Liz Argall

The Nebula conference (held in Burbank this year, and will be held in Burbank again next year) was quite delightful. The quality of panels was high and it was very nice to chat to delightful friends, old and new.

I had a bit of shoulder separation to deal with, which meant early nights and taking it easy. But folks were kind towards the arm and no one was too weirded out by how sometimes I wore a sling, and sometimes I didn’t. It was so nice, and a delightful change, to have the hospitality suite on the same level as programming, the bar and the restaurant. Good for tired bones not to have to make too many decisions and have something of a central area to wander around in when decisions got hard.

The SFWA business meeting was interesting to see the machinery of SFWA steadily move on. Business meetings probably have a cumulative effect, when it comes to interesting! You get a visceral sense of effort when projects spoken about turn into projects done and projects gearing up for version two or three. It’s nice to see how SFWA has grown and matured, with room to improve, but it’s good to have a strong governance foundation to grow with.

The burnout panel was very good, with a nice mix of trad, hybrid and indie authors.

William Gibson was delightful. And, well, I’d listen to Eileen Gunn interview/in conversation with a banana (she has a skill for creating space that reminds me a little of Andrew Denton), and even better when it’s a dear friend of her’s like Gibson.

The Nebula nominee reception was delightful

And included audio performances for every nominee!

Diversifying story form, themes and aesthetics, with a deeper, more satisfying focus on Eastern culture and storytelling traditions… and have room for diversity within that. Stories that might be satisfying in Taiwan may be less satisfying in Beijing, and so on. And anytime a person casually uses Dylan Thomas’s poetry in conversation, I am delighted (thank you Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, poetic sensibilities in conversation are so joyful).

Boback Ferdowsi was delightful and Stephen Granade was an excellent interviewer. It was nice to see Ferdowsi truly in his element, speaking with enthusiasm and passion about science, engineering, space and cool possible projects. It can be a little bit awkward to have become a meme (aka mohawk guy), something to be carefully navigated. So it was delightful to see how much he came to life when he talked about science and interesting engineering projects.

Talking up: Worldbuilding in Kidlit. Final day and playing with different pens and textures. Interesting to see the storytelling decisions folks make when writing for kids!

And one solo presentation on literary theory. It made me want to read all the literary theory books (especially Damon Knight, as he’s a missing piece from my most direct influences).

Hello all, sorry for the terribly late notice. I’ll be on a panel at Emerald City Comicon called Consent is Sexy, tomorrow (Saturday) at 12:15!

CONSENT IS SEXY: THE ART AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PUTTING CONSENT ON THE PAGE

SAT, MAR 16, 2019

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM

WSCC 3A

In today’s social climate, it’s perhaps more important than ever to include explicit, enthusiastic consent when writing an intimate encounter. Come hear our panel of novelists, comic writers, and screenwriters share their tips and tricks for putting consent on the page without losing the steam in the scene. Join our discussion of how expressions of consent can vary between mediums and share your thoughts on the best and worst examples of consent you’ve seen and read

I’ve spoken often about how Roleplaying Games have been valuable to me. There is something transformative about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and sharing an imaginative experience with others. I don’t know how I would have survived my teens without them. Systemless gaming (a little like scandanavian LARP, only not and with a long Australian history), and Phenomenon Roleplaying Convention will always be in my heart. There are so many characters I’ve played that have helped me look at different facets of myself, develop skills, explore who I could be, and embrace who I am. Here are just a few that will always have my heart.

The Cop (superpower: a rifle)

If you’ve ever seen a photo of me looking menacing with a plastic rifle, it’s from when I played this character. It was a game run by Mark Bruckard and company (sorry and company, I can’t remember who were players and who were GMs). Stromlo Observatory exploded in a supernatural event and everyone at the event became the manifestation of gods and supernatural entities. Except me, I stayed completely mortal, surrounded by people with hybrid personalities. People I knew were now X person and Thor, I think my CO became an Oni. The world fell into chaos and I stayed very mortal in a world of superpowers. I held my own in the world of gods, argued nose to nose with Zeus, because civilian lives mattered and I didn’t care that he could blast me to pieces with the twitch of a finger. It was a fun and cathartic character to play, even though as a character she suffered. Those who had turned supernatural seemed more inclined to treat mortal lives like tissue paper, while my character grieved deeply and tried to be a mortal advocate in a world of gods.

If memory serves, when the big bad tried to come through a portal (having primed the world with the earlier supernatural stuff) she teamed up with the gods and played a valuable role helping hold back the night. She didn’t have super powers, but she had strategy, tactics, higher ground and armor piercing bullets. I think she died by deliberately drawing the enemy onto her position so that other folks could do what they needed to.

The Unicorn (superpower: is a unicorn)

I played a unicorn in the Amber universe. In the mutliverse of Amber there is no greater entity! It was so much fun. My character knew he was awesome. He loved to gallop and be wild and did things because they interested him. When Amber politics became too much he somewhat derailed the plot by saying “your politics are stupid, I don’t know who is lying, so I am going now.” This led a Son of Corwin to say “yes, this whole thing gives me enui.” So we wandered away from the plot and went to the Seine, he drank wine and I dozed in a sunbeam. The plot had to come fetch us :-).

The Unicorn was so much fun and such a great lesson around being comfortable in your own skin. The most self validating character I’ve played, until very recently. Having played a lot of characters for catharsis purposes it was wonderful to play someone who didn’t even have a concept that you might have self doubt!

Astor Tennyson/Sailor Dionysus (superpower: wealth/nigh invulnerable)

Right now I’m only in one game, and I love it so much. We recently went to the Underworld and instead of the grim sort of sacrifices you might expect we turned it into friendship is magic! She might get some posts of her own. Once again she is a character of supreme confidence. She’s much more social than my unicorn, which does mean she finds more trouble. She has a tendency to try to have a conversation vampiric plants and really understand what their goals and needs are to see if a win win can be found. The vampiric plants have a tendency to bind her with vines and try to eat her. Fortunately she has friends who can construct molotov bongs in seconds and a friend with a really big gun. The number of times she has had to say “It’s ok if you set me on fire too, it’s better than this!” is somewhat unfortunate. Astor is so confident, you’d think she would stop trying, but she doesn’t. And, well the last time she had a conversation while being tied up and having her life’s blood sucked out of her (yes, it has happened multiple times) it turned out to be Demeter. A combination of violence and a nice chat means we rescued her! Thank you Seanan, for this amazing game. What a great group, and what a fun character.

And… well, I want to write more, but there are so many characters. I wanted to share a few with you. I wanted to do this to share my love… and also, if you happen to see a photo of me looking scary with a rifle, just remember it is plastic. It is also a cop who loves you and is fighting for humanity in a world of gods.

I’ll be at Orycon November 9-11 in Portland, Oregon. http://40.orycon.org/

It would be lovely to see you and here are some times when you can see me/have a chat!

Friday 9 November

7pm at the Art Show, come to my Art Demo.
I’ll show you how the Things have evolved over time, various tricks and tips for getting the most out of your iPad. Come and see ways you can turn thoughts into images, or just find out a little bit more about how I create.

9pm in Jantzen, Storytelling for Adults: Handling Mature Themes.
A discussion on how to introduce mature elements into games, while not going out of your player’s comfort level, and not letting it take over the story. With Liz Argall, Sarah Sharp and Debra Stansbury.

Saturday 10 November

9am Kaffeeklatche in JB’s nightclub.
Have coffee with me! If you like my work, you’re welcome to bring all sorts of questions. I especially love these Kaffeeclatches as a chance to pay it forward. If you’re someone looking for advice in the world of writing, comics or making art, setting up a writers group or what is a SFWAN, I’m super happy to help.

Follow me from the Kaffeeklatch to my reading at 10am

10am, Liz Argall Reading, Room 152
It’s me so there may be a bit of performance poetry and singing too.

2pm Gateway Games: RPGs, Jantzen
Have friends that do not play RPGs? Here are some suggestions to get them interested. With Garry Miller, Rob Wynne, Ethan Siegal, and Liz Argall.

4:00pm The Value of Being Different, Overton
There are many terms people use to describe individuals who do not reside in the main portion of the bell curve, yet these differences have stayed in our population. Could it be that being manic, depressive, ADD, ADHD, autistic, color blind or even myopic be actually beneficial to long term survival? Come listen to our panel of experts and find out. With Liz Argall, Alan M. Clark, Judith R. Conly, Tamra Skye.

Sunday November 11

11am Autograph Session. Dealers Room.
I’ll also have things comics, cards (in time for festive seasons) and such available for purchase :-)

1:00pm Local Food & Water Sustainability & Community-Building at the Creation Station
Join us in this safe, facilitated group discussion of ideas, experiences, helpful hints, and questions, toward proactively establishing local food and water sustainability and community. Topics may include growing, raising, wildcrafting/gathering, and storing sources of food; safely and legally collecting rainwater; improving soil with compost and vermiculture; building barter and gleaning networks; creating emergency shelters, etc. Everyone attending is welcome (though not required) to share their helpful hints and inquiries. With Ellen Klowden, Liz Argall, Karen L. Black, A.M. Brosius, Elinor Gray, Guy Letourneau and Gary Miller.

Are you someone who participates in the Hugo Awards and suchlike?

Did you know my work with the Things, Uncanny Magazine and Mad Scientist Journal makes me a Fan Artist?

So if you would like to nominate me for such an honor, you can!