
Dr Hartmann.
-Mercenaries.
An insightful look at the history and use of mercenaries. Takeaways were the
contracts and UN laws that they abide as well as the modern use of “contractors”
and “occasional” that are in use today.
Saturday
-A Culture
by any other Name. A great panel on writing new and/or alien cultures without
having it as window dressing for an Earth culture. Takeaways were: start with
how they discuss and have sex and expand from there, do a mental exercise by
evolving them and developing different technology to see what would happen to them,
and the reader may not know why the alien is doing what it is doing but we need
to see the outcome.
-Dawn to
Vesta and Ceres. Lots of very cool conversation and pictures/video on the Dawn
probe’s mission to the Vesta and Ceres asteroids. Given by Cathy Plesko a
previous science guest of honor.
-Old School
RPGs. A fun romp down memory lane of fun role playing games of years and
decades gone by. Ones I need to investigate are 007 from Victory Games, Westend
Games Ghostbusters and Star Wars, and the 1st or 2nd
edition of Cyberpunk.
-Asymmetric
Warfare. Detailed look at this type of quick or long term strategy by thinking
outside of normal warfare. Also looked at the politics of using asymmetric
warfare. Takeaways were: orient/order/decide/act, must force insurgents to
fight warfare on your terms, and if objectives are weakly written then the
victory will also be weak.
-Journey to
a Comet: Voyage of Rosetta. The scientist present went into an overview of the
different types of comets, current and future missions, and showed pics/video
on the Rosetta mission.
-Mining the Sky. Very lively talk on how viable mining the moon and asteroids are, how it should be done and what we can mine to make a profit.
-Mining the Sky. Very lively talk on how viable mining the moon and asteroids are, how it should be done and what we can mine to make a profit.
At various times I demoed a miniature game called Guildball and hung out with con people. Look forward to next year and perhaps Worldcon in Helsinki.
For lots of pics of costumes and such, visit here.
