Subject: (urth) WindyCon 35

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:08:35 +0000

On Thursday 18 September, Teri Goulding wrote...

>>In an effort to make up for my earlier blunders, I'd like
>>to let you know Gene & Rosemary will be attending WindyCon
>>this year. The dates are November 14th thru the 16th, 2008.
>>
>>It's not announced on the WindyCon Web site, so you'll just
>>have to take my word on it.
>>
>>http://www.windycon.org/windy35/Default.aspx
>>
>>Teri

Very much hoping finally to get to meet my literary hero, I've bought a
flight from England to Chicago, sent in my convention registration form and
booked a hotel room for the weekend of the WindyCon convention this
November.

Is anyone else planning to go to WindyCon 35? I'd love to meet up with any
other Urth listers who are going.

Nigel

---

From: John Watkins <john.watkins04 at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:11:32 +0000

On a related note, does anyone know if Wolfe will be attending any
other conventions or otherwise travelling to promote An Evil Guest?

On 9/30/08, Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net> wrote:
> _______________________________________________
> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net
>

---

From: brunians at brunians.org <brunians at brunians.org>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:46:54 +0000

I was thinking of going but could not find a room at the convention hotel.

How did you manage to find one? Or did you get one at another hotel?

.

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:19:15 +0000

brunians at brunians.org asked...

>>How did you manage to find one? Or did you get

I booked my room at the convention hotel over the Internet just last night.
Does this mean that I got more or less the last room available, I wonder?

Nigel

---

From: brunians at brunians.org <brunians at brunians.org>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:25:36 +0000

It probably means that I screwed up and should check again....

.

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:10:57 +0000

Just to let you know that WindyCon have accepted a proposal from Michael
Andre-Driussi and I to run a session on "Post-Historic Warfare" in which we
intend to discuss the depiction of conflict in the Urth Cycle. More exciting
than that is that Gene Wolfe himself has very kindly agreed to take part in
this event!

Sorry that I don't yet know the date and time for this session. In fact, all
details are still "to be confirmed", but it would be great if some of you
were to come along and join us. I think it's going to be an interesting
time.

Nigel

---

From: hammstu at sbcglobal.net <hammstu at sbcglobal.net>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:11:50 +0000

Boy I wish that I could be there....played the Chicago Theater the other night, too bad the events didn't overlap
All the best
S
------Original Message------
From: Nigel Price
Sender: urth-bounces at lists.urth.net
To: The Urth Mailing List
ReplyTo: The Urth Mailing List
Sent: Oct 10, 2008 7:10 PM
Subject: (urth) WindyCon 35

Nigel

Sent from my BlackBerry? smartphone with SprintSpeed

---

From: Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:43:12 +0000

Sounds great; I regret I'm roughly a thousand miles away and an
impoverished college student. Any chance of a transcript, video, or
podcast?

I wish Wolfe traveled more - I'd buy a convention ticket solely to see him.

-Matt

---

From: brunians at brunians.org <brunians at brunians.org>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:49:16 +0000

I've done that twice.

I am considering buying a convention ticket, a train ticket and a hotel
room this time.

It would not be a sensible thing for me to do right now.

.

---

From: Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:54:58 +0000

> It would not be a sensible thing for me to do right now.

Well then, I share your folly in spirit.

I have nothing even approaching disposable income until I graduate and
get a job. Which should be easy in this economy...

I've only been to Chicago once. Became friends with a girl from
Barrington - then I started reading Wolfe, and found out that my
friend shared a town with Wolfe. Heck, I remember the great man even
mentioned her high school as "within walking distance" of his house in
one interview. I'm not really in touch with her anymore and as far as
I know she never read Wolfe. Shame.

-Matt, overly nostalgic

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:40:23 +0000

Stuart Hamm wrote:

>>Boy I wish that I could be there....played the Chicago
>>Theater the other night, too bad the events didn't
>>overlap

Sorry you can't make it. I checked your schedule and it looks like you'll be
playing the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on Saturday 15 November.
Shame!

I know that there's someone else on this list who would have loved to have
gone but who is already committed to visiting Chicago a week after WindyCon
finishes.

Anyone else, though - come along if you can!

Nigel

---

From: James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:56:09 +0000

> intend to discuss the depiction of conflict in the Urth Cycle.

Keep us posted on when this will be.

I'm trying to decide whether to come in on Friday night or late Saturday 
morning. I wish the schedule at WindyCon were better (or at all) nailed 
down. Does anybody have any inside information on this?

James

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 23:04:37 +0000

James Wynn asked re the session on "Post-Historic Warfare" at WindyCon...

>>Keep us posted on when this will be.

Will do. As you gather, it's not in our hands, though we have requested that
it's held on the Saturday.

If you're booking your travel arrangements, I should come on Friday night,
else you run the risk of missing the session.

Nigel

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:06:49 +0000

Stephen Case wrote...

>>a) I'm with James.  Does anyone have more specific
>>information regarding WindyCon and when Wolfe would
>>be speaking?  I've never been to one of these, so
>>I'd like more info.  Do you have to register for
>>the entire thing if you just want to hear a
>>particular session?  I'd be coming from Kankakee,
>>so it would be doable . . .

You can register for just a day or for the whole three-day convention, but
you can't register for just a single session. If you register by mail before
Friday, October 24, 2008 it costs $45.00 for adults and children aged 12 or
older. If you pay at-the-door when you get there, registration for the whole
convention is $55.00.

According to the website, one-day registration is available at the following
rates:

Friday only: $25.00
Saturday only: $45.00
Sunday only: $15.00

Not much of a saving if Saturday is the day when you really want to go!

I've no idea when a detailed timetable for the convention will become
available.

The theme of the convention is "Military SF", which didn't sound very
appealing to me, but I've been impressed by the variety of topics listed for
programme items on the website. Some of them sound very interesting. One of
my unanswered questions is whether Wolfe will be taking part in any of the
other panels. Obviously, if he is, I want to go to those sessions!

Nigel

---

From: Stuart Hamm <hammstu at sbcglobal.net>
Date: Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:42:50 +0000

Still kicking myself that I didn;t make more of an effort to get up to Seattle...

I'll get to one of these things...

???? Mobile — (415) 786-3624
???? Skype? stuart.hamm
myspace.com/stuhamm
? ??? stuarthamm.net

--- On Sat, 10/11/08, Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net> wrote:
From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Subject: (urth) WindyCon 35
To: urth at lists.urth.net
Date: Saturday, October 11, 2008, 3:40 AM

>>Theater the other night, too bad the events didn't

Sorry you can't make it. I checked your schedule and it looks like
you'll be
playing the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco on Saturday 15 November.
Shame!

Nigel

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From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:27:36 +0000

The WindyCon organisers have now published a detailed programme for the
weekend of 14-16 November.

The panel with Gene Wolfe, Michael Andre-Driussi and I in which we will be
discussing "Post-Historic Warfare" in the Urth cycle is at 12 noon on
Saturday.

Wolfe is also appearing on the following panel on Friday evening at 4 pm:

Child Soldiers — The award-winning Ender's Game, originally published in
1977, changed SF warfare forever. The story of an unwitting child soldier,
it takes place in the far future where children make the best soldiers.
There are children serving as soldiers today, but is the future really
different? How did Ender's world develop and could ours develop that way
too?
     R. Karp, R. Neumeier, J. Ringo, F. Ruiz, G. Wolfe

As an aside, and for what it's worth, I'm also on a panel at 10 o'clock on
Sunday morning in which we'll be discussing the Miles Vorkosigan stories of
Lois McMaster Bujold.

Really looking forward to all this!

Nigel

---

From: brunians at brunians.org <brunians at brunians.org>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:40:08 +0000

> weekend of 14-16 November.

Damn.

> discussing "Post-Historic Warfare" in the Urth cycle is at 12 noon on

Blast.

> different?

Or the past.

Children have made excellent soldiers at least since the devlopment of
lightweight repeating firearms (say a hundred - hundred fifty years).
Sailors too: David Farragut had his first command at age 12.

The Amazons were twelve year old girls on ponies with bows and arrows,
sabers and spears. The practical alternative to female infanticide.

>            How did Ender's world develop and could ours develop that way
> too?

No Scott Card? God, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at a Card/Wolfe
conversation.

> Sunday morning in which we'll be discussing the Miles Vorkosigan stories
> of Lois McMaster Bujold.

> Really looking forward to all this!

Really looking forward to practicing Stoic indifference that whole weekend.

I might as well get something out of it....

Say Nigel, just out of curiousity, not totally off the very current
subject and since things are a bit boring around here lately, I had a
go-round with two locals (one a Welshman) here about Article 9 of the US
Constitution (aka the Second Amendment). Mr Jones (not his real name) is
unashamedly against people having weapons, which is somewhat bizarre when
you consider that he lives in a town where literally everyone except him
is armed and has had one murder in the past twenty years. My compatriot
was performing the proctoproboscid (proboscoproctexploratory?) exercises
that Americans tend to when confronted by someone speaking RP, which was a
minor annoyance. I'll chastise him later.

Anyway, you're from the Motherland, and so almost certainly
well-programmed to fear and loath arms and the armed though you may (as
exceptional Englishmen and Welshman and even the occasional Scotsman do
occasionally) have deprogrammed yourself to a greater or lesser extent.
You're also a Gene Wolfe fan and so at least familiar with the opposing
(and correct) viewpoint. What's your take on all that whole matter?

.

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:51:18 +0000

In reply to Brunians at Brunians.org's previous message in this thread...

Sorry that you won't be able to join us in Chicago, Josh. I didn't want to
clog things up with my reply to your invitation to discuss the firearms
question, so I've replied off list.

>>No Scott Card? God, I'd love to be a fly on the wall
>>at a Card/Wolfe conversation.

Gene Wolfe and Scott Card were both at the Brighton WorldCon ("Conspiracy")
I attended back in the 80s. I hadn't read any Wolfe back then and, sadly,
didn't get to meet him on that occasion. I did go to a number of panels on
which Card was one of the speakers, though. It's perfectly possible that he
had Wolfe did meet at that convention, and must have done on various
occasions since.

Nigel

---

From: James B. Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:35:27 +0000

Are these sessions recorded? Can one obtain a hear?

Nutria

At 03:56 PM 10/11/2008, you wrote:
>>Nigel:
>I'm trying to decide whether to come in on Friday night or late 
>Saturday morning. I wish the schedule at WindyCon were better (or at 
>all) nailed down. Does anybody have any inside information on this?
>
>James
>

James B. Jordan
Director, Biblical Horizons
Box 1096
Niceville, FL 32588
http://www.biblicalhorizons.com 
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From: Matthew Keeley <matthew.keeley.1 at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:52:36 +0000

> Are these sessions recorded? Can one obtain a hear?

I don't think they've happened yet.

Checked the WindyCon website - the post-historic warfare panel is at
noon on Nov. 15?

Post-Historic Warfare — Our panelists take a look at warfare in Gene
Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and tie-ins with Gene's experiences as a
soldier in the Korean War and beyond.
     M. Andre-Driussi, N. Price, G. Wolfe

http://www.windycon.org/windy35/Departments/SaturdaySchedule.aspx

I too would love to hear / see a recording, if such a thing were possible.

-Matt

---

From: Nigel Price <nigelaprice at talktalk.net>
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:11:56 +0000

And Matt replied:

>>Checked the WindyCon website - the post-historic warfare
>>panel is at noon on Nov. 15?

That's right. Wolfe is due to take part in the session on "Child Soldiers"
at 4pm on Friday 14 November and then, as noted, in the "Post-Historic
Warfare" session at noon on Saturday 15 November.

I don't know what arrangements, if any, the convention organisers are making
to record or video panels. I'll try and find out. I was planning to take
along a mini-disk recorder, though, and make audio recordings of the
sessions with a view to putting either transcripts or MP3 recordings up on
Ultan's Library. Permissions may be an issue, but I hope that that will be
straightforward, at least for the Saturday session.

I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Nigel