Livre d'Or

Homestuck is this... work of fiction, which is sort of like a webcomic, only it's also sort of like inventing an entirely new medium for telling stories. rysmiel, who calls this new artform a hypercomic, persuaded me I should read it. I was dubious, partly because I am not a very visual person and I don't always get on well with comics.

And partly because it starts off kind of bad. ( more thoughts )

In other news, I have only a couple of slots left for Daily December posting. Anyone want to suggest anything to complete the month?

At the con: 3:15 pm Friday afternoon in the Fan Village. I will be there with a sign until around 5. All are welcome; if you've heard of Dreamwidth and you're coming to Worldcon, come and join us.

In the old-school tradition from back in LJ days, this is a meme. You are welcome to repost the above text on your own DW so that as many people as possible see the invitation.

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Escaping from the con: 1 pm Saturday at Noodle Street. This is a modern pan-Asian (primarily Chinese) place with level access and the restaurant looks fairly spacious. They cater for veggies and can adapt dishes to other dietary requirements. They have both dim sum and main dishes, dim sum £3 - £5 per item, main dishes between £5 and £10.

Instructions for getting there: DLR from Prince Regent to Westferry, approx 15 minutes. Step free access to trains at both stations. The restaurant is close in distance to Westferry but somewhat awkward to get to across busy roads, and Prince Regent is the closest station to the ExCeL centre.

Everybody is welcome to join us for lunch, but I would like you to RSVP if possible so I can make a booking; we're going to be at least 7 and possibly twice that. I appreciate that you can't be absolutely sure if you're coming or not, and I'm not expecting a firm promise. If you happen to be in London but are not coming to Worldcon, you are still welcome.

So far the following people have said they are coming:
Me liv
jack
kaberett
green_knight plus one
cxcvi
hairyears
emperor
starlady
rmc28 plus partner and two kids

Maybe:
atreic
doseybat
pplfichi
nanila plus kid
randomling
naath
legionseagle

If you have any thought at all you might want to join us for lunch, please can you comment by Friday 2pm UK time? Tell me how many people, if you need me to ask the restaurant to make any arrangements eg provide a highchair for a young child, and how certain you are about attending. It's fine if the answer is that you have no idea, it depends entirely on how you feel on Saturday. It's fine if the answer is almost certainly not but you'd like to keep the option open. It's also fine if you previously told me you were coming and now can't make it any more, just let me know.

ETA: Booking now made at Noodle Street for a party of 12 for 1 pm Saturday 16^th, name of Liv

I'm sure it's fine if the numbers fluctuate a bit, but if you end up with a more definite yes or no between now and the con weekend, please let me know?

OK, I've left it really late to organize things. So, what I'm proposing is: I'm going to hang out in the Fan Village after my panel with some kind of DW sign. Anyone is welcome to stop by and chat; it will be noisy, because it's the middle of the con, but hopefully this will be inclusive to people who don't want to travel outside the convention centre.

Please feel free to spread the word:

Informal Dreamwidth meet at Worldcon

Friday 3:15 pm, Fan Village
I'll stay until 5 but it'll basically go on until people drift away
All welcome, if you've heard of Dreamwidth at all and you're going to be at Worldcon, you're invited. Bring friends.

Several people expressed interest in going out for a meal; I'm going to add a poll and do my best to organize something. Depending on numbers and requirements it might be somewhere fairly generic eg a Wagamammas or a big Weatherspoons. I'm going to suggest 1 pm Saturday unless there are strenuous objections, because finding a consensus time that suits everybody is never going to happen, so I'm just going to pick.

( poll within ) If you have any suggestions for venues please do speak up! I will aim to book something by the end of this week, though I'm sure it's fine if a few extra people show up or some drop out. My plan is to simply publicize the venue and show up at the agreed time, rather than trying to organize to travel as a group.

I'm really enjoying this thing with the Hugo voting where lots of people are reading the same stuff and talking about it. A lot of the time I'm jealous of people who are fans of TV series, because they have a much better chance than book fans of all their friends consuming the same media as them at the same time and wanting to talk about it. So with Worldcon coming to England, I'm getting a little taste of that.

It's especially fun to see excitement about Ancillary Justice spreading like contagion through my circles. I don't think it's the Greatest Book Evar!!! but it's really innovative and I think it's very well worthy of an award. I particularly enjoyed legionseagle's analysis; yes, it has something to say about gender, but it's really exciting in what it's doing with class and empire and real, solid politics. Also, I found this interview with Leckie immensely endearing.

Anyway, I'm working my way through the Hugo packet, so here I am joining in the conversation with comments on the short story and novellette slates. ( rankings and comments )

This relationship has brought a whole bunch of new experiences. One of them has been watching a TV show for more or less the first time since I left home in 1997. Lovely cartesiandaemon sat me down and showed me episodes of Firefly, and I am completely bowled over by it. Now I finally understand why people want to form communities around squeeing and analysing and creating fanworks and being outraged when the show is cancelled prematurely.

( baby fan )

Anyway, I've only watched as far as Jaynestown (watching in story order, not broadcast order), so please don't spoil me for any episodes after that.