hrj

(I have a bit of time before checking out of the Clayton, so I figured I'd complete this part.)

August 11 - Worked morning reg shift again. Very slow, enlivened only when Meg dropped by to kidnap me briefly to perform "The Cat Who Warps By Herself" for Peter S. Beagle who she was, as usual, doing PA for. (I have no idea how that song came up in conversation, but I'll go with it.) I'd planned to meet up with an author to interview for the podcast at the end of my shift, but she messaged to say she'd picked up a lunch date instead, and her suggested later time was when I had a meet-up, so we decided to postpone until I get home and do it on zoom the usual way. (It's *fun* to do in-person interviews, when I can, but conventions are busy.) So instead I went to the panel "What are Reviews For?" which is a question that often gets pondered. The panelists had a variety of opinions, which made for a lively conversation. After that, my arrangements for a meet-up with Kari Sperring and Catherine Lundoff bore fruit and we chatted in the cafe for an hour or so. (Including some esoteric discussions of medieval Welsh manuscripts -- a topic I don't get to dive into very often any more.) Catherine and I then dropped by the end of Kate Elliott's table talk just to say hi. Then back to the hotel for dinner and watching the Hugos on YouTube.

August 12 - My panel "Sword Lesbians: Discuss" was at 11:30 and I wanted time to draw up talking points and lists (because I can never remember anything off the cuff) so I mostly hung out in the Green Room until it was panel time. As predicted, we could have filled a much larger room. The audience was enthusiastic and the conversation was lively. Maybe someone else has done a recap because I'm not so good at remembering details when I've been in the middle of it. I got several compliments afterwards for various points, especially noting that the concept/genre/icon "sword lesbians" necessarily exists within a cultural context (for the reader, if not always the character) of sexism and heteronormativity. If swords aren't coded masculine and if queer is normal, then there are not category edges within which "sword lesbian" exists as A Thing. This isn't to say that you can't write a sword lesbian within a queer-normative and non-sexist story world, but it's what the readers bring to it that makes the character category meaningful.

Helped fulfill a bit of A Quest by a fan who couldn't be at the convention but wanted a signed copy of Daughter of Mystery, that involved the fan contacting the Portal Bookshop folks to buy the book, arranging for someone to bring it to the panel, and then me taking it back to Portal (signed) afterwards. Which also meant I was able to sign another book for a customer while there.

Met up with Liz Bourke after the panel for lunch with her, spouse, and child at an outdoor cafe table up on Argyle Street (in a convenient break of good weather). It was great to catch up in person. After that I decided to take in the closing ceremonies back at the SEC. Briefly contemplating hanging out to have dinner and see if I could hijack random company, but the likelihood looked low and I decided the closing ceremonies made for good closure. So back to the hotel for dinner and relaxing.

August 13 - Decompression day. Catherine and I went off to see the Kelvingrove museum/gallery. The gallery had a great focus on local painters. The most notable work I recognized was "The Druids: Bringing in the Mistletoe" (George Henry (1858–1943) and Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864–1933)) which I've seen on book covers and such. The museum also had a great collection (well explained) on commercial and industrial design from local sources. After the museum we checked out a highly-recommended patisserie and indulged in exquisite pastries. The rest of the day was resting and getting caught up on things in the hotel room with an excursion to a tapas place for dinner. And that's the end of the Glasgow adventure.