Wow, do I ever miss con reports, especially at this time of year. Contributors to letterzines and (after fannish chat moved online) BBSs, Usenet groups, and LJ would write long and wonderfully descriptive, opinionated, gossipy narratives about all the programming and celebrities and activities at fan-run cons. If you weren't able to attend in person, you could be sure of finding out all the good stuff a few days or weeks later.
For all I know, con reports may still be a thing in the social media spaces that I don't hang out in. But I can remember when I didn't have to go looking for them--they'd arrive unsolicited. People would write about the pleasure of meeting like-minded fans in the weirdly liminal spaces of some airport hotel that no one would ever visit in the normal course of things; the open filks that didn't start until midnight; the room parties that went on until breakfast; the writers' workshops; the idiosyncrasies of the panels and panelists; and the surreality of actually speaking to actors and creators one-to-one.
I gafiated from real-life fandom a long time ago, so I have no idea how many fan-run cons still exist (apart from large events like
Shore Leave and genre-specific events like
Escapade,
KiScon, etc.). I hope there are many, and that they're flourishing.
* * *
Elevator encounter of the day: A woman was carrying a brand-new
McClelland & Stewart tote bag. "McClelland and Stewart," I said, pointing to the bag. "It's good to see that they're still going." "Oh," she said, "they're my publishers!" That provoked a gratifying 11-floors-long lightspeed exchange about how M & S has gone from powerhouse Canadian literary publisher to mere imprint of a multinational; the fast-acting poison of AI; and the dire future of print. I think both of us would have been happy to go on talking, but it was clear that each of us was late for something, and we rushed off in opposite directions. Maybe I'll see her again and we can pick up the threads.
She's the fourth published author (that I know of) in my building, and there are at least two other editors besides me. Hmm, maybe that's enough special-interest folks to institute a salon. :)
* * *
AI Has Plunged the Book Publishing Industry into Utter Chaos. There's not much new news in this WSJ article, but the author provides a useful summary of the issues.
Right now, public sentiment is still largely against using AI to generate text, although using it for research and outlining is becoming more acceptable. If it turns out that people are happy to read AI-generated or AI-assisted books, especially in genres like fantasy and sci-fi where readers churn through books at a rapid clip, publishers don’t want to cut off a possible revenue stream in a world where those are few and far between.
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