Neil Gaiman has opened a whole new can of worms in the anarchicgretel head. I am about 280 pages into American Gods (online) and rather than buying the book (NG’s blog suggests this happens about 200 pages – presumably when the formatting finally drives you up the wall – and yes I did fill in the harpercollins online survey feedback about it) (where was I…) yes, I was going to say as a result of NG have written a slightly spooky short story (6k words), which is a bit of a distraction from the novel.
Not only that, I have discovered NG will be at a scificon http://www.orbital2008.org/ over Easter in London that I could potentially get to were I not at church. “Ha, what’s a scificon got to do with me”, I thought. But fascinated, I looked through the programme and registration and a slightly sweet solicitous guide to how to do conferences (of the bring a clean T-shirt and don’t forget your costume type).
Orbital 2008 is like a work conference from an alternative universe. You register – but you can bring along an apocryphal member – a disturbed soft toy, an example being a plush Cthulhu! Note you are only allowed one and you have to register them in advance (it costs £1). It costs more for a Beeblebear (had to look it up http://www.conbledegook.org.uk/BeebleBear – apparently from from Zaphod Beeblebrox – extra head and arm). There are parallel sessions – but not as you know them. Sessions on all the telly I watch (Sky at Night, Torchwood, Heroes, Dr Who, endless reruns of Star Trek) or should watch (Battlestar Galactica recent series) – sessions on tai chi or how to do rope bondage, each one focussing on a different part of the body (AG looks puzzled in a “why?” sort of way) – Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Blakes 7 themes – a Cory Doctorow reading (AG has manfully read his creative commons short stories despite having to look up all the ultrageeky terms) – appeal of Lovecraft (AG has read some – in daylight as they were too creepy otherwise) and no obvious Terry Pratchett references (AG has never read any). And although I don’t own a Star Trek jersey, if you look not very hard, there are some flashcards lying about explaining the colour scheme of the original series costumes (AG can’t remember their provenance).
I have had to conclude that, although you may not be able to spot it at 50 paces, I am a scifi nerd. In disguise. Now outed. Hmm.
Tags: Easter, Neil Gaiman, orbital2008, scifi
