C O L U M N
TRAVELS WITH BRUCE
t r a c k i n g m a g i c a l r e a l i s m t h e w o r l d o v e r
Westercon, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, July 1-4, 2005Travels with Bruce highlights various public efforts by Margin publisher Tamara Kaye Sellman and Bruce Taylor, founder of the Magic Realist Writers International Network, as they hit the road to promote understanding of magical realism and its writers.
In attendance: Bruce TaylorCascadiaCon, Seattle, WA, Sept 1-5, 2005Writer Guest of Honor, Dave Duncan; Artist Guest of Honor, Mark Ferrari; Publisher Guest of Honor, Tom Doherty; and Science Guest of Honor, Dr. Philip J. Currie.It was a long, drive, up through British Columbia, a 14-hour trek punctuated with a campout at a provincial park which used to be a “relocation camp” for Japanese in WWII, near Kamloops, then through Revelstoke, and finally through Banff, with another campout and a quick look at the Grandeur of the Canadian Rockies, Lake Louise, Lake Moraine. Another (cramped) campout in Roberta Gregory’s (fortunately roomy) Subaru Legacy station wagon while the rain poured. The next morning, we reached Calgary, sitting in an improbable place on the green and rolling plateau, gently sloping away from the Rockies.
At the Westin Calgary hotel, we arrived early and met Jim Glass (five-time novelist and winner the Grand Prize in Writers of the future, l990), who told us that my long-time friend, John Dalmas had become increasingly frail and was leaving Spokane, where he'd lived for several decades, to live with his son in Ohio. This was very sad for me: John had written the introduction to my book, The Final Trick of Funnyman and Other Stories and had been an ardent supporter of my work since we met at Norwescon in l983. I had seen him age, but the reality of him leaving to be taken care of by his son—it was a sad thought.
What can you say about someone who so loves your work that they praise you to others, praise you in print, and champion you endlessly? What a marvelous person. John's also a fine writer and I always did what I could do to help him, praise him as well. But sometimes people enter your life who are so magnificent and helpful that, no matter how often you say “Thank you," it's never enough. John Dalmas was one of those people.
Soon after my meeting with the Glasses, it was back to the hotel to start the business of Westercon.
First order of the day: distribute flyers for Margin and for my “PhotoMagicRealism” friends, Carl and Lida Sloan, who do absolutely amazing and beautiful work with layered photography. I also put out flyers from my upcoming book, Kafka’s Uncle and Other Strange Tales, in preparation for a book release party sponsored by the conference organizers.
Then the panels: Writing Across Genre Boundaries; The Independent Press: Myths and Mythconceptions; 10 Great Ways to Sabotage your Writing; Red Deer Press Book Launch; Beyond the Slush Pile. Many panels had to do with the art and craft of writing, many were a survey of what was being published, who was publishing what. Classical fantasy and science fiction were, as expected, well represented, but there was also much interest in speculative fiction. Often, I found myself talking to folks about how speculative fiction and magical realism share common boundaries—so much so that one begins to wonder if the concepts are much more similar than they are different. One could ask whether the concept behind slipstream or speculative fiction might, in the context of this conference, be science fiction’s term for magic realism?
The magic realism panel I hosted (What Is Magic Realism?) was well attended and, as I explained the concepts of MR, more than one audience member thought it sounded (again) much like speculative fiction. Be that as it may, the interest was certainly there and all who came to the panel enjoyed it and created discussion that reverberated throughout the rest of the convention.
I also had a book launch scheduled for my newest title, Kafka’s Uncle and Other Strange Tales. I wanted to have the book at the convention, but due to last-minute computer problems with publisher Afterbirth Books, the book release had to be delayed; to complicate matters, my book launch period was rescheduled at the last minute, so attendance wasn't as good as it might have been otherwise.
Overall, Westercon was quite the convention and we made many new friends. What was especially refreshing was that everyone was interested in what everyone else was doing; little attention seemed to be paid to how many “products” authors had out, or how much money they were making. That was very refreshing. Very refreshing indeed.
In attendance: Bruce TaylorFoolscap, Bellevue, WA, September 22-24, 2005Writer Guest of Honor, Fred Saberhagen; Artist Guest of Honor, Liz Danforth; Science Guest of Honor, Marc Abrahams; Editor Guest of Honor, Toni Weisskopf; and Special Guest of Honor, Harry Harrison.When the World Science Fiction Convention is held outside North America, we get the alternate convention in lieu of the WorldCon. This time, it was held in Seattle.
Being part of CascadiaCon was somewhat awkward from the get go. I can only assume that, being held over five days, and coming across as trying to be everything to everybody, had a lot to do with it. (At any given time, there were at least 8 panels going on at a convention held in three separate locations drawing 2200 people).
Actually, the tale begins back in November, 2004 when I was approached by one of the conference's organizers. I talked to them about a magic realism track. The response was overwhelming and I was led to believe that we (Tamara Sellman and myself), would be a major presence there, complete with a prominant article in the program book. Tamara and I worked our tails off to present an article on magic realism by deadline.
And then the fun began.
It turned out that, probably due to the overwhelming scope of the programming for this conference and the reliance on volunteers to organize it all, messages were lost regarding both the article and the part we were to play in programming the magic realism track. We were asked, repeatedly, to produce the very programming ideas and articles we'd already submitted. Finally, Tamara pulled out of the convention. I doggedly hung in there, trying to figure out where to go with all of this. As time went on, it became clear that magic realism would be relegated to the margins of the conference.
Our article did appear, for what it's worth, though not in the program book, but in the update/progress report. Sigh, with the last l9 words of the article left out. Despite my repeated requests, corrections were never made.
Under this disillusioning atmosphere, I attended CascadiaCon, hoping for the best. The conference was jam-packed. The 4×7-inch pocket program consisted of 142 pages. But with so many panels offered in one of three different locations (The Hilton, The Hilton Conference Center and the Raddisson, a 10-minute hike up the street), many only had two to five audience members in attendance. Even the Big Names found just a smattering of audience at times. Compound that with unexpected room changes (a problem for all sff conferences), and you get the picture. Overheard frequently were people asking each other, “Where is the—?” “I can’t find the panel on—“ “Does anyone know why—“ “Why didn’t someone tell me—“
Adding to the chaos was the overarching attitude that if you weren’t constantly selling your writing, or weren't a big time author, or were't making a lot of money by your writing, or weren't working with a big-time publisher, then you didn’t really exist. That lent the conference a pretty toxic atmosphere.
It is to be remembered that this isn't the fault of the convention, but rather the fault of, and a reflection of, the society in which we live: a competitive place where comparing oneself favorably against others (honestly or not) is crucial to one's own psychic survival.
This got played out in one party that I attended, where folks, who warmly greeted me in the hallway, or who had carried sincere conversations with me earlier, fell into pretentious hobnobbing that seemed intent upon distinguishing between the Big Names and the Not-So-Big Names. You've seen it before; it’s all ego and competition and promotes disconnection. (I have to ask, Since when did art become a competitive sport?)
In addition, the reception for magic realism was relegated to the edge of relevance as far as the sff crowd went. Goodness knows, in the realm of sci fi, which is so focused on the idea of change, you'd think people would be more open.
To this extent, my magic realism panels—What is Magic Realism, Writing Magic Realism, Magic Realism in Film—were pretty sparsely attended. It didn't help that they were put in the hotel farthest from the main convention site. For those people who did attend the panels, the response was enthusiastic, especially for MiMi Noyes, who joined the Magic Realism in Film panel on Sunday and whose knowledge of MR film—clearly her passion and her joy—was truly remarkable. MiMi was only too happy to accept my offer of updating and creating commentary for the Film section of my website, Magic Realist Writers International Network. Watch for her contributions soon.
As far as I'm concerned, the high point of the convention was the book release party of Northwest Passages—A Cascadian Anthology sponsored by Windstorm Creative on Friday night. I had the good fortune of having a story in the anthology (“You Can Hardly Wait”), and the party was truly professional and well done. One other high point: I reconnected with Brian Hades and his wife, Anita, of Edge Books—folks I'd met at Westercon in Calgary. Wonderful people, fine books, publishers of the Tesseract series of Canadian speculative writng. We spent much time talking about magic realism and the state of publishing, and beyond that, we just really enjoyed each other’s company, complete with lots of laughter.
The Endeavor Award party, in conjuction with the science fiction folks of Canada, put on a party that was fun, spontaneous and totally unpretentious. It drew all sorts of folks, including artist Mark Ferrari, a long-time supporter of my writing who made the kind offer of providing cover art for two of my upcoming books, Kafka’s Uncle: The Unfortunate Sequel and Edward: Dancing On the Edge of Infinity. He won the grand prize for the art contest at CascadiaCon this year.
Unfortunately, two of the major GoHs in science fiction, Fred Saberhagen and Harry Harrison, were unable to make the conference due to illness.
In attendance: Tamara Kaye Sellman, Bruce TaylorVCon, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, October 7-9, 2005Writer Guest of Honor, Harlan Ellison.(TKS)—While I'd proposed magical realist panels for this event, they didn't happen, as is often the case with sff conventions. The difference was that they did place me as an expert on panels that had, indirectly, a connection to the goals and purposes of magical realism.
I didn't attend many of the panels for this conference for a couple of reasons (deadlines for work, illness), so I can't say much about the general character of the conference. I did, however, observe with curiosity and a sense of humor the way in which Harlan Ellison's presence seemed to co-opt the entire conference. Indeed, I felt sorry for those panelists who sat with him during discussions, because they really weren't discussions at all, but mini Harlan Ellison conventions!
I can say this without fear (apparently, Mr. Ellison is someone to be feared, as rumor has it), because I'm not so familiar with Ellison and his work to "wannabe" the kind of acolyte he seems to enjoy leading around at these events. I'll always respect people who have opinions and want to share real-world information, which he certainly did in his discussion, Why Are Amateur Writers A Danger To Professional Writers?, though I suspect my answer to that question would be vastly different than his. But it was great to see his presence weave a certain tension into the conference. People were there to talk about books, and talk about books, they did.
Saturday morning, I chaired Works That Changed Your Perception with the time-worn copy of The Vintage Bradbury my father gave me 30 years ago in hand. So what if a few pages fell out? It was a great time to honor one of my favorite authors, whose work occasionally and very effectively dips into magical realism. Naturally, I also noted One Hundred Years of Solitude and was able to get a nice MR tangent going in that direction. There were good questions from the (slightly hungover?) audience, and some terrific literature was discussed.
Already, this puts Foolscap at the top of my list of "sff conferences worth attending." The focus of Foolscap is about books. With a slight leaning toward art, masquerade and gaming, the convention holds steadfast to its goal, of discussing story. I enjoyed being in my own element and was glad to have attended.
Another panel on which I sat was entitled Science Fiction Escapism and Social Commentary. This was one for the books: entertaining, elucidating, and well articulated by a diverse group of panelists. In attendance: Greg Bear, Tom Hopp, Bruce Taylor, Hank Graham. I find it extremely interesting to view imaginative writing through the sff lens; it's a distinctly different perspective than that of the literary world. And yet it's the same. People turn to imaginative writing for the same reasons, regardless of their calling: to escape, to reveal, to be entertained. These comprise the combined raison d'être of the Western reader.
I guess I held my ground in support of the political purpose of sf (that being of social commentary). The arguments ran in support of escapism as the number one reason why people choose imaginative writing in the first place. But it led me to some other observations; for instance, being the only female panelist at the table, there were things addressed (by me, and then, eventually, by others in the audience) that I don't think would have been discussed otherwise.
In example: When are we going to find speculative fiction written from the point of view of a single working mother? I raised the idea that, if someone were to rewrite I Am Legend (some people are more familiar with its film adaptation, The Omega Man) from the perspective of a kick-ass single working mom, it would be an utterly different, but equally interesting, story, would it not? So that was fun, and the rest of the panelists gave some great discussion on what readers seem to be wanting these days, as well. And magical realism came up several times throughout the conversation; after all, what better way to escape and have a social commentary simultaneously than through MR?
Finally, my third panel, with Edd Vick and Hank Graham, was Story Overload. Edd and I bantered quite a bit over the value of story in society, our arguments siding over whether there's too much of it. His points were well made: everything we encounter in American life is a story (thanks to the media saturation in our lives). Do we really need more? My way of thinking is not so much about the quantity of narrative by which we are all bombarded everyday, but about its quality and how we can find ways to manage our information overload in order to encounter the body of story out there that really matters. I managed to raise a little puff of magical realism as part of that worthwhile narrative during the discussion.
In attendance: Bruce TaylorDreamcon, Everett, WA, October 28-30, 2005Writer Guests of Honor, Robert Silverberg and Karen Haber; Science Guest of Honor, George Dyson; and Special Guest of Honor, Todd Lockwood. Master of Ceremonies: Robert J. Sawyer.Where were the panels on magic realism? There weren’t any. However, information about it, as usual, vanished in the form of my brochures and flyers, so the interest was there. One-on-one conversations happened often enough, but there was nothing in the official program about MR despite my suggestions to programming that it would be of interest.
Be that as it may, the topic was well received. One can only wonder just how decisions are made in terms of what gets on a program in terms of topic ideas…
Regarding the convention itself, it was still fun, still worthwhile, even if the topics seemed mainly oriented toward classical sff themes and the usual writer/editor/publishing tracks. So, given this, what place did magic realism have in such a milieu? Was it unwelcome? Relegated to non-existence?
Not at all. Interest, as stated earlier, was still there. Many people knew who I was and what I represented. Just being present and showing up again and again… eventually things happen, someone sees you, a connection gets made that can lead to all sorts of places. For example, some of the folks who had been at Westercon in Calgary—Robert Sawyer, Brian Hades of Edge Publishing—had more than one long conversation about writing and the state of publishing and asserted a welcoming stance toward me, my writing and magic realism in general. Though VCon was small, it was great and there was more than one person there interested in magic realism.
In attendance: Bruce TaylorOrycon, Portland, OR, November 4-6, 2005Writer Guests of Honor, Phil and Kaja Foglio; Science Guest of Honor, David Shoemaker. Toastmaster: Kij Johnson.Again, no panels on magic realism. However, there weren’t any rules about handing out flyers or talking about subjects in the context of magic realism and Margin. Invariably, after these conventions, no matter how big or small or how much or little magic realism is mentioned in the program book—in the end, people still ask questions and still go to the websites and word still gets out.
In regard to Dreamcon in particular, it hasn’t been around for some years and this Dreamcon payed homage and tribute to past ones. Attendance was slight but loyal, the atmosphere relaxed. By the time this con happened, I actually had, in my hands, copies of my new book, Kafka’s Uncle and Other Strange Tales. Interest was immediate, as was the desire to buy, but only having a few advance copies which were already spoken for, I couldn’t keep up with the demand. It was both frustrating and gratifying. And, par for the course, flyers about the book, as well as magic realism, vanished almost as soon as they were put out on the tables. With no formal panels on magic realism, the deep and endless discussions I had with other authors and attendees about the subject assured me that interest was, as usual, strong.
In attendance: Bruce Taylorrespond to this columnWriter Guests of Honor, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson; Artist Guest of Honor, Paul Guinan.Ka-ching! Bingo! I finally hit it big. Very big.
Magic realism was well represented at OryCon (so was I, with book in hand). It does help if your book has an introduction by Brian Herbert, and a cover blurb by the other guest of honor, as well as a book launch with both authors present plus your editor and just about every other VIP at the convention present at the book launch.
Very nice. Very nice indeed.
Along with the launch of my book, Kafka’s Uncle and Other Strange Tales, at Orycon, there were three panels on magic realism: Exploring Modern Magical Realism; Magical Realism: Contemporary Fantasy or Fabulist Fiction? and a third panel, which was created independently of my input: Magic Realism in Film.
I would like to believe that this interest and coverage may have propelled more interest in magic realism in the sff community, and indeed it has: Elton Elliot, former editor of the Science Fiction Review was so taken with Kafka’s Uncle and Other Strange Tales, particularly the story, “Fishin’ Off the Starry Stream,” that he wanted to use it as a showcase story for an anthology featuring top writers working in the area of fabulist fiction and/or magic realism. I was, in fact, invited to serve with Elliot as co-editor. The name of the proposed collection? The Universe Next Door—The Intersection of Science Fiction and Magic Realism.
All the magic realism panels offered were well attended. At the book launch, present were Brian Herbert, Kevin J. Anderson, Afterbirth Books editor Karen Townsend, and Bridget and Marti McKenna of Scorpius Digital, the on-line publishers of my upcoming novel, Edward: Dancing on the Edge of Infinity.
All in all, Orycon was a very good convention. Given this experience, I'm guessing there’s going to be a lot more magic realism at conventions. Magic realism is alive and well–and of growing interest—in the sff community.
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Rev'd 2005/11/09
