vivdunstan

I've just finished my marathon viewing of a large bunch of videos on catchup from the Glasgow Worldcon this summer. Watching on catchup I missed out the chance to take part in the live Q&As. And I also found the user interface rather cumbersome, that I had to watch on my laptop, which limited how frequently I could do so. But I still managed to get through quite a large number of talks.

Here are the events I watched, each one about an hour long, typically with 45 main minutes of discussion, followed by 15 minutes of audience Q&A:

• AI and Work - Do Androids Dream of Taking Your Job?
• ENIAC and the Post-War Dawn of the Computer age
• The Horror Out Of Space
• *Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding
• It's Life, Jim, but Not as We Know It
• *Iain Banks: Between Genre and the Mainstream
• All the Shakespeare: the Bard's Influence on SFF
• The Untold History of Worldcons
• Inadvisable Rocket Science
• A Fireside Chat with Samantha Béart
• Guest of Honour Interview: Ken MacLeod
• *The Many Legs of SF: Creepy Crawlies in Space
• 50 Years of TTRPGs
• Comics Can Save Your Life
• Faeries in Fantasy Literature

I've marked out above those with asterisks that I especially enjoyed. To pull those out specifically these were:

• Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding
• Iain Banks: Between Genre and the Mainstream
• The Many Legs of SF: Creepy Crawlies in Space

The first two of these had obvious Scottish connections, which I unsurprisingly appreciated. But I also found them particularly rewarding in other respects. But I enjoyed something in everything I watched, not just these particular highlight talks.

Martin and I had originally hoped to be at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon in person. We had low cost attending memberships in place. But things didn't work out that way. However I was able to watch on catchup, and have very much enjoyed that. I was also active in the Discord during the convention, and treated myself to some purchases inspired by the Dealers' Hall.

Enjoying some yum yums for supper - a Scottish delicacy. Rather like Spanish churros, but bigger. Just checked the nutritional numbers, and now gobsmacked that there’s apparently only half the sugar in a single yum yum that you get in a single Mr Kipling mince pie. I knew the latter amount off by heart, because it was an ongoing bone of contention trying to stop my diabetic dad eating loads of them!

One of the Glasgow Worldcon panels that I watched on catchup was "Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding". Its wide ranging discussions mentioned lots of Scottish foodstuffs, including shortbread, porridge, haggis, Irn Bru, deep fried Mars Bar, and butteries. Though not the yum yum. Which probably has Dutch origins, but got its current name when it was welcomed in Scotland.

Catching up with another Glasgow Worldcon talk, this time about Iain Banks and his books. I've only ever read two Iain Banks novels - The Crow Road, and The Player of Games. I also recently read, and hugely enjoyed, his whisky distillery travelogue, Raw Spirit. I would definitely like to read more of his books. Though it's more likely to be his less obviously scifi ones, because I'm not really a fan of hard scifi. Fab anecdote from Ken MacLeod just now: "There was a friend of my brother's, who was a huge fan of Iain Banks, and was most indignant at this Iain M. Banks, who was cashing in on Iain Banks's popularity."

Another 3-card past/present/future draw, using the Urban Crow oracle deck.

The middle card "Gifts", for the present, resonates a lot. I missed being at Worldcon in person this last week, and among other things really missed browsing and shopping in the gobsmacking Dealers' Room. I am part way through browsing through the online shops for many dealers who were there. Seeing if I want to pick something up as a substitute treat. I have already picked up a "Fan Phenomena" book about Game of Thrones from Intellect Books. Not a series I ever watched or read, but know a lot about. And I'm viewing that book as a taster for the Doctor Who and Lord of the Rings ones I most want to read. Also browsing comic book publishers (including a small press one in Scotland, who publishes many of interest to me), and gift shops.

As for "Mischief", well we've just had another run in with Covid in the house. Picked up on an outing to St Andrews last Friday. Martin was the only one to test positive, but given my symptom pattern we're sure I've had it too. Luckily it has been very mild this time. Martin's symptoms have been significantly less troublesome than his ongoing Long Covid.

Looking ahead "Mimicry" reminds me that I want to do original things in my academic work and fun projects. It's easy to retread the same topics. But I want to challenge myself, by trying new things, and tricky things. Other people might relate to this card differently. But given where I am, and what I'm hoping to do in the upcoming future, that's how it resonates most for me.

Martin has a positive LFT test for Covid. So clear even I could see it without my glasses! He is feeling pretty ok. I have a bit of a rough throat, but don’t plan to test until tomorrow. I am very slow to show any positives on LFTs. But we are currently ok 🙂

It’s so ironic we had one outing to St Andrews. Where Martin was largely masked, and me too when I was indoors. We haven’t been to the infectious risk of the Worldcon. Aarrgghh!

If I test positive I can access antivirals, if ill enough. And would want to pause my immunosuppression for two weeks. But that is for another day.

This will be Martin’s 5th known Covid infection. And if I get it my 4th. All in under a year.

I'm trying to remember to make time for this each week. To randomly draw a simple past/present/future 3-card spread of the Urban Crow oracle cards which I got recently. And find very easy to work with/interpret.

As usual, I'm using them as a tool to reflect on my situation and circumstances. And think about where I am and what I want to do. I am not using them in a predictive kind of way.

Here is today's spread. With thoughts/comments after the picture.



The middle card, Freedom, was lovely to see. I am currently newly in a better patch in between my recurring rollercoaster of post Covid vaccine neurological autoimmune disease flares. I've had these flares 9 times now, after every Covid vaccine (I get, and need, a lot of Covid vaccines because I am severely immunosuppressed). Each time I am even more ill for up to 3 months, with phenomenally increased sedation, headaches, arm and leg loss of control, and increased bladder incontinence. Many people wouldn't put up with this. But I'm not willing to sacrifice my much needed Covid vaccine protection. And I know I am generating good antibodies from each one.

So I'm in a better patch, for the next couple of months. After that I will get my 10th Covid vaccine, and be iller again for another 3 months. I will just cope. Plus my neurological disease is still progressing, and leaves me severely disabled, even in the better patches. But that progression is slow. And that's partly why I'm still here 30 years into living with this illness!

So yes, this is a time of relative freedom for me, and I want to make the most of it. Maybe get more things done, including the academic journal papers and research projects I am working on sporadically. And maybe get out more with Martin, to have fun.

The left card, reflecting the past, is Anomaly, which can be a problem, or something out of the ordinary, or other interpretations. It's making me think of my latest Covid vaccine flare more than my long-term neurological disease. A devastating neurological flare which has run from early May to early August. And it does tie in with Freedom.

The rightmost card, reflecting looking ahead, is Caching. Which again fits nicely with where I am. I want, in this short better patch, to make new valuable memories, and get things done I can look back on in future. So I want to make the most of this time, in a way I can look back on happily when I'm much iller again.

An interesting draw anyway, and some nice things to think about.

Meanwhile re Freedom, today is the start of the Glasgow Worldcon, and I have digital streaming access thanks to my attending ticket. I won't be watching much live, but hope to see one talk later today. And catch up on even more in the coming weeks and months. I also have Oxonmoot to look forward to in a few weeks. Again with a digital ticket. And ditto for the Edinburgh Book Festival. Streaming has been transformational for me.

This is always one of my highlights of Worldcon, boggling at the range of SFF/cult/horror merchandise on offer. I can spend literally hours in there, browsing stuff. And often buy too much. Which would not have been so big a problem this time with a con in Scotland. But can be a big problem when coming home by plane!

The Glasgow Worldcon has an online list of dealers who were planning on coming, as of mid July. But it is absolutely no substitute for being there in person, and immersed in the sheer mass of awesome stuff to browse and buy.

I may have to indulge in some not-at-Worldcon retail therapy to make up for missing out ...

Browsing the Glasgow Worldcon programme, which has finally been released. We are not going to be there in person as hoped, because of how ill I am now. But they are offering a lot of streamed and recorded for later talks. So I will get to see masses. I am now going through the programme to mark up those of interest. Thank goodness for the recordings, because I have multiple time clashes already!

Among the ongoing furore re the 2023 Hugo Awards I've started entering my nominations for the 2024 awards. Though am very behind with eg movie viewing and recent novel reading. But have multiple things to nominate already. I am an attending (but probably not going in person) Glasgow Worldcon member.

Browsing this year's Hugo Awards winners. Excited to check out more of them soon. I already have the novel winner Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher lined up to read soon. Also pleased to see Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes) win Best New Writer. And Rob Wilkins win for his Terry Pratchett biography.

In some past years - quite a while ago now - I'd have tried to read some of the Hugo shortlisted books and stories, and cast my votes for the awards. This year I didn't even remotely try. The only books on the shortlist that I've read already are Legends & Lattes and the Terry Pratchett biography. Both of which won their Hugo categories. And both of which were 5-star reads for me. Oh and I've read some Rivers of London books. But I do hope to read some of the other titles in the coming year.