Confluence Day 1--The Road Trip From Hell

OK, so yesterday the plan was to leave at 9am, drive to State College, PA, and have lunch with my mom (a 3 hour drive), then head from there to Pittsburgh for Confluence (another 3 hour drive) and arrive at 4pm with enough time to destress and organize before my first panel at 6pm.

Yeah, right.

I left a little after 9am but I wasn't worried because I could just cut lunch a little short, my mom would understand, and I had flex time at the end of the trip anyway. But THEN I discovered that 90% of all of the roads in PA are under construction. With speed limits topping no more than 35mph. And with flagmen. And when there wasn't construction there were elderly individuals driving cars at no more than 35mph, who slowed down even further when there was the presence of:

a) a slight curve in the road, or
b) a butterfly,

ahead. I literally cried. I yelled. I swore more than I swore while painting the ceiling. My mom would have slapped me senseless.

But I figure, oh well, I have a buffer zone at the end of the rip of 2 hours and after State College I'd be on some fairly major highways. I also have a sports car. I can drive 80mph to make up for the lost time.

Ah, yes, but the 90% of roads in PA being under construction apparently extends to highways as well. In fact, the "highway" from State College to Altoona that is so clearly marked as 4-6 lanes on the map WAS NOT EVEN IN USE. WAS NOT EVEN CONSTRUCTED IN SOME PARTS!!! So I ended up on a 2 lane road with . . . the elderly. *head thump*

I gave up and just drove. However, I figured once I got close to Pittsburgh that I'd just zip on down the bypasses, through the tunnels, over the bridges, and be at the hotel in no time. There were two problems with this:

i) I arrived in Pitt at rush hour. All tunnels, bridges, and bypasses were clogged. I was, literally, NOT MOVING in traffic. And:
ii) The hotel is situated in a magical universe that claims to be next to route 60N but is in fact not touching our world at all. And it has no parking.

I seriously find the hotel, park ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD UP ON THE CURB (in my sports car, mind you; not making me happy), and rush into the hotel lobby at 5:55pm. My panel is at 6pm.

I do not check in. I do not register for the con. I do not pass go and collect $200. I scramble through the lobby looking for the panel room . . . and find it just in time, clutching the hastily thrown together bag of goodies.

I do, however, pretend that I have been at the hotel for days and have just walked in to the panel on time. This is the "We Are The Orcs" panel that was suggested by S.C. Butler (his book is called Reiffen's Choice, coming out in September, go check it out on amazon). The panel was packed, possibly because we offered to give out free t-shirts and chocolate. Sam had the t-shirts; I had the chocolate. We discussed why the SF genre is looked-down-upon by the literary fiction readers/snobs. Some of the things brought up were the fact that most of us have read some of the literary fiction books out there, but the attempt to understand SF on their side is . . . decidedly lacking for the most part. We also discussed the fact that some of the stuff they literary people hold up as great novels are in fact fantasy/SF novels . . . and they just don't want to admit it. (Look at the movie Sixth Sense--decidedly fantasy in nature, but most people will deny this if it's pointed out to them.) Tobias Buckell brought up that the literary fiction readers don't have the necessary background to really understand SF books (a "beanstalk" is something most SF readers identify immediately, but the ordinary person probably thinks it's a plant) and that's why they don't "get" them. Also, most people think fantasy is just kids stuff, because everyone is raised on fairy tales, and they don't realize that the fantasy genre is so much richer than that.

So many interested things were brought up, so many in fact that this panel should probably be put on the programming at more cons, because it certainly wasn't fully discussed here. In the end, the conclusion (although we didn't get a chance to specifically voice this in these words) was that it all comes down to taste. I personally don't get westerns. I've tried them and I just don't care. It's a personal taste. There's no reason for the western-lovers out there to berate me for this, just as we should not berate the literary people for not understanding our genre. Which is why in the end, we don't care what the literary people think. Most of them have tried to read SF, and it's just not to their taste.

So, good panel. I also checked up on Larry Smith and found out he'd sold out of my book already. Good thing I brought extras. I gave him 3 more and he's sold one of those as well. I brought my list of flood-damaged books and have delighted Larry by raiding his stock and making some headway on replacing what I've lost. I also had drinks and a quasi-dinner with Tobias Buckell, Sam Butler, Tobias's wife Emily (I believe), and David Barr Kirtley, a short fiction writer. Overall a good beginning to the con, although the drive back is going to suck eggs I think.

I'll udpate Saturday tomorrow or later tonight. Not very active day for me at the con. Sunday will be a bigger event.