Con Fact 058

Dieses zine erscheint am 3. tag des BeneluxCons
23.11.2008
in Eindhoven, NL

Veranst.: Erwin & Heidi

Herausg.: Eckhard Marwitz
23847 Meddewade
Tel. +49 177 2607609
http://www.edm-online.de
mailto: FanTimes@aol.com
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EDM:
Up, up and Away. May be, we succceed in making a 2nd Con Fact this
weekend.

Jan:
Meer fantastische panels - komt allen (en schrijf er over)...
Edith & Paul (moderated by Heidi) talked about animals in their work
as well as aliens being looked at as animals. What they have alike
in fiction is that they need to be portrayed realistically. Some
study is involved - when writing about horses include their needs
(like 30 liters of water a day) and bahaviour (it's a herd animal
you know). Looking at it differently, aliens in sf sort of evolved
from 'just like cats' to truly alien (and hard to understand for
mere people).
Soundbite: Things are always more complex than you think (PM)
There were also more facts stranger than fiction for new story
ideas.

Overheard: Larry viert zijn dertigste conventieverjaardag.

Jürgen:
Die Scientific Lecture: Interstellar Communication von Erwin van
Ballegoij erwies sich als lebhafte Diskussion, die nicht stur beim
Thema blieb, sondern den Beiträgen der Anwesenden folgte und den
Bogen bis zu möglichen silikonbasierten Lebensformen schlug, dabei
aber stets interessant blieb. Ich habe mich dabei gut unterhalten und
noch einige Informationen erhalten, die mir bislang noch nicht bekannt
waren. Es wurde recht lebhaft und durchaus humorvoll debattiert auf
eine angenehme spekulative Art, die sich selbst nicht so ernst nahm.
Meines Erachtens zur Nachahmung auf deutschen Conventions empfohlen.
Dazu braucht man dann aber einen Vortragenden/ Moderator, der bereit
ist, sich selbst zurück zu nehmen.
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Very soon you can read something about BeneluxCon in the Internet
http://edm-conline.blogspot.com (a German blog about cons)

Eya
Daal-Ek Attack
The Indian across the street was really delicious, but also somewhat
perilous: the shared veggy menu resulted in stomach problems for Dirk,
Eya and Leo. Explosive daal?

Paul van Oven
The banquet was very good, unfortunately with other visitors.
Else I would have told a bit about the proceedings for the Worldcon
2014 or 2015. Since june a team of British and Dutch fans have
investigated the possibility of organising a Worldcon in the UK or
the Netherlands. Possibilities are the RAI, Amsterdam, Worldforum
The Hague, ExCel London, ACC Liverpool and SECC Glasgow. Early next
year there will be a report on Google groups EU1415.

Thomas Recktenwald:
In his GoH speech Paul McAuley first discussed three statements:
(a) all SF ideas have already been used
(b) the mainstream has taken over all our ideas
(c) science and technics are developing that fast that it is
impossible for an SF author to predict the future
He then showed us a series of pictures taken from Saturn and its
moons which he uses as background for his work in progress "Gardens
of the Sun" and read a short extract from the manuscript about
Pluto.
He closed with the advice to spread the word about good books, in a
sense to produce a nova to enlighten the SF genre.

Team Constipation:
Constipated? Come to hotel Retirade at the Hague, 20/10/2010. Your
bowels will jump into action, inspired by our Mystery Guests of
Honour, vibrant panel discussions and a spectacular art show and
auction by Wilma.

Seperate message, IMPORTANT: Strange sightings are expected in/near
the elevators. If you happen to notice anything or find any items/
letters, please report them to a member of our Constipation Team
(pink badges).

Overheard: Preparing the con took more time than anticipated.

Jan:
Scientific talk erupted into 'spontaneous' audience panel on
interstellar communication. From messages in a bottle (okay,
a space robot) to signalling with crops to mercury mirrors.
Also: do we really want interstellar communication - digressing
into carbon versus silicon life...

Jan:
McAuley soundbites were hard to register, as the speed of sound
was broken regularly. But: SF is still relevant! The state of
science fiction is said to be gloomy, but that's just the pulps.
Maybe even a good idea to have less story outlets, to be better
motivated to produce good novels. Writers need to write well!
You need to write where your heart is, just try to do your best
to achieve what you'd like best. And you can always try again
and fail better next time.
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ConTroll Alt Delete: Dead "Troll" Party at 9:00 pm Room 330.