The voices in my head don't think they're imaginary - Home from Vegas

Made it home safely, and am happy to be back in the mellow green climes of Oregon. So much to blog on, let's see, where to start ...

The Star Trek Experience in Vegas! It was two, two, two rides in one! And both of them made me want to puke. The "Klingon Encounter" motion simulator ride made me sick--I had to keep my eyes closed the whole time, and I'm really glad I hadn't eaten anything, or I would have barfed. I keep wanting to like motion simulator rides, but my body will not cooperate. The other ride, the "Borg Assimilation" ride had too much butt-poking and spit-blowing and super-hammy acting. But the fact that it was in 4D, rather than just dumb ol' 3D, was pretty neat. Overall, I had the most fun hanging out in the bar afterward with tuber_x, drinking Star-Trek themed cocktails and talking about poststructuralism.

The Gondola Disappointment in Vegas! So while I was in Vegas, ramblin_phyl asked me to see if I could take a gondola ride at the Venetian to help her out with some book research. I was really excited to do this because I like being given missions and this sounded like a cool opportunity to really freak out some poor gondolier (you know, looking shifty-eyed, making cribbed notes on a piece of scrap paper, muttering to myself under my breath about weight tolerances and access points ...) But alas, I was unable to complete my mission because I had to leave early on Wednesday to ship a bunch of stuff before catching my flight. So once again, as a spy I am made of fail.

My WisCon Schedule, let me show you it. I'm posting it beneath a cut because, really, you only care if you care, and if you don't care, you don't need it cluttering up your fList.

Historical Research for Fiction Writers
Standard history books aren't always useful for fiction research. This panel identifies other sources to provide details about what people ate, how they spoke, how much things cost, and what kind of stuff cluttered up their houses. Panelists will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of memoirs, newspapers, telephone books, material culture, museums, etc. as sources for fiction.
Saturday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. | Caucus
Participants: Bradford Lyau, Ellen Klages, Wendy Walker, M.K. Hobson

Cliche or Trope?
Stranded orphans become great wizards. Evil sorcerers try to destroy the world. Wizards with pointy hats, androgynous elves with longbows ... a large portion of fantasy's bad reputation is tied to its worn-out cliches. At what point does 'done' become 'overdone'? Where can you expect your readers to draw the line? Can good storytelling reclaim a cliche, or are some story elements so exhausted that they cannot be revived?
Sunday, 8:30-9:45 A.M. | Senate A
Panelists: Sean M. Murphy, M.K. Hobson, Gregory Frost, Theodora Goss

Time To Put Down The Laptop?
Everyone and her sister/brother/dog seems to be blogging these days. Do you find blogging a waste of creative energy and a bane to more polished fiction? Does talking about your process keep you from engaging in it? Counting your words rather than crafting them? Or do you think this is a false economy of scarcity? Does blogging actually help you write more, better, faster, better-crafted? If so, how?
Sunday, 10:00-11:15 A.M. | Caucus
Panelists: Alan Bostick, M.K. Hobson, Naamen Tilahun, Cecilia Tan, Vylar Kaftan

Taboo (Reading)
Sunday, 1:00-2:15 P.M. | Conference 2
Readers: M.K. Hobson, Jennifer Pelland, Rachel Swirsky, Vylar Kaftan

I sold a story to Flytrap! The story is called "Crushing Butterflies" and I'm v. excited because Flytrap is a market I adore. ;-)

Black Static 4! I got a little giftie from the Universe in the form of Black Static 4. It arrived in the mail while I was in Vegas, and contains stevenagy's story "Ye Shall Eat in Haste." It's a fantastic story, well crafted and evocative. I'm sure the rest of the magazine is awesome too, but I've only read Steve's story so far. I'm so glad to see Black Static making the significant mark on dark fantasy/horror that everyone expected it would. It's living up to expectations, and given that the expectations were pretty high, I'd say that's quite an accomplishment for the TTA team.