World Fantasy Convention 2009

[furtech]

I needed to make a trip up to SJ to take care of some business and Gordon suggested this weekend: he had an extra membership to the World Fantasy Con. WFC is not like your typical sf convention: it's very sercon (serious and constructive). More like a writer's convention than a fan-con: there is a small art show, no masquerade (or anyone in costume for that matter) and the dealer's room is about 80% books. The con is almost all about panels and discussions.

A cool effect of the literate crowd is that the conversations are almost always intriguing: in the bar/lounge last night Gordon spotted (in various small groups) Greg Bear, Peter Straub, Richard Lupoff, Elizabeth A. Lynn among many others. Here's a complete guest list (fan and pro) Regardless of the individuals, you could just sit and hear conversations all over the lounge that were interesting. I'd forgotten about this phenomena: intriguing conversations are not what anime/furry/comic conventions are about. Fourth Street Fantasy Faire is another con like this: fascinating. I've also heard good things about Foolscap, in Washington.

Last night's event was the mass autographing session: a two hour session in the main ballroom where all the authors sit and autograph and chat with people. The authors there that I'm a fan of included Jane Lindskold and Stephen R. Donaldson, in addition to a number of old friends I hadn't seen in years.

The fans and authors (there's a lot of overlap) blended well with the elegance of the Fairmont: most were well-dressed and seemed to enjoy the elegance of the lush furnishings. I am both curious, yet dreading what kind of atmosphere a furry con here will result in.

Apache is off getting a tracking intensive from my sister and R0ndo is enjoying being an only dog again (or...IS he?).

Comments

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

I think part of it is that many of the people writing furry fiction that ISN'T about homosexuality are finding they can jump to small presses outside furrydom and are just plain leaving for better paying pastures. Or at least the perception of having a wider market. So the ones that have a shot at getting out of the furry only market incubate here, then "despecialize" to meld into the available markets. The gay stuff just doesn't have a lot of places to go, so doesn't move out. It stays, attracts more, and so on.

Even some of the porn, surprisingly enough, IS draining into the general market. The gay furry stuff isn't selling in the general porn market yet because the gay part is still new and novel enough that it hasn't branched into such specialized niches. But even mainstream presses are picking up increasingly bizarre porn. Oh excuse me, erotica. They don't like calling it porn.

I just read a romance from Leisure Press that had Otherkin in it. AND CALLED THEM THAT. Love interest had the soul of a T-Rex. and the mayan apocalypse was involved. It was hilariously awful. and it's a series.

And there's a proliferation of smaller presses handling increasingly specialized material and selling it to big chains like Borders and Barnes and Noble. But few of them are handling straight scifi or fantasy, they're shooting for the red hot paranormal romance or young adult markets, which are generally "lighter" reads.

"heavier" series aren't really getting picked up anywhere.

So it's a bit of a two part problem. "lighter" works are getting drained out of the fandom and homogenized to make them palatable to a wider audience. "heavier" works languish and the writers get frustrated over light stuff being picked up easily while they're still stewing around with the stuff that's too out there for any non-furry press to pick up.