I like to blog about Wiscon while I’m there, one day at a time, and that’s what I did last year at Wiscon 37. That plan was defeated this year by the really bad internet at the Concourse Hotel. I could barely get on enough to look at my email before the signal collapsed. So instead of the immediacy of same-day reporting, I get the pleasures of reminiscence about Wiscon 38.
THURSDAY, MAY 22ND, 2014
The Concourse hotel’s shuttle arrived 15 minutes after I called for it. Three of us boarded, all Wiscon-bound. We had each taken a red-eye to get there and we were all sleepy, but we still chatted a bit. It felt like the Con had already started.
Usually, my Clarion friends Julie and Kater attend Wiscon. Kater wasn’t coming this year (and we missed you, Kater!) Julie had gone Facebook-silent, so I had no idea if she was coming or not. But after I checked in and called, I was pleased to find she was, and in fact had already arrived. We decided to meet at the A Room of One’s Own bookstore for the Guest of Honor readings.
One of the things I appreciate about Wiscon is the familiar rhythms: the predictable time and place, the kick-off GoH readings at A Room of One’s Own, the Gathering.
My laptop computer’s mouse had somehow died in transit, and I needed a new one. I had no idea where to go, since I didn’t recall any electronics or stationery stores around the hotel. But all the way down State Street, near the University, I came upon a Walgreens. Chain stores are under-rated. I love quirky neighborhood stores and mom-and-pop shops, but when you need something in a hurry and you’re far from home turf, a predictable Walgreens or Target or Safeway is excellent. The Case Logic mouse I got isn’t as ergonomic as my old Microsoft one, but it’s better than a touchpad.
After a quick satay snack at a Thai cafe, I headed to the bookshop. Julie had saved me a seat, and we had a few minutes to catch up before the readings. Hiromi Goto read from her 1994 book, Chorus of Mushrooms. It was an affecting and funny account of the old Japanese grandmother, living in the US and displaced from her familiar world; and her grand-daughter coping with the old lady’s disappearance. N.K. Jemisin read from the first chapter of her new book, The Fifth Season. It was lyrical and harsh and surreal. Later, Julie and I registered, had some dinner at the hotel bar, then called it a day.
Here’s a set of links to all my Wiscon 38 posts.
- Day One: GoH Readings at “A Room of One’s Own.”
- Day Two: Economics in video-games, The Gathering, PoC Dinner, Poverty, Transphobic feminists?
- Day Three: Non-romantic endings, Time and Memory, Outer Alliance reading, Tiptree Auction without Klages, Telestrations game
- Day Four: The Capitol, SFWA, readings, GoH speeches and Tiptree winner, parties.
- Day Five: The End. ‘Hard Chargers’ reading.
- Note on Reaching your Readers/ Selling Yourself.
KEYAN BOWES 