momecat

After the 1030 panel on Thursday, all the streams worked fine! There was one room that was cursed, and the volume was often very low, but all of the others were great as long as the panellists used the mic, and some were on Zoom so people from other countries could attend. It looks like many of them will be re-playable, also, so I can check out panels I missed.

My sister-in-law came to stay with us so we could watch panels together. It's been really fun, and I'm glad we did it.

Some highlight panels were:
Worldbuilding Through Geography and Environments
with Martha Wells, Marshall Ryan Maresca, Nicola Griffith & Paolo Bacigalupi

Diasporic Caribbean Science Fiction
with E.G. Condé, Alex V Cruz, Fabrice Guerrier, Malka Older, Suzan Palumbo, Tonya Liburd, Tonya R. Moore & Premee Mohamed

Reading by Guest of Honor Martha Wells
with previews of both Queen Demon and the Murderbot coming out next year, plus a great Q&A.

Navigating AI as an Author or Editor
with Jason Sanford, Cassie Alexander, Dr. Corey Frazier, Emily M. Bender & Neil Clarke

Feminist Futurism Versus Project 2025: An Empowering Speculative Salon
with Isis Asare, Ada Palmer, Andrea Hairston, Annalee Newitz & Charlie Jane Anders

SFF's Role in Revolution on the African Continent
with Naomi Eselojor, Gabrielle Emem Harry, Khaya Maseko, Ngozi Anuoluwa, Nkereuwem Albert & Soila Kenya

Making It Gay… or Trans, Neurodivergent, BIPOC, and More
with Atlin Merrick, Clara Ward, Hana Lee, Maeve MacLysaght & Sarah Rees Brennan

Sifting Through History
with Remy Nakamura (M), Leigh Bardugo, Natania Barron, Nisi Shawl & Paul Weimer.

I didn't take notes on anything, but could relay any impressions I have, if people want?

I did at most 1/4 of the Hugo reading/watching, and then July was such a wash that I didn't even vote, but I was pretty happy with the results. The only category I was invested in was best series, and I was delighted that Rebecca Roanhorse won for Between Earth and Sky.

Otherwise: the novella I thought was the best of the bunch won, and the novel I hated lost. I'm still cross Blackheart man wasn't shortlisted, and the nomination stats aren't out yet, so I haven't seen how far down the list it was. I'm going to be even more cross if it was just one off, and Adrian Tchaikovsky getting two slots kept it out. (I always think it's nice when an established author who already has awards declines a spot if they have two titles in the same category, since that gives a new person a chance a lot of the time, but I'm less enamoured of the idea if it turns out that it's only women declining award nominations.)

I'm also very happy for Moniquill Blackgoose, who won the Astounding (not a Hugo), and Darcie Little Badger for her Lodestar (not a Hugo).

They seem to have fixed the technical issues (*knocks on wood, scratches a stay, turns around three times*) and I have gone to several panels! Both a virtual one of Nigerian authors and a filmed one of an in-person panel.

ETA: Both 10:30 panels I want to see either not streaming or not with sound.

ETA2: Caught the back half of one 10:30 panel (idk if the other one ever worked), and the sound was back for most of the noon panel, though it dropped out completely ten minutes from the end. Folks attending have been amazing with posting running notes to the discord, linking to works mentioned by the panellists.