Sunday, November 30, 2008

Loscon 35

After a pleasant Thanksgiving at home with just the two of us, Amy and I spent three wonderful days at Loscon, LA's most prominent annual science fiction convention. I've discovered that the key to truly having a good time at a con is to know people there. Several folks who hadn't been to Loscon in years showed up at this one, including our friends Doe and Janine and writers extraordinaire Will Shetterly and Emma Bull. There was also writer GOH John Scalzi (who is a very nice guy) and regular writer guests such as Marv Wolfman, Len Wein, Jane Espenson, J. Michael Straczynski and others. The various combinations of the above folks on panels made for fascinating discussions on storytelling in its many forms. At the end of each day I could feel my grey cells tingling from stimulation.

I had a chance to talk with Straczynski about his screenplay for "Changeling," and how he managed to feature a broadcast evangelist and a lawyer as heroes. "Yeah, I'm probably going to hell for that," he replied.

Loscon does have its share of crackpots and annoying folks (none of the people listed above fall into those categories), but this one definitely delivered in the entertainment department.

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